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Why Do So Many Artists Use Muses To Write And Create Songs?
Unpacking the muse in music
When I listen to romantic songs, I automatically imagine a personal muse as the song’s subject. I fantasize about the tune’s lyrics as if I wrote them, mainly because the lines are already closely aligned with my feelings for someone.
What I admire about great artists is how they can turn their muse into universal messages and sentiments about love or heartbreak. Over time, I grew a strong appreciation for the importance of the muse in songwriting.
Growing up, I played a lot of Maroon 5’s album Songs About Jane. Not only was the album named after a muse, Jane Herman, Adam Levin’s high school girlfriend, but Levine expounded that every song contains at least one line about her. Levine took the totality of their relationship, which was over by the time he started working on this career-changing record, and created a project that reflected its full arc, start to finish.
In 2002, whenever I would play the album, I was obsessed with the songs “Harder to Breathe” and “She Will Be Loved.” As I got older, the album cut and late single “Must Get Out” got played much more than the rest. Maybe it’s the sudden realization that the partnership has no chance of being a long-term solution; maybe it’s how it mirrored my life then. Either…
