The Soundtrack to Becoming That Girl

You know those moments where your parents drop casual lore about their lives before you existed, and you’re like, wait, you’re an actual person?

That's how I felt when I found out my mom used to play basketball. Suddenly, I was thinking about all the alternate universes where she followed every dream she'd ever had, and getting weirdly emo about how many different versions of ourselves we can be in this life.

It's something I think about whenever I see women like Jazzy Davidson and Aaliyah Crump, two basketball queens making serious moves on the college courts. There’s no mistaking that in this universe, they’re both the embodiment of That Girl. Between their standout college careers and accomplishments on the national stage, they're already doing things most of us could only dream of (or are doing in the singular alternate universe where we're really good at basketball).

They're incredible athletes, obviously, but what I’ve loved about them becoming JBL Campus ambassadors recently is that it’s shown that being known for one thing doesn’t mean that's all there is to know about you.

I was reminded of this recently when I forced my coworkers to show me the music they'd been listening to on repeat, and wow, it felt like looking at a literal fingerprint. Suddenly, I was getting this weirdly intimate glimpse into the people I see every day at work: their taste, their moods, their very specific emotional support songs. I walked away feeling like I understood them in a totally new way.

With Jazzy and Aaliyah, we know their stats, their accolades, and their big moments on the court, but their relationship with music tells us something a box score can't. Because what you put on depends on the version of yourself you're being that day. The music that gets you locked in before a workout might be completely different from what you play while making dinner, getting ready with the girls, or romanticizing a walk to buy an overpriced iced latte. But all of those soundtracks are still you.

For Jazzy, music helps her get in the zone before workouts and reset amid the chaos of being a full-time student and athlete. She's heading into her second year focused on growth, consistency, and being more present instead of constantly worrying about what's next. (Super healthy, mature mindset that I will absolutely be attempting to adopt and probably flopping at.) When she's not making moves on the court, she loves baking, cooking, spending time outdoors, and giving back to the youth basketball community in Oregon. Different sides of her life, potentially very different soundtracks, but the same Jazzy.

Meanwhile, Aaliyah is a rap and R&B girlie who loves discovering new music and bringing it along for everything from heading to class to traveling with teammates to unwinding after practice. And there's a lot keeping her busy off the court, too: she’s a beauty and haircare girlie, loves making lattes (same), trying new foods, keeping up with fashion, and uplifting the next generation of female athletes––we love to see it!

Basically, with so many sides to herself, there's no shortage of things to soundtrack. Sometimes a playlist is for locking in, sometimes it's for romanticizing a study session (hello, lo-fi beats), and sometimes it's a collection of songs that would tell a stranger way too much about you. Music’s just personal like that. You don't have to explain yourself when you can just hand someone your headphones.

That's what JBL Campus is all about: celebrating students who bring their own sound to campus. For Jazzy and Aaliyah, music isn't just reserved for game day or a pre-workout hype-up. It's what’s woven into their everyday lives, moving with them between their goals, their friendships, and all the little moments that make up their life, tying it all together.

Maybe that's why I love seeing women like Jazzy and Aaliyah chase their dreams while making room for everything else that makes them them. Am I a basketball player? No. But when Jazzy and Aaliyah put on their JBL headphones to hype themselves up before a game, and I put on mine to hype myself up to write, it’s a reminder that we do have something in common. Different lives, different dreams, different soundtracks, but we're all just girls with a million little things that make us who we are.

Personally, my soundtrack right now sounds like millennial optimism as my playlist auto-switches to a song I saved fifteen years ago and completely forgot to unsave. Not exactly what I want to hear right now, but wow, does it sound pretty amazing coming through my JBLs.