Gracie Boots Looks Beyond the Picture-Perfect Teen Years With “Teenage Reality”

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Adolescence looks quite different depending on what perspective you view it from. When it comes to social media, this stage of life is represented by the most perfect and carefully selected moments, which make the years full of education, socializing, and development look like a breeze. In her new single “Teenage Reality,” artist Gracie Boots tries to capture the emotions of her teenage years that lie under that image of life. Acting as the lead single to her upcoming EP Teenage Reality, the country-pop song gives an opportunity to express the uncertainties and pressures that come with being young.

Turning Teenage Experiences Into Songwriting

Boots had been considering “Teenage Reality” for a while before she finally began to write it. She always liked the title of the song but never knew what kind of a story would emerge from it. She started working on it by sitting at her piano and writing the first verse based on how she felt that day. Once she started writing, the single came together quite fast. According to Gracie Boots, it took her about two hours to write the song without many changes being made after the first attempt.

“Typically, when songs come together that quickly for me, it is because I know what I am feeling and what I need to get off my chest,” Boots explains. She also liked the chorus’s catchiness and how it combined different emotions into one with a common theme.

A More Honest Look at Teenage Life

Instead of capturing the teenage experience through one specific situation, Boots sees “Teenage Reality” as encompassing the experiences of relationships, expectations, and emotions that come along with that age period. Friendships take center stage in her interpretation of the track, namely the tendency to lie about something hurting in order to not get judged by other people.

“I think the teenage reality is really a collection of all of the things we teenagers go through during these formative years,” she explains. “For me, teenage reality really resonates with friendships.”

It’s an interpretation that goes far beyond teenage drama and heartbreak. Gracie Boots reflects on the tendency of teenagers to suppress their emotions when vulnerability feels uncomfortable or invites unwanted attention. Her own experience with the aftermath of an accident while horseback riding helped shape her thinking. Although the accident changed her life, she tended to respond to people with “it’s alright” rather than mentioning the difficulties of the situation.

The bridge in the song conveys that sentiment very well and becomes one of the most powerful sections of “Teenage Reality” for Boots. It’s the part she enjoys singing the most because it manages to get across how she feels without spelling it out.

Challenging the Picture-Perfect Teenage Image

“Teenage Reality” by Gracie Boots also serves as a response to the glorification of youth on the Internet. Being under the pressure of making their life seem exciting and beautiful, some teenagers forget about the not-so-sweet aspects of being young, such as toxic relationships, struggles in understanding oneself, and the difficulties of making friends.

Rather than portraying these years in an idealized manner, Boots lets her song show that being a teenager may not only be unforgettable but also tiring at times. The country-pop production gives the track an accessible musical foundation, while the subject matter comes from experiences that are considerably more complicated.

Ultimately, Boots hopes listeners can recognize something of themselves in the song. She deliberately leaves room for people to bring their own experiences to the lyrics while still offering a glimpse into her life. “I hope other teenagers feel seen and heard,” Boots says. “I know that I am not the only person who feels this way.”

With “Teenage Reality,” Gracie Boots introduces her upcoming EP through a record reflecting where she is in her life now: still figuring things out, still processing difficult experiences, and finding a way to put those feelings into music.

Listen to “Teenage Reality” out now: