Music is my love language.
When I think about my life, I view it through the song I was obsessed with at that time. That is how I remember if a certain time is worth remembering at all. I use music as my time machine. When I feel nostalgic, I turn to music to help me reconnect with my past selves.
I think it’s important to relive the past. It makes you appreciate where you are now even more. For example, my middle school experience can be summed up by the Tyler, the Creator album “Wolf”. At that time, I thought nothing could relate to what I was feeling more than that album.
Ninth grade would be any Adrianne Lenker song, however, specially “Anything.” That song makes me yearn for simpler times. A time where I did not worry about my finances but who was going to pick me up after lacrosse practice and what dinner would be.
Tenth grade is when I heard “Porcelain” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the first time.
Eleventh grade is when I started going back to my roots with my top song of the year being “Monks” by Frank Ocean.
Twelfth grade, the latest addition, would be “Enter Galactic” by Kid Cudi. Twelfth grade was a great year for me. I broke out of my shell and filled my life with things that I truly valued.
Now, if you have not listened to these songs, you can’t really picture how they fit with the time. Also, you are not me, so you really do not know how these songs fit. That’s what makes music so special. Each person can have their own version or spin on the meaning of each lyric.
I think that’s what makes us so different, because no one person could fully understand what you see in a song. Even if you tried to explain, would they really understand who you were during that time?
I’m in a position in life where I can pick a new song now.
I’m also in a position where I can change my whole mindset. I can be a new person. I can either look back at this time and think about a new song or stay with what’s playing now.
However, the one thing that will stay the same is music. Music will always be my outlet no matter what song plays in my head when someone says, “freshman year of college.”