Ranking HSM songs

High School Musical. The pop culture reference that nearly everyone has heard about. ( That's a lie though. Most of the kids in my school don't even know HSM exists ). High School Musical sort of set the trend for all the DCOMs that came after it. Troy and Gabriella are Disney's IT couple and no one can take their place. The soundtrack was fantastic ( but you don't need me to tell you that).

I do love HSMTMTS too though ( A post on that series will happen at some time or the other), but I wanted to tell you what the original High School Musical did to stand out. Even though there is a wide cast of unique characters in HSM, the story is primarily Troy and Gabriella and no one can even come close to them in terms of anything. Here's why.

Troy and Gabriella are not real. No, they're not. They are a fairytale. They're happily ever after. And that does not exist. I don't believe in true love. I stick with Monica and Chandler on this one (they are actual goals. Ross and Rachel though, they're another story entirely). You fall in love and then work hard to make your relationship a success. That's what Ricky and Nini did in HSMTMS. They're real, they're relatable and they look like they've come right out of a YA novel. And that's a good thing. The songs are absolute bangers, especially the original ones. But the renditions or Ricky and Nini cannot touch the original performances by Troy and Gabriella. Because as I've stated before Troy and Gabriella are a fairy tale. Zanessa made the magic happen on screen. And their duets are ethereal. The Rini duets are very real and do not have a fantastical layer attached.

Both the movie and the show are brilliant. They're not the same but they're different in a good way ( Comment down below if you got that one ;))

I've always loved Gabriella. For thirteen year old me, that girl projected a lot of things. She was smart, had a killer voice and looked gorgeous. And perhaps most importantly she had Troy. It was amazing to me that she had someone like Troy actually like her. I later realized that that was the whole story line. My mother also liked Gabriella because as mentioned above - layers. You can be smart and have a basketball guy ( I am accidently making Troy look really basic ).

Troy also held a fascination for me. Disney doesn't make guys like that anymore. He was hot, kind and he liked Gabriella for who she really was. Of course he messed up in the middle pulling a classic popular guy thing. ( At least they fixed it up. Although I really want to see When there was me and you as the only reality). Troy, Gabriella and their music have a chimerical quality. And a part of me's always going to be attracted to Troy wishing she were Gabriella, just like a part of me is always going to have a thing for Shane Grey. Disney definitely does not make guys like that anymore. Ricky Bowen is amazing and a beautifully written character but he doesn't have that magnetic pull that the old Disney guys did. I think they radiated hotness on purpose. But we're off topic now.

Without much further ado, here's my ranking of all the songs from High School Musical. Keep in mind that art is subjective and all opinions expressed are my own.

9. Bop to the top

The song at the bottom of this list is ironically, Bop to the Top. No hate on Sharpay and

Ryan, the song is an absolute bop, but compared to the other songs in the movie,

it didn't really stick in my head. I played it the least out of all the songs in the

soundtrack but that's just personal preference. Nevertheless, Sharpay and Ryan

do put on a good show and I do think that they have better stage presence than

Troyella do.

Sharpay and Ryan slaying it

8. Get'cha head in the game

I started watching HSM from the middle for the first time and I did not expect people to randomly burst into song. But when the wildcats tried to dissuade Troy from singing by singing, well that's ironic. Get'cha head in the game was quite a statement in the movie with the basketball team. Troy's heartfelt solo in the middle - that was quite fun to watch. His head's in the game but his heart's in the song. ( I feel you, and I think Jace does too.)

7. Stick to the Status Quo

Stick to the Status Quo is , as Sofia Wylie says iconic. It was a defining moment for the whole movie, when all the different cliques of students opened up and revealed that they have layers. I loved the way the song opens with all the different voices singing about how they didn't want to be put in a box. Of course the remainder of the crowd immediately hushed them up. Sharpay's intervention was pure brilliance ( I feel sorry for Ryan though). The song does represent something real, because people always tend to assume that you're cut out for only one thing and try to tell you that everything else is a distraction. Well as we know, that's not true. You can have multiple interests and the only person who needs to know who you really are is you.

