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"...I'm an enabler. Yeah. I know the psychobabble."
— Esme to Miles

Esme Song is a Senior (Grade 12) at Degrassi Community School. Prim and proper, a button-down keener on the outside, an erratic thrill-seeker on the inside, Esme's a student who lives in the moment. She's confident, knows what she wants, and isn’t afraid to manipulate others in order to get it. These antics are rooted in her desperate need for attention, so when things don't go according to her plan, Esme lashes out irrationally. She was friends with Miles Hollingsworth III, on whom she used to have a crush on and was dating Zig Novak. She had a threesome relationship with Frankie and Zig Novak. She has conflicts with Winston Chu, Zoë Rivas, Maya Matlin, Tristan Milligan, Frankie Hollingsworth and Shay Powers. She is labelled as "The Bad Influence". She was portrayed by Chelsea Clark.


Character History[]

Not much is known about Esme's history. Esme mentions in the final season of Degrassi: Next Class that her mother died from suicide, which we later find out is that her mother could have survived if Esme hadn't tilted her mother's head back which Esme tells Zig. Esme mentions that the reason why she acts the way she does is due to her mother's suicide.

She did not appear in Degrassi: The Next Generation. Esme is often called a sociopath and a psychopath by her peers. Esme had been known to act irrationally to deal with her issues.

It is mentioned on some episodes that she left her old school due to her father transferred jobs and she got expelled at her old school for reasons unspecified.

Degrassi: Next Class[]

Season 1[]

In #NoFilter, she is in the same English class as Miles, Winston, Tristan, and Tiny. She doesn't speak but pays close attention to Miles.

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Esme gives Miles her "happy pills".

In #YesMeansYes, while complaining to Winston about having to attend a family dinner with his father Miles draws the attention of Esme, who tells them several times to be quiet. She eventually cuts off a lock of her hair, hands Miles the scissors and frames him so that Miles gets in trouble. Miles goes to confront Esme for getting him in trouble and she tells him she got him detention so he'd have a reason to miss the family dinner. She tells him if he doesn't trust his father she should find proof at his apartment. Miles and Esme sneak into Mr. Hollingsworth apartment and discover Mr. H really is trying to repair his family. The two hide in the closet when the cleaning lady walks in, and while Miles is rambling, Esme kisses him. The next day, Miles still doesn't want to believe his father is trying to change, so in order to cope with the dinner Esme gives him her bottle of "happy pills" and he takes two of them.

In #NotOkay, while at Lola's Cantina, Tristan runs in to Miles and his new girlfriend, Esme.

In #ButThatsNoneOfMyBusiness, Winston learns Miles is so calm because he's been taking Esme's anxiety meds, Lorazepam. Winston points out that they can be addictive while Esme says there's nothing wrong with using them daily if you need them. Esme later talks Miles through his panic attack, but because he flushed all of his pills he and Esme end up stealing more anxiety meds from the girl's locker room at Degrassi. After Mrs. Hollingsworth finds out about Miles' pill usage but is unable to locate where he hid the pills, Miles no longer cares about the story he wrote or about impressing his parents, he's now only interested in suppressing his anxiety with the pills and Esme by his side.

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Esme and Miles.

In #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin, Esme tells Miles about their night of partying, which leaves him worried, but he accepts another bag of unknown pills from Esme anyway. After enrolling into addiction counseling, Miles tells Esme he can't hang out with her anymore, and she tries to guilt him for distancing himself before she finally walks away.

In #NotAllMen, Esme and Miles are seen in the halls when an angry Hunter passes them. The two of them are seemingly high when they approach Hunter at his locker and he calls them delinquents. Esme is seen giggling as Miles makes jokes at Hunter.

In #SinceWeBeinHonest, Miles offers to help with the Snow Ball, but Miles instantly becomes distracted when Esme seems to be in trouble. She leads him to believe she hurt herself because of him, so he feels obligated to help her. He soon realizes she faked a suicide attempt and he demands she stay away from him.

