Sometimes there are songs that get to you. There's music that you understand on a level so personal, that you don't quite understand how it was put into words. The truth of the matter is that much of this music was inspired by the lives of the singers themselves. Following are true-life stories that inspired five beautiful and meaningful songs.
1. Die A Happy Man by Thomas Rhett
Thomas Rhett wrote this touching slow song for his high school sweetheart and current wife, Lauren. The couple met in elementary school, dated for a while at the age of fifteen, then remained friends when they broke up. Later, both Thomas and Lauren almost married other people (a story told by Rhett's sad song "Marry Me"), but Thomas eventually confessed his feelings for Lauren after her father called him and told him to admit it to her. Thomas wrote this song for her, about what it feels like to be deeply immersed in love, and cast her in the sweet and simple music video.
2. Army by Ellie Goulding
This song was written about Ellie's best friend since college, Hannah. The inspiration behind the song was their friendship, which Ellie stated was "honest, real, electric". The song talks about all the drunken nights laughing over irrelevant things, having a shoulder to cry on during tough breakups, and essentially just having a true and constant friend through all the ups and downs of life.
3. Home by MAX
This song is about a pregnancy scare the writer, MAX, had with his girlfriend at the age of 23. The song entails the thought process that he went through when he found out she might be pregnant and discussed his worries regarding whether he was truly ready to be a father. The day after he wrote the song, he found out that she was not pregnant. He later stated that "She didn’t wind up being pregnant, but it would’ve been beautiful. I can’t wait to be a father one day. I’m not ready yet but I would want to be one, one day."
4. Science & Faith by The Script
This song was inspired by a conversation that guitarist Mark Sheehan had with his wife in which he was attempting to break down love into a science, discussing chemical reactions in the brain and the logic behind falling in love. Afterwards, his wife responded by asking, "What about faith, what about hope, what about love? You won't find anything about those things in science books." From this simple conversation, the beautiful love song Science & Faith was written.
5. Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran
The song "Castle on the Hill" by legendary songwriter Ed Sheeran is based on his hometown of Framlingham, Suffolk. The song talks about all his memories in his hometown, about all the happiness, the sadness, the people who lasted and those who didn't, the good moments and the bad. Even the music video was based in Framlingham and featured students from the high school at which he studied. In the words of Ed Sheeran himself, "This is a love song for Suffolk, because I don’t think anyone has ever done that."
