I’m an avid Spotify user—I started using it in college and haven’t stopped—so that means I don’t really use iTunes anymore. I can’t remember the last time I actually “bought” a song. My parents used to always get me iTunes gift cards for holidays, and that hasn’t been a thing in like six years. (Another reason I don’t use iTunes? Every single time I open it—only when I have to back up or update my phone because it keeps telling me to—it always needs to be updated. No matter what. And it takes forever to update. So I don’t.)

The “music” app—the one that comes with all iPhones—on my phone is collecting dust and cobwebs on my screen. I’d be surprised if I’ve opened it three times in the last year. But that changed recently. I got out one of those microfiber dusters and coughed and sneezed my way through the dust and found that all of the songs I listened to circa 2013 and earlier were still there.

That meant all of my Fall Out Boy and The Fray and Panic! At The Disco and Taylor Swift and Big Time Rush were all there. And some of those once popular songs they used to always play on the radio. Or some songs that were random singles from artists I don’t even remember how I found them.

I felt compelled to create an “Old Songs” playlist of songs that I used to listen to once upon a time, and when I put it on shuffle, brought back all the feels. If you’re so curious as to what Becky circa 2008-2012 actively listened to (basically my entire high school experience), here you go (in no particular order):

• Not Your Birthday by Allstar Weekend
• Stars and Boulevards by Augustana
• No Idea by Big Time Rush
• Show Me by Big Time Rush
• Remember When (Push Rewind) by Chris Wallace
• Living in the Sky with Diamonds by Cobra Starship
• I Hope This Gets To You by The Daylights
• Hammers and Hearts by Daphne Loves Derby
• Love, Save the Empty by Erin McCarley
• Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet by Fall Out Boy
• West Coast Smoker by Fall Out Boy
• 20 Dollar Nose Bleed by Fall Out Boy
• Whistle by Flo Rida
• The Wind by The Fray
• Munich by The Fray
• Watching Airplanes by Gary Allan
• I Don’t Wanna Be In Love by Good Charlotte
• Lovebug by Jonas Brothers
• Much Better by Jonas Brothers
• Stay Beautiful by The Last Goodnight
• Right Girl by The Maine
• Payphone (featuring Wiz Khalifa) by Maroon 5
• Ships in the Night by Mat Kearney
• Clouds by The Morning Light
• All of This by The Naked and Famous
• That Green Gentleman by Panic! At The Disco
• Ready to Go (Get Me Out of my Head) by Panic! At The Disco
• Candlelight by Relient K
• Mockingbird by Rob Thomas
• Start a Fire by Ryan Star
• Stay by SafetySuit
• Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club
• Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon
• Let’s Dance to Joy Divison by The Wombats

Some of these songs I had just forgotten about, but some of them bring me right back to a certain place or feeling and it’s crazy how that can happen even 10 years later. I listened to so much of The Fray during my freshman year of high school (2008-09)—like on repeat all the time—and listening to any of their old stuff, especially their self-titled CD and some songs from How To Save A Life, brings me right back there.

It’s funny how I can remember all of these songs from high school but I can’t really tell you what I listened to in college. Maybe I’m still too close to those years and maybe in 2026—when I’ll be out of college for 10 years—I’ll be able to compile a list like this for my undergraduate years. I can at least tell you know that it starts with Taylor Swift’s Red album and all of those songs still hit me in the gut. (All Too Well makes me sob like a baby.)

I apologize for the really long list of songs that weird high school me used to listen to, but it’s kind of crazy to look back and see really how little my music taste has changed. I’m still in love with Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco, and I still wish Big Time Rush and the Jonas Brothers were still things.

What songs did you used to listen to 10 years ago? Are there a few songs for you that really bring you back to another place?