Songs become a part of the story of our lives. Their lyrics linger inside of us. We recall those words, but what we remember isn’t what they meant to the person who wrote them. It’s what they mean to us.

We relate their lyrics back to the events that have happened in our lives. We interject our personal narrative into their songs, and it feels as though they mirror our own memories and emotions.

Some songs make us happy, while others bring sadness. Some songs connect with our present, and others bring us back to the past. They help us recall memories we’ve forgotten.

Some songs are tied to our personal identities and to particular moments in our lives. Playing the song in later years helps us to recall an earlier event as well as the way we felt about it. This is what music does for us. It connects with the story of our lives. It creates meaning. It helps us understand ourselves.

We build a history of music throughout our lives that is unique to us, shaped by our tastes and life experiences. For many of us, it is the closest thing we have to the journal we never wrote or the diary that has long been packed away.

The soundtrack of our lives is an ongoing playlist that we add to with each new experience. Each song holds a different significance, one that evolves as we change and grow as individuals.

Unlike old journals and diaries, this soundtrack does not collect dust on a nightstand or in the bottom of a box but is stored on a smartphone that we take everywhere and hold tightly in our hands.

The time had come to collect and share these stories to create a people’s history of music.

This alternate history, composed of shared song stories, will deepen your understanding of music.

It’ll extend your interpretation of a song beyond what it means to you to how the song has been experienced by another and the meaning it has created in his or her life. Reading each story and playing the song will allow you to hear what music sounds like through ears other than your own.

I hope reading these essays and memories will inspire you to share your own song story.

–Kyle Bylin

Submission Standards

Song Stories is an newsletter that celebrates the power of music through personal, fan-authored essays. We are currently accepting submissions for essays to be featured on songstories.com and considered for inclusion in the next Song Stories book.

What we’re looking for:

• Original essays between 650–850 words

• A focus on one specific song that has impacted or changed your life. Writing that is personal, reflective, and authentic—we want your real story, your memories, and your voice.

What happens to your essay:

• Every submission will be considered for the next Song Stories collection, a book featuring essays by fans about the bands and songs they love

• Until the book is published, accepted stories will be featured on songstories.com, a public newsletter where anyone can read, share, and subscribe.

Call to Action

If a song has ever carved its way into your life and left you changed, this is your chance to tell the world why. Share your story, add your voice to the chorus, and help build a book of music and memory written not by critics or scholars, but by the fans who lived it.

Submit your essay to kyle.bylin@gmail.com.

I’d love to hear your story!

Tonight’s Zach Bryan and John Mayer concert at Michigan Stadium is making history as the largest ticketed concert in U.S. history, with over 112,000 fans expected to attend. This marks the Big House’s first major concert since 1987, transforming the iconic football stadium into a massive musical venue.

I’m launching a new Song Stories-style oral history project to document this unprecedented gathering. In an age where technology is rapidly changing how we experience music, there’s special value in preserving authentic stories from live concerts—the shared moments, emotions, and connections that make music profoundly meaningful.

How to Share Your Story

• Email: kbylin@umich.edu

• Survey: Take the survey.

Why Songs Feel Like They’re About Us

As a teenager, I truly believed that my favorite artists were writing songs about my life because their stories helped me understand my thoughts and feelings.

Now that I’m twenty years older, I no longer relate as strongly to these songs as I once did. Yet their lyrics still feel like a part of me. I have been asking myself about this paradox. Why did I ever believe that they were about me in the first place? Why did their stories relate so well to my own?

From these musings, I have come to realize now that these songs capture a specific moment in human lives, whether the songwriter was looking for love, falling for a partner, dwelling over a complicated and messy breakup, or battling drug addiction.

Though everyone hears the same lyrics, each of us develops a unique understanding of the song. One person believes that the song is about depression and numbing one’s emotions. Another believes that the song centers on a recent breakup.

Indeed, a song that appears to be about a specific memory or emotion can create a wholly different and unique meaning in another person’s life.

But songs can only sound like they were written for us because human experience is universal. We all share the same blood, experience the same feelings, and think similar thoughts. We all seek love, intimacy, and belonging. We are all trying to figure out our lives.

So, a voice can emerge from an earbud—one that understands who we are and how we feel, perfectly capturing what we had been unable to express. The moment we realize that an artist has felt the way you do is powerful. But we often fail to recognize that everyone who has ever lived has also experienced similar thoughts and emotions.

We all experience little flashes, including the face of someone they once loved or the emotions it has elicited.

The Hidden Stories Behind the Music

When I see people at a concert sing the words to their favorite song together, I wonder what flashes are sparking in their heads and what these words mean to each person. I’ve always wondered what would happen if these mini-movies could be captured and displayed for everyone to see.

What do you think would happen if people could see how both different and similar their lives are to those around them? Do you think they would be surprised by the stories they could see themselves in? Would they feel compelled to reach out to that person and tell them? Perhaps all the walls could come down and allow people to be vulnerable. This could lead to profound realizations.

Stories have the power to connect us, showing us that we are not alone in our hardships and struggles. In modern life and its social media, people present the illusion that everything is perfect in their lives and nothing is bothering them. But, in private, many people will tell you that they feel broken, lost, and numb inside. The illusion of perfection prevents us from bonding with equally fragile beings in our daily lives.

We often fail to see other people as humans. Instead, we want to see their gender, religion, politics, or skin color—whatever makes them different from us. This perhaps distracts us from the fact that we are all naked bodies that long for love, can feel hurt, and fear dying one day. Music reminds us of our shared human experience, the struggle to find meaning in existence.

—Kyle Bylin, Editor of Song Stories

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Please consider supporting Song Stories by purchasing a physical or digital copy. Your contribution will help me build a home for creative and personal music writing.

About Song Stories

Song Stories is a collection of personal essays by music professionals and independent artists about specific songs that impacted their lives. The book explores how songs become part of our personal narratives, featuring contributors like NYU professor Cortney Harding on Elliott Smith’s “Between the Bars” and music writer Caitlin Teibloom on Coldplay’s “Lovers in Japan”.

Where to Purchase Song Stories:

• Amazon: Digital edition available. [Purchase]

• Apple Books: Digital edition. [Purchase]

• BookBaby: Physical and digital editions. [Purchase]

Join the Community

Join our Substack newsletter to be part of this historic documentation project. Share your Big House concert experience and have your story featured as we build this unique archive. Supporting the original Song Stories book helps fund the development and publication of this next chapter, ensuring these important musical memories are preserved for future generations.

Whether you’re traveling from across the country or are a local Michigan fan, your story of this historic night deserves to be told and remembered.

Author Bio

Kyle Bylin is a first-generation college graduate from the University of Michigan, where he earned his Master of Science in Information from the School of Information. Currently serving as a Research and Assessment Librarian at Saginaw Valley State University, Bylin brings over a decade of experience as a technology writer and music industry analyst.

His career began as editor of the influential music industry blog Hypebot, followed by positions writing for Billboard magazine. He has also worked in user experience research for major companies, including Live Nation Entertainment and SoundHound Inc. Bylin is the author of three books: Divergent Streams, Promised Land, and Song Stories: Music That Shaped Our Identities and Changed Our Lives. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, MTV News, and NPR.

Please consider supporting Song Stories by purchasing a physical or digital copy. Your contribution will help me build a home for creative and personal music writing.