Tracks That Built Me - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

Picture this: You’re 8 years old, in the back of your parent's car. Total Eclipse of the Heart comes on. Before you know it, you’re dazing out the window, mumbling “turn around...” and suddenly, you’re the star of your own tragic music video.

Didn’t happen to anyone else? Just me? Cool, cool, totally normal.

Alright, maybe you don’t want to admit it, but let’s be honest — we’ve all had a moment where we treated a mundane car ride like it was a scene from a movie. The streetlights turned into spotlights, raindrops became cinematic tears, and every stop sign was a dramatic pause for the chorus to hit.

For me, this song was the ultimate soundtrack to my imaginary heartbreak. I was a misunderstood protagonist, gazing longingly at the world passing by, emotionally wrecked over absolutely nothing. I’d mouth the words, clutch my chest, and turn away from the window with the kind of sorrow that could win an Oscar.

Here’s the funny thing — those ridiculous backseat performances? They were an early crash course in storytelling. And now, as someone pursuing a creative career, I can see how those moments shaped me. Because really, what is advertising if not convincing someone they’re the main character and your product is the thing that will complete their life?

Feeling lost and incomplete? This shampoo will change your life.

Dramatic relationship problems? Maybe you just need a car with heated seats.

That childhood imagination — the ability to turn a dentist appointment into a cinematic tragedy — is the same muscle I use now to dream up campaigns and craft narratives. The melodrama taught me the power of emotion, and how turning up the intensity (or dialing it back) can make people laugh, cry, or feel something unexpected. And living in that fantasy world? That was just practice for selling a dream — exactly what advertising is all about.

So, to my future self, if you ever feel stuck or uninspired, remember this: storytelling has been in your bones since the backseat music video days. You were born to create... even if that creativity started with a completely unnecessary amount of sadness to a Bonnie Tyler song.

Lean into the delusion — it’s where the magic happens.

And if all else fails, just blast a power ballad and stare dramatically out a window until the ideas come back.