If you’re anything like me, going home is … an experience. Going home doesn’t get easier after time away. The four walls of my bedroom are haunted, holding memories I’m forced to relive every time I wake. The roads in my hometown look so familiar yet they feel so foreign. Talking to my best friends who I now have to reference as “hometown friends” to my “college friends” makes me feel like I’m living in two different worlds. I simultaneously want to shut everyone I know out whilst also trying to hold on to them because self-isolation is a terrible coping mechanism. So amidst trying to navigate how to stay sane at home and function like a human being, here are some songs to listen to while you’re home and feeling your feelings.
- Ribs – Lorde
A shocker that Ribs is on here, I know. Coming back from college can make you realize you’re not as young and invisible as you once thought you were. Being slammed with the harsh reality that time has passed drastically can be a little scary. How do you go from dancing under neon lights to suffocating at dinner parties and getting asked “So how’s college going?” Lorde perfectly encapsulates the realization that growing up is not as dreamy and exciting as we once imagined it. Yes, college is amazing, but responsibilities and an unpredictable future are at our doorsteps now, we can’t run from them anymore. Ribs represent a desperate wish for the same naiveness and carefree attitude we once held as kids.
- Nobody Gets Me– SZA
I can explain…okay maybe not. SZA’s breathtakingly beautiful and catchy song about longing for someone from the past can make even the most stone-hearted person tear up. Screaming the lyrics How am I supposed to let you go Only like myself when I’m with you Nobody gets me, you do when you know damn well you made the right choice leaving them is oddly cathartic. Sometimes when driving down old roads, some heartbreaking bangers are necessary.
- Under My Skin – Briston Maroney
This moody track from the legend himself is a great song to drive to. The lyrics are scream-worthy, the rhythm is enticing, and the song itself holds a mysterious and alluring vibe. Will it possibly give you a speeding ticket? Yes. Does that somehow make the song even better? Also yes. Under My Skin captures the frustration of the unknown; how not knowing what you want to do or what one is currently doing is incredibly troubling… almost like it’s getting under your skin.
- Junior Varsity – Dayglow
Oh, where do I begin with this song? Junior Varsity beautifully captures the realization of the movement of time in a groovy little song. The lyrics are simple but something about Dayglow’s voice makes your heart both ache and warmly smile. The lyric Can you feel that change? makes you settle with a slight melancholy. This song chokes me up more and more with every listen as I am home and feel so many changes. Change has been great but also scary. Suddenly adults are no longer prying about what college I’ll be attending, they’re thinking about a future I’ve been too terrified to contemplate. I barely plan my next meal; what do you mean by “What’s your 10-year plan?”
- ‘Tis the Damn Season – Taylor Swift
Again, a classic. I am nothing if not predictable. Swift is known for her creative and intelligent lyricism; ‘Tis the Damn Season is an excellent example of this as the song puts coming home, rekindling, and reminiscing on old relationships into words. NOT to say that everyone is encouraged to hook up with their past situationships or exes because the song is just a great song, not a to-do list (please don’t go parking between the Methodist and the school). It’s bittersweet hearing Swift is just like us, imagining a relationship’s outcome when we knew it would have never worked. Let’s be honest, there’s a thrill in chasing something we shouldn’t.
- Olivia -The Backseat Lovers
I can’t explain why this song somehow fits the hometown vibe but I just feel it does. This song has a hint of heartbreak and desperation that can be related back to wanting to follow your best friends or exes to where they went for college. Lead singer Joshua Harmon’s voice is soft and the yearning he holds as he sings Take him with you makes my silly little heart clench every time.