A soul-pop trio, Outfit recently released their debut single 'Sunny' – a bright, lush melodic ballad with infectious pop rhythms.
The song, which fans of Ruel and Budjerah will enjoy, was written about mental health and ultimately finding your way to a sunnier place."'Sunny' came from a concept that Tim had in his head after hours of trying to fall asleep," Outfit says.
"The concept surrounded the sentiment of 'I woke up, but in a way I guess I could have kept sleeping' describing the cyclical nature of day to day life at the time.
"We were in-between houses, work in the music industry took a dive due to the pandemic and really we just needed a light at the end of the tunnel to move closer to.
"From there the song grew into a full concept dealing with issues around mental health and finding comfort in what and who you have around you to collectively move towards the sunnier, sunnier, sunnier place."
The group's lead songwriter, Tim Tan has a catalogue of songs (written for other artists) that have accumulated a monstrous 200,000,000 streams globally as well as four #1 Japanese albums.
Tim has written for local stars such as Jaguar Jonze and Enschway as well as K-pop acts Aespa and Enhypen.
Given his record, it's fair to say he knows a thing or two about the songwriting craft; here, he shares five tips to improve your songwriting game.
1: Think less and feel more while approaching lyrics. Sometimes what you actually want to say is already knocking at the door and you just have to let it in.
2: Try to imagine how you want to feel while listening to the song, before you dig into starting the song. It helps keep a consistent picture throughout the writing process.
3: Don't expect your first batch of songs to be life changing. Songwriting is like anything, it takes a lot of time and practice to be comfortable with who you are as a songwriter.
4: Get into the habit of finishing your idea from start to finish. Even if your first idea isn't amazing, the more rounds of this cycle you go through the more focused the ideas tend to be.
5: Enjoy the creation process. Sometimes you'll be in situations where an idea takes four hours, and sometimes you'll be in a situation where the idea takes weeks or months to finish, but as long as you're enjoying every moment of it you'll continue to want to do more.
