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The Mixtape

2010 - Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles

My Mixtape Autobiography 2012 - Bicycle Race by Queen

2013 - Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

(2003 – present)
2016 - Another Day Of Sun by Cast of La La Land

2019 - Bad Luck by Khalid

By Andres Castellanos
2020 - Adore You by Harry Styles
 Strawberry Fields Forever
2010
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me
When I think about my days in kindergarten or
elementary school, I like to think I have a pretty broad
memory of what happened. Yet, when I think of these
memories, all I can see are motionless pictures in my
head. It's like my brain completely erased the audios
and made no effort at making a video memory. Yet, one
of the few video memories with audio that I remember
is with this song. I graduated from kindergarten which
to me was a huge accomplishment. I was named top of
the class (yet when I look back at those moments it was
basically just drawing and painting, and to this day, I'm
the worst at doing that). At the graduation ceremony,
my mom was given a DVD of the memories that my
principal made specifically for my 20-member class. We
got home and put it on the TV. It was a black and white
collage of all my classmates with Strawberry Fields
Forever on it. To this day, I’ve still had one question in
mind about that video. It was a perfect momentum of
our short time, yet something always went through my
head each time I watched it. Out of all the songs in the
world, why did she choose this one?
Bicycle Race
2012
Bicycle races are coming your way
So forget all your duties, oh yeah
Fat bottomed girls, they'll be riding today
So look out for those beauties, oh yeah
On your marks! Get set! Go!
I’ve never understood my dad’s taste in music.
Every time I look at his Apple Music library it’s filled
with so many different songs that I can’t come to a
concrete conclusion of the genre he likes. However,
there is one band he actually likes whose music he has
downloaded and bought from the moment they came
out. Every time we would go to a father-son event with
him and my brother, he would always have Queen
playing in the car. I don’t have a specific memory with
that song, but I remember listening to it while we were
leaving our neighborhood going downhill while looking
at the beach. Yet, the part of the song that reminds me
of him the most isn’t a specific lyric, rather, it’s the
sound of the bicycle chime. He would always honk when
the bicycle chime went on and look at us and just smile.
 Dog Days Are Over
2013
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Once every six months, we would go to Ensenada
to eat some world-renowned seafood called La
Guerrerense. It wasn’t a fancy restaurant or luxurious
place where it takes months to get a reservation. In
fact, it was completely the opposite. It was a food stand
on the side of the road in downtown Ensenada. It was
created by a 70-year-old woman who had a passion for
seafood unlike anyone else in the world. Her stand is
widely known around the nation with chefs like Anthony
Bourdain going to visit her. A simple cart. No waiters,
no reservations, no fancy silverware. Yet, the food was
delicious.
After eating there we had this habit of going to a
frozen yogurt place one block away. It was a great place
to go because it was an escape from the blazing heat. It
was a very modern place for a vintage city.
As I got in one day, while I enjoyed the blast of
cold air, I could listen to this song I really liked. I was
the type of person who was scared to talk to others that
were strangers, but because I loved the song so much, I
summed up the courage to ask the girl working there
what the name of the song was. She told me it was The
Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine.
Another Day Of Sun
2016
And when they let you down
You'll get up off the ground
'Cause morning rolls around
And it's another day of sun
“Get in, Andres,” my mom shouted out the
window of the car while she was picking me up from a
friend’s house.
“Where are we going?” I promptly asked.
“We’re going to Cinepolis to watch a movie,” she
said.
“Which one are we watching?”
“It’s this movie called La La Land, about this
retired piano guy who teaches an aspiring actress all
about jazz,” my brother Luis replied.
“Ugh, it sounds boring. Do I have to go?”
“Yes! We’re all going! It’s either this one or an
animated movie,” My mom said.
I ordered my nachos and Icee and went to Room
14. I was expecting to see the most boring movie in my
life.
As the opening credits rolled in, I saw all these
cars in the freeway and my mindset began to change a
little bit. After we watched the first scene with the cast
singing “Another Day of Sun,” I was confident this would
be one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
 As it ended, we were all in shock. To this day, it
is the family’s favorite movie, we’ve seen it over eight
times and we still are not tired of it. It left a sincere
and unique message for all of us.
 Bad Luck
2019
'Cause I'm in love with bad luck
I’m in love with bad luck
Move too close, get caught up
Our plane arrived a few minutes earlier than
expected in Quebec City. It was just my mom and me
with a 9th-grade class she was taking. We were looking
for Danny, our tour guide as he would be the one who
would guide us around Canada. After a few minutes of
calling him and going around the airport to find him, he
finally appeared. He took us to the bus.
As we got in and everyone settled in, I was ready
to go to sleep as it was already 11 o’clock. I put on my
AirPods and blasted the new Khalid album he had just
released, Free Spirit.
As I was ready to go to sleep, I looked out at the
landscape that was downtown Quebec City at night. It
was a place I felt the most comfortable. Looking at the
huge buildings and the bright lights. It wasn't New York
or Los Angeles, but it was just as special for me. I felt
so small in a place so big, yet I wanted to grow bigger to
fit in. And I could perfectly remember the lyrics, and I
realized how all this time, I was thinking I had such bad
luck because of everything in my life; however, I failed
to realize it was the complete opposite. I was extremely
blessed to be where I was and have what I had.
Adore You
2020
I'd walk through fire for you
Just let me adore you
Like it's the only thing I'll ever do
I got in the 9:52 Blue Line trolley headed
towards America Plaza. I was barely going to
make it on time. I would need to get on the last
train and make a run for it and hope the traffic
lights were in my favor.
“Wow,” I thought to myself, “this is the
beginning of a new phase in my life. I am
transitioning from the average high school
student to begin part of my adult life.” I had
managed to get a job at a Mexican Restaurant on
H street. It would not be easy, nor would it be
the best job in the world. But it would be the
start of my mission to achieve my goals.
I remember looking out the window of the
trolley thinking about all of this while listening to
Adore You. I was scared, what if I got lost? What
if someone took me? What if they hate me? What
if I’m fired on the spot?
“Next up, H street.” The intercom said.
I got off at 11:14. I would barely make it. I
got there at 10:25 and opened the door. It was
time to start.