Songs that shaped our coming of age
As graduation approaches and tassels are urging to be turned, the class of 2025 was asked to pause and reflect on an unexpected timeline: the soundtrack of their lives. These songs are more than just notes and lyrics; they are the languages that are spoken to mark and explain the chapters of our lives and act as our subliminal teachers. From kindergarten nap mats and middle school lunch tables to dances and senior season, music has been underscoring our memories, milestones, and victories. These are the songs that echo in the hearts and minds of the class of 2025—the car ride anthems, hallway hums, pre-game fuel, big win victories, and comforting mumbles—each song marks a chapter of growing up.
During our very first school year in 2012, “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye and Kimbra topped charts with themes far above our heads but carried the notion of letting go. We said goodbye to our training wheels and childhood toys and waved back to our parents while marching into school for the first time. By second grade in 2014, we were all clapping along to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, watching Despicable Me 2, and radiating a feeling we’d be lamenting for years to come. In 2016, Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself” circled our minds as we began to grow in self-awareness and confidence dawning upon our fifth grade year.
In 2018, the dreaded middle school years began, but Drake’s “God’s Plan” taught us about perseverance and overcoming negativity. By 7th grade we all began using TikTok, where “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus was on repeat, blending genres and teaching us we didn’t have to fit into a certain mold. Later that school year, at the beginning of 2020, the Covid era began. At this time, “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, the number one most streamed song of all time, flooded pandemic playlists as we were at home being blinded by our screens during our year riddled with distance learning.
Inching our way out of the pandemic in 2021, Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” brought back our energy and joy we lost at the end of middle school as we began our high school journeys. Sophomore year in 2022 was marked with “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals, blurring the line between holding on and letting go as we mourned lost time but became more and more involved in our communities. The 2023 hit “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen mirrored some of the weight we all felt during our junior year as we struggled to balance our schoolwork, AP classes, first jobs, friendships, drama, and more. In 2024, as first semester senior year came and went, Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” was an ironic—yet fitting—sound that detailed our season of college applications and the stress we are carrying as the future quickly approaches, and the order we have grown up knowing will soon be erased as we flip the page into the next chapter.
Across the waves of these past twelve years, some songs have struck different nerves and resonated deeper in the memories of the individual lives of students at MA.
Zaza Nwankiti recalls her kindergarten crazies as she listened to “All of the Lights” by Kanye West and Rihanna.
“I listened to it when I was about four or five years old, and I would play it multiple times a week and watch the music video and dance to it,” said Nwankiti. “It was one of my very favorite songs.”
For Chris Graves, “Coffee Bean” by Travis Scott is particularly memorable.
“It was 2022, the summer transitioning from freshman to sophomore year,” said Graves.
Olivia Hughes distinguishes two distinct songs that help define her high school career: “I Love It” by Icona Pop and Charli XCX as well as “28” by Zach Bryan.
“‘I love it,’ to me, was like a freedom anthem of getting to high school and being able to kind of do what you want to do with your friends for the first time,” said Hughes. “28 reminds me of senior year as a whole, but especially the beginning and just living in the moment and remembering that these people are here now, and I’m very grateful for them.”
Similarly, Max Anderson shared how one song in particular has helped him process the emotional arc of his final year of high school.
“I love music, and it often informs a lot of my life outlook, and my theme song for the end of my high school career is Sway by Kacey Musgraves,” said Anderson. “It reminds me to be flexible, to not get torn down in the face of difficulties, and to go with the flow sometimes!”
Anderson’s sentiment captures what so many of these songs have offered us over the years—guidance, comfort, and a rhythm to hold onto when everything else feels uncertain.
As the class of 2025 brings this chapter to a close, we will take these songs with us—not only on playlists but also in the recollection of our school years and key moments in our lives. Each echoes our dances, walks home, the making and breaking of friendships, and everything in between. All because long after we walk that stage, toss our hats, frame our diplomas, and ultimately move on, the songs once played will still be heard, reminding us when and where we came from and who we were when we first hit play. These songs truly aren’t just music; they’re living memories. They’re the proof we were here, we felt it all, and we made it through.