The First Person I Never Knew is an original song inspired by “Main Character,” an episode of Love Letters to Forgotten Things.

It’s about one of the strangest realizations we can have as human beings: every stranger we pass is living a life every bit as complicated, emotional, ordinary, ridiculous, and important to them as ours is to us.

The episode begins with a childhood memory of noticing a stranger across the street. Nothing dramatic happened. They didn’t speak to me. They didn’t even notice me.

They simply existed.

And somehow, for the first time, I understood what that meant.

That person had somewhere to go. Someone they loved. Things they worried about. Private jokes. Childhood memories. Favorite foods. Bad days. People they missed. An entire history that ha ...