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Life in Seven Songs

The San Francisco Standard

EN63 episodes
societyculturemusicinterviewsarts

What songs tell your life story? Host Sophie Bearman asks this question of some of the world’s most fascinating people. Through seven songs, guests reveal the milestones—and the music—that have shaped their lives. New episodes every Tuesday.

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Episodes (63)

Al Roker shares his life story through seven joyful songs

Life in Seven Songs

Feb 3, 202631:19pending

Seven songs that shaped Kris Bowers, the composer behind ‘Bridgerton’

Life in Seven Songs

Jan 27, 202631:23pending

How music shaped Maria Konnikova, from PhD psychologist to poker champion

Life in Seven Songs

Jan 20, 202632:57pending

BD Wong on music, identity, and fighting for Asian American visibility

Life in Seven Songs

Jan 13, 202636:17pending

How Hinge founder Justin McLeod’s love story shaped a dating empire

Life in Seven Songs

Jan 6, 202636:43pending

Go-Go’s singer Belinda Carlisle says her life got interesting when she got sober

Life in Seven Songs

Dec 30, 202529:54pending

ENCORE: Why Kara Swisher loves country music and the military

Life in Seven Songs

Dec 23, 202533:31pending

How actress Mayim Bialik is rethinking her worth after a lifetime in the spotlig...

Life in Seven Songs

Dec 16, 202529:54pending

Inside musician John Grant’s pain: Seven songs that saved his life

Life in Seven Songs

Dec 9, 202534:19pending

31 and done: Why F1 champ Nico Rosberg walked away at the top

Life in Seven Songs

Dec 2, 202531:12pending

Baking star Christina Tosi on the soundtrack behind her cookie empire

Life in Seven Songs

Nov 25, 202527:15pending

How Taylor Swift got TV writer Michael Schur out of a rut

Life in Seven Songs

Nov 18, 202536:59pending

Introducing 'Pacific Standard Time'

Life in Seven Songs

Nov 17, 20254:21pending

Why Andrew Ahn remade the first gay film he ever saw

Life in Seven Songs

Nov 11, 202533:25pending

Trump fired him, but Preet Bharara is still defending the country he loves

Life in Seven Songs

Nov 4, 202535:43pending

How actress Pepi Sonuga keeps the faith, even when Hollywood says 'We don't need...

Life in Seven Songs

Oct 28, 202530:14pending

Drag queen and activist Peppermint finds joy even when there’s ‘no tears left to...

Life in Seven Songs

Oct 21, 202531:43pending

How music taught culture critic Sam Sanders to be grateful for his grief

Life in Seven Songs

Oct 14, 202537:29pending

From the South Bronx to Sesame Street: How Sonia Manzano made Maria a Latina ico...

Life in Seven Songs

Oct 7, 202533:34pending

From Mozart to Drake: The music that moves Misty Copeland

Life in Seven Songs

Sep 30, 202533:57pending

Riding waves and weathering life’s storms with surfer-turned-writer Jamie Brisic...

Life in Seven Songs

Sep 23, 202538:14pending

Special Episode: The songs that shaped our listeners’ lives (and Sophie’s, too)

Life in Seven Songs

Sep 16, 202526:36pending

How I Met Your Mother gave Josh Radnor 'identity vertigo.' Ayahuasca set him str...

Life in Seven Songs

Sep 9, 202535:36pending

How TV’s favorite couples therapist, Dr. Orna Guralnik, found her interior life...

Life in Seven Songs

Sep 2, 202529:59pending

'Everyone’s seen my tits': Keeley Hazell on reclaiming the narrative in her new...

Life in Seven Songs

Aug 26, 202536:46pending

Amanda Knox survived a living nightmare. Flight of the Conchords helped.

Life in Seven Songs

Aug 19, 202534:23pending

ENCORE: How Robert Reich learned to fight bullies

Life in Seven Songs

Aug 12, 202533:06pending

Mary Louise Kelly: NPR host, war reporter, mother … spy novelist?

Life in Seven Songs

Aug 5, 202541:46pending

Biographer of geniuses Walter Isaacson on the songs and city that made him

Life in Seven Songs

Jul 29, 202536:27pending

Best-selling author Jason Reynolds writes the YA books he never had

Life in Seven Songs

Jul 22, 202538:46pending

The music, movie stars and murder trial that shaped actor Griffin Dunne

Life in Seven Songs

Jul 8, 202536:49pending

Joan Osborne got famous for 'One of Us' — but finding her own voice took decades

Life in Seven Songs

Jun 24, 202536:05pending

Death, Sex, Money – and music: The mixtape to podcaster Anna Sale’s life

Life in Seven Songs

Jun 10, 202534:05pending

W. Kamau Bell on fighting white supremacy — but keeping it funny

Life in Seven Songs

May 27, 202535:37pending

The White Lotus’ Natasha Rothwell on the 'angsty' music that shaped her

Life in Seven Songs

May 13, 202535:33pending

How Damian Woetzel jeté-ed his way from ballet phenom to head of The Juilliard S...

Life in Seven Songs

Apr 29, 202535:21pending

Embracing ‘amor prohibido’ with singer David Archuleta

Life in Seven Songs

Apr 15, 202532:24pending

John, Yoko, and a 'beautiful boy': How author David Sheff's life was shaped by t...

Life in Seven Songs

Apr 1, 202531:21pending

America, the broken? Richard Misrach photographs the country's splendor and scar...

Life in Seven Songs

Mar 18, 202529:41pending

Held captive in Iran, Sarah Shourd found solace in a Seal song

Life in Seven Songs

Mar 4, 202532:22pending

Rufus Wainwright’s rough road to becoming ‘the greatest songwriter on the planet...

Life in Seven Songs

Feb 18, 202538:03pending

Inside actor Rita Wilson's other life as a singer

Life in Seven Songs

Feb 4, 202538:09pending

Director Cord Jefferson on winning an Oscar and writing for love

Life in Seven Songs

Jan 21, 202536:16pending

Introducing Professional Book Nerds: An Interview with Daniel Handler

Life in Seven Songs

Jan 14, 20251:06:50pending

Failing publicly and feeling at home with Nextdoor’s Nirav Tolia

Life in Seven Songs

Jan 7, 202532:18pending

Rock photographer Jay Blakesberg on capturing the souls of legends

Life in Seven Songs

Dec 17, 202431:24pending

Sandra Bernhard’s ‘risky, beautiful, and heartbreaking’ life

Life in Seven Songs

Dec 3, 202434:22pending

Chesa Boudin, raised by radicals, on the songs that shaped him

Life in Seven Songs

Nov 19, 202435:59pending

Rahsaan “New York” Thomas on breaking barriers behind bars

Life in Seven Songs

Nov 5, 202431:40pending

Why Kara Swisher loves country music and the military

Life in Seven Songs

Oct 22, 202434:31pending