20 Love Songs of Our Youth That Still Speak to Us

I was convinced that the song would be the first dance at my wedding, but times have certainly changed since then. I won't lie, though — sometimes when I'm feeling extra sappy, I'll play it on repeat.

OMG, when I was in middle school, I knew for certain that "This I Promise You" by *NSYNC was going to be the first dance song at my wedding, regardless of groom (although at the time, I was hoping I would be Mrs. Timberlake by now). With the most heartfelt lyrics my young ears had heard, *NSYNC set the bar extremely high for future suitors.

This song was really popular when I was in eighth grade, and at our Spring dance, I danced with the guy I liked to this song, so I deemed it our song even though we never dated. (Even though dating totally wasn't even a thing back in my junior high days.) This song is such a jam.

Since my preteen brain just couldn't handle the overt sexuality of 98 Degrees (I'm sorry, but Nick Lachey in a tank top is a lot to handle at 9 years old), I found myself briefly obsessed with British one-hit wonder band BBMak and their song "Back Here." When I first heard them sing, "Here I am so alone/And there's nothing in this world I can do/Until you're back here baby," my immediate thought was: I CAN BE YOUR BABY. Long story short, I never became their baby, but I still listen to that song all the time, so who's the real winner here? (Still not me.)

I had huge crush on this boy in eighth grade, and it was his Myspace profile song. I was moving to another city after that year and I was a little bummed that we weren't going to be going to the same high school. That Summer, I just listened to this song on repeat. This song is still nostalgic to me. It reminds me of all the Summer sunsets I spent thinking of this boy.

My go-to song for slow dancing in middle school was "All or Nothing" by O-Town. To me, it was about having a crush on someone and being unsure if they liked you back — which, hello, was the story of my life back then. I would always dance to it with my then-crush, John, and blush uncontrollably, wishing he would just tell me if it was all . . . or nothing at all!

My teenage self was ridiculous, but she would fight for you, lie for you, walk the wire for you, and yeah, she'd die for you, too.

I remember sitting in the back of the bus after volleyball games with my best friend, belting out this boy-band jam. We laughed. We cried. We probably annoyed every other tween on the bus — but those pretty boys helped us get through heartaches.

My boyfriend at the time dedicated it to me, and I was obsessed with it. I memorized the lyrics and played it on repeat for months.

When I was 13, I had a LOT of *~feelings~* about "Crash Into Me" by Dave Matthews Band, which had a lot to do with one specific crush. It's still one of the songs that stirs up the most nostalgia for me — well, that and "(God Must’ve Spent) A Little More Time on You," because I remember sobbing like it was my wedding day when I first heard it live at an *NSYNC concert. (Luckily, my dramatic tears didn’t mess up the "I heart Justin" I'd written across my face . . . in permanent marker.)

I used to have "You and Me" by Lifehouse, "Leave (Get Out)" by JoJo, and "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol playing over and over again on my CD player! I couldn't really relate to any of the songs at the time, but it was fun to pretend!

Back in my days of cryptic away messages with hidden meanings, I often left song lyrics as a way of spilling the inner secrets of my soul to my high school crushes who may or may not sign online. New Found Glory made many appearances, this one in particular, because at the end of the day after all the teenage angst and tears, my friends truly were the loves of my life (and still are).

This song was everything. As someone who had (to be honest, still has) a lot of unrequited crushes, this was the song that I hoped a crush would hear and change his ways towards me. The beat is semi-uplifting, so it's not a total downer of a song and definitely worthy of jamming out in my bedroom, one hand on a CD player, the other typing to my friends on AIM.

Something about this song just puts me in a trance. It's such a feel-good, heartfelt love song that perfectly describes the feelings of a new romance. A true R&B classic.

Whatever happened to her, anyway? I MISS HER.

"So Sick" by Ne-Yo wasn't only the song of my youth, but the song of my life as a middle school kid. Every time it would come on the radio during my ride to school, I would tap into my inner drama queen and dramatically look out the window and watch cars pass by as if I were in a sad music video. The lyrics and beat just make it a timeless song for whenever you want to listen to some good R&B, or if you need to be consoled. Still to this day, it's one of my favorite jams!

Oh, man, I was such a punk-rock emo kid in my teenage years. (Still am, shh.) The first song that comes to mind at the words "love song of your youth" is "Until the Day I Die" by Story of the Year (it's barely a love song, though, let's be real). I used to blast that song in my room and think seriously about my crush of the moment with what felt like totally necessary urgency. The quote "Until the day I die, I spill my heart for you" was always in my AIM profile and at the bottom of every away message in alternating capitals/lowercase letters (because that's just what you did in the '00s). Those eight repeating notes at the beginning of that song still give me chills and make me think about all of the crushes and boyfriends of my past.

Weezer was the first band I was totally obsessed with, and as a shy kid, I felt like I could relate to lead singer Rivers Cuomo and his lyrics. I also am pretty sure that I had a crush on someone 100 percent of the time, though I never spoke to any object of my crush affection. The song "El Scorcho" was my anthem for that: "I'm a lot like you so please, hello, I'm here, I'm waiting/I think I'd be good for you and you'd be good for me" are the lyrics. Yep, I felt that every time I'd see the cute boy in the hall I was secretly into.

Thanks to a game-changing scene in an episode of Dawson's Creek, "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain was pretty much my reason for being. So much so that the minute I got a boyfriend in high school, I mandated that it be our song. It was the teen equivalent of buying the wedding dress before finding the husband. Even now, the rare instance when I hear it on the radio, I have to stop what I'm doing to listen to it.

Um, "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain was my jam because I dedicated it to my ninth-grade boyfriend when I broke up with him for the boy I REALLY, REALLY "loved." It was my way of saying, "I will ALWAYS like you, don't worry." Kind of a serious song for a very casual relationship, but I feel like that was just the way it went back then.

While all the other girls were listening to Britney and Christina, I stood by my girl Mandy Moore. Her 1999 hit track off So Real spoke to me. Tell me the lyrics "Like sugar to my heart/oooh baby/I'm/craving for you/I'm missing you like candy" don't exactly describe your feelings toward your middle school crush.