7 Songwriting Lessons We Can Learn from Lady Gaga

In the pop world, it’s easy to come across stars that are a product of the talent of others. Very rarely do we see an inspirational pop artist that is also their own songwriter. Well, Lady Gaga just happens to be one of those exceptional artists. 

Gaga started from humble beginnings as an indie artist performing open mics to being a radio and TV sensation overnight. And what truly makes her stand out among the crowd is her unique knack for songwriting. So much so that it has earned her the Contemporary Songwriters Icon Award.

Time and time again, she has proven that she isn’t just called the Queen of Pop for nothing. There’s a lot that of depth that carries around in her work. And it’s something that many budding songwriters can learn from her craft. 

With that in mind, here are seven major songwriting lessons you can extract from Lady Gaga’s songwriting. Not only will they help you overcome your creative struggles, but they can also serve as a great form of inspiration that will help when writing your own songs.

Lesson 1: Songs are Equal Parts Music and Performance

No matter what Gaga song you decide to listen to, it’s never complete without a taste of performative flair in it. After all, Lady Gaga is as much of a fashion icon as she is a composer, singer, and songwriter. 

Nearly every one of her songs features some visual component to go alongside it. It isn’t all too uncommon to feature a music video to go along with your song. But for Gaga, they’re all pieces of a bigger puzzle. So, it makes sense to craft them together. 

Songs like Paparazzi and Judas highlight this package well. They’re meant to be experienced by sight and sound together. Because the underlying message of these songs isn’t just inscribed in the lyrics, it’s also symbolized very clearly into what shows up on the screen.

This imparts an all-important lesson that songwriting isn’t limited to crafting what you hear. It can extend beyond that to any artistic element that helps you paint a bigger picture. The content of your songwriting message can be encompassed across the whole medium, not just a fraction of it. 

The next time you sit down to write a song, don’t just focus on how it will sound through someone’s speakers. Think about how it will feel to perform it live or featured on a video. And then use that to tweak it until you’re artistically satisfied with the end product.

Lesson 2: Inspiration Can Come from Anywhere

Musical influences can have a habit of following a very linear trend. A rock musician will typically be inspired by another rock musician. A hip hop artist will usually take inspiration from their peers in the same genre. That’s usually the way it goes.

However, every once in a while, there come artists who reach across the aisle and bridge the gap between different music styles. Lady Gaga is one of these artists. Her inspirations shine through her work, but they don’t define it.

This is an important distinction because it curtails the idea that being inspired by something equals becoming it. Lady Gaga isn’t just inspired by her pop peers. She gains her inspiration from legends like Queen, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, and many more.

Every album cycle, Lady Gaga is able to use her influences to create something new and unique. At first, it was a blend of electronica with pop melody fusions. It transitioned through R&B and Europop. And it even touched on disco beats with pentatonic infused rock vocal melodies like in Born This Way.

The lesson here should be clear. It’s about opening up to your inspirations but taking ownership of how they meet up. Don’t discount the profound effect that even a minor artistic stimulus can have on your work. After all, influences can enter into the fold from anywhere. But making them into art is your job as a songwriter. 

Lesson 3: Catchy Chorus Hooks Can Carry a Song

Throughout the bulk of her career, Lady Gaga has explored very emotional and serious subject matters in her songs. That can be hard to swallow in the ‘light and easygoing genre’ like pop. But Lady Gaga manages to do it. And she does it quite well. 

Step one in her songwriting process is creating a catchy intro. This isn’t anything more complicated than two or three notes played as a synth sample. This is designed to instantly catch the ear of the listener. 

As soon as the lyrics hit, she sings them with an exaggerated vocalization. This is done to both weird out the listener but make them curious enough to keep listening. She eases this during the verse section to make the song’s melody stand out.

The real magic happens when a Lady Gaga song reaches its chorus section. This is where she will lay out her hook for the song with a very catchy melody. This is also the section where she will place the most serious lyrics of the song. 

The genius of this songwriting technique is in the effect it produces. While the hard lyrical themes hold you back, the melodic hook makes you want to carry on and keep listening. 

Some of her most popular songs have climbed the charts based on the use of this technique alone. It’s something that can be utilized to great effect in your own songs. So the next time you’re stuck making your subject matters palatable, just add a catchy chorus hook and call it a day. 

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Lesson 4: Owning Your Personal Style Is Important

Mother Monster is no stranger to the concept of being yourself. In fact, she has managed to build her entire image and persona on top of it. But more importantly, it has helped her flesh out her songwriting capabilities. 

