OP-ED: How to Write a Music Review

How To Write A Music Review

By Ben Nguyen O’Connor

“Examine every word you put on paper,” editor and critic William Zinsser said, “you'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.”

The name of the game in writing music reviews is ‘concision’--keep your word count low while telling a compelling story, and write it as fast you can. Every day that passes after an album releases, your review of it becomes less relevant. So the goal is to do as much research into an album as you can in a reasonably short time frame, record your thoughts neatly, and deliver them in a review that is well-researched, snappy, and ultimately constructive to the larger discussion of the album.

There are three main phases of writing a well-researched review: the research, the listening, and the writing. The first two steps are primarily in support of making the third step as graceful as possible and all three are organized to make the entire process efficient. In music journalism, meeting deadlines is half the job, and doing it well is how you rise above the competition and ultimately make something transformative out of your opinions on the music.

I. Researching

The nice thing about researching an album is that there is no limit to how much you can do or when you can start. Unlike the listening process which starts at the moment of the album’s release and ends with the publishing of the review, there’s plenty more time to research and there’s no better time to research an album than immediately. So if you know you’ll be writing about an album releasing later this month, start researching now so that the two other steps are easier and more constructive.

What exactly are we looking for in research? Well, there is no clear cut reason when you start, but ultimately it’s to find the bits of info that build together the story of the album. It can be learning the artist’s inspiration for the album in an interview online, or looking through the production notes to see if any familiar names pop out. You should look for info that will explain the story of the album and help the listener appreciate the stories and sources behind a record.

There’s the concrete things you need to report on like the label of the release, when it was recorded, and when it was released. Was there a significance to the release date? Why did the artist take a 5 year hiatus before this new album? What collaborators/inspirations fueled the album? It is crucial that these basic bits of research are reported on because they help the reader better understand the story of the album, and this greater understanding is what makes people attach themselves to music so greatly.

II. Listening

For me, the listening process is the easiest part to get in your own head about. Your perceptions of music (or any type of art) are greatly affected by how the receiver/listener is feeling and your opinion completely change with your mood. Sometimes if I’m feeling like shit, I won’t even try to listen to any new music for more than a few a seconds. On the other hand, when I’m feeling great, I might be a little too nice to an album, only to be disappointed returning with a clearer mind.

How do you account for this? Easy. Listen to the album at least three times in full. Extra listens make sure you catch your own reactions in a variety of moods. If you get tired of listening to it, shuffle it. You’ll draw out more raw reactions when you don’t expect what song comes next. If you have a favorite song on the album, listen to it more than the others so you can get thorough notes of why you like it.

That’s another thing: Always take listening notes. Your immediate reactions are influenced by your mood at the time, so make sure to capture the fleeting feeling with a note of it. Copy and paste the album’s tracklist into your notes and add little phrases and perceptions of the songs as you listen. It can be in a Moleskine, a voice memo, or even a note on your phone. It’s often when a song is still fresh in your mind that you write your best sentences.

III. Writing

When it comes time to write, you collect and organize all of your notes and research in one place and review the info. If a story clicks in the information, start there. But often, you’re going to look back on your notes and feel that there’s nothing there. That’s fine. It just means you’ll have to create the story yourself and find some angle to see the info that would work well into the lede of your review.On ledes for reviews, you generally shouldn’t jump straight into your opinion. Why should a stranger care about what you have to say? The lede is to convince them to listen to you. Your lede should be a frame from which to state your opinions, which will come later. In a lede--which can vary from one to 5 paragraphs--you engage the audience, so that when you do give your opinion later, the reader has a reason to care.

Once you have engaged the reader, you navigate them through your opinions on the album. There are different ways to break up an album’s elements in discussion--track-by-track, discussing themes, lyrical breakdown--and it’s up to you to decide which way will best highlight your opinion. If you have a lyrically dense rap album, discuss the album through its lyrics. If you have an electronic album, compare the different textures and sounds of the songs. And if you have just an amazing album through and through, talk about every single track.

Like any bit of persuasive writing, you’re trying to explain why you believe what you believe, and to best do so, you need to back it up with evidence. If you think a song’s lyrics are brilliant, quote them. If you think the chorus on your favorite song is awesome, explain it. The music discussion section of a review is where you’ll generally have the people who have already listened to the album looking for a second opinion--so you gotta make sure that your claims are backed up or they just won’t listen to you.

When you have something negative to say, it’s incredibly important to decide where you put it in your review. Most albums aren’t complete trash or 100% masterpieces, so balancing where you place your negative and positive talking points affects how the reader will interpret your feelings. The last sentences you have to say are generally the parts most readers will remember--so if you love an album, you end on a high note, and vice versa. Also, if you think an album is more good than it is bad, say more compliments than criticism--and if you think an album is more bad than it is good, do the opposite.

Finally on word choice: avoid cliches please! Even in the music journalism business, readers are tired of hearing the same generic words used over and over to describe every album. Phrases like “last but not least” and “in conclusion” don’t do your writing any favors, and just stagger the flow of your piece. Get creative! Use out-of-the-box similes! Your uniquely-worded takes on an album are not only where you can convince someone of your perspective, but also where you can entertain people.

After a first draft, your goal is to revise literally as many times as you can before a deadline focusing on three main tasks: reduce your word count, re-word wherever necessary, and refine your argument. Revision is the number one most important step of writing. Most first drafts are crap, so repeating all the steps above while focusing on those three tasks are where you really clean up your piece. Hopefully after several drafts or hair-pulling, frustrating, painstaking revision, you’ll have something worth reading that doesn’t just tell your opinion on a piece of art, but adds back to it too.