Self-importance kills cute rock
The genre can be loud and bold. Trouble starts when the lyrics admire their own importance.
Cute rock doesn’t handle phrases that enter the room before the person very well. Especially if eternity, destiny, and the fire within have already arrived with them.
Self-importance isn’t volume
You can shout “give me back my hoodie” over a wall of guitars. Self-importance appears when the lyrics demand to be considered significant in advance. The protagonist stops living in the scene and starts making pronouncements about life.
The signs
Destiny, eternity, soul, world, abyss.
Everyone’s suffering, but it’s unclear where they are or what happened.
Not a single mistake of their own.
The song turns into a collection of posters.
How to bring it back down to earth
Replace one big word with an action. Not “a broken heart,” but “she put his mug away in the back cupboard.” Then leave one phrase a little ugly: people rarely speak entirely in successful aphorisms.
If a line suffers too beautifully, give it a shopping bag and wet socks.
When it’s allowed
A song’s ending has the right to take off. A big phrase works if there was a journey to get there. Then it’s a release of pressure, not a pose in the first shot.
Cut the verse’s most “beautiful” line. The lyrics get better surprisingly often.