Songs inform every warm-up and team ritual before the game. And in the TikTok era, music has never been more important or prevalent in college sports. Yes, every athlete has individual tastes, but if you spend enough time in gyms or on the athletic fields across Los Angeles, you’ll get a feel for the type of music that forms the backdrop to a particular season.
A collection of songs dominated the Southland prep scene in the 2022–23 season. Here are the 15 most popular titles:
“About the damn time,” Lizzo
Lizzo’s triumphant 2022 anthem almost single-handedly makes the list, thanks to Mira Costa’s volleyball girls huddled together and shrieking “About Damn Time” after every fall win.
They won 38 games. Needless to say, it has been played in some gyms.
The Mira Costa girls’ volleyball team celebrates their five-set win over Redondo Union on September 27.
(Luca Evans / Los Angeles Times)
“As it was,” Harry Styles
Need a safe, harmless, clean hit for parents that gets a little pep no matter the sport? “As It Was” has been on numerous team playlists over the past year, a tune that’s the musical equivalent of a really well made grilled cheese sandwich and will likely live on forever.
Freestyle, lil baby
A rare song here that isn’t all that new but – along with Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares” – will live on for some 356 years as an iconic, surefire contender for future versions of this list. Sports teams on TikTok even turned Lil Baby’s breakout hit into a new version of the national anthem.
“Hotel Lobby”, Quavo + Takeoff
A thunderclap through gyms and soccer fields made all the more poignant by its status as the final iconic takeoff verse. The album Only Built for Infinity Links was released less than a month before the 28-year-old rapper’s death.
“In Ha Mood”, Ice Spice
Ice Spice has been winning hearts and ears over the past year, and “In Ha Mood” was a particularly easy hit that spawned a silly dance popular on TikTok.
“Just Wanna Rock”, Lil Uzi Vert
Undoubtedly the most popular track in university sports last year. You just couldn’t go to a basketball game without hearing the infectiously auto-tuned vocal cords of Lil Uzi Vert and the cascading synths of MCVertt’s production. It was the pre-game hype video soundtrack for Division I Boys Basketball State Champion Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and was shown in the viral locker rooms of Sierra Canyon.
Sierra Canyon’s Bronny James and his teammates have posted clips of them dancing to “Just Wanna Rock” in the team’s locker room.
(Gregory Payan/Associated Press)
“Enter it,” Rihanna
Rihanna has had too much of an impact on the audition and warm-up dance culture of high school to ignore, and for the Santa Margarita girls’ soccer team, “Pour it Up” was the premier halftime performer of Super Bowl 2023.
Pump it Up, Endor
“Pump it Up” was a fixture on Birmingham’s volleyball and City Open division champion baseball teams before the game. Not the kind of song you listen to in your spare time, but definitely the kind of song you build a team ritual around.
Rich Flex, Drake and 21 Savage
“Rich Flex” specifically appealed to a niche group of athletes: If you wore the number 21, this was your song. Walk up music? Tribute video backing track? Just throw in that part of “Rich Flex” where Drake says, “21, can you do something for me?” and it was instantly cool.
“Ski”, YSL
Nobody actually knows the lyrics of this song because Young Thug invented his own language. However, one doesn’t have to understand Thuganese to appreciate the strings and screams that earned “Ski” several viral TikTok moments that lasted well into 2023.
“Superhero”, Metro Boomin
By far the coolest song of the year in preparation. On superstar producer Metro Boomin’s Heroes and Villains album, “Superhero” sounds like scenes in superhero movies where either the main character or the villain gains their powers and levitates in the air for a few seconds. It was the most popular pregame song in Los Angeles high school basketball for at least two months.
“Super Gremlin”, Kodak Black
You know that little high pitched part at the beginning of “Super Gremlin” that sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks are dropping bars? It was the most used snippet for high school baseball and softball walk-up songs that spring. Apparently there was at least one person in each lineup. I can’t explain that.
Birmingham Charter celebrates teammate Ernesto Martinez (25) scoring on a hit by Edgar Leon (14) at the end of the fourth inning against Carson in a CIF LA City Section Open Division baseball championship game at Dodger Stadium May 27 . Birmingham Charter won 3 -1 over Carson.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
“Speak,” Yeat
When you hear Yeat for the first time, you may find yourself confused, with a raging headache and a nihilistic view that modern hit music as we know it is ruined. Listen to Yeat a few more times, and your body might begin a series of unconscious, coordinated movements to odd tunes, accompanied by mumbled attempts to lip-synch gibberish.
“Tití asked me”, Bad Bunny
Played and loved in Los Angeles’ many Latino-majority communities, “Tití Me Preguntó” was a staple in the stands at this fall’s high school football games and energized the boisterous crowd at the triumphant East LA Classic at the Coliseum .
Tomorrow 2, GloRilla and Cardi B
This song lasts three minutes and 29 seconds and rocks. Popular pre-game confidence booster for the universal and devastatingly powerful message: “Every day the sun doesn’t shine, but that’s why I love tomorrow.”
Check out the following Spotify playlist with all high school sports songs 2022-23.
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