---
title: 'The W3 Formula: Perspective in Lyrics'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=euWivzcqbZA'
video_id: 'euWivzcqbZA'
date: 2026-07-31
duration_sec: 71
---

# The W3 Formula: Perspective in Lyrics

> Source: [The W3 Formula: Perspective in Lyrics](https://youtube.com/watch?v=euWivzcqbZA)

## Summary

This video introduces the first component of the 'W3 Formula' for songwriting: establishing perspective. It explains that asking 'who is talking?' and using first-person pronouns like I, me, my, and mine early in lyrics helps listeners emotionally connect to the story.

### Key Points

- **The First W Question** [00:03] — Ask 'who is talking?' of any song idea to help songwriters maintain focus on the story they are trying to tell.
- **Mining Personal Experience** [00:17] — Songwriters commonly start by mining their own emotions, experiences, ideas, and observations about the world for their lyrics.
- **Establishing Perspective Quickly** [00:29] — Establish the perspective as early in the lyrics as possible by using a specific pronoun, making the story feel attached to a real individual.
- **Using First-Person Pronouns** [00:41] — If the song is told from the writer's perspective, include pronouns I, me, my, and mine as quickly as possible to ground the idea in a human experience.
- **Emotional Connection** [00:57] — When listeners can picture a human being telling the story, they connect emotionally to the ideas, imagery, emotions, or concepts in the song.

### Conclusion

By clearly identifying who is telling the story and using first-person pronouns early, songwriters help listeners connect emotionally to their lyrics. The 'W3 Formula' begins with perspective as its foundational step.

## Transcript

for a single question to ask of any song idea you're working on. The first W question, who is talking? Being clear on who is telling the story helps us as songwriters maintain focus on what story we're
actually trying to tell. Often in practice as songwriters, when we start the songwriting process, it's very common that we're mining our own emotion and experience or ideas, concepts, thoughts about the world for the
purposes of songwriting. But the idea here is as quickly in our lyrics as we here is as quickly in our lyrics as we can to establish the perspective in a really practical sense by using a specific pronoun. If it is us telling
the story and we're telling it from our perspective, getting the pronouns I, me, my, and mine in as quickly as possible, attaches an idea or an emotion to a person, to a human, to an actual individual's experience. And as soon as
a listener can see a human being in their mind's eye telling this story, they connect emotionally to the ideas, the imagery, the emotions, or the concepts that we're writing about in our song X.