[Lesson 2] The writing guidelines: how to format the lyrics
Adjusting your written lyrics to the desired appearance
- Format lyrics by song structure
- Capitalize ONLY the first letter of every line and all proper nouns
- Put Background vocals in parenthesis
- No end-line punctuation except for question and exclamation marks
- Use an apostrophe for contractions
What about numbers formatting?
- From 1 to 10, numbers should be written out: one, two, three, etc…
- Above 10, numbers should be written numerically: 11, 12, 13, etc…
- If there are too many numbers in a line, write numbers numerically
- Use numerals when exact times are emphasized: 9:30 a.m.
- Use lowercase a.m. (ante meridiem) and p.m. (post meridiem)
- Spell out words/phrases that do not include actual numbers: half past, quarter of, midnight, noon
- Dates should be written as numbers instead eg. 1987
- Decades should be written like this: '60s
Do's and Don't
- Do - Find the formatting checklist on the Guidelines page
- Don’t - Use all caps or title case
- Don’t - Use end-line punctuation
Standardized spelling for rap songs
- Tryna (Trying to)
- ‘Til (until)
- ‘Cause (because)
- Finna (I’m fixing to)
- I'ma (I am going to)
- Turnt (Turn up)
- gon' (going to)
- outta ('out of')
- e'ry (every)
- nah mean (know what I mean?)
- lil' (unless a proper name)
- Cuz (when referring to a cousin, or brother, friend, comrade, etc and NOT abbreviated "because")
- Ya (should be used when in place of “You”)
- Yah (should be used when in place of “Yeah/Yes”)
If you have doubts with lyrics, you can always ask in the Musixmatch Community Slack channel
Want to know more about the perfect format? Check our Writing Guidelines