In the best way possible, Bottoms feels like a 2020s version of John Tucker Must Die. Both high school movies expertly balance absurdity with real issues young women face, like, for example, the wandering eyes of teenage boys. Popular girls with perfectly crimped hair show the dorkier girls how to get by in high school society. Girls get revenge. And, of course, the soundtracks slap. (The girls slap too, in a more literal sense.)
Although up-to-date iPhones and on-trend outfits point to the fact that Bottoms takes place in the present day, Emma Seligman’s flick about teen girls starting a fight club is pointedly timeless. Everyone in 2030 will watch Bottoms the same way we’re all still watching Mean Girls in 2023, almost two decades after its 2004 release. At the same time, Bottoms also feels like an ode to the Y2K era of classic high school films, in tribute to titles like John Tucker, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bring It On, and She’s the Man. One of the film’s best needle drops proves this point even further.
(Warning: Slight spoilers for Bottoms, including the big needle drops, below.)
Bottoms follows two lesbian high schoolers who can’t seem to impress their uber-popular crushes. PJ (Rachel Sennott, who also co-wrote the film) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) only start to get the attention they crave when they start a lie about having gone to juvie over the summer. Girls around school want to know how they defended themselves against the other prisoners, so, against better judgment, PJ and Josie start a club to teach their classmates how to throw and block punches.
Needless to say, the club reaches an impasse near the end of the story. Everyone is fighting with each other—but not in a literal kicking-and-screaming sense. As the group falls apart, the movie runs through a montage of sad teens. What better song to play over this than “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne?
“Complicated,” released in 2003, is a legendary ballad of teenage angst. When I was a teenager, more than a decade after it was released, I listened to this song at least weekly while trudging through the halls of my high school, agitated by the fact that everything in the world felt so damn complicated. It makes perfect sense, then, that “Complicated” would be what these teens would hear as their lives fall apart.
While the song was most recently heard in last year’s Not Okay, my mind seems to also recall hearing the tune in John Tucker, She’s the Man, or a similar film. This is the Mandela Effect at play, though; shockingly, Bottoms appears to be the first major high school movie that has used “Complicated.”
As I heard the song play, it also dawned on me that Bottoms had almost exclusively opted for retro needle drops, as opposed to including any 2020s hits. (The movie does include a King Princess song, “Pain,” but I’m talking big, stunning needle drop moments.) “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler notably plays over a big revenge scene, for instance. That’s not a huge issue nor is it even unique. On its soundtrack, John Tucker blended newer hits like “Maneater” by Nelly Furtado and “Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects with older classics such as “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick and a remix of “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper. High school movies find ways to come across as timeless, and the soundtrack plays a huge role in that.
But at the eleventh hour, Bottoms dusts a little 2020s magic into the mix. How could I not trust Charli XCX, who also collaborated on the film’s original score, to incorporate the bops of our time? One of her finest songs, “Party 4 U,” plays in its last scene. As the emotional hyperpop tune crescendos into exciting beats, the characters have their final moments together. It’s the perfect way to wrap up a memorable soundtrack.
High school movies have almost always been able to mix together nostalgic tracks and pop hits, allowing the new and the old to mingle in an awkward, exciting, youthful setting that every American should be able to remember. Though some elements of the story are updated with each new installment—for example this time, more women LGBTQ+ characters are in the mix—the same foolishly lovable teachers are present, the strict principal condemns students, and the teens are always in some sort of ridiculous-yet-exhilarating peril.
What makes Bottoms stand out from the rest of its predecessors can be boiled down to how masterful the “Complicated” needle drop is. This perfect placement pays homage to the classic era of ’00s high school movies, while also contributing a new decade to the Bottoms soundtrack. Just imagine: In 20 years, a new high school movie will use the song “Boys” by Charli XCX. Then, once and for all, the prophecy of legendary high school movie soundtracks will be fulfilled.
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