How to Avoid Clichés in Song Lyrics: Originality is Key.

Okay, get comfy, because I want to talk to you about something super important if you’re trying to write songs that really hit people. You know how the human heart, like, has so much it wants to say, right? And for ages, songs have been our go-to for that. But here’s the thing: trying to write lyrics that really stick with someone often gets messed up by this sneaky enemy… clichés.

You know them, those phrases that have been used so much they’re practically worn out? Maybe they were cool once, and really fresh, but now? They’re like sonic speed bumps, totally stopping that emotional connection and making your song’s message just, well, bland. This isn’t about avoiding common words or anything. It’s about taking those words, twisting them, making them completely yours. Being original? In songwriting, that’s not just a bonus – it’s the foundation for making truly amazing art. So, I’m gonna give you some tools to break down those tired old phrases and create lyrics that actually sparkle with real feeling and power.

So, What’s the Deal with Clichés? Why Are They Everywhere, and Why Do We Need to Ditch Them?

Clichés are, honestly, a bit evil. They trick you into thinking you’re being understood right away, like a little mental shortcut for big emotions. We hear them constantly – when we’re just chatting, in movies, and yeah, unfortunately, in a shocking amount of popular music. They feel so familiar, so easy to just pop into a song without much thought.

But here’s the kicker: that “easy” feeling for you as the writer? It’s exactly what the listener feels too – minimal engagement.

Think of a cliché like a hand-me-down sweater. Sure, it might fit, and it covers you up, but it doesn’t have that perfect fit or personal flair of something made just for you. When someone hears a cliché, their brain just goes, “Oh, I know this one,” and fills in the blanks. There’s no real picture painted, no new thought sparked. It’s basically the word version of elevator music – pleasant enough, but you immediately forget it. But your goal, as a lyricist, is to write a song that stops someone in their tracks, not something they just tune out.

To kick clichés to the curb, we first need to understand why we use them:

They’re Not Specific Enough: Clichés are often just vague placeholders for specific details. Like, “broken heart” – that’s a super general way to describe something that feels incredibly personal.
We Just Copy What We Hear: We tend to pick up common phrases without stopping to think if they’re still fresh or powerful. We write what we’ve heard, not necessarily what we truly feel.
Being Afraid to Be Vulnerable: Putting really personal or weird emotions out there can feel super scary. Clichés offer a safe, but also totally sterile, emotional distance.
Rushing Things: When you’re under pressure or just trying to get something done fast, you often just grab the easiest, most available phrases. That’s where clichés sneak in.

By actually seeing these tendencies, you can start the really important work of unpicking them in your songwriting.

Let’s Ditch the Boring Stuff: How to Show What No One Else Sees

Being original isn’t about being outlandish or making no sense. It’s about showing a truth in a new, exciting way. It’s about showing, not just telling, and doing it with fresh eyes.

1. Dig Deep with Hyper-Specificity: Zoom In on the Tiny Details

Instead of painting with big, sweeping strokes, use a tiny, fine brush. General ideas lead to clichés. Specific details create vivid, memorable images that hit home because they feel real.

Cliché Example: “My heart is breaking.”
Why it Doesn’t Work: Seriously, this phrase has been used for everything from losing a sock to, like, a world war. It doesn’t make you feel a specific kind of pain or imagine a unique situation.

What to Do Instead: Focus on the physical, emotional, or sensory ways that “breaking heart” actually feels.

Sensory Detail: “The static in my chest, a phantom dial tone.” (Instead of “my heart is breaking,” this gives you a sense of disconnection and emptiness using a specific sound image.)
Physical Feeling: “My breath, a caught bird in a cage of ribs.” (Instead of “I can’t breathe,” this shows the physical struggle with a vivid, vulnerable image.)
Action/Reaction: “The dust motes in the sunbeam danced where our laughter used to hang.” (Instead of “I miss you so much,” this paints a picture of absence through the lingering environment and a sharp contrast.)

Your Homework: When you use a generic word (like “heart” or “sad”), ask yourself: “What exactly does this look like, sound like, smell like, taste like, or feel like in this exact moment?” Don’t just go with the first thing that pops into your head. Brainstorm five different ways to say it, then pick the most unique and impactful one.

2. Figurative Language, But Make It New: Beyond the Same Old Metaphors

Metaphors and similes are awesome tools, but they can fall into the cliché trap too. The goal isn’t to avoid them, but to create ones that feel inventive and genuinely make your point shine.

