As the 8th grade school year draws to a close, there are many feelings and memories that are left behind. Our assignment was to create a playlist of songs that describe the moods and feelings we’ve had throughout the year. Without further ado, here they are:

1) “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman, in album “Toy Story”

Of course, a good school year cannot be memorable without the laughs and times with friends. In good times and bad, friends are there to help you. The “we’re all in this together” aspect of school cultivates a real environment where everyone helps one another in order to survive. In the lyrics, a line goes: “You’ve got trouble. Well I’ve got them too.” That’s basically everyone. Friendship was very important during this school year.

2) “Adventure of a Lifetime” by Coldplay, in album “A Head Full of Dreams”

This song was selected to represent how this school year was a time that we grew and had fun. Part of the lyrics go “We are diamonds taking shape.” Over the year, the pressures to study have inevitably led to our growth. We are now better equipped to take on the challenge of High School. This song speaks of this “great adventure of our lives.” Although I won’t consider school such a GREAT adventure of our lives, the experiences of learning and friendship are strong and memorable.

3) “History” by One Direction, in album ‘Made in the A.M”

Another song I selected to show the friendships that we grew over the school year. One part of the lyrics go: “You and me got a whole lot of history…
So don’t let it go, we can make some more, we can live forever.” Friendships shouldn’t fizzle out over the school year. Even if friends are leaving, there are many memories that we can recount. High School would give us many more chances to make fond memories with our friends, and we should look forward to it. This song also recounts a bit of past events, which is what we would do years down the road.

4) “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats, in album “The Fine Art of Surfacing”

Let’s take a break from songs with serious themes. I don’t need to explain much about this song. The title says it all: I didn’t like the Mondays where I had to drag myself out of bed very early in the morning after a great weekend to go to school. In the song, part of the lyrics tell of someone who doesn’t want to go to school in some way or another, before the chorus of “Tell me why? I don’t like Mondays…” jumps in. That was pretty reflective of me every week.

5) “Rap God” by Eminem, in album “The Marshall Mathers LP 2”

Yes, I seriously put this song down. I didn’t include it for the lyrics, but for the mood it creates. When Eminem launches into the “supersonic speed” part and raps off a whole bunch of stanzas in a few seconds, it simulated the speed that I felt some teachers delivered information while my hopelessly slow hand struggled to write everything down on paper. That was a large part of my academic life this year, especially when watching Crash Course in science.

6) “The Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars, in album “Doo-Wops & Hooligans”

One last humorous aspect about school before getting back into songs with more serious and meaningful themes. This song explains my attitude my brain right when there are multiple tests and projects due within the next few days. Procrastination was a memorable aspect of my year, with last minute oh-God-nos and yikes-I-forgots. I didn’t feel like doing the projects and homework sometimes, but in the end I still magically do them and get them in on time. I guess the incentive not to fail works for everyone. Everyone can be lazy once in a while, right?

7) “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa, in album “Furious 7”

This song was selected to convey my feelings for some of my best friends who are leaving next year. The lyrics match the situation almost perfectly: close companions who “we’ve gone a long way” with will be leaving us and going somewhere else. Although we will miss them greatly, we will also treasure the memories we had together. And when we do see them again sometime in the future, we would have a lot to talk about.

8) “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, in album “G I R L”

To wind down this post, I chose this song to show that I was, most importantly, happy throughout this school year. I know there were a few negative memories. Everyone has them. However, I was enjoying myself as the school year progressed, and I think that is the most important thing I should remember when thinking about 8th Grade. I was kept happy by all the fun times I had with my friends, inside school and outside of school, such as PEAK week and the outings we attended.