Does an Artist Need to Write Their Own Songs to Be Considered Talented?

There is an ongoing debate about whether a singer should write their own songs to be considered a truly talented artist. Some people believe songwriting is an important part of being an artist because it allows musicians to express their own experiences, emotions, and ideas.

Others argue that performing a song is a completely different skill. What's your take on this?

Songwriting and singing are two different skills entirely, don't mix them. You can be a great singer without knowing how to write good songs. I have seen great songwriters who didn't know how to sing at all.

They do not necessarily have to write their own songs. There are songwriters that act as ghostwriters for them. These ones are paid to write the songs but do not take credit for it.

I have more respect for those who write their own songs as it shows originality and creativity but you can be a good singer or musician without necessarily writing. Elvis Presley, for instance, was a brilliant singer but he never wrote a song in his entire career.

Being a singer and a songwriter are two completely different skills, and if you can do both, that is amazing, but if you can only sing and rely on others to write songs for you, I wouldn’t say that makes you any less talented than anyone else who can both sing and write songs.

Singing is not easy at all, especially getting it right, and that in itself is a big talent!

That is not true. A song writer might not good at singing which means he or she only writes for another to sing. I have seen situations where one is very good at singing, but they don't write their songs. It does not mean that the person is not quite talented.

I do music to an extent and I can say that the music ecosystem has specializations. It is very possible for someone to be a good songwriter, but not the best performer. And it is very possible for someone to be a very good performer and not so good in writing songs. None of them makes a person less of a musician.

No; in fact, for decades there have been songs written solely by the artist, as well as songs written in collaboration with friends or a professional team that helped with the lyrics. If you look into any famous song, you’ll see that it involved a whole host of writers, composers, and so on—it wasn’t just the artist doing everything; a great many people helped them.

That's true. On Oct 19, 2026, pixelshadewolf said:

No; in fact, for decades there have been songs written solely by the artist, as well as songs written in collaboration with friends or a professional team that helped with the lyrics. If you look into any famous song, you’ll see that it involved a whole host of writers, composers, and so on—it wasn’t just the artist doing everything; a great many people helped them.

That's true. You can hardly see a song that is a hut song that was solely written by the artist that performed the song. Even the producer of the song always has an input in the song writing nowadays. The best singers are not the best songwriters most of the times.

I do not think song writing is essential skill for a singer but I believe a singer needs skills with musical instruments, especially guitar. A singer might have to compose their own song, so they might need music skills

On Oct 19, 2026, Fidelia said:

That's true. You can hardly see a song that is a hut song that was solely written by the artist that performed the song. Even the producer of the song always has an input in the song writing nowadays. The best singers are not the best songwriters most of the times.

Well, this isn’t just a modern-day phenomenon; it’s always been this way. Rarely has an artist done everything—or even the bulk of the work—on their own; most of the time, they’ve had help from many other people. That’s simply how music has always worked.