Jewel is sharing the surprising backstory behind one of her biggest songs.

On the March 12 episode of the Math & Magic podcast, iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman spoke with the singer-songwriter in a lengthy chat about creativity, activism and art. During their discussion, Jewel explained how she came up with the lyrics to her "first song" "Who Will Save Your Soul," off her 1995 debut album Pieces of You.

"I just started writing songs because I was going to school in Michigan — I was already on my own, I moved out at 15 — and I couldn't afford to get home to Alaska for spring break, and so I thought I would hitchhike across the country and I would afford it by street singing," she said. "And so that's how I learned my first four chords — A minor, C, G and D. I couldn't go out of order because I didn't know how, and I thought I would just improvise lyrics about people as they walked by."

She continued, "That's how I came up with the first lyrics to my first song, which was, 'people living their lives for you on TV/ they say they're better than you, and you agree.' It was really me just observing pop culture and America... By the end of that two-week trip, not only did I survive and not get murdered, but I ended up with a song and I was just absolutely smitten... It just made me feel empowered. It was a real joy, and joy was a scare commodity in my life, and I really enjoyed it."

Jewel also shared how her songwriting was a result of journaling when she was younger as a "survival mechanism" of dealing with pain and pressure.

"I had to ask myself, what is the quickest way through if you can't outrun something painful? And for me, I realized that my journaling — I was writing from a young age — was bringing me into the heart of the pain, and that actually alleviated the pain," she said. "And so I did it as a survival mechanism because it helped me relieve that pressure just enough that I could cope. And that led later when I was 16 beginning to write songs. But it wasn't to have a career."

Math & Magic: Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing with Bob Pittman has new episodes every week where Pittman is joined by a host of guests to discuss how finding that winning combination of strategy and creativity can lead to innovative marketing techniques and "cut through the noise" of a market flooded with businesses pushing the next big thing. Past guests include Pitbull, Ryan Seacrest, Jon Bon Jovi, Paris Hilton, Gwyneth Paltrow and many more.

Check out more episodes of the Math & Magic podcast at iHeartRadio.com.

Jeff Olsen