EXCLUSIVE PLAYLIST

4. Dance of the Knights - Romeo and Juliet - Prokofiev

When Leo prods Hannah about her real favorite songs, she lists Dance of the Knights and Carmina Burana’s O Fortuna - both pretty dark and heavy tunes for ballet. The picture at the left is of the Capulets at their ball being dramatic AF.

When I worked backstage, I used to LOVE listening to the live orchestra as they played this one - it literally shook the ground.

5. Paradise City - Guns N’ Roses

Leo plays this song in the car on the drive to SpandexFest in Chapter 6!

Also, GNR is my husband’s favorite band (although Mötley Crüe is a close second!)

6. Dark Paradise - Lana del Rey

Whenever I needed to connect to my inner angst when writing You&Me, I channeled my inner Lana, and now whenever I hear her songs I think of Hannah.

I love the lyrics of this one - Hannah and Leo are in a sort of Dark Paradise!

7. Ain’t Talking Bout Love - Van Halen

It’s not an 80’s Hair playlist without Van Halen! The lead singer of this band, David Lee Roth, is wild. Hannah has a stuffed sloth called David Lee Sloth, because her dad was an OG 80s Hair fan. Leo loves it that Hannah has heard of his heroes’ songs.

Leo talks about Van Halen in Chapter 13.

9. Black Smoke Rising - Greta Van Fleet

I discovered Greta during one of the later edits of this book, and as soon as I heard this song, I knew Leo would LOOOOOVE them. They came along 40 years after Hair Metal peaked in the 1980s, but they seriously rock - and HAVE YOU SEEN THEIR HAIR?

10. Swan Lake - No. 29 Scene Finale - Tchaikovsky

The finale of Swan Lake is SO dramatic. When Hannah feels like everything has fallen apart around her and flees to her basement in Chapter 33, this is the song she starts dancing to.

11. Is This Love? - Whitesnake

I love this one, because Whitesnake shreds, but also because the lyrics capture what Leo’s is feeling in Chapter 21.

12. The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel

Back when I was trying to find the perfect title for this novel, I stumbled across this song. It hit me so hard - the lyrics are kind of… perfect? They EMBODY my book. Or rather, my book embodies these lyrics, because this song was written in 1964.

So for a while, the working title was Somewhere Between Sound and Silence. I loved it, but it was a little “purple prose-y”. Then it was While We’re Here, which was sort of vague and not catchy, and then my brilliant team at Scholastic suggested You & Me at the End of the World, and that was that!

13. Cryin’ in the Rain - Whitesnake

In Chapter 9, Leo flashes back to when he was playing a cover of this song at SpandexFest. That’s where he first met his role model, Bruce, of my fictional 80s Hair band Slydekick. It was lots of fun coming up with that band name, and “Rat Skillet,” which is Leo’s band.

14. when the party’s over - Billie Eilish

Billie was another one I turned to to slide back into the moodier, darker moments of this book.

On Youtube, she does a cover of “The End of the World” that just IS my book. It’s not on streaming services so I couldn’t include it on the playlist, but you should really click on the link and watch it.

I mean - listen to these lyrics!

if we had five more minutes
of air to breathe
and we cried all through it
but you spent them with me
on our last few drags
of air we agree
I was
and you were
happy

15. If Tonight is Our Only Chance - The Night Flight Orchestra

These guys have been around for a while, but I only found out about them a few weeks ago. They’re another amazing band bringing back the 80’s-tastic style!

I especially love the sentiment behind this one, and it feels really relevant to Hannah and Leo. When they end up alone in the empty city, they’re given a chance on love that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. It was so amazing to work out what they’d do with that chance!