Let’s get real for a sec. It’s the night after a breakup. You're hiding under your covers with Room for Squares, Continuum, tissues, Oreos, and a gallon of chocolate ice cream. Alternating between cookies and dairy, modern Mayer and early work, you cry inconsolably and uncontrollably. It’s cool. We’ve all been there at some point, I get it.
But just because your relationship is a hopeless mess doesn’t mean your breakup soundtrack has to be.
Lose the Mayer and listen to something diverse and refreshingly resonate. Below is a compilation of great breakup songs ranging from pop to grunge, Jack White to Billy Joel (staples of virtually any collection), somber realization from bitter hate to contextualized hope. Next time you’re broken-hearted over a lady or lad give these songs a listen. And remember- There are plenty of fish in the sea, but fish are members of a paraphyletic group of gill-bearing, aquatic, craniate organisms and we are humans. So don’t date fish. That’s real weird.
Here's the Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/1212960507/playlist/3swuf5Ve1u9yo304F1CfPS)
1. All I Want- Kodaline
[also,side note for audio techs- the mix on that tambourine. gorgeous]
Favorite Lyric:“When you said your last goodbye / I died a little bit inside. / I lay in tears in bed all night / alone without you by my side.”
2. Landfill- Daughter
"Landfill" is a folk/indie song that perfectly captures the ambiguity that often accompanies relationship deterioration. Elena Tonra's frosty whispers are so present she might be in your living room singing right to you. This song explains the complications of hating someone you once loved. Feelings can't be erased. Actions echo. Elena gets it.
Favorite Lyric: “Electricity between both of us / and this is dangerous / I want you so much, but I hate your guts / I hate you.”
3. Sweetheart, What Have You Done to Us- Keaton Henson
Sweeping guitar lines, shaking vocals- Keaton Henson sings softly and with emotion. If this song was a painting it would be a blue hue-ed, impressionistic version of John Waterhouse's Lamia and the Soldier. (If you've never seen that painting do yourself a favor and google it.)
Favorite Lyric(s): “Sweetheart, what have you done to us? / I turned my back and it turned to dust. / What have you done?
God, you were the one who told me not to be / so English."
4. Cheers Darlin’- Damien Rice
This song is for those who have been left, cheated on, replaced. Rice has gone to a bar to get drunk and soak in his sadness. The percussion includes clanging cups and a beeping pitch that slides up the musical scale which reminds me of a ticking bomb and legitimately makes me anxious. For those who craves to be affirmed in feelings of betrayal and regret this song is invaluable.
Favorite Lyric: “I died when you mentioned his name. / I lied. I should’ve kissed you when we were running in the rain.”
5. And So It Goes- Billy Joel
A classic piano-driven ballad sung by Billy Joel. Joel knows that relationships are hard and sometimes they don’t work out even if they should have. This song is perfect for those near-misses, the could-have-beens, the ones that got away.
Favorite Lyric: “So I would choose to be with you. / That’s if the choice was mine to make, / but you can make decisions too / and you can have this heart to break.”
6. Don't Wanna Be Your Girl- Wet
This indie/pop song verbalizes soft withdrawal. The lyrics are simply expressed with light distortion and punctuation by dull percussion. This song isn't sad really or even bitter. It just makes calm, true statements. When listened to on repeat it can help remind you that a break up was for the better.
Favorite Lyric: “I won’t hide the ways I’ve tried / it’s just not right / it’s killing me tonight.”
7. Fistful of Sand- The Bravery
The Bravery remind me of a digitized version of The Beatles. I understand that is a huge statement—let me explain. The Bravery write lyrics with few words, but the words they choose have so much to say. Also the choruses are repetitive, catchy, AND all the band members have Beatles hair (case closed). This song numbs sadness, but doesn't deny it.
Favorite Lyric: "I can hold you in my hand / but you slipped away like a fistful of sand."
8. Lover I Don’t Have to Love- Bright Eyes
Here we see Conor Oberst as his best hopeless, lonely self. If I didn't think it would be annoying I'd post the entire body of lyrics just because they're that beautiful and important to me. But that would be annoying so I won't. It should be noted that this song has a couple choice words and a mature theme. I include it on this list because it speaks boldly to a mindset that exists and therefore deserves expression.
Favorite Lyric(s): “I want a lover I don’t have to love / I want a boy so drunk he doesn’t talk
I need some meaning I can memorize / the kind I have always seems to slip my mind.”
9. Love is Blindness- Jack White
This song is the musical personification of when you look back and say, “I was such a fool”. Here is White in a song covered for The Great Gatsby soundtrack. White’s screaming vocals and confused, heavily distorted guitar lines express betrayal. Great for angry car rides, but don't speed! Listen responsively.
Favorite Lyric:
“Love is clockwork
And it's cold steel
Fingers too numb to feel
Squeeze the handle
Blow out the candle
Blindness"
10. Andria- La Dispute
Spoken word over music, this track is made up of poetry, singing, and screaming. Like Landfill it focuses on the hatelove feelings of a break up. However, unlike Daughter's song, this song leaves you with long awaited closure. It holds hope.
Favorite Lyric: “I remember how the distance tricked us / and led us helpless by the wrist into a pit to be devoured.
So, dear, no matter how we part, I hold you sweetly in my head.
And if I do not miss a part of you, a part of me is dead.
If I can't love you as a lover, I will love you as a friend.
And I will lay a bed before you; keep you safe until the end."
11. Part of It- Relient K
This song is a rock-y, alternative way to say, “this too shall pass”. After you have mourned the loss of the relationship and are able to take a step back this song is just perfect. You’re right Matt Thiessen. Perspective is a lovely hand to hold.
Favorite Lyric:
“It’s not the end of the world,
just you and me.
We’re a part of an Everyone.
We’re a part of an Everything.
And when a nightmare surely does unfold
Perspective is a lovely hand to hold.”
12. This is The End- Relient K
Number 12 and 13 of this list are paired. On the album they are back to back and belong together forever like Elizabeth and Darcy. Despite that misleading comparison they are not about lasting love, but instead focus on the moment of "are we going to break up or no?" These songs exemplify the break up conversation where you know you either have to forgive or leave.
Favorite Lyric:
“So think real slow
don’t forget that yes is yes and no is no
about the way you wanna go
cus I may forget the way to get back home
this is the end if you want it. This is the end.”
13. (If You Want It)- Relient K
(See Number 12) This is the piano post-lude to "This is The End". It concludes not only these two songs, but the entire line of thinking presented by the album. The album, aptly named Forget and Not Slow Down, is about the tension between forgetting and forgiving. The last verse of this song is arguably some of this artist's most potent lyrics. It ends with hope in a future that is eternal and saturated in love- true love.
Favorite Lyric:
“Blisters on my feet I crawled back home
Frozen from the sleet burned sand and stones
Nourished back to life by life alone
With one shake of the mane regain the throne”
Breaking up is a messy, sad ordeal. It is my sincerest hope that some solace was found in these songs. This playlist was created to validate what you're feeling and then, to find hope in something higher. Keep your chin up; You get to choose what to do with your one wild and precious life. Tomorrow the sun will rise as it has for the past thousands of years and just as people lived their lives then we will carry onward. They survived. You will as well. ALSO, now you've got a kick-ass playlist/commentary that they never did. Win.
BONUS SONG: Song for the Painter- Lost in the Trees. Its not on the playlist. Seek and you will find.
Note: This article originally appeared at laurabethwrit.es