Cliché Example: “Love is a battlefield.”
Why it Doesn’t Work: Sure, it might have been powerful once, but this comparison has been so overused it doesn’t give you any new understanding of love or conflict anymore.

What to Do Instead: Create comparisons that come from unexpected places or mix totally different ideas in a way that gives you a fresh perspective.

Unusual Comparison: “Our love, a tide chart of shifting sand.” (Instead of a general “love is hard,” this shows constant change and instability using an unexpected, but fitting, nautical metaphor.)
Sensory Mix-Up: “Your voice, a bruise on the morning quiet.” (Instead of “your voice hurts,” this uses a feeling and a visual image to describe something you hear, making it feel really raw.)
A New, Extended Metaphor: “My hope, a dandelion clock in a hurricane’s eye.” (Instead of “I have little hope,” this builds a vivid, fragile image with a lot of emotional weight.)

Your Homework: When you catch yourself reaching for a common metaphor, stop! Think about the main emotion or idea you’re trying to get across. Now, brainstorm three completely unrelated things – objects, ideas, experiences. How can your main idea be compared to one of these in a fresh way? Don’t be afraid to get a little weird at first; you can always make it clearer later.

3. Throwing a Curveball: The Power of Surprise

Original lyrics often twist familiar situations or word pairings just enough to make the listener lean in. This isn’t about being confusing; it’s about playing with what people usually expect.

Cliché Example: “You’re my sunshine.”
Why it Doesn’t Work: It’s a standard compliment, totally lacking emotional depth.

What to Do Instead: Add a little bit of unexpected tension or a darker shade to something that seems positive.

Unexpected Twist: “You’re my sunshine, just before the storm.” (Adding a layer of upcoming trouble turns a simple compliment into something deeper and more foreboding.)
Contradictory Pairing: “Our silence, a furious symphony.” (Instead of “we don’t talk anymore,” this shows the intensity of unspoken conflict through two words that don’t usually go together.)
Funny Twist: “My alarm clock, the rooster of my regret.” (Instead of “I hate mornings,” this adds a bit of dark humor and personification to an annoying everyday thing.)

Your Homework: Take a common emotional state or situation. Now, try to describe it, or a feeling connected to it, using a word that normally wouldn’t fit. What interesting tension does that create? Play around with opposites or words from completely different categories.

4. Use Action! Show, Don’t Just Tell

Clichés often act as shortcuts for describing feelings. By focusing on active verbs and concrete actions, you force yourself to be more descriptive and less reliant on those ready-made phrases.

Cliché Example: “I felt so sad.”
Why it Doesn’t Work: It’s generic, tells you nothing specific about that sadness.

What to Do Instead: Show the sadness through actions, reactions, or specific events.

Physical Action: “My hand found the dent in the dashboard where your thumb used to rest.” (Instead of “I miss you,” this shows the specific physical manifestation of grief and memory.)
Habit/Behavior: “I still catch myself setting two plates at dinner.” (Instead of “it’s hard to move on,” this illustrates a lingering habit that highlights how hard it is to adjust.)
Interacting with Environment: “The rain outside, it felt like an echo of my quiet weeping.” (Instead of “I’m crying,” this makes the environment reflect an internal state.)

Your Homework: When you use a general noun for an emotion (like sadness, joy, anger), challenge yourself to turn it into a verb or an action that shows that emotion. What does someone do when they feel that way? What specific, observable things happen?

5. Embrace the Messiness: Life Isn’t Perfect

Clichés often neatly package emotions. But real life, and therefore really good song lyrics, is much messier. Don’t be afraid of uncertainty, contradictions, or confused feelings.

Cliché Example: “It was love at first sight.”
Why it Doesn’t Work: Too simple, ignores all the complex parts of human connection.

What to Do Instead: Explore the complexity, the doubts, the unresolved tensions.

Conflicting Emotions: “My heart stumbled, my mind took notes.” (Instead of immediate, perfect love, this shows both attraction and analytical apprehension at the same time.)
Lingering Doubt: “I swore it was over, but the ghost of your grin still trips me.” (Instead of clean breakups, this acknowledges the persistent, unsettling presence of a past relationship.)
Unresolved Questions: “The map in my hand, it pointed to nowhere I knew, or anywhere I wanted.” (Instead of a straightforward journey, this expresses uncertainty and a lack of direction.)

