songwriter
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of songwriter
Explanation
A musician who composes tunes and writes lyrics is a songwriter. Many famous musical performers, from Elvis Presley to Rihanna, have relied on songwriters to write their biggest hits. While composers write music and lyricists focus on just the words, songwriters do both. If you have a decent singing voice, play the guitar, and love coming up with your own lyrics and melodies, you should think about being a singer-songwriter. Or team up with another musician and write songs together, the way John Lennon and Paul McCartney did, sharing credit as songwriters for many of the Beatles' most famous songs.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Catalan superstar Rosalía was presented with a new award, international songwriter of the year, after breaking through with her genre-melding, neo-classical and multi-lingual album Lux.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
It has also become his signature as a songwriter.
From Salon • May 15, 2026
The song blends delicate piano with impressive vocal crescendos, which Goodrem -- a songwriter, musician, film star and a coach on The Voice Australia -- has brought to perfection.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
Whatever else he was, Michael Jackson was a musical genius as a songwriter, singer and dancer.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026
I’m thinking it can’t hurt to share them, even if there’s no chance I’ll ever get to be a songwriter.
From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
