Whether over the radio, streaming service, overhead speakers, or a hum in the background of one’s mind, music is an integral part of life. Music has many effects on mood and provides the backdrop of can be any day–good or bad. It’s the cherry-on-top of upbeat times or the melancholy playlist while peering out of a rainy car window. 

Music has a multitude of impacts, whether or not it is recognized. Graduating classes of the past have class songs, which serve as the backdrop for their senior year. Specific bands or musical performers can sum up a high school experience, freezing a moment in time and transporting one back to the ‘good ol’ days.’ The majority of people can reference a song that was playing during their youthful time–attending school dances, hanging out with friends, or cruising the streets with newfound independence. 

Even though Marshfield High School class of 2023 does not have one specific class song, there will be songs that they inherently connect back to this exact moment. The seniors of MHS all have a unique experience, which began pre-pandemic and spanned over a year of online school, before returning back to in-person classes. The soundtrack to their adventures vary, ranging from relatable to very thought-provoking. 

Lexi Glass – “Scott Street” by Phoebe Bridgers

“I had to choose this song because it encapsulates the high school experience for me, the idea of getting older and abandoning your childhood while also progressing further in your life. The high school experience, I deem it as coming of age and the progression of being an innocent child to an adult, dealing with your own mortality. I think that being home-schooled sort of made me heavily romanticize the idea of high school. When I went into public school the environment was very different from what I thought they’d be.”

Zoey Wert – “I Don’t Wanna go to School” by Bill Wortz

“I just feel like, I’m not sure how to say it, it’s a feeling inside. It’s just everything I feel about school, in one song. I felt that way throughout my whole high school career and when I found that song I was like ‘Oh my God this is it! This is the song.’ I really don’t want to go to school. I just really don’t like school.”

Zoe Thomas – “Ribs” by Lorde

“I feel like this song goes through the ups and downs of the high school experience in general, I think the music also captures it, the feeling of it, I guess. I’ve always loved Lorde and when that album first came out I really liked it, and 

my mom enjoyed it as well, and so it’s always been a  bit nostalgic to me.” 

Asher Colm – “Alien Blues” by Vunderbar

“I relate especially to this song because all the seniors spent half of their freshman and sophomore years online and it took a big toll on their mental health. In my junior year, my mental health tanked. I was out of school and they almost kicked me out. My anxiety was just so bad that I would come to school and then I would get sick and have to go home. One line of the song I always related to was ‘Hello World my teeth are yellow, hello world. Would you like me a little better if they were white like yours?’ People online like to romanticize depression and mental illness until it comes to the consequences of mental health, like not brushing their teeth on a daily basis and keeping their room clean because they don’t the motivation. They only want a certain type of depression and not the ‘gross depression’ that is often the reality. It depicts mental more accurately and since I struggled with mental health I relate to it a lot.”

Allie Deshazer – “Are You Satisfied?” by Marina and the Diamonds

“I was raised to be academically inclined, so that’s how my whole high school experience has been. I feel like the whole song in general describes it very well. I don’t mind it much (being pushed for academic success) I feel like it motivated me, I do wish I had more time for friendships, but overall it was okay, not negative. It’s about pushing yourself to reach goals that are probably unrealistic to others and just not focusing on anything else besides where you’re going. I resonate with that.”

Ella Jane Brigham-Saunders – “Sophomore Slump” or “Comeback of the Year” by Fall Out Boy 

“The lyrics are genius and so poetic, it tells a story that you can picture yourself in. My favorite line is ‘We’re the lifers here till the bitter end, condemned from the start, ashamed of the way the songs and the word own the beating of our hearts.’ I used to be very self-conscious, so I really relate to the lyrics of the music and how I felt that I was so different from everyone. During COVID-19, my sophomore year, I didn’t see the point of school, and was having trouble at home. I dropped out and moved 220 miles away, definitely a sophomore slump. Junior year I decided to do it again and go back and finish with straight A’s…besides for math, but who cares! I thought it was the comeback of the year, and without music I definitely wouldn’t have had the high school experience I did.”