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Ballad · Topline & Lyrics · 2025
Paper Satellites
A piano ballad about long-distance love, commissioned for a wedding, first-danced in June, and released as a single that autumn.
The Brief
Their story, singable
The couple sent letters they'd written each other across three years of long distance. The song had to carry their actual details — night trains, paper stars, a porch light — and still be simple enough to sing live.
The Approach
Details first, rhymes later
We built the lyric from their letters before writing a single melody, then set the words to a piano part with room to breathe. The demo was recorded in one sitting and barely changed afterward.
Process
Letters to lyric
- Story miningTwo long calls and a stack of letters, distilled into twelve true details worth singing.
- Lyric draftThree verses and a chorus written around their words, approved line by line.
- Release versionStudio vocal and strings added for the single, with the wedding demo kept as the B-side.
Deliverables