At 3 minutes and 48 seconds long, "So High School" was written and produced by Swift and
Aaron Dessner, who provided
drum machine programming and played
bass guitar,
bass synth,
electric guitar, keyboards, percussion, piano, and synthesizers. James McAlister also provided drum machine programming and played drums, electric guitar, and synthesizers; his performance was recorded by Bella Blasko at
Hudson Valley. Benjamin Lanz used a
sequencer for the track and played trombone and synthesizers such as a
modular synthesizer; he recorded his performance at
Paris. Blasko and Jonathan Low recorded "So High School" at Long Pond Studios at Hudson Valley and
Serban Ghenea mixed it at Mixstar Studios in
Virginia Beach, Virginia. Bryce Bordone
engineered the track. The song was
mastered by
Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound in
Edgewater, New Jersey, where Ryan Smith mastered it for
vinyl as well. "So High School" is an
indie rock,
slacker rock, and
power pop song, with a
pop rock arrangement and touches of
dream pop. Craig Jenkins of
Vulture and Jake Viswanath of
Bustle believed that the track has a 1990s
alternative rock feel, while
Rolling Stone Rob Sheffield said that its "light-hearted power-pop guitar
jangle" evokes "
Hits Different" from
Midnights. Other critics likened "So High School" to the music of other artists from the past; ''
Beats Per Minute's
John Wohlmacher called the song a "throwback at millennial soft rock" reminiscent of Third Eye Blind and Avril Lavigne, The Hollywood Reporter'' Ryan Fish compared its feel to that of 1980s and 1990s dream pop tracks like
Simple Minds' "
Don't You (Forget About Me)" and
Tears for Fears' "
Head over Heels", and
The Wall Street Journal Mark Richardson named
the Primitives and
the Sundays as reference points. The lover is portrayed as a
football player, a lyrical motif that evokes Swift's
Fearless songs like "
You Belong with Me" or "
Fifteen". Swift also hints at showing up during her love interest's football games and practices in the lyrics. ==Critical reception==