Childhood Nostalgia
By Jeahnelle Garcia
“I am just a kid
I never use my brain
I only use my heart
And my imagination”
-Current Joys, “Kids”
Childhood nostalgia is a bittersweet thing. It can be a pleasant, warm feeling while accompanied by the gut wrenching reminder that it will never be that way again. Or, it can be an accomplished feeling, that you got out of it, while remembering that it shouldn’t have been that way to begin with and you did have much of a choice anyway. Again, childhood nostalgia is a funny, bittersweet thing. As I moved back to my birth country recently, I got to taste and experience things I hadn’t even seen since I was seven years old. This rush of my own childhood nostalgia, along with an online trend, inspired this playlist.
“Blue and red horses on the run
I think the angel is jumping the gun
Little red lantern watching the sun
Baby, the angel is jumping the gun”
-Adrienne Lenkar, “blue and red horses”
“Childhood Nostalgia” was inspired by one particular video online- an audio of a girl harmonising with her fan. This girl is Claire Boyer and the audio can actually be found as the first two songs on my playlist. This audio sparked a mini trend of people expressing the emotions and memories it evoked in them, all typically phrased “it's just a girl harmonising with her fan... No-” followed by their own version. As I scrolled, I saw phrases about dread, sickness, childhood, friendships, growing up, loss and moving on. So many memories and emotions and wounds brought up because of a simple melody of a girl humming along to the comforting, mechanical noise of a fan.
“A bunny in a bunny suit Vampire with plastic teeth
Who in the world do I think that I am?
I suppose it depends on who I believe”
- Simone White, “Bunny in a Bunny Suit”
Whether a good or bad memory, one thing is sure about childhood reminiscence- it will never be the same again. This alone can be comforting, or it can be heartbreaking. Many people long to be seven years old again; many people would do everything to escape it.
Another thing about childhoods not being the same is looking at the upcoming generation, gen alpha. Online, there are millions of videos about “beige moms”, with the colourless toys and decor, who seem desperate to hide the fact that there is a child in their house, and there are millions more of “Sephora kids”, who cake makeup and chemicals onto unaged skin and claim to be “influencers”, a word that mouths still full of milk teeth cannot properly pronounce. Not to mention the children glued to their ipads who cannot properly read and will likely never learn much outside of their screens. Young children are forced to or want to grow up too fast, and young people (girls particularly) are donning bows to feel closer to it.
“I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking these days
These days
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had
A chance to”
- Nico, “These Days”
Of course, nostalgia for one’s childhood is going to be felt differently for everyone. Thus came the challenge of putting these feelings, good and bad, into one playlist. How do you put countless warm, violent, painful, sunny abstractions into one playlist? Well, I tried my best. “Childhood Nostalgia” evokes all types of childhood memories: the lost friend you made at the pool and never saw again, your childhood bedroom, your grandmother's curtains, the weather on That particular day, the image of your mother when she was a child. The last time you actually felt like a little kid.
The songs in this article can all be found in my playlist “Childhood Nostalgia”. Some standout artists for me are Claire Boyer (of course), Mitski and Adrienne Lenkar.
“Mom, am I still young?
Can I dream for a few months more?”
-Mitski, “Class of 2013”
Listen here!: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/06lfljPNbA5RtOBWwp6zpY?si=599c5c38ee0b4724&pt=5e77fbd3c4bc4c2a70f933e7ac750743
