Ask Miley: Songwriting

By Miley Cyrus

Hi y’all. You know, I get so many letters from fans asking me for advice that sometimes I can’t respond to every letter. And that really makes me sad, because I love my fans more than anything else in the world, and I want to be able to help them with whatever problems they have. That’s why I was so excited when this great newspaper, OMG Teh Newz, offered to let me write an advice column where I answer some of the questions that I get from my fans so everybody can see them. So if you’re a Miley fan and you want to learn something about me, or if you just need some advice on a tricky problem in your life, send me a letter and maybe it will get published in the next Ask Miley!

Q: Miley, I love your music. How do you write such great songs?
-Petr, Johannesburg, South Africa

Miley: Wow, I didn’t know I had fans all the way in South Africa! Thanks for the great question, Petr. People ask me all the time about how I have such creative and fun ideas for songs, so I thought it would be a great idea to start out my new column by answering this question.

I heard that people used to have a lot of trouble writing songs. My dad told me that it took him almost 2 hours to write Achy Breaky Heart, and that seems like eternity to me, but I’ve even heard that people used to spend a whole day on one song! Can you imagine that? I don’t know where they got the time to spend a whole day on one song- how did they make time for TV tapings, photo shoots, MTV guest appearances, and movie pitches? I heard about this one old band The Beetles who all had the same haircut. No wonder they spent so much time writing songs, they didn’t even go to hair and makeup before their talk show appearances!

Luckily, I’m creative enough that I don’t have to spend so much time to write a song. But that doesn’t mean that it’s been easy learning how to write great rock ’n’ roll songs; I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about pop songs and listening to the radio. And if you look at a lot of the really popular songs, they have a lot of the same elements in them, so it’s not hard to figure out what works, then put it in your song.

The first thing you need in any good song is a beat. You want to be able to dance to the song, but you also want people to be able to recognize it as soon as it comes on the radio or at the club. The best way to do that is to take a famous old song, and add a bass line or synthesizer that makes it better for dancing. Will Smith is really good at this- he used that Forget Me Not song in Men in Black, and he used that Stevie Wonder song in Just the Two of Us. That’s what makes him such a great musician. More recently, Gym Class Heroes did that Take a Look at My Girlfriend Song, and there was the Flo Rida remake of You Spin Me Right Round. The best song I’ve ever heard at taking an old song and improving it was All Summer Long by Kid Rock, because he took not one, but two old songs- Werewolves of London for the beat and Sweet Home Alabama for the hook- and got fans of two different bands to listen to his new, great song!

So when I started brainstorming a song to make into my new song, I tuned into an oldies radio station, and the first song I heard was that Ooh Child song, but then somebody told me that they used that in a rap song by somebody called TwoPack. Then I heard that song that goes, “Tempted by the fruit of another,” and I thought that if we sped it up and gave it a good bass line, it would make a great pop song. So I called up my lawyer and he checked with the singer, some band named Squeeze. Apparently, they don’t mind me using it as long as they get their royalty check (what are the odds on that one?), so that will be the beat to my new song!

[RIGHT- The key to being popular is to look both wholesome...]

Next, you need to come up with a good hook that will get people interested. I have found that a good way to get people interested is by listing places, and hopefully getting a place that they live or like to visit. Again, Will Smith is really good at this skill- remember his smash hit Miami? He really broke new ground with that piece of high art. Everybody likes Miami, and he just reminded them of what they like about it the most. This year, Katy Perry, who really has a promising career as a songwriter because her music speaks to people on a truly meaningful level, wrote the song Waking Up in Vegas, which always reminds people of how much fun they have in Vegas. I even tried this theory on my last song Party in the U.S.A., which I think is the best song I have written so far. But that location might have been a little too general, so I’m going to try to be more specific this time.

So I started thinking about places that people like to visit. I hear that people like London, but it’s very rainy there, so I don’t think it’s happy enough. New Orleans is happier, but they just had that hurricane, so maybe it’s a little too depressing to do a song about them right now. Jay Z just made a song about New York, so I don’t want to steal his idea so soon. Then I thought of the perfect idea: Paris! Paris is beautiful, and nobody has made a song about it in years. What do I know about Paris… It’s the City of Lights, they have great history, great food, and great shopping. So I put it all together and came up with “Everything I’d ever want, Paris you’re the one/ City of these magic lights, Paris turn me on.” It’s perfect!

I know it doesn’t exactly rhyme, but Waking up in Vegas has the line, “Come on and put your money where your mouth is, that’s what you get for waking up in Vegas,” and that song was extremely popular. Not only does Vegas not rhyme with is, but the lyrics don’t make any sense. Putting your money where your mouth is means betting on something or buying something after you have talked it up. That has absolutely nothing to do with waking up in Vegas. Go ahead, try to explain the relationship. I guarantee you will sound like an idiot trying to justify it. But when you’re that abstract, vague, and nonsensical, everybody can come up with their one meaning for the song, which is why Katy is such a good writer.

Now we need to come up with a verse. People used to write songs with two or three verses, but I don’t know why. You can just make one verse and sing it three times, and it’s just as good. Usually, a good song combines instructions for dancing with lyrics that are appropriately suggestive. When I say appropriately suggestive, I mean that you want the listener to be vaguely reminded of sex and associate you with sex, but not so sexual that they’re reminded that I’m 16 years old. Then they feel guilty about being pedophiles and stop listening to you. A good example of appropriately suggestive is in my song See You Again. I have lyrics like, “I felt this deep connection when you looked in my eyes,” and “The next time we hang out, I will redeem myself.” Then in my newer song, I say “Noddin’ my head like yeah, shakin’ my hips like yeah.”In both connections, I raise the possibility of sex- “deep connection,” “shakin’ my hips”- but disarm my critics by teasing with “hanging out” and “noddin’ my head.” It’s something for everyone!

[LEFT- ...and provocative! The perfect Madonna/Whore dialectic!]

So, for my new song, I have to come up with something that is somewhat sexual, but also appeases the parents who buy the CD for their 12 year-old daughters. And if at all possible, it should have something to do with Paris. “I love watching the way your lips move when you’re speaking French to me. Makes me wanna really groove, when you dance with me.” See? The lips moving, “groove,” very sexual. But also innocent, because it’s related to speaking and dancing, which are both acceptable for kids. All we need to do is make it plausible that I’m not a total whore, and people will give me the benefit of the doubt. Plus, the bilingual fad is totally in right now, and if I associate myself with French, maybe I can cash in on some of the Dora the Explorer hype and get more people into my music! “Parlez-vous francais? Ca va? Bien, merci. In Paris, smiling faces, as far as I can see.” See how easy this is? I’ve been at it for about 20 minutes, and I’m already about two lyrics away from having a hit song!

There you have it. That’s the songwriting process that I use to come up with all of my hits. We just pick an old song, speed it up and add in some bass for the clubs, repeat the name of a place that everybody likes, then surrounded it with innuendo and slant rhymes. I'll probably be in the studio recording later today. I have a sore throat, but it doesn't matter- if I miss a few notes they'll just fix it with Auto-Tune. Piece of cake!