Music Through the Years: Class of 2021 Edition

As the school year approaches its end, the realization that we seniors are nearing the end of our high school experience is beginning to dawn on us. It’s incredible to think that we’ve spent over a decade, 13 years to be precise, of our lives inside the classroom. These last 13 years have had their ups and downs but through it all music stuck by our side. In our greatest joys and at our lowest lows, music has always been there for us. As graduation comes closer, it’s only fitting that we travel back in time and revisit the top hits of the class of 2021.

Our journey began in 2008 with the start of kindergarten. 2008 was the year of pop songs with Flo-Rida and T-Pain’s “Low” charting high on the Billboard Charts. “Apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur” were all the rage once this song was released.

1st grade started off with a bang with the release of iconic songs such as Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” and “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas. The 2009-2010 era had even more hits with Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and Soulja Boy’s “Kiss Me Thru The Phone,” songs that we can’t get enough of even today.

As we entered 2nd grade, the music kept getting better. This was the year Kesha released her iconic song “Tik Tok” and Katy Perry released “California Gurls.” As a girl from California, I can vouch for the fact that this song was and still is every California girl’s anthem. In addition to this, 2nd grade was the year when a pandemic more infectious than Covid-19 afflicted the world, it was the start of “Bieber fever!” Justin Bieber stole the heart of every young girl when he released “Baby” and he is yet to return them. 

The outpour of amazing music continued in 3rd and 4th grade. I never knew heartbreak and passion as I did when Adele released “Rolling in the Deep”, Gotye released his one hit wonder “Somebody That I Used To Know” and Gym Class Heroes released “Stereo Hearts.” This was also the era in which the world received Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” and Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass.” For the record, I still have the lyrics to “Super Bass” memorized as if the song dropped yesterday. Additionally, this was the time period in which boy band One Direction rose to fame with their hit song “What Makes You Beautiful”. 

The music of our 5th and 6th grade years remains unmatched. The internet broke with the release of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” and Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda.” Ladies and gentlemen, this was a cultural reset.  As soon as you heard, “Boy toy named Troy, used to live in Detroit”, you knew you were in for a good time. Another outrageously popular song of this time was Idina Menzel’s “Let it Go” from the Disney film Frozen. I still have vivid memories of myself religiously watching Frozen just to sing along to this song and I only have Disney to blame.

Next, we venture into the music of our middle school years. This time period was the reign of Fetty Wap with his constant release of hits such as “Trap Queen” and “679.” I can still hear the middle school boys screaming “I got a glock in my ’Rari” (These memories will forever haunt me.) Middle school was also when The Weeknd released absolute gems of songs such as “Earned It” and “The Hills.” Not to forget, middle school would not have been middle school without the overplaying of Drake’s “Hotline Bling”, Rihanna’s “Work”, Adele’s “Hello”, and the Chainsmokers’ “Closer.” Lastly, middle school was when Magcon member, Shawn Mendes, (Did you guys really think I would let you forget about Magcon?) had every girl swooning after him with the release of his song “Stitches.” The passion within “Stitches” is unmatched and with this we have come to the conclusion of our visit to the past.

As we come closer to graduation, the memories we’ve had from kindergarten to middle school feel like a blur from the past. By revisiting some of the music from this time period, I hope we seniors are able to remember and cherish the memories we’ve made during this integral part of our lives.