Peyman Salimi is a composer, music producer, and vocalist conducting research at the Computational and Cognitive Musicology Lab (CCMLab) at Georgia Tech. He believes that the song form in popular music, despite its cultural and emotional significance, has often been overlooked in academic research. Thus his work investigates how lyrics influence the way we perceive and emotionally respond to music. Through his project, How Much Lyrics Matter, Peyman examines how manipulating the lyrics of the same song—while keeping the music constant—can impact listener perception and engagement. This research involves creating original songs, collaborating with performers to produce different interpretations, and running surveys to gather listener feedback.

One of Peyman’s major goals is to develop an interactive music platform where listeners can personalize songs by changing elements like lyrics, instruments, or effects. He hopes this idea will create a more engaging and collaborative connection between artists and audiences.

Peyman’s artistic background closely informs his research. As a singer-songwriter, he has released three solo albums and two albums with his Florence-based band, The Allophones. He has also composed electroacoustic works like Doublethink, for fixed media and live electronics, and created the soundtrack for Audenie, a short film nominated at several international film festivals.