Listen to "when spirits sing" above.
During my freshman year at CU Boulder, I created an original EP as part of a project for an English course. The assignment was intentionally open-ended, allowing students to explore any medium of expression after consulting with the professor. I chose music as my medium because I’ve always seen it as a powerful form of storytelling. Drawing on themes we explored in class, I began writing songs that responded to the course content. What started as a plan for six songs eventually grew into a seven-track EP, along with four additional demo tracks. The project challenged me to work within a creative constraint, pushing my songwriting in new directions. It remains one of my most meaningful and personal works to date.
The content we referenced in this class focused on Latin American literature.
As context for this project, here are the assigned readings for the class:
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Space Invaders by Nona Fernández
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Hasta la Raíz (album) by Natalia Lafourcade
Our class discussions centered around themes of hauntology, family, Latin culture, love, and loss. I was especially inspired by Hasta la Raíz by Natalia Lafourcade, the only musical work we studied. This album directly influenced the song “in between” on my EP, both musically and lyrically. The song explores the loss of a romantic partner and the difficult realization that the relationship may not have been healthy in the first place.
Other songs, like “estrella’s lullaby” and “vision,” were inspired by specific characters from the novels. I focused on the qualities and emotions that stood out to me and used them as a foundation for songwriting. In contrast, tracks like “the price of wanting to be,” “she’s here,” and “aquí estamos en lucha” were shaped more by the broader concepts we explored in class, such as suppression, human rights, and the idea of hauntology.
The final EP is a YouTube video, so I created this background with the EP title and song titles.
In addition to the main tracks on the EP, I chose to include four “bonus” tracks made up of drafts and demos of songs that didn’t make it into the final lineup. I added these to give a clearer picture of my creative process while writing the project. Some of the ideas I explored just didn’t work, which is a natural part of songwriting. Not every song makes it to the finish line. Sometimes I’ll write a single verse and realize I’m not inspired enough to keep going. Including these unfinished pieces felt honest and reflective of the trial and error involved in making music.
Click through the slideshow above to view my song analyses.
After finishing the songs, I created an in-depth writeup (above) to accompany the music. I used a format inspired by Genius, a lyric analysis site, to break down each song line by line and explain the meaning behind the lyrics. My goal was to give context and show that each lyric was intentional and part of a larger narrative.
I also designed a cover for the EP using watercolor and construction paper. This quick addition brought a visual element to the project, helping to create a setting for the songs. The artwork includes the castle mentioned in “the price of wanting to be” and features layered patterns in the landscape, each suggesting a different part of the story.
In the end, the final project included a produced EP of seven songs, four bonus demos, a lyric analysis, and a hand-crafted visual representation of the collection. I had a lot of fun creating it and still feel proud of the music and meaning behind it.
