If the whole musician/actor/playwright/composer thing doesn’t work out for Lin-Manuel Miranda, he might want to try his hand as an advice columnist.
The “Hamilton” creator was talking with fans on Twitter on Thursday when a woman who calls herself Peaches asked him for advice on how to make a mixtape to declare her feelings for a “friend” she’s secretly been in love with for years.
Miranda knows a thing or two about this sort of thing. “The Hamilton Mixtape” debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart back in December. He jumped in enthusiastically and outlined his mixtape strategy in a series of Tweets.
His number one rule is don’t start with a love song.
“At LAST, an area where I can be of service! Start with something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH LOVE. Just the most hype track you know,” he tweeted.
Then you kick things up a notch.
“Then track two, EVEN MORE HYPE! Faster BPM! You’ve stunned em, they’re all,”whoa, peaches has turned it all the way up!” (Ha I’m old).”
Track three should be a change of pace.
“Now, you change it up. Love song, but still dance-able. R&B, Death Cab, Carly Rae, keep a beat.”
Now it’s time.
“TRACK FOUR HIT EM WITH THE REALNESS.
THAT SONG THAT ARTICULATES WHAT THEY MEAN TO YOU, WHAT YOU AND THEY SHOULD DO.”
The next song should be a bit of a challenge.
“Track 5 flex your taste. Switch up genre so wildly they go, ‘Whoa, Peaches contains MULTITUDES!'”
He says to repeat these steps until it’s time for the big finish.
“Repeat until the last track, where you chuck the ball in their court. Pick a song that has the word “You” in the title. Be BRAZEN AND BOLD.”
Then he wished her luck, which seemed like the end of the lesson.
Miranda came back on Thursday and said he’d been thinking about her mixtape all day, while he was on set and offered a few suggestions for closing tunes. He said Semisonic’s “Singing In My Sleep” would be a bold choice, because it’s about falling in love through a mixtape.
If you scroll through the Twitter feed, you’ll see that his fans are on pins and needles waiting to hear Peaches’ mixtape, and more importantly, find out if it was a success.
Peaches tweeted on Friday that she’s almost done, and has promised to keep everyone on Twitter updated.
“I respect Lin so much as a writer and composer, he was so kind to help me out I want to make good song choices!” she told CNN in a Twitter direct message. She said her friend isn’t on Twitter, so she wasn’t worried about him seeing the conversation, but she wanted to remain anonymous.
Peaches said all the attention has added a little pressure, but said picking songs that flow together and will connect with the person is already pretty intense.
“I feel like a mixtape is a really personal and intimate gift to give someone, romantic or not,” she said. “There was nobody better than Lin Miranda to give me advice. He is the master of mixtapes.”
Miranda is not likely to give up his day job anytime soon. He’s scheduled to perform his Oscar-nominated song “How Far Will I Go,” from “Moana” next Sunday at the Academy Awards.