5 Icebreaker games to play before you co-write a song

Sometimes writing with other people can be a bit awkward, making it difficult to get a creative flow going. Here are five icebreakers that will help you and your collaborator(s) get on the same level so you can write a banger.

by Sammy Hakim of Bandzoogle

Every once in a while songwriting begins to feel like work when the ideas aren’t flowing. It’s especially difficult if you’re in a session with other songwriters and things just aren’t quite jiving. However, there’s no real reason it should be this way. And truthfully, there are a lot of fun ways to get out of this. 

Here are some tried and true games to play with your collaborators to improve your writing. 

1. Word Association 

Now this one might seem a bit obvious, but word association is a great game to play to come up with some new fresh ideas. Write down the words you come up with and go in a rapid fire circle without overthinking it. At the end of the game look back and see what you’ve come up with. I think you’ll be surprised at some of the cool ideas in there.

If you want to take it a step further, circle your favorite words and play a speed round of association under each of them. Keep narrowing it down until you find something you like and a story behind it. And voila! You have new ideas, and a better collaborative effort you’ve come up with together. 

2. We Are Not Really Strangers

Now, if you haven’t heard of this viral game I’m a bit surprised. It’s been all over social media. But I cannot recommend it any higher. This game was created during the pandemic to keep people closer and asking the harder questions to get to know each other more intimately.

Now the game card says you can play to win, or play for fun. We recommend doing the harder route and playing to win. You’ll learn a lot about your collaborators and establish trust with them that will most likely lead to more open and honest songs – our favorite kind. 

3. Never Have I Ever 

This one is kind of funny, as it’s a childhood game for most of us. But stick with us! We can explain. Playing games like Never Have I Ever with collaborators has you getting to know them and what they have/haven’t experienced. Which means, you’ll find some common ground that you have as well. Or maybe, similarly haven’t but wish you had. These will help you find common grounds and subject matter to write about without the deep intensity of We Are Not Really Strangers. 

4. Rhymes

This game works by starting with a word and going in a circle rhyming with it. Similar to word association, it’ll give you a bunch of new ideas and cool rhymes you can use in your song, as well as helping you break loose and get comfortable and silly with each other.

Hopefully a few of the ideas that pop up in the game spark something and help you get started with the song and out of your writer’s rut too. 

5. Drinking games

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to drink! Drinking games often have some sort of mix of all of the above games written into the rules – or have rules that are interchangeable whether you are sober or not. Playing these kinds of games can lead to asking those harder questions and getting to know each other better. So take it as you will, and hopefully some of these games will help spark connections. 

All in all, being stuck on a song doesn’t have to be a bad thing. And writing with new peopleopens up collaboration in many new ways as long as you’re open to it! Most importantly, remember to loosen up and have fun. Your collaborators are there to do the same with you. And whether or not you write the most amazing song that day, at least you’ve had fun and gotten to know each other a bit more for next time. 

Need more inspiration for your songwriting? Try these 5 songwriting challenges to keep you motivated and creative.

Happy writing! 

Sammy Hakim is an up and coming young songwriter based in Los Angeles. In May 2018 she graduated from Berklee College of Music with a Major in songwriting and a focus in music business. These days she spends most of her time in songwriting sessions with artists all over the country.