Weeks ago, our Instagram Stories were flooded with “Spotify Wrapped” lists — comprehensive reports of one’s top songs of 2020 on the music streaming app. The music that we listen to can often describe some aspect of our personalities or at least reflect something about who we are. Some songs are meaningful to us because of the memories they evoke. Here are the songs that American University students shared with the Life section from their childhoods that make them feel the most nostalgic.
U2’s “Beautiful Day”: “I can remember driving to elementary school with my father listening to this song. [It] just brings me back to simpler times.”
-Hayden Moses, College of Arts and Sciences freshman
Chamillionaire’s “Good Morning”: “At the summer camp I’ve been going to for nine years, it is always the ‘wake up’ song for everybody, so I associate some of the best days of my life with this song.”
-Alex Grossman, School of Communication freshman
High School Musical’s “We’re All in This Together”: “This song definitely reminds me of when I would dance in my living room pretending to be Gabriell[a]. And no matter what struggles I was going through, there were other people my age going through the same problems, [like] puberty [and] attending a new school.”
-Gloria Li, School of International Service sophomore
The Shins’ “Phantom Limb”: “I listened to this song in particular a lot in fifth and sixth grade as I realized I was bisexual and began to come out to the people in my life. The song is about two lesbian girlfriends who feel isolated in their school and their small town, and even though I was young, I saw a lot of myself in the lyrics. Realizing I was queer at a young age and grappling with the feelings I had for girls made me feel very ‘othered,’ and this song gave me comfort and reminded me I wasn't alone.”
-Nicole Donelan, School of Public Affairs freshman
Don Henley’s “The End of the Innocence”: “This song reminds me of the last years of my childhood when I had my first political awakening, realizing our country was in trouble and that Donald Trump was very likely going to become president. It also reminds me of my very rural, isolated lifestyle that dominated my childhood and the social disconnect I constantly experienced as a child.”
-Thomas Recchio, School of Public Affairs senior
Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”: “I just have memories of blasting it with friends and dancing. [It] just reminds me of good times.”
-Ruby Osborne, CAS and SOC freshman
To experience some of the memories shared by your AU peers or to recall your own favorite childhood songs, The Eagle has created a Spotify playlist that brings back childhood memories for AU students.
zbell@theeagleonline.com
