One of the most special times in our lives is our youth. It’s the one period in our lives where everything is meant to be exciting and magical. It’s where we are discovering ourselves, experiencing a whole lot of firsts, and are allowed to make mistakes. As you begin to navigate that period you’re bound to fall in love and meet people who don’t share the same feelings as you. They might seem like they do, and give you breadcrumbs to keep you around, but in reality all they’re doing is biding their time and simultaneously wasting yours.
Au/Ra has captured that sentiment on her pulsating new anthem, poignantly titled ‘plz don’t waste my youth’. It hears her exclaiming to the people around her to let her go and just let her experience her youth in the most positive light possible. She doesn’t really care what they do or how they feel about her, but all she wants is for them to not waste her time, and I mean, I don’t blame her. “So please don’t waste my youth, that’s all I ask of you. You can feed my heart to the wolves, tell me lies, tell the truth. Just please don’t waste my youth” she honestly sings.
With a nostalgic leaning and pulsating synth driving the production behind this song, she contrasts the emotions with a positivity as she celebrates taking control of what, and who, she allows to impact her. It feels like its been taken out of a coming-of-age Netflix film from a scene that sees her running down a New York City street with neon lights from bars shining down on her. There’s a real youthfulness to the energy behind the production and delivery which is ultimately really important to the lyrical tone.