music theory

I believe both are completely necessary. Completely going with the music theory can make a song lack a creative feel and without following a few guidelines it may lose its structure and it's overall listenability. I suggest a healthy mix of the two.
 
Both! Music theory is great to learn, can help you learn new things to add to your songs, etc. But being creative and having fun is important too - no one follows musical "rules" all the time. I would recommend writing stuff, then finding a free course on something like Coursera (you can google website like this/options) and incorporating what you learn as you keep writing.
 
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