The secret shape that unites music & storytelling -- & that hides inside your favorite pop songs (& music in general).

Whether Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Sara Bareilles, Jacob Collier, or any other artist, it's the setup, tension & resolution that pulls on our emotions.

You don't need advanced music theory to hear that wrong notes sound bad -- but armed with the shape of stories (thanks Kurt Vonnegut & Michelle McGhee!), you can make something more beautiful than if you had just notes in the key.

Featured songs:
- Halley's Comet by Billie Eilish
- brutal by Olivia Rodrigo
- Hallelujah (cover) & Hide & Seek (cover) by Jacob Collier
- She Used To Be Mine by Sara Bareilles
- If I Aint Got You by Alicia Keys
- Toy Story

Jacob Collier Hallelujah transcription (what a feat!) by Carter Datz
   • Hallelujah (Live on Stream Aid) - Jac...  

Clip from Kurt Vonnegut's Shape of Stories talk:
   • Kurt Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories  

(WIth apologies to Nick Jonas!)

0:00 Why are artists playing wrong notes on purpose?!
1:05 The structure behind so many stories
2:00 The connection between story & wrong notes
2:30 Jazz, baby
2:40 There's an art to it...
2:50 Look at: She Used To Be Mine by Sara Bareilles
3:37 Look at: If I Aint Got You by Alicia Keys
4:06 Look at: brutal by Olivia Rodrigo
4:32 Why this shape never gets old
5:10 definitely not me sneaking in another musical story