Playlists
If playlists are the ultimate currency of coolness, we're your virtual treasury.
The Soundtrack To My (Past) Life
When I think back to my days spent in middle school, I remember being obsessed with My Chemical Romance, wearing excessive black eyeliner and band tees to school with skulls on them (and secretly being afraid of getting in trouble over it), and wishing I was as cool as Peyton Saywer from One Tree Hill with her sexy convertible and incredible taste in music.
By Jesse Bixby5 years ago in Beat
My Play-Sing-Scream-list!
Welcome to my world of music! I have a huge audio library. I am the kind of person that listens to almost anything. That girl lives in a movie and the music plays in the background inside her mind. I love to sing and music is a vehicle for my feelings. I use it when I need to get deep into some story. It runs through my veins!
By Sofia Duarte5 years ago in Beat
My Teenage Angst Doesn't Have a Body Count
Long before I was the nerdy, bookish girl with her head buried in a story and her spare time spent writing fanfiction and buying books with her own money, I was a nerdy, bookish girl with her head buried in a story and her spare time spent writing fanfiction and begging her parents to buy books for her. I guess you can say not much has changed! My music taste is also included in this statement. I grew up as the target of much bullying, thanks to being poor and overweight in a school with mostly affluent peers who hit some kind of genetic lottery I wasn’t privy to. While I have no hard feelings now and hope all my bullies grew up to be lovely people, I was not so okay with it during the time. Enter my teenage angst: in soundtrack form. Yes, in case you were curious, I did actually make mixtapes on CDs that looked like vinyl! Now, without further ado, some of the songs that shaped who I am today.
By Talia Hazelton5 years ago in Beat
A Dream World With Rose-Colored Glasses
I didn’t know what Rock, Jazz, Blues and Country music meant in my teenage because my community people considered girls who listen to western music as rebels. Boys enjoyed the freedom which the girls cannot imagine even in their fantasyland. Girls have to stick to the rules. They would force girls to learn only classical music and sing/hear regional songs. The misconception of girls would lose their discipline if they hear English songs floated around my people when I grew up.
By Anitha Sankaran5 years ago in Beat
"Katarina Stratford Doesn't Care About Your Feelings"
I am certain it is obvious from the picture presented above, that I was VERY cool in my young teenage years. In this image, I am in eighth grade and thirteen years old. If it was not clear from the dip-dyed pink hair or the justice scarf or even the denim jacket, I was chock-full of angst, practically bursting at the seams with it. The majority of my teen struggles rooted in my miniature stature, standing at a whopping four feet and nine inches. Although, for someone whose personality stood at a proud six feet and six inches, I could not understand having so much to say, yet I was allotted so little time of day. I'm sure this is because I hardly ever breached anyone's line of vision for them to know I was deprived of my rations of attention; but I divulge. I am aware that the title of my playlist and this story is oddly specific, but it is absolutely important that it is. Katarina Stratford, among many other female icons in movies I watched and books I read, practically shaped my personality and outlook on life. Kat was the fuel for my raging feminism, defiant demeanor and absolute disregard for others' opinions of me. That was, of course, until I recognized the rest of the world was a situation that I was absolutely and unfortunately only a part of. How earth shattering for fifteen year old Josie, oh the tragedy! Along with the typical frustrations of teenage life and being tiny in a sea of billions, I also came from a broken family where financial struggle was commonplace and constant. I was always the mediator for my parents and siblings, needing to calculate every situation and remain calm and logical from the ripe old age of four. I had the pressure of the world on my shoulders, needing to set a good example for my younger siblings; so I joined every club, every AP and honors class, ran for every leadership position and applied for every job I could. On top of this, I was also in three sports and doing pretty well in them up until my ACL and Meniscus tears happened. There went my athletic career, but oh well, time to find another way to get into college. I did anything to get into college and be an example. I also knew I had to set myself up for my future, not having a trust fund or family money to fall back on, like many of the teens running rampant in Los Angeles. Part way through high school, I started to develop severe anxiety and depression symptoms, which I still struggle with today as I found out I have anxiety and depression. I have moved over twenty times between both households and with the interesting and incredible experiences I was exposed to, it was also upsetting not having a childhood home or a regularly functioning family unlike most of my classroom peers. It was also hard to explain at times how I lived in hotel rooms, on couches, or slept on the bean bag chair of a lovely stripper named Roxy, watching the