🎧 Songs on Repeat & Writing With Feeling

Lately, music has been doing what it always does best for me: holding the emotions I don’t quite have words for yet, and then gently handing them back so I can put them on the page.

I’ve always written with music nearby. Sometimes it’s background noise, sometimes it’s the heartbeat of the scene. Music helps me tap into emotion first, before plot, before structure, before logic. It lets me feel what my characters feel: the ache, the longing, the quiet hope, the unraveling, and once I feel it, the words follow.

When I’m stuck, it’s rarely because I don’t know what happens next. It’s because I’ve lost touch with how it feels. Music brings me back.

Here are a few songs I’ve been absolutely obsessed with lately and why they’ve been living on repeat while I write.

🎵 “All the Things She Said (Harrison Remix)” – t.A.T.u.

This remix takes something already raw and nostalgic and makes it feel almost haunted. It taps into secrecy, desire, being seen and unseen at the same time. When I listen to it, I think about characters who are hiding parts of themselves, loving loudly in quiet spaces, wanting something they’re not sure they’re allowed to have. It’s yearning. It’s tension. It’s emotional claustrophobia, in the best way.

Favorite lyric: Wanna fly to a place where it's just you and me. Nobody else, so we can be free.

🌲 “The View Between Villages” – Noah Kahan

This song hits me square in the chest every single time. It feels like looking backward and forward all at once, like leaving a place that shaped you while knowing you can’t stay. It’s homesickness and growth coexisting. I listen to this one when I’m writing about transitions, endings, and characters standing at the edge of something new, unsure whether to grieve what they’re leaving or celebrate what’s ahead.

Favorite Lyric: Feel the rush of my blood, I'm 17 again; I am not scared of death, I've got dreams again.

💔 “Soft Spot” – keshi

This song is vulnerability distilled. It’s tenderness and self-awareness and the quiet fear of being known too well. When I listen to “Soft Spot,” I think about intimacy, emotional intimacy more than physical. The moments where characters let their guard down, where love isn’t loud but deeply felt. This one is perfect for writing gentle, fragile, and emotionally charged scenes.

Favorite Lyric: I hate to dance, but I'd dance with you. "Cause I'd do anything to feel your touch.

✨ “Fool’s Gold” – Buffalo Traffic Jam

There’s something restless and searching about this song. It feels like chasing something you’re not sure is real, but wanting it anyway. I listen to this when I’m writing characters who are hungry; for meaning, for love, for a life that feels like it belongs to them. It’s messy hope. It’s wanting more, even when you’re not sure what “more” looks like.

Favorite Lyric: Love is kind, love's not fair. Not your choice if you care. I'm down on hope, I can't do nothing right.

🌊 “Navy Eyes” – Midnight Til Morning

This one feels like late nights and quiet longing. It’s soft, moody, and deeply atmospheric, the kind of song that settles into your bones. It helps me write slow scenes: shared glances, unspoken feelings, moments that stretch out and breathe. It’s perfect for writing emotional undercurrents, what’s felt but not said.

Favorite Lyric: If we make it out until the mornin' Would you double down or would you be runnin'

🌍 “We Danced Before the World Ended” – Ryan Nevis

This song wrecks me in the gentlest way. It’s about holding onto joy in the face of uncertainty, loving fully even when the future feels fragile. It reminds me why I write the stories I do. Even in dark worlds, even in endings, there’s always room for connection. For choosing love anyway. I listen to this when I need to remember the why behind my work.

Favorite "Lyric": I love you without knowing how, I do so straightforwardly.

🎶 Why Music Matters to My Writing

Music bypasses my inner editor. It quiets the part of my brain that wants to make everything neat and instead lets me feel messy, human, and honest. It helps me write scenes that ache, characters that breathe, and stories that linger.

If you’ve ever struggled to get words on the page, I highly recommend building a playlist for emotion, not productivity. Ask yourself:

• What does this scene feel like?

• What kind of ache, hope, or tension lives here?

• What song makes my chest tighten in the same way?

Start there. The rest will come.

I’d love to know: what songs are fueling your creativity right now?

Drop them in the comments. I’m always looking for my next obsession. 🎧✨

With love & music on repeat,
Arden 💛