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I have a secret weapon.
This ability helps me get As in class, allows me to avoid paying for birthday gifts and even gives me an extra boost when applying for jobs. All I need is a guitar and a pen, and I can achieve almost anything. If you haven’t guessed already, I write songs.
I write songs about anything, for anybody and at any time of day. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with a tune or a cute line echoing through my head and struggle to a scrap of paper and scribble it down before it slips my mind. Songwriting is my favorite pastime. I find entertainment in turning any situation into a song, such as trying to buy a taco at a Mexican restaurant as the waiter hits me up for my phone number in front of my dad. I don’t hear the greasy-haired waiter asking me for my digits. All I hear is: “Dear taco boy, I can’t be your guacamole.”
Writing songs even helps me enjoy school. After all, in middle school, I discovered that by writing a song for a project on Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, I could get an “A”. I was delighted to find out that my favorite hobby enabled me to score more than sheet music.
I also learned how to use my songwriting abilities to escape buying gifts. I wrote a song for my uncle’s 40th birthday and even dragged my sister into performing a song for our mom on Mother’s Day about how much we appreciate her doing our laundry. And although middle school taught me a lot, even more than how to save money and how to say “Diego Velázquez es un pintor sorprendente,” it mostly taught me that my one true passion is music. Needless to say, during my middle school years I wrote a new tune almost every day.
However, when I started high school, my songs seemed to hit their final note. As my guitar skills improved — I could now play more complex chords — I found myself in a rut when it came to composing lyrics. Nothing seemed to inspire me anymore. I was suffering from songwriter’s block and this disease stayed with me during my first three years at Lowell.
I only managed to pick up the guitar and pen in the summer before my senior year. I was spending July in France with my grandparents and one of my friends showed me this YouTube video of a girl about my age singing a song she had written. The song was decent and catchy, but I remember thinking, “I can write a song like this.”
I wanted to hear what people thought of my songs so I made my own YouTube account. Luckily, the account gave me an incentive to write songs — I began composing and posting non-stop and suddenly began getting messages like “Your lyrics are inspiring” and “I can’t believe you’re only 17!”
It was so gratifying to hear that people who live in another state liked my music! I even got a request to record an album from people in Ireland.
When I first sang my new songs for my guitar teacher, he insisted I perform at a café with him. I thought I would be nervous to perform my own compositions in front of all these faces I didn’t know, but I actually felt exhilarated. That performance not only confirmed that I love writing songs but also showed me that I love sharing my songs.
However, when some of my friends suggested I share my songs with classmates, I froze. Only my closest friends knew about my hobby and I wanted to keep it that way. I felt like my songs were extremely personal and I didn’t want my business being exposed to people I wasn’t that close to. Somehow, I felt more comfortable with the idea of a complete stranger listening to my music than the person sitting next to me in physics.
But then college happened.
I could see the depressed faces and gloomy looks from my fellow seniors. It was heartbreaking that so many amazing people were being rejected from their dream colleges. When I heard Asher Roth’s “I Love College” single on the radio, I spotted the perfect opportunity. I wrote a parody called “I Hate College,” then posted the video on YouTube and Facebook. I had friends coming up to me singing, “Man I hate college/as much as high school/this really ain’t cool/and I hate college.” I loved that my fun project turned into an anthem that uplifted my classmates’ spirits as they laughed over “Screw state schools and screw UCs/too bad I failed the SATs.” Once again, I was convinced that writing songs was my so-called calling.
Now, to answer the big question that every senior is forced to face before they graduate: Where do you see yourself in ten years? I have no idea. I don’t even know what country I’ll be in. But I do know that I’ll still have a guitar and I’ll still be writing songs.
I know I’m lucky always to have something that makes me — and others — happy. And since there isn’t a way for me to really express the joy I gain from writing songs in this column, I think I’ll just go write a song about it. |
