Everything Is a Song
Turn an ordinary object into a story by imagining its inner experience
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
Everything Is a Song converts observation into story through personification. Select an ordinary object, sound, or scene and study its practical role. Then imagine that role as a human condition: waiting, serving, wanting, being overlooked, or existing for somebody else's benefit. Ask what the object-person might desire for itself and where its function creates emotional tension. Peel back successive interpretations until a broader theme appears, then dramatize that theme in a lyric, scene, image, or concept. Labrinth demonstrates the process with a drink bottle waiting to be poured, turning its service into questions about being wanted and having needs of its own. The mechanism makes an abstract creative search tangible without requiring imitation of another artist.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO, where Labrinth spontaneously turns a bottle on the table into a character waiting to serve, then develops its purpose into a song about desire and selfhood.
Core principles
- 01Ordinary things contain possible stories
- 02Observation becomes material when you change perspective
- 03Function can be translated into desire, tension, or sacrifice
- 04A small detail can carry a larger emotional theme
How to run it
- 1
Pick the Ordinary Detail
Choose a nearby object, sound, or action that would normally be ignored. Start with what is actually present rather than searching for a grand theme.
Pro tip Use the first detail that catches your attention.
- 2
Observe Its Function
Describe what the thing does, what it waits for, and who benefits from it. Keep this first pass literal.
Watch out Skipping observation can produce a generic metaphor unrelated to the object.
- 3
Give It an Inner Life
Imagine the object as a person living inside that function. Ask what it might feel, need, fear, or want for itself.
Pro tip Translate verbs such as waits, carries, holds, or replenishes into human experiences.
- 4
Peel the Emotional Layers
Follow the first metaphor into deeper questions. Look for the tension between what the character gives and what it privately wants.
Pro tip Keep asking what the role would feel like rather than merely describing its appearance.
Watch out Do not force depth if the image does not support it; choose another detail.
- 5
Dramatize the Theme
Amplify the emotional tension into a lyric, scene, visual, or narrative premise. Preserve enough of the original detail to make the idea distinctive.
In the wild
Labrinth looks at a bottle and imagines that it was made to wait until somebody needs it. He turns that service into a character saying, in effect, that it will replenish another person while wondering when it will be wanted for itself.
→ An ordinary bottle becomes the basis for a song about service, desire, and neglected needs.
Illustrative example: a writer notices a light that remains on after everyone leaves. She treats it as a character whose job is to keep working when nobody is watching, then develops the tension between reliability and loneliness.
→ The observation becomes a distinctive story premise about unseen labour.
Common mistakes
Starting With a Generic Theme
The method gains specificity from an observed thing. Beginning with a broad message and attaching a random object weakens the mechanism.
Stopping at Description
Listing an object's features is not yet a story. The useful idea appears when its function becomes a want, conflict, or emotional condition.
Forcing the First Metaphor
Not every object will yield a strong concept. If repeated questions reveal no tension, release it and observe something else.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for songwriters, storytellers, and creators who need a concrete prompt for an original concept.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the work requires a literal factual account rather than metaphor or personification.
From the transcript
“everything is a song bro”
“I'm turning this bottle into a person”
“start to uh peel the onion of okay what would it feel like”
From the episode
Labrinth: The Musical Genius Behind Euphoria