The last song on this playlist is one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard, but it’s one of my favorites. Before you get there, though, this playlist will take you through a wide range of emotions.

“Let it Go” by the Neighbourhood, which is the first track on this playlist, is honestly on here because it reminds me of Manitou Springs High School. The opening lines are “I’m from a little city with expensive taste, where the cars don’t run ’til the engine breaks.” Later, it goes on to say, in simplified terms, that not everything is going to be perfect, but you have to “let it go”. It has a fast tempo, with slower vocals, which forces listeners to really listen to the lyrics. The lead singer, Jesse Rutherford, says “The song is about letting things go and letting things roll off your back. I think it’s something we have to learn as human beings – the ability to take something negative in, digest it, and move on. It doesn’t mean to forget about it. It doesn’t mean let it take you over. Just living with it and functioning still.” This track is from the band’s EP “Thank You”.

The second track on this playlist is called “The City” by the 1975. It’s one of those songs I associate with really late nights. It makes you want to dance, with it’s recurring line “If you wanna find love then you know where the city is”. Perhaps my favorite line of the entire song is the first, which says “Don’t call it a fight when you know it’s a war.” This song just serves to remind us that you can change anything in your life at any time, if you’re willing to work. Definitely on my pump-up list. It was originally the first song on The 1975’s EP “Facedown”. After considering what the band wished people to first hear from them, however, the tune was changed to be more up-beat. Regarding the meaning behind the puzzling lyrics of this song, Lead singer Matt Healy says “It’s a love song I suppose – a love letter to the baffling cacophony that is teenage self exploration in places loud and inspiring.”

“Knee Socks” by the Arctic Monkeys is my “sing-along badly and very loudly” song. Lead singer Alex Turner is known for his psychedelic styles, which really shine through within this song. He goes from a vaguely monotone tune to a soprano chorus more than once. This song is on here because of it’s unique beat, and it’s surprisingly intricate lyrics. It’s chock-full of lines such as “When the winter’s in full swing and your dreams just aren’t coming true, ain’t is funny what you’ll do.” The chorus of this song was actually sung by Josh Homme, who contributed back-up vocals to over half of the band’s EP “Humbug”. It was an accident that he ended up recording. According to the band, they were just messing around in the studio one day and asked him to sing; and it’s a good thing they did! “Knee Socks” has been the second biggest hit on their new EP “AM”, right after “Snap Out of It”.

Ed Sheeran is a singer-songwriter with some of the best lyrics I’ve ever heard. Right from the beginning of “Grade 8”, he lets you know about how hard he’s thought through the song. The first line is “My mind is a warrior.” Later on, the song goes on to compare a heart to a guitar and a girl’s eyes to a mirror. This is definitely a love song, particularly about teenage romance. Sheeran says “I had a wicked girlfriend at 17. … She was great, Actually [my] + album is pretty much about her. So she spawned off a lot of songs.”
The Crystal Fighters define their music as “fast, mesmeric, and passionate.” Their songs definitely sound different than most others. No one in the band plays guitar, instead contributing their talents towards instruments such as the xylophone and the Txalaparta, which is a wooden instrument played by two people standing face-to-face. The lead singer, Sebastian Pringle, is known for his jubilant lyrics, which are not missing from this song, “Happy, spinning, clapping, laughing, dancing // In the blackness of magic” being the first two lines.

“Collide” by Go Radio starts off with an upbeat tune, opening to Steven Kopacz on the drums. Gradually, however, the tune switches to a more acoustic sound. Throughout the entire song, the lyrics serve to remind people to stop fretting about the past. “And you be the reason // I’ll be the rhyme // We’ve both got way too much ahead // To worry bout what we’ve left behind,” states the chorus.
In October 2013, the band announced their breakup. The lead vocalist, Jason Lancaster, cut it off because he wished to spend more time with his new family. “Collide” was the biggest hit on their last EP, “Close the Distance”.

Fall Out Boy has been around since 2001, when it was formed with only Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman, both instrumentalists. Eventually, Drummer Andy Hurley and lead singer Patrick Stump also joined. The band put out four EP’s and rose quickly in popularity before a 3-year-long hiatus that began in 2010.
In 2013, the band got back together and released a new EP: “Save Rock and Roll”. This is where the song, Young Volcanoes comes from. “The song came very close to not making it on the record. One of the old Fall Out Boy ways was that we didn’t really speak up around each other. If someone was fighting for something, everyone would back off. I was kind of doing that with this song, but then we had this chain e-mail where everyone voted yay or nay. Everyone went yay except for me,” says lead singer, Patrick Stump. This song has more of a rock tune than a lot of the band’s music, so it was different and kind of difficult for Patrick to handle out first. However, it ended up being a very successful and catchy song. I find myself singing it all the time, completely out of the blue.

“In the Morning” by Razorlight is an old-school sounding track and lead hit single from the band’s EP “Razorlight”. It talks about how sometimes you have to let go of something and just go to sleep, and in the morning it will be okay. My favorite lines from the song are “Remember when you were young // You’d lose yourself”.

Panic! At the Disco is a pretty well-known band. Their single “This is Gospel” has had an extreme success after being released on their new album, “Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die”. However, the song on here is called “Memories”, from their earlier EP, “Vices and Virtues”. It talks about how important it is to keep memories preserved, because they can last a lifetime.

One of the verses says “When money lost momentum //  And the bills were piling high // Then the smile had finally faded // From the apple of their eye. // They were young and independent // And they thought they had it planned. // Should have known right from the start // You can’t predict the end.”
You’ve most likely heard of Bastille. Their hit single, Pompeii, charted number 6 in the US and number 2 in the UK earlier this year. This song is called “Flaws”. It deals with how people are inhumanely tough on themselves for all of their flaws, be them major or minor. One of the verses says “All of your flaws and all of my flaws, // When they have been exhumed // We’ll see that we need them to be who we are // Without them we’d be doomed.”
This song is from the EP “Bad Blood”, which has many songs dealing with personal opinions of oneself. Lead singer, Daniel Campbell Smith, is primarily behind this. He is a quiet man and refuses to have a Wikipedia page put up about him, but his fellow band members have hinted at a bit of a troubled past for him.
And now we’ve arrived at the aforementioned “saddest song I’ve ever heard”. This song is also by Bastille. It’s called “What Would You Do”. Throughout the song, a story is told of a young stripper named Londie. She asks the question “What would you do if your son was at home, crying all alone on the bedroom floor cause he’s hungry and the only way to feed him is to sleep with a man for a little bit of money?” After inferring that many people have children at a young age, this verse is stated: “And said, // “Everyday I wake up, hoping to die” // She said, “They’re gonna know about pain // ‘Cause me and my sister ran away, // So our daddy couldn’t rape us, // Before I was a teenager // I done been through more s**t // You can’t even relate to.” This is a very difficult subject for many people, but Bastille really captures the feeling of absolute misery that many others also feel. Eventually, the band answers Londie’s question, saying that they would “Get up off their feet and stop making tired excuses”. This song serves to remind us that things could be much worse. However, it also keeps a simplistically beautiful tune that holds the feeling. Honestly, this may be the most meaningful song I’ve heard in a very long time.

By Lily Reavis