Songfacts®:

• Kelsea Ballerini wrote "High School" solo. She told Time the song was the first one she wrote for Unapologetically, and that it was inspired by a trip back home to Knoxville, Tennessee. "This is the one song that I've written by myself in the last two years, so it's really special to me," Kelsea shared. "I wrote it so quickly."
  
  "I think sometimes when you go back to your hometown after your life has changed so much, you realize that some things don't change - and some things do," Ballerini continued. "And I was one of the things that did. Part of that was really bitter, and part of that was really sweet. I think it was just one of those songs where I realized that I'd changed a lot."
• The song tells the story of two people who had a relationship in school, but begin to grow apart because the boy won't grow up while the girl has "traded in prom queen for a big-city dream. And a slate that's clean."
  
  Ballerini said the song "[is] not necessarily about the boy that the song is referring to; it's about that moment when you realize you've outgrown your young self. You've changed, and you've evolved, and you don't fit somewhere anymore."
• Ballerini's return to her roots in Knoxville resulted in her temporarily questioning her decision to up sticks and move to Nashville when she was still young. "I wrote it after a trip to my hometown sitting on my bedroom floor wondering if I was wrong for leaving so soon and for wanting something different," the songstress said.
  
  "The answer is no, that everyone has a perfect and right path, and mine led me to Nashville at 15, trading in prom queen for a big city dream and a slate that was clean."