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Buddy Murphy remembers March 6, 2020. A Syracuse University freshman at the time, Murphy recalls waiting in line at the West Campus Starbucks before his 9:30 a.m. class when Lil Uzi Vert dropped the album “Eternal Atake.”

“I was checking Twitter in line, and Lil Uzi Vert was tweeting crazy about how he didn’t want to wait to drop ‘Eternal Atake,’ so he just dropped it on a random weekday morning,” said Murphy, now a senior and soon-to-be graduate. “Made my whole semester.”

The Class of 2023 has seen a memorable four years. Throughout it all, music has served as the backdrop of the senior class’s college experience.

For Jen Jordan, who ran the house show venue The Garden, the album “Ants From Up There” by Black Country, New Road takes her back to cold Syracuse nights in February. She found the song through mutual friends in the SU music scene, she said.

“To me, this album is a perfect example of what the music community has meant to me,” Jordan said. “I discovered it through my friends and fell in love with it.”

Sam Ronan, who played piano in the band Froggies, recalls anxiously awaiting the release of Kendrick Lamar’s album “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” which was released on May 13, 2022.

“I remember the night it was released, I listened through the whole thing with some of my closest friends from my freshman year floor on a late-night walk through campus,” Ronan said. “The end of that semester, I was working on understanding myself and my own work, and the messages on that record helped me a lot.”

As the Class of 2023 prepares to graduate, The Daily Orange compiled a timeline of iconic music releases, from TikTok trends to Taylor Swift albums, that defined the last four years:

Freshman Year (Fall ‘19 – Spring ‘20)

By the time Syracuse native Post Malone released “Circles,” the fourth single from his third album “Hollywood’s Bleeding,” the class of 2023 had already moved into freshman-year dorms, finishing up all the ice breakers and orientations before classes started.

The singer dropped the full album on September 6, just three days before the class’s first ever Juice Jam, where singer Fletcher covered Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved.” Although it was released at the end of 2018, the song was a major hit in 2019.

On November 16, Harry Styles released the single “Watermelon Sugar.” Doja Cat’s album “Hot Pink,” which included her soon-to-be TikTok popular song “Say So,” was released on November 17.

In March, the COVID-19 pandemic cut the class of 2023’s first year of college short.

The quarantine months began, bringing whipped coffee and TikTok dance trends to songs like the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” which had been released earlier that fall, into students’ lives. Conan Gray’s song “Heather,” released in March 2020, also became popular through the app.

During the first pandemic summer, Phoebe Bridgers released her album “Punisher” and Taylor Swift released her surprise album “Folklore.”

The album “Legends Never Die” by late rapper Juice WRLD, who died in December 2019, dropped in July. The song “Come & Go” with Marshmello from the album was an instant hit for the summer.

The song “WAP,” a collaboration between Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B, released on August 7, 2020, caused quite a stir in pop culture. Conservatives like Ben Shapiro were quick to criticize the song for sexualizing women, while many young, college-aged women deemed the song a feminist anthem.

Sophomore Year (Fall ‘20 – Spring ‘21)

The fall 2020 semester signaled uncertainty. Some, but not all, of the class of 2023 returned to campus for hybrid learning. On November 7, 2020, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Less than a week later, a spike in COVID-19 cases abruptly moved classes online for the remainder of the fall semester.

While home for the winter break, Taylor Swift released another surprise album, “Evermore,” on December 11, 2020. On January 9, 2021, Olivia Rodrigo released “Driver’s License.”

During the 2021 Super Bowl in February, Lil Nas X previewed his somewhat controversial music video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” which was released on March 26, 2021. The music video depicted the singer in thigh-high heel boots descending into Hell by a pole to give Satan a lap dance.

In early April, SU began distributing doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to students on campus. Around this time, Taylor Swift released her first re-recorded album, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” with the new song “Mr. Perfectly Fine” released as a single two days prior.

Baby Keem, who in 2022 would perform at the first in-person Block Party since the start of the pandemic, and Kendric Lamar released their song “Family Ties” on August 27, 2021.

On May 30, comedian and songwriter Bo Burnham released “Inside,” a Netflix musical comedy special filmed during quarantine. The special, and its soundtrack, was praised for its representation of mental health struggles such as anxiety and depression, particularly during the pandemic.

That summer, Lorde released her much-anticipated album “Solar Power,” which fans hoped would live up to the same hype as her 2017 hit album “Melodrama.”

Still Woozy released the album “If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is,” Kanye West released “Donda” and Billie Eilish released “Happier Than Ever.”

Junior Year (Fall ‘21 – Spring ‘22)

Many students kicked off their year with a Pitbull concert at St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview. About a month later, headliner Jack Harlow took the stage at Skytop Lot for the first in-person Juice Jam since the onset of the pandemic.

On November 9, 2021, folk singer Noah Kahan performed at the Westcott in November 2021, where he fell off the stage and performed the unreleased, soon-to-be TikTok viral song “Stick Season.” The single was released in July 2022.

“Swifties” may remember exactly where they were on November 12, 2021, when Taylor Swift released “Red (Taylor’s Version)” including her 10-minute version of “All Too Well.” A month later, Tory Lanez released his album “Alone at Prom.”

In February, Mitski released “Laurel Hell.” and as the spring semester was wrapping up, Kendrick Lamar released “Mr. Morale and the Big Stepper.”

Two Chainz and Baby Keem performed in the Dome for the first in-person Block Party since before the pandemic. Then, the summer kicked off with Harry Styles’s third album “Harry’s House,” including the upbeat single “As It Was.”

Senior Year (Fall ‘22 – Spring ‘23)

Arguably the closest to a full “normal” year of college for the Class of 2023, this school year brought special guests, live music and some memorable releases to campus.

On September 10, Elton John performed at the Dome during his farewell tour.

A month ahead of releasing his new album “Marvelous,” rapper Yung Gravy performed at Juice Jam 2022 on September 18 and sang one of the album’s unreleased songs, “C’est La Vie.”

In October 2022, The 1975 released “Being Funny in a Foreign Language,” including the appropriately nostalgic song “About You.” Taylor Swift released the album, “Midnights,” in October.

In November, Noah Kahan released his folk album “Stick Season,” already a viral TikTok sensation. Lana Del Rey released “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd,” the first single off the album with the same name, on December 7. On December 9, SZA released “SOS,” her first album since “Ctrl” in 2017.

Miley Cyrus’s single “Flowers” topped the charts for several consecutive weeks after its release on January 12, becoming the singer’s most successful song.

On February 3, new artist Ice Spice and Pink Pantheress teamed up on the single “Boy’s A Liar Pt 2.” Rapper Ice Spice quickly rose to stardom this year and many SU students hoped she’d perform at this year’s Block Party.

The Sound Garden record store in downtown Syracuse hosted a listening party for Paramore’s “This Is Why” album released on February 10. The same year nepotism babies became a popular topic of discussion, singer Gracie Abrams released her debut album “Good Riddance” on February 24.

Boygenius, a trio consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, released their album “The Record” on March 31.

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, with The Strokes and King Princess, drew a crowd of students and local fans alike to the Dome on April 14, the last concert held there before Block Party 2023 with Anime, Faye Webster and Surfaces.

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Published on May 11, 2023 at 3:02 am

Contact Sarah: [email protected] | @sarahalessan