Born in a tiny town in Pennsylvania, Vanessa Carlton was listening to music before she was born, as her mother played various classical pieces on the family piano. At the age of two, Carlton and her parents went to Disney World, where she heard "It's a Small World." Falling in love with the song, she discerned its melody on the piano when she returned home. Having composed her first piano piece at age eight, Carlton was exposed to a wide array of music, from Debussy to Pink Floyd. At 14, she was accepted into the School of American Ballet in New York, where she lived in a dorm in the famous Lincoln Center. But, after being in the top of her class, she became frustrated at the strictness of the discipline.