How my angst-filled teendom shaped my taste in music.

I was a teenager between the years 2007 and 2013, and or the PRIME of teenage Disney channel stars breaking out into the music genre, and punk rock bands with female lead singers with multi-colored hair.

My playlists were comprised of love songs and breakup songs, songs about not needing anyone else, or songs about breaking out on your own into the crazy adult world. I had the standard Millennial teen girl taste in music. Jo-Bro's, Miley Cyrus (when she was still known for Hannah Montana), and a punk rock band called Skillet.

It was, uh... a time to be alive.

This was also the age that I had all of my notable crushes, or guys I dated before I met my husband later in college. I was never very good at dating when I was a teenager, or talking to guys. The first crush I had lasted for three years because I couldn't get up the courage to say something to him about it. (I was 13-16 years old at the time.) My first real relationship ended badly after almost a year of exclusivity. The next guy I dated was only three months, and we were never exclusive, just dating. I ended that one, and it was just an awkward experience all over.

These songs are the ones that helped me through those cringy teenage years.

When I felt down and out, and like no one could see me. Felt like my heart was breaking and my world was falling apart. Or when I was just angry at everything and needed music to vent through.

Here's the playlist that helped me make it through my young life.

Jonas Brothers

Ah yes, let's start here.

Every single millennial girl had one of the Jonas Brothers as her imaginary boyfriend. (Didn't we?) They were cute, had great singing voices, and we wanted to be swept off our feet while they sang Lovebug to us in the moonlight. And any girl who says otherwise is lying.

This song was part of my early teenhood when boys were confusing, and having crushes was a debilitating part of life. It doesn't have a particular story attached to it, more just a constant theme from my ages 13-18.

It's true, I gave my all for you.

And now my hearts in two, and I can't find the other half.

It's like I'm walking on broken glass. Better believe I bled.

What I'm listening to now:

Joe Jonas: Cake by the Ocean

Jonas Brothers: Sucker and What a Man Gotta Do

Demi Lovato

From the creator of Confidant, here's a throwback to 2009 Demi in all her back-and-fourth, will-they-won't-they glory. I was 14 in 2009, and I remember this being my anthem.

When I was young I wanted to look just like her and modeled my look after hers in Sonny with a Chance back when that was on Disney Channel.

How did you get here under my skin?

I swore I'd never let you back in.

Should have known better than trying to let you go,

cuz here we go, go, go again.

What I'm listening to now:

LORDE: Royals, Yellow Flicker Beat, and Perfect Places.

Maroon 5

Maroon 5 got me through a lot of rough times as a teen and young adult. At age 17, I had my first breakup, and it was really horrible. Or so I thought at the time. After it ended, I grieved for months.

The end of that relationship changed the way I viewed relationships and also changed me as a person. That breakup showed me who I wasn't. That I shouldn't have tried to change myself for someone else.

My Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing instructor loves Maroon 5, and one night while boxing, she turned the song Payphone (a remix meant for fitness) up loud on the speakers. I boxed till my knuckles bled that night.

I've wasted my nights

You turned out the lights

Now I'm paralyzed

Still stuck in that time, when we called it love

But even the sun sets in paradise.

What I'm listening to now:

Hozier: Almost (Sweet Music) and Work Song.

Taylor Swift

Okay. So way back when I was thirteen, I had a crush on a boy that I was friends with, and I was deep in the friend zone. So deep in the friend zone in fact that I knew the names of all the girls he liked (I'm actually close friends with one of them now, coincidentally.) because I was that friend.

The friend you talk about crushes with.

Not the one you have a crush on.

I played Taylor's song You Belong with Me over and over again back then, because I knew exactly what Taylor was going through, and vice-versa. I felt like that girl next door, hoping someday the tables would turn.

She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts.

She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers,

dreamin' bout the day when you wake up and find

that what you're lookin' for has been here the whole time.

What I'm listening to now:

One Republic: Life in Color and Something I Need.

Jason MRAZ

Being a teenager wasn't all bad though. Jason Mraz was a sound that filled my youth, and actually still fills my life.

My dad had bought Jason's CD Waiting for my Rocket to Come back when it came out, and I kind of stole it in my teen years to listen to in the car while driving. I still have that album in our car today.

When I fall in love I take my time,

There's no need to hurry when I'm making up my mind.

You can turn off the sun but I'm still gonna shine

and I'll tell you why,

What I'm listening to now:

Still Jason Mraz! But now songs like Have it All and Let's See what the Night can do instead.

Paramour

I used to LOVE Paramour and thought Hayley Williams was the coolest person alive. I was never brave enough to dye my hair bright orange and bleach blonde, but I appreciated that she was.

I had some friends from Tae Kwon Do that loved Paramour and introduced me to the band when I was probably fourteen or fifteen. Paramour was the first rock band I remember actually liking, and set a trend for bands I would like in the future.

Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone.

Just the one, two of us who's counting on.

That never happens,

I guess I'm dreaming again.

Let's be more than this.

What I'm listening to now:

Imagine Dragons: Believer and Thunder.

Selena Gomez and the Scene

Selena Gomez, while last on the list, was one of my more constant musical choices throughout my older teen life. I remember my mom taking my friend Kenzie and me to one of her concerts back in 2011. We made t-shirts and had an amazing night.

The song Who Says by Selena Gomez helped me through some tough days with insecurity and feeling like I wasn't good enough. I struggled with my weight from age thirteen to seventeen and having braces till I was eighteen didn't help either. This song reminded me I was worth it, and I was beautiful, and I was enough.

Who says, who says you're not perfect?

Who says you're not worth it?

Who says you're the only one that's hurting?

Trust me, that's the price of beauty.

Who says you're not pretty?

Who says you're not beautiful?

Who says?

What I'm listening to now:

Vance Joy: Riptide and Fire and the Flood

These songs shaped my taste in music

Even though I don't listen to any of the above songs anymore, this music shaped the music I listen to today and helped my taste evolve into what it is now.

My taste is still pop and rock music but now mixed with a folk influence sometimes as well.

I will still listen to any and all of the artists above when they play on the radio, and jam out if it's a song I know.

And, some of them I still go out of my way to listen to! Taylor Swift has a few good songs, as well as Paramour.

I still love the Jonas Brothers, and now they are all married like me! (All of their wives are in the video below with them, it's real cute.) All of their new music is great, and having been a teen Jonas fan, it makes me really happy.

Because of listening to Jason Mraz when I was young, I grew to love his music even more as his style evolved. Now, I listen to it with my husband and one-year-old son, who also love it.

My husband and I were able to go see Jason live in concert at an outdoor stadium the summer we got married. That night is still one of the best nights of my life.

The important thing though is that these songs helped me grow. They helped me through the tough times and reminded me of who I am.

I love these songs because I remember how it felt to be a young teenager in 2007-2012, singing my heart out about things I didn't know I didn't really need but hurt just the same. They helped me to grow up to be the woman I am today, and I'll always be thankful for that.

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-Leah H