Behind The Hooks: A Songwriter’s Secret Playbook (Episode 348)

Behind The Hooks: A Songwriter’s Secret Playbook (Episode 348)

What if the rhythm dripping from a leaky sink could become the chorus you’ll hum all week? We sit down with David for a behind‑the‑scenes tour of real‑world songwriting: from sparks that arrive at midnight to the disciplined craft that turns fragments into radio‑ready hooks and film cues that carry entire scenes.

David opens up about his journey from early releases to ghostwriting for major artists and composing for TV and film. He walks us through how chord choices shape emotion—why C major smiles, why minor keys ache, and how F can hold a scene between hope and doubt. Along the way, he builds a holiday track in real time, showing the messy, iterative process of drafting lyrics, tightening a chorus with producer feedback, and matching tempo to an artist’s unique feel. We explore staccato patterns for energetic pop, the sway of country two‑step, and the vivid storytelling that makes a listener see a movie in their head without a screen.

If you love the invisible architecture of songs—the hooks, tempos, keys, and motifs that make crowds jump or cry—this conversation is a masterclass. We dig into scoring for story beats, writing across genres, and the psychology behind music’s pull, including how a single interval can tilt a room from joy to heartbreak. It’s an honest, uplifting update on creative work in motion: a holiday film score taking shape, new songs finding voices, and a reminder that the world is full of rhythms waiting to be caught.

Hit follow, share this with a friend who loves music, and leave a rating to help more listeners find the show. What everyday sound should become a song next?

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome And Uplifting Check‑In

3:26 David’s Background In Songwriting And Film

7:15 How Everyday Sounds Spark Melodies

10:52 Chords, Emotion, And Storytelling

15:20 Building A Holiday Song Live

20:30 Tempo, Artist Fit, And Staccato

26:45 Writing To Picture And Genre Swaps

32:05 Country Roots, Dance, And Two‑Step

37:10 Scoring For TV And Film Icons

#SongwritingSecrets #BehindTheHooks #MusicCreation #SongwriterTips #LyricWriting #CreativeProcess #MusicIndustryInsights #BehindTheScenesMusic #SongwriterLife #CompositionTechniques #InspirationForWriters #IndieSongwriters #CraftingLyrics #MelodyMaking #MusicalJourney #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices348

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Uplifting Check‑In
• 3:26 David’s Background In Songwriting And Film
• 7:15 How Everyday Sounds Spark Melodies
• 10:52 Chords, Emotion, And Storytelling
• 15:20 Building A Holiday Song Live
• 20:30 Tempo, Artist Fit, And Staccato
• 26:45 Writing To Picture And Genre Swaps
• 32:05 Country Roots, Dance, And Two‑Step
• 37:10 Scoring For TV And Film Icons

Transcript

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 0:02

Hey everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices. Thank you. Again, uh, wherever you are, you're watching, listening, here in the United States or across the world, uh, we're grateful and humbled that you've decided to take even a second of your time with us. Uh, we are a uh movement trying to help as many people. Again, the organization titles is voices for voices, pretty self-explanatory. And so those voices come in many many ways, shapes, and forms, and uh from light-hearted topics to some of the uh hardest uh topics and and uh events that some of us uh myself as well as uh our uh our guests are uh sharing. And and so we we thank every guest uh you know, present and past and future, uh, because it's not easy to do. It's easy to say they want to do something, but to actually come on and do it is a whole new ball game, especially when uh you know we're talking about uh a global worldwide audience that uh some say that we we never would achieve, never would attain, and that we're not attaining and achieving right now. And so uh we have got uh uh faith in him that uh he is uh getting our our our show our organization to the the the right people at the right times, and uh this episode is gonna be uh more of an uh an uplifting episode. Uh sometimes it may seem that uh like, oh, you know, we're not having fun, that we're not enjoying. Well, sometimes we're talking about hard topics, it's it's it's not gonna come across as all rainbows and butterflies, but inside it feels good, and I'm speaking on my behalf, feels good uh to be able to share certain um certain topics and experiences, and so that's one of the things of you know, well, you don't look like you're having fun, and so you're not having fun, you don't look like you're excited, but uh and and and I would say as I've said uh to anybody that uh yeah, unless you're inside our you know, inside my body, our guest body, uh and anybody else watching and listening, the only people that know how we're truly feeling is uh is us. Uh and and so whether we look like what is you know, textbook of like you'll be able to notice somebody if they're having fun, if you know these three things are happening, or they're not having fun, or they're uh stressed, or what we're all we're all stressed, so we can kind of just take it as a given. But uh this episode is is gonna be more of an uplifting one. Uh where we're gonna talk to David about uh kind of the uh uh an update uh because things are things are moving pretty fast and they're gonna continue, probably even faster. So it's a good time to check in. Uh you saw part one, uh, where uh we were able to uh you know dedicate that episode uh to uh David's mother, uh Safira Solomon. Do check that episode out as well as our over 340 plus engine episode catalog. We have something for everybody. You can watch us, you can listen to us, and uh we're just uh again grateful and humbled to have you look to us uh at any any point in time. And if you can smash that subscribe button, if you can like, follow, share, share uh all those things, those are things for free to do, and it helps us uh continue to um spread positivity, even if it doesn't look like we're having fun, we we uh as I like to think about the one third eye blind song jumper, uh about you know about stepping away from that ledge, my friend. And if we're able to or have been able to help even just one person up until now and going forward, uh that's a pretty big fee to have an impact like that. Uh so that's why we're taking a few minutes uh uh ahead in this uh this episode to share some of that, some of the information and and uh feedback that we do get uh from time to time. So again, this will be more of an uplifting episode, an update of what's happening. Uh, there'll be a little bit of entertainment. I think David might do a little singing, and so we'll let David take it away from here. Thanks for joining us. Thank you.

