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Forums » Forum Games » Spotify shuffle writing prompt!

The game is simple: open your spotify "liked songs" play list and shuffle it three times. Explore the three selected song's lyrical themes and create a writing prompt based on your interpretation. It can be as detailed or open-ended as you want, but it needs to be a writing prompt, not a short story. Meaning keep it to a few sentences/a paragraph.

This idea is inspired by a video by the YouTube channel "drawfee", where they took three shuffled songs from their spotify "liked" play list and each created a digital piece of art based on the lyrical content and themes therein. I loved the idea, but I can't draw, so I figured why not share it with a bunch of writers and see what they come up with!

Below is my inclusion:

Song 1
"Portrait #1" by "twelve foot ninja"
This song is about a king who, to his people, his wife, the seers and oracles, everyone around him effectively, he is a perfect being, a God among men, you might say. However, behind closed doors, he uses pain and fear to ensure he gets everything he wants.

Song 2
"Mr Magic" by "Reliqa"
This song is from the perspective of someone under the control of another who has abosulte authority over those under them. But their position is built on a house of cards. And although the employees will be able to eventually find new work and rebuild their lives should they lose that job, the person in charge will lose everything and never get it back.

Song 3
"Valkyrie" by "Caligulas horse"
This song tells the story of two soldiers and friends about to charge together into war. It's from the perspective of one of these friends, giving a speech to his friend to try and raise his spirits before they undoubtedly give up their lives in the upcoming battle, reflected in the line that's repeated a few times throughout: "Call for the Valkyrie".

The writing prompt:

You're forced against your will to serve in a rebellion against a tyrannical overlord who's made life hell for a large part of the city. But this rebellion operates mostly in the shadows as this overlord has the occupants of their territories brainwashed into believing he is a living God among mortals. With almost no combat training, you're about to breach and fight your way into the main enemy stronghold, but your opponents are nothing more than civilians who are forced to see you as the enemy instead. Will you have the strength to fight side by side your unlikely comrades?

A few things to note about song interpretations:
Sometimes it's really hard to understand what a song is about. They tend to use fancy words to convey a message that's barely obvious what it's about. As such, the fun of this game is more about the interpretation itself, and less about making sure your interpretation is the correct interpretation. As such if you see someone use a song that's different to the way you would interpret it, I encourage you to think about their interpretation and how they may have got to that conclusion. Who knows, that may lead to you a greater understanding of interpreting other works outside music lyrics!

Be respectful and have fun!

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