With a gift for transforming personal experiences into relatable music, Chris Pannella writes songs rooted in real-life emotions. His heartfelt storytelling explores themes of friendship, remembrance, resilience, and growth, creating a genuine connection with his audience.
Your songs are built around real experiences rather than fictional narratives. What draws you to autobiographical songwriting? It’s what comes naturally to me and I have a deep well to draw from.
“Holdin On” demonstrates considerable emotional restraint. How do you know when a lyric has said enough without saying too much? I often use Pink Floyd’s writing style as a reference point for my own. They are masters of utilizing stripped down lyrics. Most of the emotional heavy lifting is done by their arrangements and atmospheric delivery. I also don’t like overly wordy convoluted songwriting. There are some rare exceptions, Gentle On My Mind by Glen Campbell might be my favorite song of all time for lyrics and emotional delivery.
When you’re writing, do lyrics usually come before the melody, or does the music help unlock the emotional direction of the song?
99.9% of the time it’s music, then lyrics.
Many listeners connect most deeply with songs that feel authentic. What does authenticity in songwriting mean to you personally?
Authenticity is the red hot iron that punctures that highly curated, manufactured AI slop heavy modern environment.
As someone relatively new to releasing music, what have you discovered about yourself through the creative process that surprised you?
I enjoy it a lot more than I thought I would. I am introverted by nature.
Are there particular singer-songwriters or storytellers who have shaped your approach to writing emotionally honest music?
As of late: John Mayer, Glen Campbell, Jeff Buckley, Chris Cornell.
How do you decide which personal experiences belong in a song and which ones remain private?
Generally speaking, I think that if you are writing authentically your personal experience is automatically imbued into whatever you are crafting. The story behind Holdin’ On is one I chose to share because in many ways, it still doesn’t feel real. I’ve only shared part of the story, and the events that followed were even more intense.
Do you think music has the ability to preserve someone’s memory in a way that conversations or photographs cannot?
Yes, it depends on the song though. The listening experience between this song and Mrs. Officer by Lil Wayne is a little different. I love them both though.
If “Holdin On” becomes the song people remember you for years from now, what do you hope listeners take away from it?
I hope it gives them exactly what they need at that moment in time. I discovered Lover, You Should Have Come Over by Jeff Buckley in 2025. It felt like someone had scanned my brain and made *the* song for what I was experiencing. If I can do that for someone else, I will be happy.
