50 Songs In 90 Days… Can I Do It?

race track field empty

With today being the 4th of July I’ll again be participating in this years 50/90 Songwriting Challenge as I have done for the last 11 years.

Sometimes I do think that I’m batshit CRAZY.

For those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about, the 50/90 Songwriting Challenge (also known as 50/90) requires the participant to write 50 songs in 90 days starting from July 4th until October 31st.

50/90 has been likened to a marathon for songwriters and if my maths is correct, I would need to write one song every 1.8 days to complete the challenge in full.

I can do that, I mean I have done it before in 2017, 2018 and 2019 (not in 2020 thanks to COVID-19) but I am going to approach 50/90 a little differently compared to the FAWM Songwriting Challenge (14 songs in 28 days) that I completed in February.

This time around, instead of doing complete band arrangements of my songs I’ll be stripping them back to a more acoustic vibe to ensure that the songs don’t get bogged down in over-instrumentation.

The more limits I place on myself the more I’ll be able to write and besides, if time permits I can always go back to the songs and embellish them later on. It’s important that I make the song idea-recording-uploading process as efficient as possible.

I’ll also put more of an emphasis on collaboration with other 50/90 participants. It’s one of the really cool things about being involved.

Don’t get me wrong, 50 songs in 90 days is a daunting task and I am going to have my work cut out for me but there’s nothing like a goal or a deadline to get my creative juices flowing.

Just like I’m doing with the songs I wrote for FAWM, I’ll  be releasing them on a playlist through my SoundCloud account.

I might even need your help to choose the best ones.

As with previous years, 50/90 will be the ninja warrior of songwriting endurances for me. YES! It’s a challenge but it will also be a lot of fun too, as the 50/90 website clearly states…

“During these 90 days, participants will encourage each other, collaborate, give and gain feedback on their new creations and push themselves to practice and refine their skills in songwriting. Whether long time vets of songwriting or picking up the pen for the first time, participants will grow their skills in making music… and just might have some fun along the way.”

That’s what I intend to do… I will again be walking the walk and talking the talk by putting all of my songwriting knowledge to good use and allowing my songwriting process to do its thing.

Who knows, there might even be some cracker songs written along the way.

Wish me luck guys,

Corey 🙂

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