Self-Help Songwriter Podcast

“That’s what words are, they create a perspective. You can rearrange the words and make anything beautiful.” - Robert HillHello and welcome to the self-help songwriter podcast! I’m Hanna Francis, a singer-songwriter who is obsessed with self-help (thanks, anxiety!) and is certain that the answers to life’s big questions lie within each of us and on this podcast we search for these answers by analyzing songs with the people who wrote them. In each episode we invite a songwriter to share an ori...

"Sometimes you get energy just from putting yourself in the environment where there's inspiration." - Leah HarrisIn the season FINALE, episode number 7, we chat with my dear friend, the fabulous soul singer-songwriter Leah Harris. Leah grew up in Canada but with a view of Detroit- whose musical legacy influenced her in a major way. She’s been a professional musician since she was 15 and has since toured all over the world. But she’s not only a musician she also helped develop the world'...

I got a solo episode for you today! I break down down an as yet- UNTITLED song- that I just wrote LAST WEEK! Can you believe it? I can't! I'm so excited to be able to break down a song with you so close to having written it. If you have any ideas for a title please let me know (contact details below:)⁠I'm SO excited to DEBUT this song for you today! And I'm even more excited that the song exists in the first place. ⁠It captures this time that I'm currently in- reflecting on my 9 years in Swed...

“You wake up with an idea, you get the guitar, you fool around with it and then it evolves. That’s how you write a song, how I write a song.” - Allen FinneyToday we’re chatting with local blues legend Allen Finney Allen is a beautiful story teller and he has lived through some epic times, including opening for Canned Heat & JJ Cale, to name only a few. Since then, he’s settled down in a simpler life here in Stockholm, Sweden. We first met when I attended a show of his where he perfo...

“When you write a good song you feel like crying when you sing it because it’s so good. But when you write just poetry it just makes you happy and I think it’s fun even if it’s dark and gloomy.” - Maria Lindström ⁠I had a BLAST chatting with fellow songwriter and overall delightful human Maria Lindström. We have so much in common yet are in such different stages in our creative life, and in life in general, and it was so enriching for me to hear her perspective & I think it will be for yo...

"It’s what keeps you alive. It’s the fire. It’s the longing for connection. It’s the discovery of what you have to offer- that’s the flame. " - Stephen RappaportThis week I'm chatting in person in my home with Stephen Rappaport - a critically acclaimed actor, director, singer songwriter, solo theater performer, and playwright from Los Angeles but currently residing in Stockholm, Sweden. Stephen Rappaport leads his life-changing "Intuition in Action" workshops all around the world (see his con...

Today we’re talking to YenTing Lo, a Jazz singer, songwriter, arranger and flutist from Taiwan and she will be breaking down her song Foreshore. We met almost 8 years ago when she was studying abroad in Stockholm and I had recently moved there. So we bonded over being foreign in the north and about being singer-songwriters. She has since graduated from the Conservatory of Amsterdam AND received two Golden Indie Music Awards, after being nominated no less than four times. Her album Epiphyllum'...

I’m Hanna Francis, a singer-songwriter who is obsessed with self-help (thanks, anxiety!) and is certain that the answers to life’s big questions lie within each of us and on this podcast we search for these answers by analyzing songs with the people who wrote them. In each episode we invite a songwriter to share an original song. Then, we will break it down together, line by line, and extract the maximum meaning from it. There are always interesting stories and inspirations behind specific ly...