Kelsea Ballerini released the second single preceding her second studio album Unapologetically titled “High School” on September 22nd. The song hits home for many people, but I know many of my fellow Belmont freshman have also identified with the song. The narrative song follows an unnamed man through memories of high school in the form of everything that he still does 5 years after the fact. It’s a call to the people we are all very familiar with that have yet to move on from their ‘glorious’ high school careers–whether it has been 5 years or 5 months.
On top of the songs hauntingly relatable lyrics, the vocals and production offer a strong support, while not letting the meaning of the song get lost. The faint sound of a high school football game can be heard throughout much of the song, as if the lyrics weren’t already enough to stir up every prominent memory.The song also triggered a sense of nostalgia in me, a reminder that though my high school years are valid and important they are not by any means what will define my life. I found this song encouraging in a strange sense, for the fact that your life does not start and end with grade school, it starts and ends with the things that you allow to define you, the things you find most important. For me this was a cry of encouragement, a reminder that those who come to mind when you hear this song come to your mind because they are willingly defined by their past accomplishments and not the accomplishments they are currently pursuing, whatever that may be.
I know that I will listen to this song a hundred more times and pick up on a hundred more things, not only from it’s arrangement and hauntingly raw vocals but also from the memories of good and bad times I shared with so many people in high school. I will feel joy over triumphs, friendships and countless relationships with teachers and classmates alike that thrived in the short four years that high school is. I will also feel sorrow for some of the hardest times I have ever faced in my life and friendships that didn’t make it past each year, let alone out of grade school.
You can listen to the track below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf3rgeZ-NrY
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