Soundtrack of My Teendom

When I was twelve, my county created a second high school that resuslted in a seismic social shift; for the first time in 60 years, all WCPS students would not be graduating with their friends from kindergarten. When I was fourteen I attended the new high school, while all but three of my friends from the previous year went to the old high school. Before we all had driver’s licenses we could only meet up at the rivalry football games, and they played Chris Brown’s “Forever” at every game.

“I’d Lie.” As a freshman in high school, I heard a song on the local radio station and the lyrics were something that actually hit home with me, far more than the pop I usually played.

And I could tell you, his favorite color’s green, he likes to argue/ born on the 17th/ his sister’s beautiful, he’s got his father’s eyes/ but if you ask me if I love him, I’d lie.

It felt so great to belt out a song I could actually get behind, but how was I ever going to remember the name “Taylor Swift?” [And now she’s a mega millionaire who yanked her songs from Youtube, so there’s that. Please enjoy this chipmunkified, or possibly outright deleted video.]

“What Does the Fox Say”- Ylvis. This song alone brings me back to being 18. The world was obsessed with it, but so was the insular world of my freshman hall. CNU freshmen are encouraged/forced to hang out together for the entirety of the first semester, and this song was frequently blasted out of hall stereos and became an easy icebreaker when forced to chat with neighbors you had nothing in common with.