Show 20: Till It Happens To You (feat. Corinne Bailey Rae)

When does writing become more than a skill and rise to status as one of the strongest bonding agents in the history of the world?

For me, it was Humanities 101, a prerequisite writing intensive class in my freshman year of college. In that class, I met Fran.

I’m 50 shades lighter than him. He wore dreads while I used to shave my head full of straight, oily hair with a 1” guide on clippers bought from the local CVS. He was born in the US. I migrated here. He excelled in writing poetry. I wrote essays. He played an acoustic guitar. The last instrument I played was the drums in third grade—my family couldn’t afford to pay for the lessons. In few worlds would one expect Fran to become my best friend in college. That’s the power of writing, even when you both took the class to fulfill a writing requirement for graduation.

Or maybe it was also the power of liking the same woman in class. That’s at least as strong of a bonding agent as writing in the history of the world.

Writing also rises from just a skill to a glorious cementing adhesive when diction, alliteration, and rhyme are integrated into harmonies and melodies. And when you have just the right timbre in a voice, good writing transforms into sonic superglue that binds memories of love and heartache with vocal runs, and furniture at hollow, cold venues with flashbacks of thrilling close-calls, and past imaginations and desires with colors and delicate fabrics.

“The yellow dress” is all I have to say to Fran, and instantly, we teleport back to NYC’s Webster Hall, 2006. Corinne Bailey Rae wore a simple yellow dress cut a little above her knees. She sat on a plain metal stool perfectly centered on stage. She played an acoustic guitar. With much less aches in our backs and shoulders than we have now, we stood 30 feet from the stage. Like a star with decades more experience, she delivered singer/songwriter talent with seemingly unreasonable calm and ease.

Since her debut, Fran and I marveled at Corinne’s songwriting and musicianship. Her debut album was one of the last that I could categorize as non-skip, particularly for Saturday morning cleaning around the house. It was coherent in its themes of love, heartache, wonderment, and epiphany and consistent in simple instrumentation that never overpowered Corinne’s voice or writing. The hits got us to pay attention, but for me, deeper cuts like “Till It Happens To You” are what resonate most. Clearly, Fran and I weren’t the target audience of a breakout hit song with a chorus that starts with, “Girl, put your records on.” But that’s the power of good writing and great shows. In 2024, I took Fran to Blue Note for Corinne’s “Black Rainbows” tour. Seeing her in concert is now more than a friendship tradition. It’s a ritual of brotherhood.

I knew right after the 2006 concert that I had to keep the ticket stub—not just out of fandom for Corinne and her talents, but also as another memento for my lifelong friendship with Fran.

I just didn’t know that 20 years after that show that I would celebrate Corinne’s book launch by surprising her with the same concert stub. Perhaps the timbre of surprise in her voice, our hugs of gratitude, and the assertion that I’ll be at the 20th anniversary concert of her debut album were captured on video. I wouldn’t know because I was juggling being in the moment with Corinne and being back in 2006 hearing her live for the first time.

Anais Nin, the acclaimed French-born writer of Cuban-descent, once wrote that “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”

That’s why I keep concert stubs. That’s why I write creative nonfiction.

Given my recently being published in a PEN America anthology, my support of Corinne is now geared more to her as an author. Her book “Put Your Records On” is described as celebrating “music’s unique power to soothe or energize us when we need it most.”

Like Corinne’s music and songwriting, I encourage you to harness that same power of writing for yourself.

=======================

Concert access + more:

1. Seeing Corinne Bailey Rae on tour is a must. Check out tour dates here.

2. Go see Mint Condition’s lead singer Stokley Williams on tour.

3. NYC’s Brooklyn Academy of Music has some amazing concerts on its calendar

4. Free music at PAC NYC

=======================

Job/Career Opportunities in Music and Entertainment:

1. Warner Music Group has marketing, creative, and finance roles currently open

2. Sony Music Group has open jobs in analytics, marketing, and more

3. Universal Music Group has open roles ranging from strategy, product, and operations roles

4. Spotify has many open roles in business development, HR, and engineering

5. Sirius XM is ramping up hiring for engineers, technical program managers, and more

================

About the author:

Cris is the award-winning Founder & CEO of GrantAnswers, an NYC-based data, strategy & consulting firm founded in 2013. His journey to becoming an award-winning entrepreneur has been highlighted in NYT, WSJ, MTV, and Forbes. He has directly impacted +1000 individuals in launching careers in tech & securing acceptances to top colleges & programs. His speaking engagements for the likes of Columbia Business School, Teach for America and the US Chamber of Commerce encompass immigration, career development, entrepreneurship, and tech diversity & inclusion. He is also an avid concertgoer for +25 years and counting, and likes to tell stories about it. In Fall 2025, Cris was published in PEN America’s Dreaming Out Loud Anthology, Vol 7