Season 2[]

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Esme and Zig start hanging out.

In #SquadGoals, Maya Matlin becomes obsessed with finding out what Zig Novak's up to when she sees him hanging out with Esme, and Maya accidentally likes one of Zig's pictures of him hanging out with Esme.

In #BuyMePizza, Zoë Rivas auditions to host Degrassi's 60th anniversary show with Winston, but loses the role to Esme because she wasn't magnetic on stage and couldn't sell the sexual tension bit in the script. She asks Esme to show her how she auditioned, and as they practice the sexual tension bit Zoë finds herself kissing Esme a bit too passionately for her liking.

In #ToMyFutureSelf, Esme calls out Zoë in front of the class about her and Winston's Japan presentation, complaining that Zoë's outfit is racially insensitive. Zoë wants to get revenge on Esme, but Winston calms her down, telling her she's better than her vindictive nature and that they can find a nicer way to destroy Esme. After Zoë and Winston apologize for their presentation, Esme isn't impressed and Winston calls her out for bashing Zoë's costume as racist, but not saying anything about him (a Korean) appropriating Japanese culture with his outfit. After a half-hearted apology from Esme, Winston tells Zoë that he knows she isn't as into the relationship as he is and says it's okay if she walks away.

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Zig asks Esme to help him train for his dance audition.

In #RiseAndGrind, Zig employs the help of Esme to teach him for the dance audition, but when the training is too much he tries to quit. When he starts having a pity party about being useless and Maya dumping him, Esme tells him to suck it up because dancing is about confidence. Later, Grace Cardinal and Tiny make fun of Zig for not knowing it was actually an audition to be a stripper, but Esme offers Zig a summer job as part of her dance group.

In #TheseAreMyConfessions, at the keg party, Grace tells Maya that Zig is finally ready to move on, but Maya assumes it's with Esme. Grace tells Zig her mother agreed to the road trip, and Zig says he'll have to take time off from his summer job working in a dance troupe with Esme. Zig says that he and Esme haven't hooked up, but he is enjoying receiving female attention after his breakup with Maya.

Season 3[]

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Esme gets upset with Miles' constant updates about Tristan.

In #BreakTheInternet, in class, the students agree that Miles' updates about Tristan Milligan were too personal, and Esme says Miles has been deluding himself by holding onto every shred of hope Tristan will pull through. She also tells him that Tristan's finger twitching was just an involuntary response that meant nothing. Later, Esme attacks Miles when he says Tristan is not going to leave him the way everyone has left her.

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Esme confronts Zig for texting his friends about her.

In #IWokeUpLikeThis, after getting a blowjob from Esme in the school parking lot, Zig unintentionally reveals that to Tiny, Jonah Haak, Frankie Hollingsworth and Shay Powers. All of them are grossed out, explaining that Esme is crazy and implying that she's a slut. Tiny's also concerned that if Zig keeps spending so much time with Esme he'll flunk senior year. Zig turns down time with Esme to study for a makeup quiz, and he tells her his friends consider he spends too much time with her. Esme tells Zig that she's really good at math and helps him study. But when Zig receives a message on his phone Esme reads it and mysteriously disappears. The two have a huge argument in the hallway about Zig's group chat which has Jonah and Tiny referring to Esme as "easy" and "thirsty," and Zig also responded in the chat by saying, "As long as I don't wife her, what's wrong with some extra third base action?" Zig says that Esme's always doing crazy things and does things other girls wouldn't do. In response, Esme grabs Winston and says she's going to hook up with him since she's so easy, but Mr. Perino walks up which ends the argument. Later, Zig asks Maya if he makes bad choices, and Maya tells him that if he really likes Esme, he shouldn't let everyone else's opinions about Esme affect him. Zig finds Esme to reveal he got a good grade on his math quiz thanks to her, but she's still upset. She tells him that she doesn't care what anyone says about her, but what Zig said hurt because his opinion is the only one that matters to her. She's worried Zig will freak out when people say crazy things about her that might actually be true, and she reveals that as a child she watched her mother kill herself. Zig says he relies too much on his friend's advice because he has no one else due to being kicked out for selling drugs, and Esme tells Zig that he has her.

