No matter the genre, music is a way people express themselves while being able to connect with them on a personal and deeper level. Whether it is rocking your head back and forth to rock music or screaming your lungs out to a breakup song, West High listens to everything.

Here are a few songs or albums that West High students call their own:

Dylan White, 9, ‘Let’s Start Here’ – Lil Yachty (album)

Mya Pimpkin, 11, ‘Throwaway’ – Future (song)

• “A bar in the song, ‘Mark my words, I’ma ball without you’ really hits my life because I want to have a deeper connection with someone, not just one that hits the surface.”

Abby Young, 11, ‘Saturn’ – SZA (song)

Avi’aun Wells-Parks, 11, ‘Blond’ – Frank Ocean (album)

• “It explains themes of heartbreak, existentialism, loss, and identity. Those themes have been present in my life for a while, so it just felt right.”

Jacob Stewart, 11, ‘DS2’ – Future (album)

• “It’s about the encroaching, imminent numbness, of unfeeling hopelessness, a much more profound melancholy that exists only in the awareness of an emotional absence.”

Logan James, 12, ‘You Prefer an Astronaut’ – Hum (album)

• “It starts off on the idea of two lovers who get together despite parental approval, it goes through the beginning, the height, and the end of the relationship in a couple of the songs. It also talks about a lot of space and how being alone can feel you’re in space, away from everything that’s familiar.’

Fadzai Mahuku, 12, ‘Butterfly’ – Cleo Sol (song)

• “The song delivers a message of being hopeful and resilient. Always remember to hold on to your inner strength and have faith even when facing adversity. A specific line would be ‘God don’t make no mistakes’ and ‘Running out of faith, but your wings are still bright’ “

Janiyah Small, 12, ‘Clouded’ – Brent Faiyaz (song)

• “ ‘If I go tonight I doubt the world will change. I just pray they don’t forget my name.’ This line really connects to me because I don’t want to be a forgotten memory, when I’m gone. I just pulled it from my heart.”

Jo Duello, 12, ‘Maze’ – Juice Wrld (song)

• “ ‘I took my demons to the bank and I made the biggest deposit of life’ This is my life cause I have a lot of demons and money.”

Aiden Childress, 12, ‘I Caught Fire’ – The Used (song)

• “ ‘I Caught Fire’ is a love song, and it’s hard to find a song about love in the genre of music I listen to, especially about a passionate and healthy relationship.”

Being a music lover of most genres, I believe that a song that describes my life is Billie Eilish ‘What Was I Made For’. It tells a story about someone who does not know why she was ever made to be in the world, who struggles with being sad all the time and not wanting anyone to know. Billie Eilish is an artist whom I connect to and my life connects to because she has this deep approach to the way her songs are written and sung.