During the time that Lady Gaga was making her debut, there was a large saturation in the music industry. Pop music was starting to get formulaic, and not much was being done by artists to innovate in that space. That’s why most hits were just a recycled form of one another.

Enter Gaga in the early 2000s, and things suddenly shifted. Her unique ability to blend electronic beats with pop melodies made her stand out among the crowd. Suddenly, she was topping charts in the US and Europe. All because she chose to be herself. 

Since then, having gone through several style changes, she still manages to lead innovation. But it’s not a specific conscious effort; it’s just a byproduct of being herself and following a self-defined path.   

The major takeaway is to always be in tune with your own creative sensibilities when writing a song. There are a dozen artists out there in the music space. Doing what they do will only drown you out. But only you are capable of being yourself, which is the right formula to stand out.

If being yourself means writing something outside of the realm of the norm, so be it. You might just find yourself pioneering a whole new genre.

Lesson 5: Dig Deeper Into Your Ideas

The songwriting process is a creative amalgamation of ideas and influences that add up to make the final product. Sometimes those ideas aren’t fully realized or only half explored. This can end up affecting the authenticity of your message.

Lady Gaga has always pushed for hard-hitting topics in all of her songs. Any given track of hers goes into exploring identity, sexuality, acceptance, and criticism. All of these have had the potential to connect with her audience without alienating them or making them feel pandered.

How does she do it? Well, she explores the idea in-depth and makes you feel empathetic towards it on some level. Instead of launching directly into the topic, first, she lays down the facts in her song intros. This makes us understand the idea even if we aren’t affected by it. She then tries to elicit an emotional response from us by articulating how she feels. 

In Marry the Night, she narrates a very personal experience to the audience while maintaining the idea that she can reframe her night however she wishes. It’s not the idea itself that seems meaningful, but it’s that personal touch to explore it in depth that makes it seem so genuine. 

A good lesson to take away from this is to ask yourself to explore ideas further when songwriting. What is it about the idea that seems interesting to you? What makes your approach to the idea unique compared to others? How can you extrapolate those ideas further?

These questions will take you to a place that’s much further along than level one of the conversation. It will also eventually lead you to an approach that’s branched out enough from the main idea to be wholly unique. 

Lesson 6: Don’t Let Your Ideas Rot Away

Lady Gaga has been involved in music from a very early age. If it wasn’t learning to play the piano as a child, then it was singing in a choir group or even playing small gigs as a teenager. It should be no surprise, then, that she is intimately aware of the creative process. 

She has often commented about how she doesn’t cloud her creative process with criticism. For someone like her, this is an even bigger ask. But somehow, despite being on the receiving end of several critics, she doesn’t let the negativity get to her. 

This is what lets her explore her ideas so freely. She can make songs on a wide range of serious topics without worrying about how well they will be perceived. That’s because Lady Gaga is well aware that getting into this mindset is a gateway to creating self-doubts. 

In interviews, she has encouraged all budding songwriters to always get their music out there. She has stressed that it is important to make sure your ideas leave your bedroom and are heard by others. 

It’s clear that the lesson should be to put faith in yourself and let your ideas flourish. As long as you can do that, you’ll never need to worry about what someone else thinks. And that’s what makes a great songwriter. 

Lesson 7: Use Your Abilities to Give (Appropriate) Substance to the Song

Time and time again, Lady Gaga has proven that she isn’t devoid of talent. Even critics that have disagreed with her stylistic choices have to concede that she does have the necessary talents to succeed. But the real surprise is how she is able to use these talents to give life to her songs. 

For one, Lady Gaga has been praised endlessly for her lyric writing abilities. She is able to offer great vocal control to place very specific stresses on key lyrics of a song. Not only this, she also launches into monologues in her songs to make them feel more personal. Here’s an example from Fun Tonight:

“You love the paparazzi, love the fame

Even though you know it causes me pain.

I feel like I’m in a prison hell

Stick my hands through the steel bars and yell”

But of course, her most notable ability is to add the right finishing touches to a song. She keeps her vocal intensity in line with the energy that’s appropriate for the track. She doesn’t needlessly ramp up her vocals despite having the ability to do so. Because to her, if it’s not in the service of the song, who is it for? 

It makes for a great statement and a very teachable moment for a potential songwriter. Always assess your efforts when aiming towards writing a song. If they fit the needs of the song, then that’s what should really matter. 

Getting lost in the idea of showcasing technique or prowess might impress someone. But in the larger picture, your effort is better served by catering to the song first.