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Esme embarrasses Shay by recommending that Tiny buy her feminine hygiene products.

In #WorstGiftEver, Shay suffers a series of embarrassing events: she starts her period while running cross country, bleeds on Tiny and Esme makes fun of her for it. Tiny also gives Shay a gift in class: a few boxes of female hygiene products at the advice of Esme. She blames part of her embarrassment on Esme for bringing attention to her period, so Shay exacts revenge by putting fake blood on Esme's seat in class. The move angers Esme and Shay gets in trouble; Shay apologizes to Esme, who in return gives her a box of adult diapers for being the "bigger person." In the end, Shay wins the cross country race and finds herself no longer bothered by Esme's passive aggressive comments.

While serving at Lola's Cantina on Miles' first day, Esme makes a rude comment about how apparently Tristan has died and Miles has moved onto Lola Pacini, which has Miles questioning whether or not he's a bad boyfriend for not visiting Tristan in the hospital.

In #HugeIfTrue, Lola and Shay get into another argument over Shay and Tiny's relationship, and Esme dares Tiny to spend seven minutes in heaven with Lola.

In #IRegretNothing, Maya wishes things could go back to the way they were between her and Zig and she kisses Zig; he backs away because he's dating Esme, who is unpleased when she sees what Maya did.

In #Woke, Esme asks Maya if she's going on a trip when she sees her withdrawing a large sum of cash and she says "Yeah, something like that," and she randomly asks Esme to take care of Zig for her.

In #ImSleep, Maya tries to talk to Zig at Degrassi, but their conversation is cut short when they see Esme approaching. Maya arrives to the play, but when she displays Esme sitting in her seat, she tells Yael to give the gift to Grace and she leaves. Esme and Zig leave Miles' play to fool around on the roof and they find Maya passed out and foaming at the mouth, OD'ing from pills. Miles, Tristan, Zig, Esme, Grace and Zoë are in the hospital waiting room; Grace regrets not having seen the warning signs and Zig feels guilty for having blown her off earlier that day. Esme tells them it's no one's fault, and it's impossible to know what's going on inside anyone's head.

Season 4[]

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Esme upset that she was the one to find Maya.

In #BackToReality, Zig wants to partner with Maya on an art project, forcing a jealous Esme to pair up with Saad Al'Maliki. Esme convinces Saad to paint her naked, and during that, Saad discovers Maya’s suicide attempt when Esme snarks, “Why would I be jealous of a girl who tried to kill herself?” In class, Esme reveals Saad’s nude painting of her, and she makes it an issue of sex causing Maya painted Zig naked. Zig, Esme and Saad receive detention for their nude paintings and in detention, Esme tries to pin everything on Maya and Zig isn’t falling for it. “Why do you have to be so crazy?” He asks Esme. Esme, with zero filter as always, responds with: “I’m the crazy one? Not Maya, who tried to kill herself?” Esme’s true underlying bitterness towards Maya lies in that she’d found her after the suicide attempt— she calls Maya selfish, wishing she’d done it anywhere else. “Maybe I should kill myself because I can’t get the image of her limp body outta my head.” Zig gets Esme to open up to him. She never has before because he’s always with Maya. He explains that if he and Esme hadn’t found her, it would be on him because he’d ignored Maya. Esme, looking to comfort Zig and for a bit chaos, says the blame truly would have been on Saad. Saad had told Esme he was the last to see Maya before her attempt, and had helped her open up the door to the roof. Esme pushes hard and really sells it, to the point where she says that Maya might have been completely okay if it wasn’t for Saad. Esme knows that’s not true but Zig feels guilty and believes her. After school, Zig tries to get Saad to stay away from Maya and Esme, and Saad riles him up.

