1. “Hot In Here” – Nelly
Pretty sure any Nelly song that came on MTV or the radio instantly made you wanna start dancing, and this one made you wanna take off ALL of your clothes.
2. “Oops!… I Did It Again” – Britney Spears
Yes you did do it again Britney. But hey, being 30 now, I totallyyyy understand why Britney Spears had that mental breakdown in 2007.
3. “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right)” – 3LW
You know it was real when playa’s had pagers. And blowin’ up their main chicks pager.
4. “Scrub” – TLC
I hear ya TLC, nobody is fucking with a scrub, then or now.
5. “It wasn’t me” – Shaggy
But was it you Shaggy? Cause I think it was.
6. “Bye, Bye, Bye” – Nsync
It ain’t no lie, Nsync was the shit. And the dance moves to this song? Epic.
7. “I Want It That Way” – The Backstreet Boys
Let’s be real, every girl wanted to be The Backstreet Boys ‘one desire’. ‘Tell me whyyyyy.’ (Because Nick Carter was the cutest thing we’d ever seen right?)
8. “21 Questions” – 50 Cent
50 Cent asked a lot of questions, but he was just lookin’ for a real ride or die right?
9. “Stacy’s Mom” – Fountains of Wayne
I felt for every person who’s mom was named Stacy when this song came out…Everybody was in love with Stacy’s mom.
10. “Sk8r Boi” – Avril Lavigne
And she said see ya later boyyyyy.
11. “Ignition Remix” – R Kelly
The ever famous line, “I’m sipping on coke and rum, so what I’m drunk, it’s the freakin’ weekend
baby, I’m about to have some fun” will never go out of style.
12. “All Star” – Smash Mouth
If you didn’t put your finger and your thumb in the shape of an “L” on your forehead when this song starts, then were you really living your best life in the early 2000’s?
13. “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” – Fall Out Boy
Don’t pretend that you didn’t bring out the air guitar and air drum sticks when this came on…Admit you, you still do.
14. “Ms. Jackson” – Outkast
Everybody knows he never meant to make her daughter cry, he apologized a trillion times.
15. “You Got It Bad” – Usher
If you didn’t own a burned CD with this song on it, you clearly didn’t ever go through a break up in middle school.
16. “Pimpin’ All Over The World” – Ludacris
Luda killed it with this one in 2004… Even if you didn’t fully understand what ‘pimpin’ meant back then, you knew it involved fancy cars, women, and caviar.
17. “Let Me Hold You” – Bow Wow Ft Omarion
This was the song that every girl told their middle school boyfriend at the time that this was “their song”.
18. “Iris” – Goo Goo Dolls
The Goo Goo Dolls were a tad whiney, but how the fuck could you not fall in love with this song? And if you say you didn’t sit in your room with your CD player, headphones plugged in, with this song on repeat for hours, your’re a damn lie.
19. “Wannabe” – The Spice Girls
Am I the only one who STILL doesn’t understand the line, “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends”? Why do I want all of my friends to get with my “lover”?
20. “Say My Name” – Destiny’s Child
This song taught me about cheaters, and to be suspicious when they only call me baby…
21. “My Band” – Eminem & D12
Eminem is the GOAT, we all know this, but this song was just stupid enough to still love and play it at top volume in my car, on the way home, offending every 80 year old human stopped beside me.
22. “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” – Panic! At The Disco
It was frowned upon saying “GD” out loud, but secretly, I also sang it at the top of my lungs when no adults were nearby who could scold me for using such vulgar profanity.
23. “ What would you do” – City High
And this song taught me that, sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do, in order to survive.
24. “Gangsta’s Paradise” – Coolio & L.V.
IDGAF who you are, if you don’t know this song, GTFO. Because if you can’t instantly start rapping to this song, you were 10000% born in the wrong fucking era.
25. “Milkshake” – Kelis
Kelis’s Milkshake brought all the boys to the yard, but all my Milkshake has done has brought the emotionally unavailable and mentally unstable boys to the yard. Where did I go wrong Kelis??
26. “1, 2, Step” – Ciara Ft. Missy Elliot
“This beat is automatic, supersonic, hypnotic, funky fresh.” Not gonna lie, I still am not quite sure what funky fresh means…
27. “All the Small Things” – Blink 182
If you owned Now That’s What I Call Music, Volume 4 on cassette, you know that this was the last song on the B side… and you also know, 11 years later, how much you relate to late nights and how much work sucks.
28. “Hollaback Girl” – Gwen Stefani
Speaking of Now That’s What I Call Music…Volume 19 included this song, and even though no one was sure of what exactly a “holla back girl” was in the 8th grade, everyone did know that, “This shit is B-A-N-A-N-A-S.”
29. “Ms. New Booty” – Bubba Sparxxx
Even at 30, when my ass is trying to slide through all the bodies on the dance floor, I still mumble sing under my breath, “booty, booty, booty, booty rockin’ everywhere…
30. “Don’t Forget About Us” – Mariah Carey
Nobody can do it like her because they’ll never be MC, and that’s a fact.
About The Author
Kayla Leanne Goss. Just a 30 year old small town girl, trying to navigate this rollercoaster we call life, writing about relatable shit that WE ALL go through and struggle with daily.
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