In this YouTube video, Nashville‑based singer‑songwriter Sarah Spencer introduces Day 2 of her recurring "5 in 5" speed‑songwriting challenge. She presents a newly written, mellow track titled "Bad Poetry," which she completed during a prior livestream that viewers can watch for the full writing process. Sarah explains the structure of the free, five‑day challenge—writing one song per day based on daily prompts shared with a community of songwriters. The Day 2 prompt required an AAA rhyme scheme, which she incorporated into the verses, and offered an optional "amplifier" of a key change, which she chose not to use. She reflects on the song’s vibe, her satisfaction with meeting the prompt, and invites viewers of all skill levels to join the challenge via songfancy.com/5in5, positioning the event as a way to overcome writer’s block and the inner critic.
Chapters
Cool. Hello, we are live. I do believe we are live. Wow, you saw me just making mouth noises the entire top of this video. That's fine, it's cool, I'm fine. Hi, my name is Sarah Spencer. I'm a singer-songwriter based in Nashville, and today is day 2 of the 5 in 5 Song Challenge. I just finished my song called Bad Poetry. Um, I just livestreamed this writing process, so if you want to see how this song was made, um, go over to my channel and find the video. It's the one right before this, about an hour-long livestream where I work out majority of this song. Um, it was a quick write. Uh, but yeah, I'm digging it. My goal for this song and all the rest of the songs that I'm writing this week is to write really mellow stuff. That just mellow-ass shit that I can sit in the corner of a room somewhere and play live and just make all of the chill vibes for the environment. So this is called Bad Poetry, and here we go. Oh, we're gonna take this off though because she slaps the guitar. Not a good way.
Words that you say, it's like you're on the scene. That's always the play. I got nothing to read there in between the lines you leave. You think you got it down to an art. Yeah, you had me falling hard, but it's like this. Poetry that you make sound like a dream. Yeah, your lips speak in Swahili. That's the way you love me. You can't, you break tempo and space. I can let him stay. From the blame and all the shame, to whoever's listening. You use it, yeah. You think you got it down to an art, yeah. I used to fall for it hard, but it's a lie. Poetry. You make sound like dream. Your lips speak in tragedy. That's the way you always love me.
That is what I got for day 2 of the Five in Five Song Challenge. I'm 2 for 2 so far, so we're doing pretty good. Tomorrow is where I start to tucker out on day 3. If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about with the Five in Five Song Challenge, the Five in Five is a free speed songwriting challenge that I host every couple of months, um, and it's going on this week. What we do for 5 days is we write a song every day for 5 whole days based on prompts that I share with our group of songwriters. So today's prompt in particular was, um, use an AAA rhyme scheme somewhere in your song. Um, optionally you could also do an amplifier, which is sort of like an optional prompt as well. The amplifier was to add a key change somewhere in your song. I didn't want to add a key change. I'm not good at that kind of stuff, but I knew I could do a AAA rhyme scheme, so that shows up in my verses. Um, the words that you say, like, you're on stage, that's always the play. So I'm feeling pretty good about myself. I actually, like, really, I think, nailed the prompt. I like the song. It fits the mellow vibes that I was looking for. Um, so yeah, thank you for listening. If you want to join us, you are welcome to join this challenge. It is for songwriters of all experience levels— beginner, advanced, If you're stuck with writer's block right now, this is the challenge for you. This is a block, block-busting challenge for sure. And it's really designed to help you move past your inner critic, which can hold us all so tightly sometimes. So songfancy.com/5in5. I'll put the link down below if you want to join us. And thanks for listening. I will see you
