Playlist for Hate List by 530

by 530


Hate List is a book about a boy, a girl, and murder, perfect love story right? In this book Valerie is in love with her boyfriend, Nick, but after he starts hanging out with a shady character, he starts to act different. After a trip with hanging out with his “new buddy” he does something horrible, he commits a school shooting. Now Val has to live life like a “normal” student and go back to the same school where the shooting was. I have chosen some songs that I think match this book very well so, I hope you enjoy!


The first song I chose is “Demons” by Imagine Dragons. I chose this song because it describes how through the entire book, Valerie has to deal with her demons and still get through life. The song is called “Demons” for this exact reason; talking about how everyone has demons but everyone still has to get through life and not be afraid of who they are. Even though Valerie had some demons before, she now has more because of Nick.




The second song I chose is “If Everyone Cared” by Nickelback. I chose it because this is the song that the author quotes at the beginning of the book. But not only that, it actually matches the book pretty well. She quoted the part that says “We’ll show the world they were wrong and teach them all to sing along”. I actually really like this quote and song because it’s about acceptance and forgiving.




The third song I chose is “You Used to Hold Me” by Calvin Harris. I chose this song for the main message which is: you used to hold me. It talks about a love that used to be. If this message isn’t already clear enough I will explain it. It is a song talking about things such as “we used to be so close”, “you used to hold me”, “what happened to us”, etc. This matches the book very well because Nick and Val used to be inseparable until he changed. In other words, he “used to hold” her.




The fourth song I chose is “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park. I chose this song because this reminds me of the look on Nicks face after he shot Valerie. His face was just full of pain and regret. This was the first time she noticed, since the shooting started, that he actually realized that he made a big mistake. He kind of woke up into reality after that. This is a great example of another thing too. They used to call each other Romeo and Juliet and in Romeo and Juliet that Shakespeare wrote. Romeo kills himself because he thinks that Juliet died but she actually didn’t. This is the same thing whereas Nick thinks he kills Val so he kills himself thinking “what have I done” then she ends up being okay.




The fifth song I chose is “I Thought I Knew You” by Miss Li. This song writer did a really good job with the tone because she sounds all peppy and glad but is actually singing about shamefulness and betrayal. I chose it because this describes the scene when Valerie talks about the first time she went to his house and that’s how she always knew him. She didn’t know that this sweet poetic guy could be the cause of the shooting. She thought she knew him. But she was betrayed.




The sixth song I chose is “Just too Close” by Alex Clare. This is a really well matching song will almost all the lyrics. In the song it talks about how he is “too close” to love her and it is similar in the book because she is too close to Nick that when he committed the shooting he did something to hurt her and now she just can’t deal with it any more. She still loves him but the shooting just made it so that loving him is just “too close to home” and it hurt her inside instead of feeling that warm fuzzy feeling of love.




The seventh song I chose is “Bleeding Out” by Imagine Dragons. This song seems about sadness and death but is actually about commitment and love. It is a perfect song for this book. It talks about how he would “bleed out for you” or in his words the girl he loves. This matches the scene where Valerie got shot by Nick so that she could stop him and bring him back to reality. She risked her life to save everyone else but most importantly try to save him. She would do anything for him.




The eighth but most important song I chose is “Monster” by Imagine Dragons. It is just too perfect for this book. Hate List is the story about a girl named Valerie who has to deal with the life of being hated and not wanted. The song “Monster” talks about how Valerie was probably feeling after the shooting. It talks about wanting to fit in and being different. Not only that, it also talks about turning into a monster. Valerie probably feels like a monster because she was the one that started the hate list but also kept adding to it. She also got all the messages from Nick that he was planning to commit the crime in the emails, by what he says, and the way he acted but even after all of that she still missed all of the signs. Not only did Nick turn into a monster but so did Valerie. Practically all of the lyrics match the way she is and feels in the book. This song is truly perfect for Hate List.