David Solomon: 5:33

So um it's gonna be a little bit of a different episode because you guys know me as a writer and I write books, and yes, I'm publishing a lot, but uh I also ghostwrote a lot of the famous songs that you hear on the radio. And because I'm in uh pre-production of one of our movie projects, I'm actually writing the music, handwriting it. I'm a pianist, so I courted a lot of songs. I won't say what names because of NDAs, but asserting someone that is hot on the billboards right now for their new album. I helped with one of their old albums long ago. And credit to Charlie Puth, he and I go way back. Um we had the same piano teacher, uh Ron Oakes, and uh, and so we we know each other in a very interesting way. Um but I wanted to share with you guys what it's like as a musician writing music for your own movie, it's kind of fun. Um, so I wrote my first song that got put out at nine years old, and it was a Reggie Tills song out of everything in this world. Um, and then I wrote a worship song with Don Bowen, who's a musician in the worship industry, and then my mom worked with Hillsong, and then uh uh what was it? I think Brandon Keith and Toby Mack and some other Christian artists, and then I got into some more mainstream One Republic type deals, and uh and it just really went skyrocketed from there. So I've gotten to meet some individuals that are very unique in the writing world um of music, because I believe when I write, I create the music for that scene. I'll give you an example. If you watch Small Bill season seven, and I do believe it's episode uh I think 13 is Hero. Let me yeah, I think it is 13 Hero. Um car is at a concert and you know, we hear One Republic at the concert, it's too late to Paul the Giuse. I said it's too late, and we have that song that fits that moment. So much like Arrow and Flash and other projects that I got to have the honor of working in, of creating original music sang by famous artists to fit that moment. We look at the shallows with Lady Gaga, not saying I had something to do with that, not saying I didn't. And we look at how that shaped that entire movie, and then we look at a horrible movie of Lady Gaga and the Joker number two, which I had nothing to do with, thank God, uh, that was just horrible. It's a it's a horrible music, uh, Nicole. Um, and so the update here, we're gonna talk a little bit about what it is working in the music industry while working, writing, and screenplaying, and being a new father and a husband, and a CEO. And I'm pretty much on the phone all day and night, and I'm recording songs and I'm producing, and then I'm dealing with harassment, and lawyers and uh and stalkers, like uh one of them is called Mindy. Uh, we're we're gonna do an episode um called Mindy. We're gonna talk about that individual uh very soon, but right now, um I just wanted to go back into the days of songwriting and kind of take you through how a songwriter writes famous music that you hear. So I'm gonna take a song that you guys know all too well, and we're gonna talk about how we got there. So it's a little bit of a different process. Um, and you may have seen Charlie Puth or Ryan Tedder from One Republic talk about this, and and this is kind of the process of how we sung Writers Write. So I was in the uh the kitchen uh a few weeks ago, and I heard the sink run, and it was making an odd sound because it needed to be changed, the filter where we live. And it it made a a rhythm, it made a ooh, ooh, ooh, and then I dropped a bowl in the sink, and that made a ooh, so then I got on the keyboard and I went ooh, ooh, ooh, boo, ooh, ooh. So that's C and D. And then I started playing around. And so I'm gonna let you listen to the progression of how this started. It started like no words. Now, when you're a musician, each note can manipulate someone to feel a certain way. If I do a chord of C, E, and G, it's a happy note. But if I do D, F, and A, it's a very sad note. It's a keep running up that hill, keep running up that hill, keep running up that build. It's that sad note. Or kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep. Still that sad feeling. But if I do uh if I do G, B, and D, that's a happy note. That's uh well this was in between, so this was unusual. It was an F. So you have F, A, and C, and that creates an in between. And so this is how it turned out. I wrote it because of the holidays, because this is a holiday movie that I'm producing, and I'm really excited to share it with you guys. So here's the first part that didn't start right. The lyrics are terrible the first time, but here it is. Ooh, I need to get away from the work because everything is not working out. So I close my eyes and I imagine myself someplace else. A little bit sunny and not so sad, a little bit smiley. Well, I'm glad. A little less rainy and a little less snow. I wanna close my eyes, get the ticket and go. Cause California dream and you know it and need. I need some better weather in LA, a little bit to the north, maybe a bit to the south, somewhere along San Francisco, babe. I need a little bit of, I need a little bit of sunshine in my life. So that was the first version. And I sent that to my producer, and he