Almost anyone who was a pre-teen or teenager in the early 2000s knows about the dreaded "emo phase". "Everyone" had fringe or overly dyed hair, a studded belt from Hot Topic, and a username similar to xXxDarkPrincess4EvaxXx; Sugar We're Going Down was everyone's anthem even though very few knew the lyrics, and raccoon eyes were a fashion trend.

Okay, so we didn't all take it this seriously, probably because our parents or school dress codes stopped us from striping our hair, but we did a lot to be labeled emo (or "Scene" if you didn't want to be associated with the emos), and our parents always swore we would grow out of it.

Newsflash: we didn't!

Sure, we've learned to make our eyeliner more subtle. dye our hair in ways that are more socially acceptable, and we don't walk around "rawr :33" ing at people, but there are other ways that we've kept our emo moniker (My Chemical Romance, for example).

Much like any other generation, us kids who grew up "emo" have things that we'll always hold onto. We even turn them into memes.

Many of us continue to listen to the music of our childhood or things that are similar. Instead of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, we listen to A Day To Remember, Panic! At The Disco, and TwentyOne Pilots. We have tattoos under our work attire, piercings we keep covered, and still hold a deep connection with the music of our youth, because for many of us, the lyrics meant something (or we thought they did, at least).

So no, we're not racoon-eyed, fringe haired, skater shoe wearing teens anymore, but our emo phase made us who we are, and in some cases we're pretty badass adults!