Being that I am eighteen, that means that my childhood was simultaneous with the height of The Backstreet Boys’ popularity. In fact, my first concert was on Valentine’s Day when I was seven years old, seeing them in Albany (which is a four-hour drive by itself, not counting the blizzard we drove through).

On graduation day, I had them on shuffle on my iPod while I was in the shower, to bring myself back to my childhood as I was getting ready to graduate high school. This song came on, and in the midst of singing it at the top of my lungs, I decided how perfect it is for this story. So I like to think of it as the story’s anthem, since it’s really befitting for every single main character in the story - Ashley, Bill, Joey, Mum and Roger, and Ellie.

Think of it:

Ashley - she was “trying to be someone” and kept Bill out of the loop of it all to protect herself, but she really does want him back.

Bill - it’s a loose meaning, but it could apply to when he was “gone” in her dreams, but was really there all along, even though he was trying really hard to move on and do something else, and he finally comes back to her.

Joey - there are actually a lot of places this could apply to Joey, especially the line about saving someone from the man they’ve become, which Ashley, in the end, does, and Joey loves her more for it.

Mum and Roger - as strong as it is from Ashley to Bill, I also think this could be entirely befitting to Roger and his feelings for Ashley and Mum when he comes back after getting clean. He knows he’s got a lot of damage to fix, and he does so by showing the girls how much he really does still love them.

Ellie - she spends so much time angry with Ashley for their fight, but she throws it all away in the end to make sure her best friend is okay.

These reasons make this song I’ll Sing You One Last Song And Then I’m Gone’s anthem. Each of my stories gets an official “song” and this is it.

Fun fact.