"It Was 1986" ©

The story — in my words

I wrote this one because 1986 wasn't just a year for me; it was the hinge where everything changed. I was thinking about the duality of that time—how we were rocking leather jackets and dancing to Whitney at the mall, while the world was grappling with the Challenger and Chernobyl on the evening news. We were the 'class of fire,' feeling invincible behind Ray-Bans but deeply moved by things like Hands Across America. I wanted to capture that specific friction of 80s optimism meeting the 'beginning of the end' of our teenage dreams. When we cut this, I kept picturing those old polaroids and the grit of a go-kart track. This is my love letter to a generation that survived the neon and the heartbreak.