said, Oh, we can have someone famous sing this, but but change the chorus. So now it's California dream, and you know what I need. I need some better weather, like a lady. I need to close my eyes, just relax, feel the vibe, cause it's okay. I need a little bit of, I need a little bit of good vibe in my life. I need a little bit, a little bit of. I need a little sunshine to survive. I need a little bitter. And then the artist tonight created. I've been in New York City and New Jersey, I've been in New Mexico and Albuquerque, been in San Francisco, Santa Fe. I've even been to Houston Bay, I'm in the Texas, I've been to Oklahoma, bodies to Canada and Mexico itself, but not the fun phase to the sun in LA. Because that's like it's breathing someone else, California dreaming. So then we had to work out the kinks, and I had to listen to him and he had to listen to me, and we had some back and forth, and finally it's really good. There's another sad song I'm doing, which you would do in the key of C minor, and it goes. It makes me wish we could be. But I close my eyes, and I realize it's a fairness. When I see you who see all the memories who know the history and the mystery of everything that we made and everything that breaks. Who thought you were so real? I thought you were the real deal. And then we take that and we up it and when you're writing a song, you you get the tempo a little different for each artist. If it's one republic, it's do do do do one and two and three and four, one and two and three and four, one and two and three and four. If it's Taylor Swift, you know it's one and two and three and four, and one and two and three and four. If it's Justin Bieber, it's baby, one and two and three, one and two and three. A little slower. If it's Joe Jonas or the Jonas brothers, we go together. One and two and three and four. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. So that's called staccato. Sticato is when it's a short note. We go together. Or I'm so cool. Baby, you know, I'm so cool. Okay, and uh, I'm a sucker, I'm a sucker for you. Love me to heaven, love me to heaven, baby. Love me to one, two, three, four. That's staccato. Uh Sabrina Carpenter, one, two, three, four, one, two. Billy Eilish, one, and two, and three, and four. Each artist has their different tempo that you work with, and each artist has their own moods. That's why One Republic wrote the song Halo, but they didn't sing it. They gave it to someone else that could do it better. Because if they sang it, it wouldn't be a female artist singing it. It comes out beautifully when an artist like her sings it or Miley Cyrus. You know, so many songs are written, like from people like me, Ryan Tutter, Charlie Pooh, Justin Bieber. And you have no idea that the artist singing them had nothing to do with it. Look at Kane Brown and thank God. Look at Kane Brown, Blake Shelton, look at uh Forrest Walker, you know, look at all these people. Give me your uh juice, one second, give me a one and two and three. So now I'm doing the song, and I actually wrote it about my childhood because I was stupid, as I mentioned, joining a gang. Now I've never drank, I've never touched alcohol, I've never touched drugs in my life, but there's a certain emphasis when you're writing about a character in a Marvel or DC or a myth movie, and it's that moment. So here it is. And you have to make the audience when you write these lyrics, you want the audience to uh visualize the lyrics in their head. When you listen to a song, you're listening to a movie appear visually without seeing it in front of you. So you're listening to it and you're making the visual yourself. So, like I love Blake Shelton because he always tells stories. They met on the pier, and that was how she met him on the night and didn't know. You're telling a story. It's so unique to tell stories when you sing David Archuletta, great guy I worked with. These people tell stories. This is true music, not rap, that people just take out of proportion. Although, kudos to MGK for writing good raps that tell stories. But some rappers do not tell stories, they just rap because they want to stay relevant. See what I did there? Just kidding. But um when you're writing a song, you want to tell a story. So, like one of the lyrics you're always rewriting is I was just looking at our old shells just enough. Those old shows looking at the old pictures that we would be, wishing we could go back in time to be, and I remember yesterday seems like not long ago when we were not astray and when I could hold you close. We were young and reckless. We were young and stupid. We used to think we could get any girl, and now we're older we're gray and we're making the song and we're trying to tell a story that was then and this is now because we were young and reckless on a go. So that's telling a story of when we were kids and we were young and reckless. It's telling that I am dusting out the shelf, looking at our old selves, looking at what we were what we were meant to be, wishing that I held you most, wishing I could hold you close. One of the lyrics we cut was that's when you haunt me like a ghost the most. And so uh then the other country song that we're doing in a