I wrote riot after watching one of my friends go through it with a guy who didn’t deserve her. It made me think about all the times my friends and I have fallen for someone we knew wasn’t good for us, but we stayed anyway. We made excuses, we ignored the warnings, and we let the chaos pull us back in.

To everyone who’s ever been trapped in a love that felt like a battlefield, I’m sorry, this one’s for you.

I wrote 16 candles not too long after my 16th birthday last year. My mom made a joke about wishing she could be a teenage girl again, and it got me thinking about how we never really know how our lives will turn out and how extremely terrifying that feeling is.

To everyone who is scared to grow up, I love you; this is for you.