Explore how music reveals the power to heal, tell stories and connect
Music moves us—not just through melodies or powerful lyrics, but through its ability to echo our deepest emotions, says the Music and Language Learning Center. Music transcends words and borders, becoming a universal language of feeling, the website says. Whether it’s the nostalgia of a childhood song or the comfort of a sad melody, music gives shape to emotions we often can’t explain, it adds.
According to the Music and Language Learning Center, music is a tool that can elicit human emotions. “Music has a remarkable capacity to evoke a broad spectrum of feelings in its listeners. It directly channels our innermost emotions, transcending language and cultural boundaries,” the website states. Different musical elements shape our emotional responses, such as tempo, melody, harmony and rhythm, the website explains. “For example, an upbeat rhythm can inspire joy and excitement, while a slow, minor-key melody can evoke introspection and sadness. This emotional responsiveness to music demonstrates its universal power to tap into emotions.”
Music holds the enigmatic power to alter the face of our personal and collective experiences, the very perception of ourselves and the surrounding world, according to the research done by Kobu Agency. “Life without music would lack meaning and enchantment. Music transforms mundane experiences into moments of transcendence, emotion and connection. The research also states that songs imprint themselves onto our identities, especially those heard during formative years. “Listening to music can evoke nostalgia, self- reflection and remembrance of key personal moments, making music a time machine within us,” it says.
Soundscapes of the heart
At 21, Jonah “Charlie” Bawden, a freshman business management marketing major student at BYU–Hawaii, has already carved out years of experience in music production. But what began as boredom and injury during the pandemic slowly turned into something deeper—a personal and emotional journey expressed through sound, he said.
“I grew up playing piano. I took piano lessons for maybe eight or nine years,” Bawden said. "But I could never focus on the classical music my teacher was teaching me. I hated playing the songs. I never practiced, and so I got dropped.”
Ironically, it wasn’t until he could no longer move freely that he began to fall in love with music, he said. Stuck in his basement during Covid-19 and recovering from a physical injury, he turned to music production software on his laptop. “Out of boredom, I learned it, and I started to really like it. I started practicing, took all my classes and got good at it,” he said.
Bawden currently works as an audio specialist in BYUH’s Media Productions studio, spending his days writing, producing, mixing and mastering songs—a skill he’s refined over the past six years, he said. He said his growth came from a divine push. “God put me in a room where I couldn’t do anything else, and I just learned how to do music,” he said.
But Bawden’s music is more than craft—it’s emotion translated, he said. He shared his tribute song “Today I Lost a Friend,” written after the death of a fellow student, emerged from a moment of personal and communal grief. “I was actually in the hospital dealing with my own medical problems. That’s when I got the news,” he recalled.
The song brought others into the process, he said. “I got the student’s friends to help out with it. They sang it. They helped with some of the lyrics,” Bawden explained. He said a line in particular—“He took a part of me. I hope he holds it closely”—resonated with more than he expected. “I wrote it as filler lyrics at the time—I was trying to get a demo out. But it ended up really connecting with people. Everyone else said it was exactly how they felt.
Although emotion is often the driving force behind his music, Bawden said he begins with structure. “When I feel something strongly, that’s usually my cue—it’s time to write a song,” he explained. “From there, I explore the chords, select the instruments and sounds, and those choices naturally guide the melody.” For Bawden, instrumentation and arrangement form the emotional framework—the very architecture—of a song.
“People tend to have this automatic connection in their minds—‘I want to write a sad song, so I’ll use a somber piano and minor chords,’” Bawden said. “But it doesn’t always have to work that way. I’ve written sad songs on ukulele.” He said he loves experimenting with contrast. “Some of the best songwriters take an upbeat, happy-sounding vibe and pair it with melancholy lyrics. That contrast creates a kind of bittersweet anthem—where the sadness is softened by a hint of hope,” he said.
Not all of Bawden’s songs stem directly from his personal experiences, he said. “I write about my personal emotions about half the time—or maybe one-third,” he explained. “Usually, I’m writing a narrative, almost like a fictional story, but I’m taking a situation or a lyrical idea and writing from that.” He said his song “Movie” is a prime example. “While it might sound autobiographical, the inspiration actually came from a popular phrase: ‘Let’s live our life like it’s a movie.’ Though emotionally resonant, the track is fictional,” he said.
Even his heartbreak anthems don’t necessarily reflect his own love life, he said. “I’ve written a lot of heartbreak songs,” Bawden said with a laugh. “But my relationship is great.” Like a novelist, he said he values the power of emotional storytelling—whether it’s drawn from reality or not. “It’s like an author; you don’t have to experience everything to write something.”
You don’t have to experience everything to write something.
Songwriting has also become a medium for emotional clarity, he said. When asked if music helps him process his emotions, he responded immediately: “For sure.” He recounted moments where songs emerged from collective feelings rather than personal ones. One track, “Low Lately,” was written during a session where the emotional tone of the room shaped the music, he said. “It wasn’t even because I was feeling low. It was just the people I was in the room with at the time—that’s just how it came out.” The song doesn’t offer resolution or optimism, he said. “There was no hope at the end of the song. No punchline. You just listen and feel those emotions.”
Reflecting on what songwriting has taught him, Bawden shared, “First of all, I didn’t know that I would be good at something like this.” He said he quickly realized that music is as psychological as it is artistic. “A lot of people think music is just an art, but it’s also a science,” he said. “It’s like psychology. The best songwriters figure out how to please someone’s mind through sound.”
This mindset, he said, also informs his academic path.Though deeply immersed in music production, Bawden is pursuing a degree in business marketing. “Music is 100% marketing now,” he noted. “Six years ago, music on the Billboard Top 100 was there because it was good. Now, it’s whatever’s trending on TikTok or any social media platform.” For that reason, he said he’s chosen to focus more on marketing strategies than on music theory. “Music now is just like, ‘How can I shove this song in someone’s face a hundred times?’”
When it comes to musical inspiration, Bawden doesn’t idolize performers as much as he admires the writers behind the scenes. “If you go and look at all your favorite songs, it’s all the same people,” he said, naming Louis Bell, Blake Slatkin, Billy Walsh, Ryan Tedder and Amy Allen among his songwriting heroes.
Asked which song holds the purest form of his emotion, Bawden referenced a track written in high school about a friend who passed away—a song so raw it hasn’t been released. “It was very raw. I didn’t mince words,” he said. “It was about a friend who had passed away, and the lyrics could be triggering to some people. But it painted a picture of the event and the feelings around it.”
In all his music—whether shared or kept private—Bawden shared how emotion finds life through melody, harmony, and rhythm. “I think I was led to love music,” he said. “And now I want to help others find their creativity and put it in a song.”