2. “FIND YOUR WAY BACK”

Beyoncé • The Lion King: The Gift

I’ve already articulated my steadfast belief “FIND YOUR WAY BACK” is among the best songs of all-time, but I can admit I could be laying it on a bit thick, so I’ll relent from greatest songs ever to a slightly simpler greatest Beyoncé songs ever. (Another quick shoutout to Starrah!) A deeply touching and personal ode to her father, I can’t listen to this song consecutive times without becoming a complete wreck (this is a safe space), her lyrics so closely matching too many of the early life lessons my own father once tried giving me. 

As a child, the challenge of “finding your way back” is both tangible and thrilling for a kid, semi-free from direct parental supervision but close enough to the house that they trust you to make it back without their guidance. In adulthood, for a variety of reasons, that challenge becomes far more abstract. Despite my dad’s constant warnings that he wouldn’t always be here in the physical, I’m still in search of who I am without him, almost four years later. I always imagine Beyoncé singing this song to her children — as Simba (or Nala, I suppose) would to their child — as someone with lived experience, as evidence I too can find my way home, and one day share these lessons with my own children once we’re there.