In #GetMoney, a disinterested Hunter Hollingsworth brings his laptop to the drumming festival when he goes with Frankie, so Frankie goes to hang with Esme and Zig. After Zig leaves, Esme fixes Frankie’s hair and encourages her to go talk to Jonah, who’s kissing Grace. At the Hollingsworth home, Miles and Hunter show Frankie a video of her smashing Jonah’s guitar against the tree on Esme’s social media. Instead of giving Jonah the money for the guitar like her mother asked her to, Frankie approaches Esme to yell at her for posting the video. Esme sways Frankie by explaining that Taylor Swift made an entire career off of bashing her exes and that what Frankie did was badass. Later, Frankie approaches Jonah as Esme films. Esme posts it and the couple giggle as they walk away.

In #ILookLikeA, in the Hollingsworth house, Hunter asks Frankie, Zig, and Esme their opinions on photoshopping armpit hair out. Esme and Frankie say a resounding “yes” when asked if they would, and Zig says no, unless he was a girl. Esme offers her help and digitally removes Yael's armpit hair. Later, Hunter approaches Zig to tell him to thank Esme for her horrible advice.

In #RollUpToTheClubLike, Zig and Esme give ideas for Grace’s bucket list. Esme suggests that Grace have sex with Jonah, and says “Thank me in Heaven.”

In #Preach, Lola and Shay aren’t happy with how much time Frankie is spending with Esme, and how all she does is party when Lola has vlogging and Shay has track. When Frankie learns about the bake sale fundraiser for Belgium, she immediately wants to be a part of it and cancels her plans with Esme for that night. Later, Frankie makes a huge mess as she tries to bake, and Esme and Zig show up to help. “If you can’t count on us, who can you count on?” Esme says. Frankie accidentally hits Zig in the face with frosting and it starts a frosting war that ends with Frankie and Esme on top of Zig. When Hunter and Baaz Nahir walk in on them and ask if this is an orgy, Esme jokingly says it is. Later, Esme is planning to skip the rally to get burgers with Zig, and invite Frankie, who tells Esme that she doesn’t think she should hang out with them anymore. Esme manipulates her into thinking that her and Zig are her only true friends because they helped her through her breakup with Jonah.

In #FactsOnly, when Zig's friends gather and boast about where they got in (Tiny to Caltech, Esme to Columbia and Harvard, Grace to University of Toronto, Jonah to Queens) Zig lies and says he got into Kempton. After Zig gets caught lying, he leaves and has a heart-to-heart with Frankie and when Esme walks up, Frankie takes her leave. Zig tries to explain to Esme that there was nothing happening with Frankie just then, but Esme seems to be encouraging him to make a move on Frankie. Tiny later approaches Zig with application forms for community college, which Zig only takes to impress Esme so she won’t break up with him. Later, in the Hollingsworth pool, Esme soaks Zig’s community college forms and gets him into the pool. She brings up the threesome rumors again: “It’s such a rip-off, though. We get a bad rep around school and none of the actual fun.” She asks Zig who’s a better kisser, making Frankie kiss him. Tiny later asks Zig if Esme dumped him, and Zig says he thinks he kind of has two girlfriends now. He walks away to join Esme and Frankie.

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Esme cuddles with Frankie and Zig.

In #Fire, the episode opens on Zig, Frankie, and Esme, cuddled up at school. Esme immediately gets defensive when she finds out about his camping trip and invites herself and a hapless Frankie along. In Frankie’s room, Esme reveals matching bikini tops she bought for her and Frankie, but Frankie says she’ll go because they were not invited. Esme tries to convince her, but Frankie tells her to make her own history with Zig and friends, and leaves to go meet Shay and Lola.

