Everyone goes through a hopeless romantic phase in their lives. More often than not, we find this phase to be perfectly placed in our high school years. This playlist encompasses high school love and relationships, while including the angsty, emotional part of us we all wish to forget.
1. Flaming Hot Cheetos – Clairo
One of my new favorite artists, Clairo is the cliche emotional high schooler. Even though her songs are emotional and, on the surface, irrationally dramatic, her lyrics hold a lot of truth for any relationship. A stand-out line in this song is “You know that I adore / that even when you’re bored / I’d buy you anything and everything I can’t afford.” This lyric basically states that even if the significant other is bored of the relationship and not as invested, the singer will still be head over heels and not even notice the one-sidedness. Relatable.
2. Fool – Frankie Cosmos
Similar to Clairo’s sound, Frankie Cosmos presents a depressing chase of a relationship. The song focuses on chasing someone that just does not pay attention to another person’s efforts. The song ends on the lyric “You make me look like a fool waiting for you” which describes hopeless romanticism in a nutshell.
3. Barf Day – Diet Cig
Diet Cig is one of my forgotten favorites. “Barf Day” is just a pouty song, everything is going wrong. It’s dramatic like all high schoolers are. While it isn’t about the relationships we see in high school, it reminds us of the drama and overreaction that comes along with this time.
4. Drunk Text Romance – Cyberbully Mom Club
Another hopeless romance, “Drunk Text Romance” is a song about wanting attention from someone, but trying to play it cool. Texting while drunk might make someone feel special for a short while, but it’s more meaningful when it’s sent the next day. This song tries to play off that the singer wants the attention, playing it cool with just wanting a drunk text.
5. Yam Yam – No Vacation
Not at all the same as the preceding songs, “Yam Yam” is about how a person stays after a hard time. This might not be a good summary of how most high school relationships end up, but it’s a more mature step toward growing up.
6. Pretty Girl – Clairo
Coming back Clairo, we see the efforts to which a girl might go to to make someone else happy. These efforts might not be true to oneself, but that just reminds us how new, young relationships used to be.
7. Boyish – Japanese Breakfast
In short, “Boyish” is about wanting something we don’t have, or something we aren’t. One of the last few lyrics says it all: “If you don’t like how I look then leave.”
8. Outside with the Cuties – Frankie Cosmos
Similar to her other songs, Frankie Cosmos sings about liking someone who isn’t fit for her. She leans on someone who is underwhelming (as per her descriptions), but she feeds the romance anyway.
