What to write for a custom song: 10 brief examples
For a custom song, write three short facts that only you would know: one memory with a place or a date, one habit they have now, and one wish or plan for what comes next. Use names, places and numbers rather than adjectives, because a songwriter can turn "she kept my umbrella for a year" into a line, but can do little with "she is amazing". That is the whole formula; the rest of this guide is examples.
The anatomy of a good brief
Each of the three parts gives the song a different job.
A memory is the story. It usually becomes the first verse: where you met, the day something went wrong in a funny way, the trip you still talk about. Name the place and, if you can, the year.
A habit is the person. Something they do every week, a phrase they always say, the dish they always burn. Habits are what make the listener laugh and say "that's so you".
A wish is the ending. A trip you are planning, a move, a new job, a birthday you want to spend together. It gives the chorus somewhere to go.
On our form you write up to three short lines, so this structure fits exactly: one line for each part. Keep each line to one or two sentences. A line with five facts in it forces the lyrics to drop four of them.
Ten example briefs by person and occasion
These are written for this guide, to show the shape. Swap in your own facts; the details are the part that matters.
- Wife, anniversary: We got married at the courthouse on a Tuesday and ate tacos on the steps afterwards. She still keeps the taco receipt in her wallet. This year we are finally taking the trip to the coast we keep postponing.
- Husband, 50th birthday: Dan turns 50 on Saturday. He has coached our son's Little League team for six seasons and still cannot throw a curveball. He sings in the shower every morning, loudly and badly.
- Mom, Mother's Day: Mom sewed every Halloween costume we wore until we were twelve, including a working robot. She calls every Sunday at 7 on the dot. Now that she has retired she is learning to paint.
- Dad, Father's Day: Dad built our treehouse with no instructions and one nail still sticking out. He taught me to drive in the church parking lot. He still checks my tire pressure every time I visit.
- Best friend, birthday (funny): Priya and I met in seventh-grade detention for passing notes. She has fallen asleep at every movie we have seen in a theater. She moves to Denver next month and has promised to call.
- Daughter, graduation: Ava finished her engineering degree after switching majors twice. In her final year she built a robot that feeds the cat. She starts her first job in Seattle in June.
- Grandma, Christmas: Grandma Rose bakes twelve kinds of cookies every December and hides the best tin. She taught all six grandkids to play gin rummy. She turns 85 in January.
- Dog, birthday: Biscuit is a three-legged beagle who still wins every race at the park. He howls when the microwave beeps. He sleeps on my left sock every night.
- Boyfriend, Valentine's Day: Our first date was at a bowling alley and we both scored under 60. He makes my coffee before his 6 a.m. shift. In March we are adopting a kitten.
- Teacher, thank you: Ms. Alvarez stayed after school every Thursday to run chess club. She knew every student's birthday by heart. She retires this June after 31 years.
Notice what is missing: no "kind", "beautiful", "best mom ever" or "always there for me". Each line is something a stranger could picture.
Real briefs and the lines they became
Every sample on our site comes with the brief that produced it, unedited. Here are three, with what the song did with them.
A husband wrote that his wife "lent me her umbrella and kept it for a year", from the day they met on a rainy platform in Cork. The song opened its first verse with that scene, and the line became "You shared your small umbrella on the platform." The place, the weather and the object all survived because they were in the brief.
R&B / soul · from his girlfriend
Our First Key
for Theo
For the Valentine's song above, the brief said Theo "leaves sticky notes with terrible drawings on the bathroom mirror." That turned into "Your sticky notes on the mirror make me smile", which is the kind of small, daily detail that makes a love song feel like theirs and nobody else's.
The third shows how far one good joke can go. A friend's birthday brief for Marcus said he orders the hottest wings on the menu "and cries every single time". That single sentence carried most of the rap's second verse: the trip for wings, the brave talk about spice, then the tears. A detail with its own twist, where the setup and the punchline are both in the line, gives a songwriter more to work with than three flat facts.
Hip-hop / rap · from his best friend
The Best Driver in the Passenger Seat
for Marcus
You can listen to all of them, with their briefs, on the samples page, and see how lyrics are built on the personalized song lyrics page.
Mistakes that make a custom song generic
Adjectives instead of facts. "Loving, funny and generous" gives the lyrics nothing to hold. Replace each adjective with the evidence for it: the time they drove four hours to fix your sink is what "generous" sounds like in a song.
Too many names. The recipient's name goes in the chorus. One more name, such as the dog or a child, fits comfortably. Five cousins and two pets turn the verses into a roll call. If the song is from a group, say so in one line instead of listing everyone.
Private details they would not want sung. If the song may be played at a party, leave out anything about health, money, past relationships or the bedroom. A good test: would they tell this story themselves at a family dinner?
Inside jokes with no picture. "The thing in Tampa" means everything to you and nothing in a lyric. Say what happened: "the time the rental car got towed in Tampa".
Sad stories at a happy occasion. A hard year can be part of a song, but for a birthday or anniversary, end each line on the good part.
Cramming. Three strong details make a two-minute song. Eight details make a list, and some will be left out.
| Instead of this | Write this |
|---|---|
| She is the most caring person I know | She knits a hat for every new baby in the family |
| We have had so many adventures | We got lost in Montreal and found the best bagels by accident |
| He is a great dad | He never missed a single recital, even the three-hour one |
| Our love is forever | This summer we are planting the apple tree we talked about for years |
| She is hilarious | She does the voice of our cat narrating the news |
Pronunciation tips for names
The name is the one word that must be right. A few habits help any singer, human or AI.
- Type it as you say it. If the spelling and the sound differ, write the sound in the pronunciation field, for example SEER-sha for Saoirse. The lyric sheet still shows the real spelling.
- Split syllables and capitalize the stressed one. NEEV for Niamh, wah-KEEN for Joaquin, see-oh-MAR-ah for Xiomara. Hyphens and capitals are clearer than phonetic symbols.
- Avoid respellings that are real words. Writing a name as an ordinary English word can make the singer sing the word itself. In our own testing, a respelling of Nguyen that was a common English word was sung as that word; we now block those.
- Use the name they are called. If everyone calls Katherine "Kit", the song should too, unless it is a formal occasion.
- Two names are fine. "Maya and Sam" works for a couple, up to 40 characters in total.
- Listen for it in the preview. The first 60 seconds are free, so check the name before anything else. Each song includes one free re-record to change a line, the style or the voice, and if the name is sung wrong after you pay, you get one free remake.
Before you press the button
Read your three lines out loud. If each one makes you picture a specific scene, and at least one makes you smile, the brief is ready. Then choose the style they actually listen to, a voice, and a tone: heartfelt, funny or hype.
If you are writing for someone you know less well, such as a colleague or teacher, our guide to how to create a song for someone covers what to ask friends and family before you start.
Questions people ask
How long should a custom song brief be? Three short lines, one to two sentences each. Longer briefs do not make longer songs; they make choices for you.
Can I write the lyrics myself? Not word for word. You give the details, and the lyrics are written from them. You read every line before paying.
What if I only have one good memory? Use it as the first line, add one habit, and a simple wish for the year ahead. Ask a sibling or friend for one more detail if you can.
Should I mention the occasion in the brief? You pick it in the form, so the song already knows it is a birthday or an anniversary. Use your lines for the details only you have.