At the campsite, post-getting set up, the group hangs out and reminisces, and Esme is the clear outlier. She brings weed brownies for dessert, which everyone in the group turns down for different reasons. Frustrated, Esme claims a headache and goes to sulk in her tent. Frankie shows up after all and pops a brownie in her mouth and spits it out when Jonah says they’re weed brownies, and then goes to put her stuff away and check on Esme, who’s not happy to see her. Esme plots for them to go swimming with their new bikinis and eventually skinny-dipping to lure Zig in.

Frankie and Esme walk alone in the dark, Frankie trying to get them to turn back. Esme is freaking out and paranoid that Zig will abandon her, and she lashes out at Frankie, who was a pawn the entire time to keep Zig with her. “I made you!” Esme snaps when Frankie says she’s not going to have a threesome with Zig and Esme. When Frankie still says she won’t do it, Esme tells her she’s just like everyone else. She abandons Frankie in the woods.

Back at the campsite, Zig goes to check on Esme, and Maya emerges from her tent, claiming she wrote the best song ever in record time.

Zig is out Esme-searching, and happens upon Maya, who is crying because she doesn’t want to be high anymore. Outside the tent, Esme hears them talking and starts to scream that she can’t breathe. Everyone comes running out and Zig acts quickly, saying she’s allergic to bees and must have gotten stung. Jonah grabs her Epi-pen and Esme administers it to herself, but she fakes it. Jonah and Shay call her out on her faking it. Zig goes for a walk and the group goes back to their tents, with Esme left alone.

Zig returns to his, Frankie, and Esme’s tent in the morning as Esme tries to explain what happened, saying that Maya put herself in trouble so Zig would leave Esme. She takes off her sweater to try and seduce him into not breaking up with her. She’s left alone, sobbing.

In #Obsessed, after Maya asks Zig to prom, Esme approaches Zig to ask what time he’ll pick her up for prom, and is confused and upset when he says they aren’t going. When she finds out he’s going with Maya, she snaps at him. Feeling bad for her, he says he still loves her but needs space. He asks Maya not to post anything on socials because of Esme. While the seniors are waiting to hear what happens when prom is delayed due to a bomb threat, Zig texts Esme to ensure she’s okay, and she sends him pictures of her in a bra. At prom, Zig is still texting Esme, who is guilt-tripping him into talking to her. He finally puts his phone away, blocking her, and goes to dance with Maya. Esme shows up at the prom to yell at Zig, who’s slow-dancing with Maya, for blocking her. She grabs a knife off the table and yells, “Maybe I should just kill myself. Make you all happy!” Zig agrees to go talk to her so she’ll put down the knife. In the forest with him, she tries to kiss him, saying they’re better together when they aren’t talking. He tries to leave and she starts hitting him until he tumbles down a steep slope in the forest.

In #KThxBye, Maya sees Esme, sobbing and pacing, who points Maya to Zig at the bottom of the slope. Zig doesn’t turn Esme in after he is sent to the paramedic and apologizes for getting Maya involved with his relationship drama. Esme shows up unceremoniously in Frankie’s room, scarily rambling and trying to make a plan. Frankie timidly helps her come up with ideas and Esme ends up passing out on Frankie’s bed. Frankie realizes that Esme said she tried to stop prom. She rushes upstairs to find her, but she’s gone. Frankie, looking for Esme, learns she’s not on the list to graduate even though she’s a straight A student who got into two Ivy League schools (this was because she missed a month's worth of classes). Frankie sees Esme outside on a motorcycle that she bought for Zig. Zig meets Esme outside, and she tries to apologize and get him to drive away on the motorcycle with her. When he says no, she starts breaking the bike and admits to calling in the bomb threat. She tries to attack Zig again but he grabs her wrists. She collapses, sobbing, into his arms and he hands her over to the guidance counselor.

When Yael learns that Esme confessed to the bomb threat, they go to apologize to Saad for accusing him.

