This discovery is an absolute delight. Pure wholesomeness set to song. As ridiculous as a toddler’s ramblings are apt to be, who would think to make them into pop songs? And good pop songs, too! Well, Stephen Spencer, that’s who. A music theory professor at NYC’s Hunter College, Spencer would casually take the randomly adorable stories of his daughter and sing them around the house just for kicks. As her repertoire of tales grew, he had the idea to make them into actual songs.
This is the kind of fun, unadulterated creativity that I admire, no matter the style. Multi-instrumentalist Spencer has taken something innocently silly and turned it into a yacht rock masterpiece. The compositions are sophisticated, built with more care and attention than you’d expect from a playful project like this. His daughter’s words are treated with respect as he constructs chords, melodies, and rhythms around their playful nature.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Spencer said, “As a songwriter and music theory professor, I’m drawn to unusual phrases that land with a fun rhythm or have a hook hidden in them, and my daughter seems to have an endless supply of them.” And that is the appeal of what he’s doing. The silliness and cuteness arew wrapped in impressively composed songs. I’m not exaggerating. These are some seriously well-written pop gems. Just take a listen to the clip below.
@_stephenspencer lyrics by my 3-year-old daughter
Spencer also has a collection of what he calls miniatures titled ‘Dawnings’ on Bandcamp. There are twenty short, experimental compositions (the longest track is 1:39). Ethereal guitar, airy keyboards, and calming vocals hover around intriguing bits of found sound. It’s a great listen as each track flows pleasantly into the next.
As others online have said, I hope he plans to put an album out of his toddler-inspired tunes. I’d definitely buy it.
Cheers!
Stephen
Instagram → instagram.com/_stephenspencer
TikTok → tiktok.com/@_stephenspencer
Bandcamp → sspnc.bandcamp.com/album/dawnings
Hunter College → music.hunter.cuny.edu/faculty/full-time-faculty/stephen-spencer/
