An Ode to Our Pre-College Mixtape
Our cars full of old, cracked CD’s featuring our favorites such as The Black Eyed Peas and even old-school J Cole. If “Power Trip” wasn’t on your high school sex playlist did you really know what you were doing? No, probably not. College is a time for experimentation, new things, and better music. High school on the other hand…shitty social situations and even shittier party music. The sad thing? We are about to experience this all over again for the next month. Here’s to Winter Break, the embarrassing memories that are sure to resurface, and the soundtrack for these cringe-worthy times. Embrace nostalgia and those memories you’ve tried to block with old mixtape CDs and jam out in your car while you drive around the hometown that you left behind. Since we’re living in a digital age we have created a suggested mixtape for reminiscence on the hormone-filled glory years. It probably sounds extremely similar to the CD stashed in your childhood dresser.
“The Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani
Remember sitting in your room with your friends to try to figure out what the hell the lyrics are right before the chorus? We wouldn’t like to admit it either but we still don’t know what the fuck she is saying.
https://play.spotify.com/track/66ZcOcouenzZEnzTJvoFmH
“So Yesterday” by Hilary Duff
A sense of nostalgia rushes over you. The OG Hil was your idol when you were 12 and you watched “A Cinderella Story.”
https://play.spotify.com/track/0hb4WhqDKbFV0H17HGy47u
“Tipsy” by J-KWON
“Teen drinking, is very bad. Yo, I got a fake I.D. though”
The most obnoxiously and most frequently quoted song of all high-school time. Made you feel cool when you were sneaking out to pregame? And did you even have a fake ID in high school? Yikes…
https://play.spotify.com/track/0jSMveIWvnhDIvzqN74Uc7
“Drift Away” by Uncle Kracker
Those hot summer days spent at the beach with summer reading and warm beer. Walking around like you owned the place with your teeny tween-y body. Warning: these songs may trigger flashbacks and second-hand embarrassment for your annoying, egotistical high school self.
https://play.spotify.com/track/0RFgvrhkf9FiDRLA0BhzpZ
“Umbrella” by Rihanna feat. Jay Z
This song will undoubtably remind you of sweaty bodies in your middle school gym. Remember the first person you grinded with? Awe, so cute.
https://play.spotify.com/track/49FYlytm3dAAraYgpoJZux
“I Wanna Love You” by Akon, Snoop Dogg
“I wanna fuck you.”
You felt so hot playing this song when you first got your license that you rolled down the windows and rolled past your crushes house a million times to make sure you were noticed. No? Jk, neither did we.
https://play.spotify.com/track/4xAk8Lw82G3YoVSOdVAsBx
“Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne
Driving in the car with your best friend blasting the American Top 40 radio after school. We, the collective community of the United States, would like to apologize for anyone named Stacy between the years of 2003-2014.
https://play.spotify.com/track/27L8sESb3KR79asDUBu8nW
“Buy U A Drank” by T-Pain
When this song came on at parties you didn’t even try to keep up with your “I’m too cool” persona…you just dropped the act and started snapping to the beat while looking like an idiot. Props, though, to T-Pain for making high schoolers feel like they could “buy anyone a drank.”
https://play.spotify.com/track/2aIdVb8v9KTpEZnftkz2mD
“She’s So High” Tal Bachman
A 90’s movie essential. A middle school break-up essential. A great way to end the mixtape in a mellow manner.
https://play.spotify.com/track/7mnGQesk1TzQLzQ9bYWZPR
As typical with most mixtapes this playlist follows no general theme or pattern, but hopefully it reminds you of how far you have come since your pubescent, awkward stage. Our pre-college years might be long behind us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t play our old treasured songs and reminisce on less stressful times and our loss of innocence. Take our advice this break and play your favorite precollege mixtapes with your old friends while remembering the good, the bad and the ugly with them.