Q: whats your song-picking system?
A: i'm randomizing from a long list of songs which includes songs where the writing is finished and where writing is not finished. whichever one i pick, i have to finish the writing, and record it. this is a system i started to use last year except this year i have added an extra twist which is that i tell myself that i technically don't have to release it, but i do have to finish it and record it. this is very important because it prevents me from getting cold feet about the selection, and helps me carry on and record it and not 'blame the selection.' this creates somewhat of a paradox because if i follow through on the recording, i'm gonna find a way to make it good, and will end up posting it in the end. but for some reason it really helps to at least pretend thst i'm not required to release it. this enables me to freely experiment on trying to make the best of what might seem like a weak selection. for example, when 'california' came up, my first reaction was 'oh no, not another weed song. people are gonna think all my songs are about weed' and i probably would have chickened out on the selection and then the entire credibility of the random system would collapse. but if i'm allowed to just 'try' recording it to see if i can make it good, it removes the pressure. and allows me to try making it the best i can make it, without stressing that it's the wrong selection. like i said, this strategy is a huge paradox in many ways but it seems to work