I live my life through music. Naturally, some songs stick out as I wrap up my time at Simmons. I’ve combed through some of my favorite records for the ultimate soundtrack of only album-ending songs to close out my last year. Here are some of the most noteworthy. 

“Walk” by Foo Fighters off of “Wasting Light”

As we all know, graduating means gathering with your classmates wearing massive gowns and (strictly) regulated regalia to walk across a stage. This song goes far beyond literal meaning for me and I feel myself gravitating towards it at this time of change. 

Coming to college for the first time as a sophomore in 2021 was overwhelming after spending so much time, including my first year, sheltered at home. I was a total wreck, to be frank, but the encouraging, hopeful, healing feel of this song brought me so much comfort. As corny as it sounds the chorus, “Learning to walk again/ I believe I’ve waited long enough/ Where do I begin?” felt so applicable to re-entering the world post-pandemic. The guitar track is ethereal and lead singer Dave Grohl’s vocals push the emotional envelope.

“Fine Line” by Harry Styles off of “Fine Line” 

Harry Styles’ music has accompanied me through ups and downs, teenage angst, a high school (car) graduation and a pandemic, particularly his 2019 album “Fine Line,” the title track of which ends the record. It was a vinyl I had spinning on my turntable throughout my virtual freshman year at Simmons, so I have a complex relationship with it. 

The closing track feels like a love letter to his fans in all of its goosebump-inducing, celebratory, weeping glory. While the lyrics evoke love lost, something about the refrain “We’ll be alright” feels like earth-shifting solidarity. It closes out the record in such a beautiful way and feels like healing. In another time of extreme change, I find my way back to this song and its comfort. 

“goodbye” by Billie Eilish off of “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?”

This is one of my favorite album closers partially because I think it’s so clever. The track incorporates a lyric from each of the songs that came before it on the album over a flowy, subwoofer-y bass track. Eilish sings the lyrics in the album’s reverse order starting with the track directly before. By the end of the song, the album is wrapped up where it started. This is an incredibly emotional, intense album and the last track feels like a moment to breathe before the needle hits the center of the record, plunging you into silence. 

“I Know The End” by Phoebe Bridgers off of “Punisher”

This is the ultimate song for the teary, screaming-in-the-rain ending montage. While I would love to say my time at Simmons has been uneventful and easy, it hasn’t and I would be lying if I said there wasn’t some relief at the end of this era for myself. So naturally, Bridgers is there in all her angry, emotional, unhinged, passionate glory.

“Eclipse” by Pink Floyd

If you know me at all, you knew I had to sneak Pink Floyd onto this list. This album is an exploration of human existence and at the end of that comes death so naturally, we arrive at “Eclipse.” It’s an absolutely raw track with loud, intense, choral backing vocals and instrumentals that all reach a fever pitch by the unparalleled climax.

Even though it’s about death, or the end of the world, or however you care to interpret it, I find this song to be incredibly hopeful. The last line is “everything under the sun is in tune and the sun is eclipsed by the moon,” which to me evokes a certain peace right before the end.

Graduation is incredibly exciting, especially since the class of 2024 didn’t get a traditional high school sendoff. Music helps me feel all of the complex, lovely emotions that are accompanied by a milestone like this. Congratulations to the class of 2024!