Simpsons as I drifted to sleep at night. How does a six year old explain this to her friends? Luckily, with my parents being divorced, I had a dichotomy of experiences, moving remarkably less times with my mom, but still a lot for a child. Nonetheless, I am forever grateful for the experiences that both situations provided for me and my perspective of the way the world works. I sunk all of these anxiety and depression-inducing events and feelings into doing whatever I could to prove people wrong and be larger than my stature allowed me to be physically. I lived my life out of spite and hey, for being fueled by angst and spite, I have reached my goals thus far, exceeding a majority of them. I repeated and still repeat to myself every day “I will be more than my situation. I will be more than the limitations placed on me by others”. I have done just that and I continue to do just that to this day. Regardless of the weight of my struggles, I always had my music to fall back on. “Just throw on your headphones and forget about everything for two minutes Josie, then we can bounce back”. I have maintained this logic since I was itty bitty and if I do say so myself, it is a fantastic strategy. This playlist includes early 2000's songs as well as songs from the "10 Things I Hate About You" soundtrack. This musical masterpiece of a compilation also includes some 'angry girl rock of the indie persuasion' from this current era of music, as I think my pre-teen and teenage self would have very much 'vibed' with them. To say my teen angst has diminished over the years, being now a twenty year old junior in college, would be a blatant lie. Anyone who denies that they are an angsty teen at heart, even as an adult, is spitting in the face of both their youth and their long-expired Tumblr account. There is no one on this planet who can tell me that they didn't S(he) Be(lie)ve(d) their way through life, over-emoting in theatrical fashion at every opportunity presented. The songs on this playlist are important to me because they remind me that regardless of the rejection letters, student loans, multiple jobs I work, constant exhaustion I face, familial issues and so much more, I will always have my drama and my inner teen angst to pull me through it. Thank you to Letters to Cleo, Blondie, Gwen Stefani (and No Doubt), Gym Class Heroes, Arctic Monkeys and other artists for not only getting me through puberty, but also a significantly worse fate I am just now getting a taste of: adulthood.
By Josie Burger5 years ago in Beat
Those Lonely Days
When I first came to Australia, i was very lonely. Having struggled to make many good friendships, I restored to music to help me get though that tough periods in my day to day life. Here are a few of the most significant songs of my adolescent and why they were so important to me, during that time:
By George Hall5 years ago in Beat
Playlist of My Life
So before I go in and tell you about what songs I listened to religiously as a teen (and maybe occasionally still till this day), you must know that I've probably gone through teen angst at least 3 times. "How?" You ask. Well I'm technically the middle child amongst 6 sisters; 3 oldest, ME, and then my 2 younger sisters. So naturally as siblings we look up to one another and observe each other. Although we never fully understand what they were going through, their moods, looks/styles, and actions were very influential. So whatever songs we were listening to were played over and over until it soothed our angst souls. It was literally phases that we had to live through with each other and now I share them with you on how it impacted me.
By Karen Nguyen5 years ago in Beat
This one is for the Loners . Runner-Up in Melodic Milestone Playlist Challenge.
You are the black girl that sits alone during lunch time every day. You don't speak much, and not at all if you're not addressed. You don't know where you fit in, and don't know how you got to that point. Maybe it was easier that way, because it didn't feel like you were trying so hard to be someone you weren't. Along the way you lost yourself. Socially awkward and perplexed with overwhelming anxiety. You sit outside alone at lunch scribbling song lyrics and drawings in your Moleskine sketchbook hoping that time will pass by faster. You silently hope that your life will get better because at that moment, everything is shrouded in hopelessness. In your eyes is sadness, brown orbs begging for help. No one looks your way, so you translate the desperation in your drawings and written words. Your art and writing speak for you
By Esmoore Shurpit5 years ago in Beat
The Judged Whirlwind of Adolescence
I have been working with children for over two years now and the patience I take pride in is fading like Elliot on the operating table after the government separated, he and E.T. The age group I work with is mostly pre-teens and teens. My job offers a lot of unhelpful trainings. They got one right with the “What’s Up With Teens? Understanding Typical Adolescent Development” training through Vibrant Emotional Health. It made me realize that I never fully comprehended the extent and severity of the chaos of the teenage mind, especially when I was submerged under that chaos. You are lacking so much and gaining so much all at once that your mind and body is on overload.
By Jada Ferguson5 years ago in Beat