Quotes[]

  • (To Miles and Winston): "I missed what Mr. M said about iambic pentameter." (First Line) - #YesMeansYes
  • (To Zig): "Dance is about confidence, fighting the doubt so forget about her and fight it." - #RiseAndGrind
  • (To Mr. M.): "Miles cut my hair!"- #YesMeansYes
  • (To Maya): "Do I look like the forgiving type?" - #Woke
  • (To Zig, about Maya): "She's ODing!"
    Zig: "Well should we try to make her throw up?!"
    Esme: "NO! No! You never do that! I learned that with my mom...we have to put her in prone position! And call 911!" - #ImSleep
  • "No one can know what's going on inside someone's head." - #ImSleep
  • (To Zig): "I'm the crazy one? Not Maya the one who tried to kill herself?"
  • (To Frankie): "I give you everything, and you turn on me."

Trivia[]

  • She is one of eleven main characters who did not speak in their first appearance. The other ten were Saad, Spike, Marco, Anya, Bruce, Connor, Riley, Cam, Luke & Shay.
  • It is heavily implied that Esme has a psychological disorder, given the fact that she is known for her intense attention-seeking ways, self-destructive behavior, without any impulse control, manipulative ways, and her loneliness and depression. Also, she has a prescription for anti-anxiety medication, which she gave to Miles during his self-destructive phase in Degrassi: Next Class (Season 1).
  • Esme was part of Degrassi's first polyamorous relationship - along with Frankie and Zig.
  • She stripped for Saad to make Zig jealous.
  • She is branded as rich.
  • She pretended to self-harm to get Miles back.
  • She shares similarities with former Degrassi characters Leia Chang, Bianca DeSousa, Imogen Moreno and Eli Goldsworthy.
  • Esme is Korean and the fifth female Asian student in the Degrassi franchise after Manny (Filipino), Kendra and Leia (Chinese), and Alli (Indian).
  • Esme has done twelve years of dance training.
  • Her mother committed suicide when Esme was 10 and she found her body.
    • Esme was able to save Maya from her suicide attempt after learning not what to do with her mother.
  • Esme is one of nine characters to stop or save someone from killing themselves, the others being:
  • Esme is one of thirteen characters to have been held back; the others being Rick Munro, Joey, Sean, Rick Murray (before his death), Spinner, Jimmy, Mia, Fiona, Tori, Imogen, Drew, and Jonah.
    • She is the first and only character to be held back in Degrassi: Next Class.
  • She is allergic to bees.
  • Esme was accepted into both Harvard and Columbia, but ended up skipping her classes for the last month and skipped her final exams, which led to her getting held back instead.
  • Esme could have killed Zig when she pushed him down the mountainside in #Obsessed during her mental breakdown. If Zig chose to press charges, it’s likely she would have faced attempted murder for her actions.
  • She has the highest episode count out of the new characters introduced in Next Class.

Relationships[]

Main article: Miles-Esme Relationship

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Main article: Zig-Esme Relationship
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  • Zig Novak
    • Start Up: Before #BreakTheInternet (DNC 301)
    • Broke Up : #Fire (DNC 407)
      • Reason: Esme was scared that Zig would leave her for Maya, so she began to act out in intense ways, which eventually led Zig to break up with her.
Main article: Zig-Esme-Frankie Relationship
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Love Triangles[]

Main article: Esme-Miles-Tristan Love Triangle
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Interaction[]

Friendships Relationships Conflicts Attractions Love Triangles
Miles-Esme Friendship Zig-Esme Relationship Esme-Winston Conflict Miles-Esme Friendship Esme-Miles-Tristan Love Triangle
Zig-Esme Friendship Zig-Esme-Frankie Relationship Zoë-Esme Conflict Maya-Zig-Esme Love Triangle
Frankie-Esme Friendship Shay-Esme Conflict
Maya-Esme Conflict
Tristan-Esme Conflict
Miles-Esme Conflict
v - e - d

Degrassi: Next Class Main Characters

BaazEsmeFrankieGoldiGraceHunterJonahLolaMayaMilesRashaSaadShaySnakeTinyTristanVijayWinstonYaelZigZoë

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