Will a Custom Musician Work With My Specific Story or Inside Jokes?

Yes, and this is actually the part where personalized songs separate themselves from generic ones. A great personalized song lives on specifics: the nickname, the saying, the story only the two of you know. Generic input produces generic output. The more specific you are, the better the song.

Why specifics matter more than feelings

If you submit a brief that says "he's a great dad and we love him," the lyrics will reflect that: generic, sweet, forgettable. Every dad is a great dad to the person submitting the brief.

If you submit a brief that says "he calls every Sunday at 6pm sharp, he taught me to drive in the K-Mart parking lot, and he still signs every text with his initials like it's a memo," the lyrics will write themselves. They'll be about him, not about "dads."

The four kinds of specifics that work best

1. Inside jokes and recurring phrases

Every close relationship has them. The way you say goodbye. The fake voice you use when imitating someone. The phrase you both use that nobody else understands. Drop it into the brief verbatim. It becomes the line they quote back to you.

Examples that have landed in songs:

• "She still says 'ope, sorry' when she bumps into furniture."
• "We call our wifi password 'Operation Get Bread.' Long story."
• "He answers the phone 'Talk to me, Goose,' every single time."

2. Specific memories with sensory detail

Not "our wedding day," but the specific moment from that day. Not "our trip to Italy," but the gelato in Florence at 11pm when the shop owner asked if we were on our honeymoon. The senses (what you saw, heard, smelled, tasted) are the hooks lyrics hang on.

3. Habits and quirks

The thing they do that only the people who love them know about. She organizes the dishwasher like a TSA agent. He hums the wrong tune when he's cooking. They have a specific way of folding laundry that's objectively incorrect. These details are the ones that make the recipient laugh through their tears, because they recognize themselves.

4. The story you tell about them

If a friend asked you about this person, what's the story you'd tell? Not the bullet points of their life, but the story. It's usually the one that captures who they actually are. That story belongs in the song.

How to include specifics in the brief

Just write them. The brief isn't a formal document. Use your normal voice. If the inside joke only makes sense with context, give the context. If the memory has a punchline, write the setup.

Specifically: don't paraphrase. If she says "oof, that's a lot," the brief should say 'oof, that's a lot,' not "she has a saying she uses when things are overwhelming." The exact words are the gold.

What about embarrassing or risky specifics

This is your call. The song will reflect what you put in. If the inside joke is too embarrassing for grandma to hear at the birthday dinner, leave it out or pick a different one. Most briefs end up using two or three specifics out of the five or six the writer could include. Choose the ones that land warmly.

What doesn't translate well

• Visual jokes. A meme that depends on seeing a picture won't convert into a lyric.
• Niche pop-culture references. If only you and three friends will get it, it won't land in the song.
• Long stories. A two-paragraph story needs to be distilled into one image or phrase to fit in lyrics. Help with the distillation, or trust us to do it.

The best brief is the one that makes you smile while writing it

If you laughed once or got a little choked up while writing your brief, that's a sign the song will land. The same feeling makes it into the lyrics.

Start a personalized song packed with the specifics that matter. From $14.99 →