Donna-Claire Chesman says, “It feels damn near impossible to write honestly about my mother.” I understand this sentiment all too well. Using songs by artist Noname, Chessma describes her strained relationship with her mother. Not accepting that her daughter is gay, Chessman’s mother fails to understand her daughter and continuously attempts to change her. The author goes through several songs in her article to help her get a better understanding of her mother and the reasons for her being the way she is.

I don’t know if music has necessarily helped me understand a relationship better, but music has definitely played a huge role in helping me create relationships with people over the years. Music has such an overwhelming effect and there are so many songs that I can associate with life-changing moments. I’m the kind of person who has music constantly playing in her head. It’s like my life is a movie and my favorite artists are on the soundtrack of it.

I hear You Are In Love by Taylor Swift and I remember it playing in my head while I was standing atop the Eiffel Tower looking down at the city. It was my first time in Paris, a place I had wanted to visit as a child, and I couldn’t get over the fact that I was finally there and it was a dream come true.  I suffer from bouts of depression and anxiety, but I put on Broken Parts by The Maine and I immediately think of the moment I first heard the song and I remind myself that no matter what I am going through at that moment, I am capable of overcoming it because I’ve done it before. The instrumental of Fly with Me by the Jonas Brothers plays at a Disney parade and I remember the rush of adrenaline I felt hearing the beginning notes at the first show they played after their seven-year hiatus. The Middle by Jimmy Eat World comes up on shuffle and I am transported back to a We The Kings concert I went to with my sister and how that was the most fun I had that year.

Music has truyl shaped my entire life and I don’t know where I would be if now for the artists who (figuratively) who held my hand through the major milestones of my life.