How to Remember Lyrics of the Songs You Sing

Get to know the story of the song

What is it about? What is the character going through?

Every well written lyric is like a monologue (one person talking) or mini movie script.

Monologues are what actors perform at auditions. They would talk to themselves or an imaginary person in front of the casting director.

If you look at song lyrics as a monologue, you can find the story or message in them and remember them better as a result.

Our brains are wired to remember stories well. If you can imagine the story unfolding as you sing the song, you’ll remember the lyric of the song well.

An added benefit is that you’ll also be walking in the shoes of the character singing the song. Emotions will flow out of you more easily - making the song more expressive.

Learn it in chunks

Chunking is when you break down a difficult thing that you’re learning into separate elements, and you learn those elements one at a time.

This helps us to learn something deeply without being overwhelmed.

When it comes to memorizing lyrics, you can break down the song into different parts and learn each part separately.

Instead of trying to memorize the whole song straight away, you can memorize a few lines at a time.

Move on to the next few lines only when you’ve memorized the previous lines.

For example, if the song you’re learning has two verses, chorus and a bridge. You plan to memorize the song in one week.

This is how you can break it down:

Monday & Tuesday: Verse 1

Wednesday & Thursday: Chorus

Friday & Saturday: Verse 2

Sunday: Bridge

This makes the memorizing process much more manageable and achievable.

Challenge yourself by singing the song without looking at the words

One mistake that will really hold you back is if you keep looking at the words when you’re singing the song (even if you already know the words).

Once you’ve gone through the memorizing process (like the one mentioned above), challenge yourself by singing without looking at the words.

If you’re singing to a karaoke track, avoid looking at the screen.

Keep singing even if you make mistakes.

When the song finishes, look at the lyrics and see where you went wrong.

You’ll remember more and more of the lyric each time you do this.

By having the lyrics in front of you gives you a false sense of security. Although you may not plan to ever perform the song in public, you’ll never gain full confidence of the song this way.

Once you commit the lyrics to memory, you’ll enjoy a sense of freedom in your voice and body. Emotions will flow much better because you’ll be present and in the moment.

This is essential if you want to connect with your audience - whether through video recordings or live performances.