We all want our music to stand out from the crowd and for it to be noticed. It’s a natural, human response to putting creative work out into the world.
But why is it that some music is more appealing to the masses than others?
Why does Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ have over 2.4 billion streams (at the time of writing)?
There are, of course, so many reasons but there are 3 things you can start doing today that will help your music stand out from the crowd…
- Focus on promotion: It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or you’re the most successful artist in the world… if you’re not promoting your music, no one’s going to hear it. For every hour you spend making music, you realistically need to spend another hour promoting it. That doesn’t mean shouting about it from the rooftops… it means emailing, posting and sharing your music with as many people as possible. But make sure to do it in a non-spammy, ethical way!
- Get help: I’m as guilty as the next guy for trying to “go it alone” and do it all myself but my time and energy levels are finite. So are yours, unfortunately. If there’s an element of your music-making that you’re not totally happy with for now but you feel like your music is good enough to release, get help! If your mixing isn’t quite there yet, hire a mixing engineer. If your mixers are killer but you haven’t quite figured out mastering yet, then hire a mastering engineer. You will pick up the skills over time if you focus on learning them but if you’ve got a deadline looming, you won’t become a top class mixing engineer overnight – outsource it and move on!
- Mix it up: It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut when you’re creating music. You can feel like you’re creating the same song over and over again because you’ve painted yourself into a style corner. Sometimes, all it takes is to listen to some new music or some different styles to get you pointed in the right direction and feeling super creative again. It could be a beat or a hook you hear in a style you don’t normally listen to… but whatever it is, it’ll get you inspired. Trust me!
- MGMT – ‘Electric Feel’
– This is from MGMT’s debut album, Oracular Spectacular – an absolute classic album!
– The bass guitar is the focal point of this track. It’s thick, compressed and has some overdrive on it.
– There’s a real blend of styles here… indie pop/rock, disco, synth-pop, psychedelic, funk, disco… it’s all there!
– The themes in this track are quite simple and passed between bass, synth and vocals. - Love Regenerator – ‘Hypnagogic (I Can’t Wait)’
– ‘Love Regenerator’ is the new alias of Calvin Harris.
– He’s now only making music that makes him feel good in the hopes that it makes other people feel good. Not a bad idea really is it?
– The music is heavily influenced by early rave, breaks, techno and house. This could be loosely classified as acid house.
– The sound definitely does sound like it comes from the early 90s.
– If you want to recreate something like this, then delays, breakbeats and filters are your friend. - Glass Animals – ‘Your Love (Déjà vu)’
– Glass Animals is a four-piece British psychedelic music act.
– The intro to this reminds me of a Timbaland-style beat. It’s infectiously catchy and the kick/808 combo reminds me of the beat in ‘Stronger’ by Kanye West – a beat that Timbaland “saved”.
– Some of the elements are quite psychedelic but also very poppy and feel like they’ve been borrowed from a Bollywood film score.
– The combination of heavy drums with strange synths and layered vocals makes for a very interesting sound.
– The production varies between being heavily involved to sparse at various stages throughout the mix.
– This track is built around hooks – it contains rhythmic and melodic hook after hook. - Dr. Dre, Eminem – ‘Forgot About Dre’
– It’s rare that a performer/front man is also an extremely mixing engineer and producer. Dr. Dre is that and much more.
– This track is from the 2001 album. It’s said that every session for that album started the same way – with Dre at the drum machine and his trusted musicians around him.
– The drum beats are sparse and the other main elements are orchestral stabs and a slowed-down funk style guitar.
– The panning effect on the word ‘Compton’ at 2:50 is pretty interesting. It’s coupled with a panned drum sample too.
– This, of course, was a huge feature for Eminem and helped to push his career further forward. - SZA, Justin Timberlake – ‘The Other Side’
– This is pure pop but features Wurlitzer-style piano stabs as a key hook.
– There are strong funk influences on the groove.
– Notice how tied together the bass and kick drum are?
– There are multiple layers and vocal effects used throughout the track – not just in the chorus.
– While there are lots of pop and funk elements included in this track, there are also quite a few disco elements – including the repeated claps. - Szymon – ‘Feenicks’
– This is a really nice beat from the get-go. It has a real vintage sound with a much more modern guitar sound.
– The style of this track could be classified as “art pop”.
– You’re listening to the music of Szymon Borzestowski. A very talented musician who sadly lost his life at the age of 23.
– Check out his EP that was released by his family in late 2019. - X Ambassadors – ‘Belong’
– This song starts out as a pop song with strong shades of ‘Lean On Me’.
– As soon as the Hammond organ and beat enter, it instantly becomes much more like a gospel song.
– Notice that there are no backing vocals or doubles at all until the second chorus. Then they’re big, powerful gospel vocals.
– This is undoubtedly a pop song but the gospel elements are very strong. - Tycho – ‘Alright’
– Tycho’s production style has become pretty iconic at this stage. You can pick it out with his atmospheric synths and complimentary bass/guitar lines.
– His whole style is a blend of many different styles. You could call it ambient, chill, pop, downtempo, post rock… whatever you like.
– One thing is for sure… there are many style crossovers in this one song alone. - Meslo – ‘Edges and Corners’
– An interesting harp sample starts things off.
– The atmospheric sounds that enter are then very like musique concrète. It’s hard to recognise the source materials.
– The explosion of sounds at 0:38 is reminiscent of French artists like Daft Punk, Madeon or Danger.
– I’m not sure where Meslo is from but do you think he might be French too? - Sasha Sloan – ‘Dancing With Your Ghost’
– This is a pop ballad.
– The song starts out with just piano and vocals but the chorus introduces bass, acoustic guitar and many pop samples.
– Those pop samples are used sporadically to create “bigger moments” with heavy distortion and reverb on the samples.
– There is a stripped back chorus at 2:33 that features some nice electric guitar sounds. On the left you’ll hear a lot of tremelo guitar which begins to give a flavour of a different style.
– By 2:47, the song has taken on a country style with a lap steel introduced to help add even more variance in style.
Take some of these notes away, make your own and implement what you’ve learned when you’re making your own music. I have no doubt that they will help you.
Remember that if you like what you hear, then please hit that ‘Follow’ button on Spotify and follow the playlist!
Now, I’d love to know…
What makes your music stand out from the crowd?
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And that final point is what I really want to lean into and focus on today.
I’ve got a playlist of 10 tracks for you that contain ideas and styles borrowed from many different genres. Each of these artists bring something special to the table by themselves but if you listen closely, you’ll be able to pick out the styles and even some of the songs they’ve helped themselves to.
Who knows? You might just get inspired to write your next track after listening to these few songs.
To help you on your way and to give you some food for thought, I’ve got a full breakdown of each track for you down below…
Here’s the YouTube version:
And the Spotify version…
(Please note that the tracks listed above are part of a live Spotify playlist and are updated weekly. They might not match the information below!)
Stephen Hi. You do like to ask searching questions. To answer your question, I deliberately put myself out of my comfort zone….not always easy. There was a time when I would not touch vocals and stuck with guitar-based rock/blues instrument material. So I forced myself to confront this. Then I decided I would explore the whole area of EDM – including sound design. More recently I have been looking at orchestral arrangement. Now, how did I get on? Actually not sure that’s as relevant as the whole business of escaping the restrictions of the “comfort zone” and opening up new musical possibilities. There’s always something to learn by exploring different genres. Keep up the great work. Best wishes George