Music and Writing: Songs that Evoke Emotion

Music is what started my love of story telling through writing. Specifically, Hear you Me by Jimmy Eat World inspired my first book. The lyrics made me want to write a story about someone who had lost their best friend. I morphed it into a little of a murder mystery for young adults. Ever since then, I have always listened to music while writing.

I have discussed this a little in past posts, specifically this post about finding writing inspiration. But I want to dive deeper into how writing and music intertwine. This post is going to take a few turns: first, I am going to talk about specific genres that I listen to while writing. Then, I am going to talk about lyrics and analyze a few specific passages to help elaborate on what makes them so powerful.

Music Genres

Disney

Disney songs are my go to right now when writing. There are songs for every occasion. Mulan has the perfect songs for training — I’ll Make a Man out of You, and now from the live version Loyal, Brave and True by Christina Aguilera. Hercules have the perfect inspiration for someone about to give up — Go the Distance. The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride has a great song about betrayal — One of Us.

In summary — Disney has amazing music that can give great inspiration for writing. These songs were written specifically to help tell a story within a movie, so why not listen to them to help us figure out how we want to tell our stories?

Pop

If you are not a fan of Disney music, or it just doesn’t give you the emotions you need, there are so many other great songs you can try out. After creating my Disney playlist, I got a lot of suggested music to listen to that was not Disney, but it had the same emotional vibe.

Pop music seems to be the theme in my suggested songs — Lewis Capaldi, Harry Styles, Demi Lovato, Halsey, Hailee Steinfeld, Julia Michaels, Selena Gomez, Sam Smith, Why Don’t We, Bebe Rexha, Alec Benjamin, and Lauv make up a majority of my playlist. These artists all have great emotional songs that can cater to different types of characters.

Country

Country music is known for being about relationships. There are so many awesome songs that fit with any kind of break up you are looking to write about. There are songs about cheating, drifting apart, one sided love, and any type of relationship you can think of. Right now I only have four country songs on my playlist (which is very low for me!). They are homecoming queen? by Kelsea Ballerini, 10,000 Hours (with Justin Bieber) by Dan + Shay, I Hope by Gabby Barrett, and Love Ain’t by Eli Young Band.

Some other country artists that I know who have great emotional songs are Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Brett Young, Blake Shelton, Martina McBride, and so many more.

Lyrical Rap

I myself am not a huge rap fan, but there are a few rappers I do love and have great music for evoking emotion. NF, Eminem, and Juice WRLD are three of those rappers I am thinking of. Machine Gun Kelly and G-Eazy are also on some of my playlists, but not as frequently when it comes to writing, but they do have some emotional songs that can be great for writing inspiration.

Lyrics

Each song tells it’s own story. When I am writing I choose to listen to more emotional songs. I imagine my characters going through the emotions that the song is trying to evoke. When writing a scene that is supposed to be upbeat and fun, it doesn’t help to be listening to a song about a heartbreaking break up.

Writing lyrics is one way to utilize your writing skills. When I was maybe around 10–12, I tried out writing lyrics in a diary that I have since thrown away. I wish I still had that diary so I could look back and see what I came up with. Now, this is something that I haven’t done since I wrote those few songs in a diary, but I have thought about it. I started with writing poetry, because sometimes poems can make songs, like limericks.

Because of my love of music, I have wondered whether I would be any good at writing lyrics, and I honestly think the answer is no. My stories are meant for books where I can flesh out every detail. I have only recently started writing short stories, which was hard enough. It is so hard to write when I have a limit on my word count. My most recent book is 85,000 words — that would be extremely hard to condense into 5,000 for a short story, or even less for a song. But, it might be a fun activity to try!

Analyzing Lyrics

I’ve mentioned a bunch of artists and songs that I consider great for listening to while writing. But, I want to pull out some specific lyrics and talk about why they are so thought provoking and emotional.

NF

I’m paralyzed, where are my feelings? I no longer feel things, I know I should. I’m paralyzed, where is the real me? I’m lost and it kills me inside, I’m paralyzed

Paralyzed by NF — Mansion Album

This is a song by NF that is particularly emotional. To me — this expresses the emotions, or lack thereof, of someone who has experienced something traumatic. They are lost and don’t know how to come back to themselves. This is a great song to listen to when writing about heart break, grieving the loss of someone, or any other traumatic experience.

Bastille

When I watch the world burn, all I think about is you.

Doom Days by Bastille

This song is just a jam for me. The overarching theme is the destruction of society through social media — in my opinion. This specific line though, I just love. I think about someone standing on a hill watching everything below them being destroyed, and all they’re thinking about is that one person they wish they could be with. So, I use this to help me create those characters — the one who is watching the destruction, and the one they most want to be with.

Kristen Bell — Frozen 2

I’ve seen dark before, but not like this. This cold, this is empty, this numb. The life I knew is over, the lights are out. Hello darkness, I’m ready to succumb.

The Next Right Thing by Kristen Bell — Frozen 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I had to include a Disney quote. When I first watched this movie, I was so amazed by this song. It embodies the affects of grief so well, and I thought that was so important to help children in particular understand and navigate grief. Not only is this a great song for children, it is a great song to help writer’s who struggle when it comes to writing someone grieving. This lays out what it can be like so well. There are so many ways that people grieve. This song did a great job of approaching the topic.

To Conclude:

I could talk forever about songs and music artists. I would not enjoy writing quite as much if I didn’t have music to listen to while I wrote. It keeps me entertained and inspired when writing gets tough. I love sharing my favorite songs with people. I hope that you have found some new music that you enjoy in this post!

If you listen to music while you write, what are some of your favorite songs to get you inspired?

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