The topic of the songs and the impact they had on children and their caregivers is what led me to apply to the MAPP program. The second reason that the impact of lyrics on well-being felt obvious to me was because I have worked with children in cancer treatment, end-of-life care, drug and alcohol recovery, and in juvenile detention centers to write and record their own songs. The first is that I am a singer-songwriter who not only performs and sings my own songs, but who has always listened to lyrics, written my own lyrics, and found comfort as the words on the radio influence my state of mind. I pressed the record button on my iPhone and decided to get the obvious question out of the way first: “Do you think lyrics impact well-being?” This question, and its answer, felt obvious to me for two reasons. I couldn’t wait for the conversation about his favorite lyrics, how artists could influence the world, and for all of the resources he could share that would support this hypothesis and set me up to start writing my capstone. Specifically, how lyrics, the words in a song, matter. I was excited and ready to talk about how words matter. On August 28th, 2015, a few months before graduating with my Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree from the University of Pennsylvania, I walked into the office of James Pennebaker, a leading researcher in language and emotional experiences.
