I am trying to write songs but most ideas are extremely similar to your old jingles. maybe because ive spent an embarassingly long amount of time looking at them, or maybe because i enjoy them the most (my conspiracy theory is, it's a combination of both). how do i grow out of copying someone and thinking more originally?
there are 2 things you can do. listen to at least 100 other artists. then, besides that, try to write something that ABSOLUTELY none of those artists have ever done. to make this easier for yourself, temporarily waive the requirement that they are supposed to be 'good'. try to do something incorrect and horrendous with the music. What this does is it taunts the music gods, provokes them, and they will try to get their revenge by making the music good anyway. And you will see that the path it takes FROM that horrendous place, back to a more familiar place, will be very interesting, and still quite different from most things you've heard, while still being good