Your Homework: When you’re describing an important emotional event, don’t just stop at the first, obvious feeling. What are the secondary emotions? What are the contradictions? What’s still unresolved? Let there be uncertainty and nuance in your words.

6. The “So What?” Test: Does This Really Matter?

Every line, every single word, should contribute something meaningful to your song. A cliché, by its very nature, adds nothing new. It’s just taking up space.

Cliché Example: “Only time will tell.”
Why it Doesn’t Work: It’s filler, offers no insight or unique perspective.

What to Do Instead: Replace it with something that moves the story forward, makes the emotion deeper, or reveals something about the character.

Move the Story: “I packed light, the road calling, and left the answers to the wind.” (Instead of generic “only time will tell,” this shows an active decision to move forward even without certainty.)
Deepen Emotion: “Each sunrise, a new question mark etched on the window pane.” (Instead of resignation, this conveys a persistent, evolving sense of uncertainty.)
Reveal Character: “I tried to read the tea leaves, but my hands just shook too much for fate.” (Instead of passively accepting things, this reveals a character’s anxious attempt to control the future.)

Your Homework: After you write a line, ask “So what?” If the answer is “nothing really new,” or “that’s just what people say,” then rewrite it. Make every single word earn its spot.

Hands-On Stuff: Exercises to Get You Thinking Differently

Knowing the theory is great, but actually doing it is what makes you better. Try these exercises and make them part of how you write songs.

The “Reverse Dictionary” Challenge: Pick a common cliché (like “raining cats and dogs”). Instead of just finding synonyms, try to describe the idea behind the cliché without using any of its original words. What does it feel like when it’s raining super hard? You could say: “The sky unzipped, spilling buckets.” Or “Pavement gleamed, a black glass river.”
Sensory Dive: Choose an abstract emotion (like jealousy, joy, or dread). Now, spend five minutes writing down every single sensory detail (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) that comes to mind when you think of that emotion. Don’t hold back. Then, try to use some of those raw sensory bits in a line or two.
The “Alien Observer” Exercise: Imagine an alien lands on Earth and tries to describe a common human experience (like a first kiss, a breakup, winning a game) without any pre-conceived ideas or human cultural baggage. How would they literally describe the actions, sounds, and physical reactions? This forces you to strip away the cliché down to simply observing. For a kiss, they might say: “Two organisms pressed their face orifices together, briefly exchanging moist air.” (A literal, but definitely less cliché, way to describe it.)
“Crazy Word Association”: Pick a key word from your song (like “ocean,” “empty,” “light”). Write down the first five words that come to mind. Now, for the first word, write five more words that are completely unrelated. Then, try to find unexpected connections between your original word and those unrelated ones. This sparks new comparisons.
The “Ditch the ‘To Be’ Verb” Challenge: Lots of clichés just state existence (like, “It is hard,” “You are beautiful”). Try rewriting entire sections without using any form of “to be” (is, am, are, was, were). This forces you to use active verbs and more descriptive language.

It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Patience and Practice

Avoiding clichés isn’t a one-time fix; it’s a huge shift in how you approach language. It needs:

Careful Listening: Pay attention to the lyrics you hear. Spot the clichés. Figure out why they don’t work.
Active Reading: Read poetry, literature, even just really well-written articles. See how master writers use surprising phrases and images.
Constant Rewriting: Your first draft will probably have clichés. And that’s totally fine! The magic happens when you go back and rewrite. Be tough on yourself when editing.
Getting Comfortable with Uncomfortable: Trying to be original can feel harder than just using what’s familiar. Lean into that uncomfortable feeling; it means you’re growing.
Trusting Your Own Voice: Everyone has a distinct way of seeing things. Your experiences, your way of looking at the world – these are your most powerful tools. Use them relentlessly.

Being original isn’t about being different just for the sake of it. It’s about being true to the intricate, unique parts of your human experience and putting them into words in a way that truly connects. It’s about building a bridge directly from your heart to the listener’s, with no old, tired language blocking the way. When your lyrics truly shine with that kind of genuine authenticity, they don’t just tell a story; they invite the listener to live it, to feel it, and to carry a piece of it with them long after the music stops. The journey to originality is the journey to real connection, and in songwriting, that is the most incredible victory you can achieve.