Inspirational Songs
Music has always had an impact on my life. When I was a child, I didn’t like it at all. Growing up I started associating a song to events, periods of time, and people. I even practiced my English pronunciation and improved the knowledge of new English vocabulary with Backstreet Boys’ songs. My favourite BBS’ song is Incomplete.
Some songs has helped me facing difficulties, they became my friends, and they gave me the power to understand that I was a human being who deserved to be respected and loved like all the humans of the world should be. I do not remember any adults who supported me during my childood, so I learnt to encourage myself alone and keep going through hardships. This also means that I can support other people as well, because I learnt it all by myself.
During the third and last year of my bachelor’s studies I faced a burnout, and I was simply destroyed at both mental and physical levels. But a song helped me to reach my goal: Finish all the exams, writing and submitting my thesis, and eventually graduate. This song is Hall of Fame, by The Script. It gave me strength when I had none, it pushed me to go on when I was tired, and encouraged me that I would have reached my goal. And I made it.
My master’s studies had also a song, by the same group too: Superheroes. It is amazing how their words can talk about someone’s life so well. It seems that these songs understand my mind and speak to me directly. I feel stronger when I listen to them, as I could break walls and even fly. But “that’s how a superhero learns to fly”.
Recently I’ve discovered another inspirational song, guess the artist…drumroll…aaaaaand once again…The Script! This time it has nothing to do with any education (I’m not thinking about a PhD at all!), but actually with my life in general, and I feel I’ve always been an Underdog. Still fighting for my goals, still fighting to have my voice heard and listened, still fighting to be respected, and I will always fight to reach my goals. Nevertheless, I also acquired a new word, since I haven’t heard it before (in English).
If someone asked me which song represents me the most, I would reply Viva. It is an Italian song by the Italian artist Ligabue, one of my favourite singers. “Viva” means “alive”, but since Italian adjectives, articles and nouns of the same sentence (usually) have the same ending, “viva” refers to a she. Ligabue’s songs have the power to understand people and situations as well. When I listened to Viva the first time, I had the feeling it was talking about me, because “you’re alive as you are”. It basically talks about a female spontaneous person and describes some of her aspects.
During my Erasmus in France I used to listen to a German-French song which I think it was released that year, 2018, and is called Je ne parle pas français. It talks about a German young woman who meets a French guy while she is arriving to France and she doesn’t understand a word he says because she doesn’t speak the language, but she defines him as “charmant” (charming). Even though the meaning of the song does not relate to my French experience, its languages do. I arrived in France with German in my head, and it was strange to switch to a language I had never spoke before in its own country, as it was my very first time in France. If I listen to Je ne parle pas français, I immediately see myself walking to go to the Wazemmes’ market.
In 2013 Negrita, an Italian group, released La tua canzone, which means “your song”. It talks about a journey that “it’s up to you, it’s a journey to the stars”. It mentions that “you will change your skin, crisis and revolution, it’ll be your song”. Basically the song talks about a journey or adventure that is going to change you through hardships and that everything changes. I had this song in my mind while I was going to start my Austrian adventure in September 2013.
At the end of 2019 I had a short but devastating relationship with a narcissist man. I was recovering from the failure of my last one (I lived in Austria with an Austrian for five years) and I wanted to be alone. Unfortunately I met this guy and I was fascinated by his illusory self-confidence. I understood too late that he was actually another person: Terribly jealous, he was mean to me by saying cruel things, he was not encouraging me, he even asked me to come back to Italy and leave the university (I attended the three final courses during that period of time, and in January 2020 I came back home, so I was not going to stay there forever), and many other signals told me he was broken inside. We split a week before Christmas and I was really devastated. But this insane relationship led me to a self-awareness and personal growth path that I am still following and that is really improving my life. I understood what went wrong in my previous relationships, which mystakes I did, and I realized what kind of man I wanted by my side. I learnt to be happy with myself and not necessarily needing someone. Well, I am now in a respectful relationship with my partner who loves me and truly cares about me. So, which song represents that narcissist at the best? You give love a bad name. The title matches 100%, even though he does not deserve any Bon Jovi’s texts at all.
I know many other songs which motivate and inspire me, especially when I feel discouraged, and listening to them helps me to get in a better mood and thinking that everything changes, meaning that a particular situation is not going to last forever.
How about your songs? Would you recommend some?
