Song Critique By Alex Forbes

Your best song has less than 1 minute to impress a listener. The million dollar question is... will it?

The World Wants To Hear
Your Greatest Songs!
Your best song has less than
1 minute to impress a listener.
The million dollar question is... will it?

People make up their minds in seconds about whether your song "hits" them... or not. Producers, recording artists, managers, and potential collaborators (not to mention your fans!) are all hungry for great new material. If you deliver the goods, you can take a giant leap up the ladder of success, create lasting relationships, and achieve higher levels of artistic fulfillment.

If not, they'll click off your song and move on to the next one.

There are a few key elements your best tunes must have to knock your listeners' socks off, which I call the Big Four:

Heart
Dynamics
Hooks (yes, that's plural!)
A Stand
You can impress people with songcraft, and present the most polished demo in the world, but if your tune has no heart, its shelf life will be measured in minutes.

Next, a great song's dynamics take listeners on a roller coaster ride, using tension, release and resolution to "suck 'em in, build 'em up, and pay 'em off."

Your song's hooks — musical and lyrical, and lots of them — are the magical elements that keep it running through their heads for days.

And finally, taking a strong stand with your lyrics and music requires courage, and ideally carves out fresh territory, stylistically and meaning-wise.

I'm Alex Forbes, and if you're a committed songwriter, I can help you bring your songs up to the next level, using the tools outlined here. I have 25 years of experience as a professional songwriter, and have been coaching others in the craft of songwriting since 1990. Many of my clients and students have gone on to great success in the music business. Others simply want to learn how to express themselves more fully using the art and craft of songwriting.

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Hit songwriter Alex Forbes has been coaching groups and individuals in the art and craft of songwriting since 1990. She exudes a contagious passion on the subject of songwriting, and her mission is to nurture the next generation of great songwriters.

She currently coaches clients privately, and teaches The Songwriters' Forum in the graduate program at NYU's Steinhardt School. She also teaches courses at the Gotham Writers Workshop. Alex has spoken on panels at ASCAP, The Recording Academy, The Connecticut Songwriters Association and The Austin Songwriters Group, and has led workshops for many school groups.

With numerous Billboard-charting singles, over 75 releases, and millions of album sales under her belt, Alex's songs range from Rock to Dance to straight-ahead Pop. Her specialty is writing instantly catchy melodies and lyrics that capture the essence of life in strikingly vivid ways.

Recent successes include “Melt Away,” featured in the Denzel Washington film “Déjà Vu,” and New Zealand superstar Hayley Westenra's recording of “You Are Water” on her Billboard-charting Classical/Pop album, “Odyssey.”

Alex's song "See My Soul" was recently released by the pop/rock band Push Play (Wind-Up), whose first single just appeared on Billboard's Top 40 Singles chart. Alex's song "Exotique" is the latest single by dance artist Safire, (the same singer who recorded the"new" Michael Jackson song "This Is It" 18 years ago). And the dance/pop song "Disappear" came out with Dee Robert. Several other songs are 'on hold" or recorded and awaiting release dates.

Alex's first hit, the now-classic dance song “Too Turned On,” performed by Alisha, still receives abundant airplay 25 years later. This initial success led to a series of hit singles including Taylor Dayne's massive hit “Don't Rush Me” (#2 Pop, #3 AC, #6 Dance, multi-platinum album, ASCAP Pop Award), Rockell's classic freestyle version of “In A Dream,” and teen heartthrob Joey Lawrence's Top 20 Pop hit “Nothin' My Love Can't Fix,” the latter of which Alex also co-produced.

High points also included collaborating with Cyndi Lauper on a tune for her film, “Off and Running,” and co-producing Martha Wash, whose powerhouse voice was featured in the Weather Girls and C+C Music Factory, and who recorded Alex's “Leave a Light On.”

Alex's songs have been placed in many feature films, including ones starring John Travolta, Burt Reynolds, Malcolm McDowell and Linda Fiorentino. Numerous others have appeared in TV shows and an Off-Broadway show. Overseas, Alex's songs have been hit singles for Fan Club (New Zealand), Indra (France), Patti Day (U.K.), Papa Dee (Sweden) and Marie Frank (Denmark, Gold Album).

Over the years Alex has worked with some of the music world's most renowned producers, including Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Morrisey), Michael Zager (“Let's All Chant”), Andy Marvel (Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion), Steve Addabbo (Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega), and DJ Gomi (Mariah Carey, Madonna).

For the past 10 years, Alex has been contributing her talents to Songs Of Love, a nonprofit organization that creates personalized songs for kids with chronic or terminal illnesses.

Alex received a Creative Writing degree from Stanford University, and was mentored in the art and craft of pop songwriting by the legendary Doc Pomus ("This Magic Moment," "Save The Last Dance For Me").