Year 38 began with silence. No familiar melodies, no comforting lyrics… Just me, a blank journal, and one rule: I wasn’t allowed to listen to anything I’d heard before.
This episode picks up where my music fast began. With my entire emotional playlist wiped clean, I suddenly found myself missing not just music, but a way to process my emotions.
So I tried something new. I started asking strangers—passengers, crew members, and pilots—for a song they associate with a happy memory. And just like that, my empty journal started filling up with recommendations… and with stories.
This episode is about:
The emotional awkwardness of starting from zero (again)
The magic of asking a question that resonates
What music can teach us about connection, even when we don’t like the song
The beautiful moment when you realize you’re not alone
What began as a solo challenge became a shared adventure—proof that even in silence, the potential for harmony is everywhere.
Get the transcript at HappinessSoundtrack.com/stories/ep2.
Janna Barrett is a commercial flight attendant who’s fascinated by the associations we form with music. On her birthday in 2024, she went on a year-long music diet, giving up all the music she’d ever heard before. Janna started a collaborative journal to get music recommendations, asking people to write about a song they associate with a happy memory. But after falling in love with the question as a method for connection, she is now on a mission to prove that everyone has a song.
