Periodically, Ryat or Blakely note the specific song that is playing in the background of a scene, referencing both the song’s title and the artist. This musical motif accomplishes several things. First, the references orient the text in a specific time. Including songs that were released in the late 2010s pinpoints the timeline of the novel more concretely than its other modern references (such as cell phones). It also locates Barrington firmly within the real world: Though the students of Barrington have a college experience that does not resemble that of students at other colleges, it is merely the students’ elite place within the world (as wealthy, powerful young adults) that is unusual.

Song references also offer insight into the characters’ feelings, sometimes even before the characters themselves recognize those feelings. When Ryat, in Chapter 23, “[turns] up ‘If You Want Love’ by NF to drown out [his] thoughts” (212), the act implies that while Ryat does not believe himself to want love, he subconsciously does desire it. This foreshadows the movement of his relationship with Blakely from exclusively sexual to romantic. Other references to songs offer tongue-in-cheek commentary. Blakely, for example, notes in Chapter 46 that the lyrics to “Oh Lord” by American Rock band In This Moment seem “even sexier” knowing she is “about to give [her] Lord whatever he wants” (438).