Nationwide adversity always has a profound effect on the music of the era, as empathetic songwriters attempt to use their craft to make the disenfranchised feel seen and appreciated. The Songwriting Camps Where Pop’s Biggest Hits Get Crafted Drake songs blow wind into our sails when we’re feeling undervalued and adrift. Rihanna and Beyoncé help rouse our inner avenging angel when we’ve been wronged. In voicing their own struggles, pop stars become avatars of strength for listeners. A scathing verse - picture Rihanna singing “Didn’t they tell you that I was a savage? / Fuck your white horse and a carriage” in her “Needed Me” - can be a vital push toward necessary personal reckoning. A stray lyric in a catchy song can be a lightning bolt of clarity.

Like Hallmark cards, they can deliver messages we often lack the words or the focus to arrive at ourselves. This makes them valuable to more than just impressionable teens. Good pop songs are nuggets of wisdom from people who have been through the worst and come back with a cunning word about the human condition. “If you were a kid on the margins,” television personality and podcast host Dave Holmes wrote of discovering MTV in his 2016 memoir, Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs, “you could turn on your television and get a window into a world you could see yourself in someday.” It can also serve as guidance for the passage into adulthood.

In adolescence, before we settle into the people we are going to be, pop music serves a dual purpose: It is a beacon for teenage friendships and romances. Your hormones trip off thoughts you can barely manage or understand.

Your body changes so quickly you can almost sense it happening.

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