Turning 30 is my absolute favorite song in Bo Burnham's new show. I found Bo back in middle school back when What. released. I obsessed over the amount of work and practice and dedication that took into each show. I watched his old clips on YouTube and constantly thought about how close in age I was to bo in the old videos. He found a passion to pour his heat into at 18 and I was so excited to be 18. Now that I’m 19, I still compare myself to Bo’s age. Not only in the fact we look at people our age and compare our life stages, but also in that our accomplishments are less spectacular without our age.
In Inside, the number 27 reappears throughout the special. We first see it in White Woman’s Instagram with the balloons in the background and we see it again when Bo talks about his grandpa in Turning 30. The number 27 represents the realization that youth is no longer celebrated with accomplishments. It marks a new adult life that has to be more responsible than the rest of your wild twenties. This motif of 27 is also a reference to the 27 clubs, a myth in which young successful musicians and celebrities usually die at 27. Bo feels a sense of guilt that he should have died with his youth to preserve his successful title. In this essay, I will...