Texas story is very different, it's toned down and it goes one and two memory they surround me. It ain't no mystery in a book and history with do you remember the night in September when we would hold on to each other and gaze at the star and not go far those were the memories haunting me like go repeat on that emotion wishing I could hold you the most on those nights I'm so lonely thinking of old history and getting back to those memories because they get the best of me oh and they get me down and cry and they get the best of me holding you wishing I could hold you tight I never wanna let you go I never wanna let you down I wanted you to know I'm holding on to you now 'cause I memories that we may it ain't no mystery in a book and all the history that we took everything we did when we met we were kids. So it's telling a slow story that you could put to an ice skater, they could dance to it on the rink or they could dance to it in a country song, and then there's the songs where it's you just wanna be clean for nine if all you want to do is burn a little moonlight, be my little one, two, three, four. That's country music. So the other thing is I also fell in love with music, and I owe this to Blake, who will come on our show. That I started teaching legit country dance because I also write music for country singers to this day. So I fell in love with writing songs that you can dance to. There's just an art to it. It's the one, two, three, a one, two, three. It's different than other songs that are at a different pace. Pop is, you know, shiver, you know, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, at Sheeran. That's the shiver, you know. Um, and then you got one republic that's even more pop, and then you got these country songs like Sheet on the Best of Me. And you know, one, two, and three, and all that's left to me, is playing this guitar, and every night, and one, two, three. That's when you can dance with your partner and have a good time. So, you want to write songs that are written for your partner because they go a long way. Um, another one uh is uh oh, it goes. That's what we call a two-step dance. And it's really fun um to do country music. I adore it, I love it. I want to trade it for the world. Uh, if you know Honey Bee by Blake Shelton, excellent country song. I can't say I wrote it, I can't say I didn't listen to it. Country Blake Shelton, Honeybee. It might be called Honey now. They might have changed the name. And then Adam Levine, girls like me, like girl, excuse me, guy like me, like girl like you, and one, two, three, and one, two, three, and one, two, three, and one, two, three. So that's a a rather interesting rhythm. And then you got Justin Beaver, very dramatic with his music now. You know, I'm sorry, cause I'm one, two, three, for your body, oh, is it tuning now to say sorry? And then you have your Spanish songs with Justin Beaver, not saying I had anything to do with it, not saying I didn't going just to one and two and three and four, and one and two and three and four, one, two, three, and four, and one, two, three, one and two, and three, and four, and one and two, and three, and four, and one and two, and three, and four, and one and two. So it changes the rhythm when you do Spanish music because Spanish is more vibrant, it's alive. You know, it's gonna uh it's one, two, and three, one, two, three, one, two, three. They're talking about dancing. They're they're very alive. I wrote a song called Laguna Laguna Bay, don't, don't, don't, don't go, and then you have Flo Rider. Welcome to my house, baby. And one, and those are for the drunk people that really just don't give a crap about life, and they're just chilling to this music. And then you got chain smokers, um, and you got bands that just like to write those songs that make no sense whatsoever and should not ever be there. And then you have the weekend, which I can't admit to doing and cannot, which write these amazing songs and imagine dragons, whatever it takes, so and one and two and three, until whatever it takes, yeah. And my mom's favorite train, hey so sister, hey the mista one and two and three and four tonight, one, two, and three. So when you're a songwriter and you're a script writer, and then you're a novel writer, it really comes together because when you're writing your novels, so many um novelists they make a uh a playlist of all the songs that they're going through in their head, or they'll even play them while they write their their their novels or their scripts. Me, I just write them, you know, right off the spot. And uh, you know, one of my favorites that I wrote for Wonder Woman. That you guys never got to see. We actually shot it in 2011. Is if you don't wanna see me, you just don't wanna see me, you just don't wanna see me anymore. I'll be right here I'm not going anywhere but I'll be broken but I'm not broken all the way I'm in peace shadow that glass I guess I'll leave you in the past and I'll go up on someone else that will treat me better than you 'cause I should have known And so it actually became another song that got played in uh in Britt Robertson's uh Oh I think it's Life Unexpected and it's still if you don't wanna see me, you