in High School, When We Were Young, we were encouraged to Follow Your Arrow for Future Me

Hello Monday! We have not been having typical August weather here in the Pacific Northwest – but it appears this week we’ll be returning to the warmer weather just in time for fall to come knocking on our door…heh! Since it is Monday, that, of course, means music! This week’s theme is “Songs about going back to school or childhood favorites.” Let’s get this back-to-school party started!  

High school seems so long ago, yet it’s like it was yesterday. It’s easy to forget that high school is only four years long—not your whole life. So, try not to sweat the small stuff and remember that no one will care what silly thing you said or the weird outfit you wore in the next 10, 20, or 30 years from now.

Get ready to dance here’s 90’s Kids with “High School”:

Next up, this favorite artist reminisces about a past relationship in this song, but it can apply to various school situations, like starting your last year, running into an ex after the summer, or just feeling some general “getting older” feelings.

Get ready for goosebumps, here’s Adele with “When We Were Young”:

At the beginning of a new school year, it’s important to remember to be yourself, which is where this song comes in. The artist’s intention with the song was to focus on the hypocrisy of society, starting with its opening couplet:

“If you save yourself for marriage, you’re a bore. If you don’t save yourself for marriage, you’re a horr…ible person.”

She said regarding the assumption made after the long pause between the first and second syllable in ‘horrible’:

“It’s actually been really fun playing that one and seeing people’s reaction when they hear the first line.”

The song started as a gesture for a pal:

“It started off as a poem, honestly, for this friend who was going off to Paris for four months studying and she was leaving everything she knew behind, going to a foreign country [and] didn’t know the language. I gave her this little arrow necklace and I wrote a little poem and it had ‘follow your arrow’ in it, ‘kiss lots of boys,’ and it kind of started there, but it turned into a bigger idea.”

Give a listen to Kacey Musgraves with “Follow Your Arrow”:

Last but certainly not least is a song from an American all-sibling alternative pop band that fits well with this week’s theme – what would your school-aged self tell your now-aged self? The song is about what the lead singer would tell her future self. She introduced the video on YouTube so eloquently that I wanted to include it here as the introduction:

“Future Me is all about what I would tell my future self and deciding ahead of time the kind of person I want to be. It was so important to us to portray that in the music video for this song, and the best way to do that was to have our actual family members in it!!! Each family member represents an older or younger version of me, Sydney, and the interactions shown between all of the different “Sydney’s” are so beautiful, showing that there is wisdom in every stage of life

We got to fly our Grandma Peggy out from Buffalo, NY and although this was her first music video, she totally nailed it. In between scenes, she would give me a piece of candy to keep me going, haha. (Why didn’t I think of having candy on set earlier?! Thanks Grandma.)

We also had our mom, Linda in it. Pretty much in every shot we did, we couldn’t stop laughing. My favorite part of us together was when we hugged and you can just feel how much I love my momma 🙂 We got so lucky that my cousin actually looks SO much like what I did when I was younger, so we flew Laci out from Kansas to be in the video! We pretty much just talked the whole time and it was just so crazy to see how much she reminded me of myself (except for the fact that she’s amazing at basketball).”

The best part of the video is the fact that we, as a family, got so much time together. It’s not every day that you see the people you love, and this video made that possible AND told a great story. I hope you enjoy…”

Without further ado, here’s Echosmith with “Future Me”:

That’s a wrap for this week – have a great Monday! See you on the dance floor!

Now, onto the particulars of Monday’s Music Move’s Me:

I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohort, the awesome Cathy from Curious as a CAThy, and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM!

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!