6. What I've been looking for - Sharpay and Ryan's version

I wasn't a huge fan of Sharpay when I first watched the movie, but she is undoubtedly fabulous. Her duet with Ryan was catchy and fun to sing along with but it didn't evoke anything in me unlike Troyella's version ( More on this as you scroll down). Overall a good enough theater song that served its purpose.

5. We're all in this together

Coming in at number five is the tagline of the whole franchise. We're all in this together. An admirable sentiment with an upbeat dance number - what's not to love. All the wildcats putting aside their differences and singing in unison - actual goals. The performance was phenomenal with everyone coming together. It was the perfect ending for the film.

4. Start of Something New

Ah, the song that really started it all for Troy and Gabriella and for many of us as well. Meeting someone in a karaoke party, singing with them and finding out that your voices are in perfect harmony, that's the dream isn't it ? Or at least its mine. I have placed this song last among the Troyella duets, not because it isn't great but because the others are better. Start of something New is a perfect song to sing with someone ( only I don't have anyone to sing it with. I'm definitely one of those people who likes comments on sing king's youtube channel that talk about how alone you are when you sing both the blue and pink lines).

Let's all take a moment to appreciate the guy who got Troy and Gabriella to sing together at that New Year's party. He's the real hero of High School Musical. Also Troyella getting more comfortable and Troy dancing as the song progresses - they were meant to sing with each other.

3. What I've been looking for - Troy and Gabriella Version

I feel like most of my favorite songs from HSM are the Troyella duets. Troy and Gabriella are more than iconic. Their duets are the duets of Disney Channel. ( Theirs only competition in my head would be the Joe and Demi duets. I'll definitely make a post dedicated to all the Jemi songs in Disney ) As for What I've been looking for, I liked Troy and Gabriella's version better. The two of them are meant to be and the slow piano was everything. It also really helped the plot move along. Ms. Darbus secretly listening to them and giving them a call back - how could she not ?

im jealous

2. Breaking Free

The song that started it all for me. Breaking free was the first time, I ever felt something real in a song. I could feel the emotion laced in between the words. When Gabriella takes over the verse from Troy 'and if we're trying, we're breaking free', I was amazed by how raw the feeling reverberating from the song was. And when Troy continues 'maybe the world can see us in a way that's different from who we are ' it stings. Breaking free made me believe that music was real. I remember telling my friend that I felt Troy and Gabriella's love for each other in the song. She didn't believe me but I stand by what I said.

High School Musical is a masterpiece because of the perfect intertwining of Troy and Gabriella in the music. No other DCOM has that level of magic in their music. I used to be annoyed when everyone considered HSM as the standard for Disney music. Like when people said that there were only one or two songs on Teen Beach that even came close to HSM. I was devoted to Ross Lynch at that point and I thought that he and Maia Mitchell where excellent. But then I heard Breaking Free and changed my mind. Nothing could compare.

But it is still number two on this list, because while I love me some Troyella, I always felt like this next song was sung for me.

1. When There Was Me And You

This choice might surprise you but 'When There was me and you' is definitely my favorite song from High School Musical. V. Hudge slayed it. This was one of the first songs that I heard from the movie and at that time I generally liked any female solo song. But the song grew on me more a year later when the lyrics really resonated with me.

" Now I know you're not a fairy tale

And dreams are meant for sleeping

And wishes on a star, just don't come true

And now even I can tell, that I confused my feelings with the truth "

I used to write these words down everywhere in tenth grade. I was obsessed with someone at the time and I guess Gabriella feeling betrayed by Troy really hit close to home. Sometimes you feel like someone's special to you and then you realize that you're not special to them. That hurts a lot. Because a lot of the stuff that you see in a person, you put there yourself. You make up a version of them in your mind and the next time you see them, they just don't fit in with your fairy tale imagination. That's the storyline I see with this song. Sometimes miracles don't happen. But that doesn't mean you should stop believing in them. Troy and Gabriella did end up together didn't they ;)

Well, that's it for my list. Comment down below on what your favorite song from HSM 1 is.