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Growing up is never easy. But pop songs about adolescence too often gloss over the complicated moments. The \u201cteenage dream\u201d archetype is just a pop culture fantasy. And no one really wants to be 17 forever.\xa0\nOn her new album \u201cHome Video,\u201d Lucy Dacus talks about youthful growing pains. She remembers the uncomfortable moments. Dacus says that \u201ca lot of childhood is crisis mode\u2026 you get pushed around by the world and the rules that are set for you.\u201d Her songs examine unequal power relationships between parents and friends and lovers.\xa0\nOn the lighter side, the album opens up with \u201cHot And Heavy,\u201d which takes us back to the scene of an early romantic encounter on a basement sofa, red faced and awkward. But by the next song, \u201cChristine,\u201d the amorous feelings fade: \u201cHe can be nice, sometimes / Other nights, you admit he's not what you had in mind.\u201d Bad dads, bible camp indoctrination, and perpetual peer pressure all take the stage in Dacus\u2019 coming of age album.\xa0\nDacus says that writing about those years is \u201ca process of extorting control over things that I didn\u2019t have control over at the time.\u201d With untethered teenage dreams safely behind her, Dacus now gets to reclaim the meaning of youth: \u201cI am the narrator of my own life so I get to say what this meant.\u201d\n\nSongs Discussed\nLucy Dacus - Night Shift\nFrank Zappa - Sharleena\nboygenius - Souvenir\nLukas Graham - 7 Years\nKendrick Lamar - Beyonce\nJustin Bieber - Baby\nMandy Moore - Fifteen\nHilary Duff - Sweet Sixteen\nThe Beatles - When I'm Sixty Four\nABBA - Dancing Queen\nSound of Music - Sixteen Going On Seventeen\nAvril Lavigne - 17\nKings Of Leon - 17\nLake Street Dive - Seventeen\nSharon Van Etten - Seventeen\nAlessia Cara - Seventeen\nStevie Nicks - Edge of Seventeen\nJanis Ian - At Seventeen\n\nMore\nPlaylist of coming of age songs\xa0\nStudy on songs that references age\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices