Hello and welcome back to this weeks blog!

A lot of my playlists an overarching theme of life as a journey. This is a truth that we all are very aware of. This truth is so perfectly encapsulated by music and this simple form of self expression is in itself an extension of our own human experiences. There is another truth that is less thought of though, and this truth is that we never outgrow adolescence. We are never truly done growing up and there is never enough answers to the world we live in. This adolescence can be found in a sense of growing up and also a sense of understanding of life’s lessons. Today we are focused on the adolescence of growing up.

“American Pie”

From punk rock, classic rock, throwback 2000’s hits, rap, and many other genres, music has always found a way to identify with the realities of growing up in the world. While we all grew up with 2000’s rock, heard the classic rock tracks of old, and listen today to rap and hip-hop, the mainstream has never been the sole source of music about growing up. Outside of the mainstream punk rock has created a niche of brutally honest yet carefree music that combines up-tempo beats as well as catchy melodies to really encapsulate the vitality of youth and adolescence.

“Stranger Things”

The first thing that comes to mind with this playlist to me is the carefree attitude of growing up paired with the harsh realities due to loss of innocence. The two themes are juxtaposed in many of these songs side by side. In the first two songs by the “SWMRS,” the theme is just that. “Turn up” focuses on the fleeting moments of a car ride “turning the music up louder.” The song shows the fleeting nature of truly free moments by the lyrics “I know we only got an hour girl before I leave you for a long long time.” This talks about both a person, but also the idea of adolescent freedom being fleeting. In the second song by the “SWMRS” the title explains it all. We are all just trying to “figure it out.” The core of this song is that even as we may get older we are still all just attempting to “figure it out.” This is shown by the the lyrics “pop rocks and soda” juxtaposed with more adult problems such as “getting drunk and flunking out.”  In reality there

Overall these themes are common parts of growing up in and their presence in various types of music creates both a common experience, but also a fun sound to listen to.

I hope you enjoyed this playlist.

Until next time don’t go killing the vibe!