Tate has explained in a video that this song is about the pressure that is on teenagers nowadays. She sings about different stereotypes in this song to bring across the message that:

You are never going to be happy enough if you are always thinking about what the other people are doing.

Tate also wanted to sing about the capriciousness of a teenager’s life. For example, things that may seem to play a big role in your life now, will probably only be a small thing when you look back at it. Furthermore, teen’s moods change all the time:

Some days, I’ll be like, ‘I’m so happy, I love my life!’ And the next day I can be an absolute disaster. And I have no idea why.

Tate wanted to bring all of these aspects of the lives of adolescents together in this song, that is fittingly called ‘'Teenage Mind.’'