just don't wanna see me, you just don't wanna see me anymore. Whoo, cuz I wanna know what's going to you man, and you know the billboard sign, and that was the song for that. We did a original song for um for a famous movie that you guys know of, and and sometimes uh as I chord things, there doesn't need to be lyrics like X-Men, you know, he he he he he he he he he he he he one and two and one and two and one or teen wolf one and two and three and four and one and two, and there's that staccato again. And um whereas arrow is he he he he he small wheel is that nice little melody, and then you have RB rap from Black Lightning, and you know I'm going through the hood, you know I did the best I could, one and two, and three and four, one and two and three and four, and there's a time for those. Um, I wrote uh uh something coming out. I've never done drugs, but it is about doing drugs because in that scene our character is trying to chase a draffer, and so it goes, smoke that dope, and let's get high. We could be each other, set a lights, and now one and two, and three and four, and one and two, and that's a nice chorus, and then you have neon lights, and you throw your character running through the scene in Sound of Freedom. We had music play that was in South America, and four, and then you have the suspense. Star Wars is the same thing with John Williams, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, One of the Greats. Uh, is that soundtrack? Narnia, Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp. And speaking of Johnny Depp, Johnny Depp is a dear friend of my mom's long ago, and you guys will be hearing from him soon. Um, Johnny Depp actually courted one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. And so uh I I played it by uh by uh by ear, and it was just incredible what it turned out for Pirates of the Caribbean 4, because there's a different version due to copyright of the first movie, which was owned by Disney, and we actually produced Pirates of the Caribbean, still through Disney, but not the music part. We used another studio if you do your homework and research. And so uh, you know, Moana, same thing with Dwayne Johnson. Um, all these songs are all rhythm, and the world is alive and full of rhythm. And so when you're a songwriter, you know, I'll be I'll be in bed, and my wife will be asleep, the children will be asleep, and I'll just go, oh, there it is. There it is. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. I'll get the keyboard out, call my producer, and go, let's sell this to the next artist. And then they'll go, oh, I like that. Let's let's do that, whether that be Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, OneRepublic, Justin B. It doesn't really matter who it is. It it's someone in that industry that you know sings it better than me, but we're the ones that make them look good so that they can sing these songs and be incredible and make the audience more importantly relate to the songs because you can really bring an audience in with emotion, you can manipulate. That's why the Amish thought that music was witchcraft because music is manipulative and you can manipulate the mind. If you use a key, I'll give you an example. You just want attention, you don't want my that was Charlie Putth. And Charlie and I have worked, um, he writes his songs uh to manipulate an audience in a certain way to feel a certain way, because when you hit a certain note in a certain key, you manipulate the mind subconsciously and chemically to feel a certain way. If I sing a song about breaking up, I'm gonna break it with you, it's what I gotta do, you're going to feel sad. But if I'm singing um sunshine, sunny today, you're gonna feel bright, or it's a good day to be alive, and that's why a lot of upbeat songs you always see people in the concerts just jumping up and down, and then the sad songs, you see them in the bleachers just crying and bawling their eyes out. One of the telltales of uh of manipulating someone in the music industry, we got 30 seconds, just FYI. Oh, okay. The forbidden notes, the C D and F sharp never use it. Um, so anyway, that's a little bit about the music part. If we have time, uh sometime we'll uh we'll go into why that ties in to music and TV, and then the the updates on why this matters. So thank you for taking the journey as a songwriter for some of those great hits that you listen to.

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 37:26

Yeah, thanks uh David for getting into that. It's uh it's something it's a it's it's definitely exciting, and uh you as the uh as a songwriter and just a writer or creator, it's just amazing how your mind and your vocals work. It's uh it's uh it's a it's definitely a cool, cool thing. So when you know people say you're having fun, uh it's always serious. Well, I'd say this was a pretty, pretty fun episode. It was super cool to get a look and get a jumps into a songwriter and uh all the different aspects. Um and we will we'll have uh an episode coming up where we can tie this all together. Uh voices for voices with mythical. Uh it's uh it's exciting time. Uh you can smash the subscribe button, like, share, follow. And thanks to Dave for being