Teenage Girl – Cherry Glazerr

Audrey Walker – Co-Editor-in-Chief of Print and Ads & Business Executive

Although it has few lyrics, I like the song Teenage Girl because of its ironic portrayal of the interests of a teenage girl. It lists lighthearted, frivolous things that a girl might be interested in, and then comes back and counters the idea that these ideas are all a teenage girl is. The brief, serious moment of the song, “Internalize so much but so little, don’t make us feel belittled, world,” is promptly interrupted by a playful and cheery chorus that reverts the listener back to the satirical message of the song. The lack of complexity of the chorus is representative of the image the song is resenting: unserious, simple and shallow. I resonate with this song because I relate to the feeling of being evaluated as simply a teenage girl rather than my other characteristics.

I Wish I Was The Moon – Neko Case 

Sophie Ponce de Leon – Co-Editor-in-Chief of Print and Co-Copyeditor

This song legit resonates with my soul. How passionate she is and how heartbreaking Neko sounds makes this song my favorite of all time. There are many times when I wish I was someone else other than me, so this song is something that I relate to. If you know me well enough, then you would understand why disappearing is the only thing I would wish for, and this song captures that feeling. I would protect this song with my life.

How Could I Ever Know – The Secret Garden 

Sophie Thill – Editor-in-Chief of Web

This is a song I first came across this past year when I found out that Kaneland would be putting on a production of The Secret Garden. While the song by itself is not one that many people would gravitate towards adding to their playlists, I strongly believe that everyone should listen to it at least once. As a person who pays attention to not only the melody but the lyrics as well, I find a deep, raw emotion within this song. It’s a story about grief, love and learning how to move forward. As a listener, one can’t help but feel chills as the character Lily, portrayed by Rebecca Luker, sings the haunting line, “How could I know I would never hold you, never again in this world[…]sure as you breathe I am there inside you.” This line emphasizes the fact that even though we may lose those we love, they never truly leave us, which is a beautiful thing. At one point or another, every person in our world is doomed to experience grief, and this song perfectly portrays that difficult emotion, offering solace to those who need it. 

Great Expectations – The Outsiders Musical 

Jasper Paulson– Ad and Business Design Exec, Broadcast Executive and Co-Copyeditor

I’m going to start this off with: I know it’s a song from a musical, but you can’t dismiss it because of that. This won’t give you spoilers for the story as it is at the beginning of the musical, so you can listen to it on its own. In this song, we find the main character, Pony Boy, realizing that he is different from the people in his community. He sings about all of the expectations and burdens of trying to fit in to everyone around him. Pony Boy explains how he watched everyone he knows fall into the same form as everyone else, but he doesn’t want to end up that way. He wants to make it out, but it feels like he doesn’t get the choice. He sings, “It’s hard to write the story when the story’s writing me.” He’s trapped within these expectations and can’t relate to his friends because there is something different about him. “I look around at all of my friends, and still I feel alone. I would follow them into battle, but the battle’s not my own.” While we won’t ever know what it’s like to be a greaser in Tulsa, when you get to feel the lyrics, you’ll find that the song applies to more stories than just the story of Pony Boy in The Outsiders. It’s a good song to realize that you’re not alone as you battle your own great expectations.

Butterfly’s Repose – Zabawa

Zoe Gannon– Co-Sports and Activities Executive and Cartoon Manager

I think that the song Butterfly’s Repose is an extremely beautiful and elegant sounding song that can help people who are going through a hard time. I feel that the artist of the song is either referencing a person in her life, or she is talking to the audience. Either way, the artist is trying to reach out to them and give comfort. The lyrics, “The shadows in your head, they’ve got you down again,” explain the feelings of depression and negative thoughts that people go through. By hearing this the audience feels validated and seen when sometimes it feels like no one knows what they’re going through. The artist tells the audience to relax, rest and stay strong in a sweet tone that connected with me. Zabawa speaks to suicidal listeners, trying to get them to hold on to life. “The future’s looking bleak. Your will to live is weak, but honey, hold on for me.” This helps suicidal listeners who often feel alone in the world understand that there is someone who supports them and wants them to continue living. At the end of the song, she reassures and validates listeners once again. “You’re strong. You’re loved. You’re beautiful, so beautiful. And you belong here on Earth.” This line always makes me happy and makes me feel better about myself. During a dark time in my life, I leaned on the lyrics and beautiful sound of this song to make me feel loved and seen.

Deleter– GROUPLOVE

Casper Suehs– Broadcast Manager

Whenever I get down about people in my life, I always think of the lyrics, “All this time I thought you were a leader, it turns out you’re only a deleter.” This helps me get out of the depressive state. All this time, I thought we were close friends and nothing could stop us, but now I see your true side and it’s not pretty. It happens and has happened, which is why I absolutely love this song and its relatability.

The Dog Days are Over– Florence & The Machine

Lucas Fiedler– Sports Coverage Manager

This is a song that I listen to before every sports event. Cross country meet, track meet or even basketball game. The song is a hymn of happiness. A few days before I run, I always connect with God. I draw a cross on my spikes for cross country and track to show my happiness before I run. When this song starts by saying, “Happiness hits her like a train on a track,” that’s how I want to live. The song shows us to run towards happiness, and leave all the hardships behind. Also, it suggests that sometimes it’s not easy to leave all hardships behind, which makes you hide from happiness.

When Will The World Be Like Lovers?– Chicago

Nathan Lapitan – Meteorologist

This is a song that I recently discovered, but I immediately fell in love with it. When Will The World Be Like Lovers? was initially recorded during Chicago’s 18-album recording sessions. Written by Robert Lamm, Tom Keane and David Foster, this song was ultimately cut from the official release of Chicago 18 and was never included in any succeeding re-releases of the album, most likely due to existing animosity between Lamm and Foster during the recording sessions of Chicago 16 and Chicago 17. Nevertheless, the song still appears on YouTube, and that’s where I discovered it. This song is performed by the three main vocalists of the band at the time: Jason Scheff (chorus), Robert Lamm (verses) and Bill Champlin (pre-chorus), and each singer makes their part of the song as best they can. The song also features a nice little throwback to a Chicago classic, Beginnings, a song from Chicago’s first album (Chicago Transit Authority) at the end of the song. The tempo and beat of the song is also one that sets a really good pace – not love song slow or rock and roll fast – and then there’s the guitar solo by legendary guitarist Michael Landau. I’d recommend this song to anyone who is a diehard Chicago fan, like me, as this song definitely fits in with all the other songs on the album it should’ve been on, and with the Beginnings throwback at the end of the song, it gives every era of Chicago a chance with this song.

Big Thief – Velvet Ring

Teaghan Hardy-Graphics Manager 

This relatively short indie folk song is a beautiful piece about unconditional love. The two lovers, Ben and Eliza, go through hardship, both in their relationship and with money. When Eliza becomes pregnant, their challenges only grow. They don’t have enough money, space or time for a kid, and they don’t even know the first thing about being parents. This relates to the line, “We’re out of money and we’ve sold the bling, and I just wanna take you home, I just wanna take you home.” This line speaks to me so much. When everything seems wrong and there doesn’t seem like a way out, there’s a second where you just want to give up, and the first place you think of is home. The beautiful and sorrowful thing about this song is they don’t have a home or a safe place to return to. They just want to go home. They don’t know where that is, but they just want to go there. Please, just take me home. 

That’s why I picked this song: because of how sad and deep it is.