“Rager teenager!” by Troye Sivan

Throughout 2020, I spent a lot of time alone, which I’m not complaining about. This means that I spent a lot of time listening to music. This is why it’s hard to choose just one song. With Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande both releasing new albums, I found myself drowning in new music. I looked hopefully to probably the greatest artist of all time, Lorde, but she remained silent as she has been since 2017.

Still, I am at no loss for new music. One of my burgeoning favorite artists, pop singer Troye Sivan, released a new album called “In a Dream,” Aug. 21. While there are many extremely catchy tracks on this album, “Rager teenager!” takes the cake. It is truly the ultimate 2020 ballad for a high school student.

The song starts with a short introduction of long, wailing notes that quickly transitions to Sivan singing directly to the titular “Rager teenager!” Sivan asks where they’ve been, to which the answer is, “Sleeping and spending nights wasting time.” A very accurate depiction of my year so far. The beat soon comes crashing in and Sivan transitions effortlessly into further verses and eventually his chorus.

Throughout the song, Sivan sings about all of the things he wishes he could do with his “rager teenager,” including going wild, singing loud, and losing himself in the crowd, all of which I wish I could be doing at a Troye Sivan concert right now.  Sivan’s description of all of the ways he wishes he could let loose with his rager teenager truly captures my experience this year. At 16, I’ve always dreamed of going and doing crazy things every weekend night, but instead I often find myself doing homework, tutoring, or watching TV with my friends. None of these I regret, but none of them include unleashing my wild side with a witty, mysterious rager teenager.

More than just recalling the good times he longs to repeat with his teenager, Sivan wonders, “Why you been acting like a stranger?” He speaks to the struggle of feeling like you’ve lost someone who you cherish so deeply, and realizing like they no longer want you. Sivan reflects on all of the things he wishes he could do with his rager teenager, had they not abandoned him. It all feels so very 2020.

With Sivan’s ability to input so much emotion and so much longing into his voice, along with the song’s steady beat and many instrumental facets that layer to create a completely unique song, he is able to craft a song that sounds nothing like the others on his album yet still fits right in. The most appealing verse of this masterpiece has to be, “Hey, my lil’ rager, teenager/ Trying to figure it out/ Living a season of screaming/ And turning it out.” It serves as inspiration that in this year of screaming, perhaps we can all find an inner rager teenager that can turn it out.