Your Voice, Your Power

The Hidden Stories Inside Our Songs

One of the most beautiful—and sometimes surprising—parts of being an artist is discovering the layers of meaning behind the music we create. Sometimes we sit down to write a song, believing it’s about one thing… only to realize later that it’s telling us something deeper about ourselves.

In a recent live session, I shared the story of a song I thought was just an imagined love story between two young people in the 1930s. It wasn’t until I found myself in the recording booth, on the 4th take, that I realized the truth: it was actually all about my late stepfather. 

All the references were him! Things I’d long forgotten were in the lyrics and imagery. He had red hair (I only knew him with silver hair), the love letters the song was about - I had a box of cartoon style letters he wrote me one summer at camp when I was 8!). I was writing about my love for Bernie years after he passed + I didn’t even know it.

Music has this powerful way of bypassing the conscious mind and going straight to the heart. It reveals what’s buried beneath the surface—even when we aren’t aware of it ourselves.

Your Lyrics Hold Emotional Truth

Whether you’re a songwriter, singer, or composer, there’s something magical about uncovering the emotional truth in your lyrics. Even if your words are wrapped in metaphor, fiction, or imagined characters, they’re still carrying pieces of you—the heartbreaks, the triumphs, the hidden desires, the unspoken grief.

One song I wrote, Beautiful Heartache, began during a relationship filled with frustration and stuckness. At the time, the lyrics came from pain, but over the years, my relationship with that song changed. As I healed, I began to hear the humor and sweetness woven into the story.

That’s the gift of being an artist: our songs evolve alongside us. We outgrow the emotions that birthed them, yet the songs remain as markers of our journey—a reminder of where we’ve been, what we’ve survived, and who we’re becoming.

The way you feel about the song evolves which means your live performances evolve - keeping it fresh for you and the audience.

Start With Your Truth, Then Build the Song

So often, we’re taught to focus on technique: the perfect rhyme, the clever melody, the hook that grabs attention. But here’s what I’ve learned from decades of working with artists: the emotional truth comes first.

Your truth is the foundation.
From there, you can build melodies, structure, and poetic phrasing—but without emotional authenticity, your song won’t resonate deeply with listeners.

Here’s my favorite tip for unlocking authenticity in your writing:

• Start by writing your raw, unfiltered truth—what you’re feeling, fearing, wanting, or longing for before you get clever, find the rhyme.
  
  

• Once it’s on the page, shape the art. Metaphor is your friend. You don’t have to give away every detail of your personal story, but the emotion must remain honest and intact. 

• Deliver the story however you imagine it - take the risk and go bold in the direction you see internally - try several versions until you are moved + thrilled by the song.