Lesson 4 · Jolene

Heartbreak Math

Not all heartbreak is equal. There is cheap heartbreak and earned heartbreak, and the listener can always tell the difference. Cheap heartbreak uses big words and dramatic gestures to make you feel something the writer has not earned. Earned heartbreak uses small details and quiet moments to break your heart with the weight of accumulated truth.

The rest of this lesson

Jolene takes this apart properly inside Songmatter — the rest of the lesson, the exercise that goes with it, and a critic who reads what you write back.

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