Best of: Music to get you through a pandemic heartbreak
After a relationship ends, sometimes life is too hard and your heart hurts. Here’s some music for when the pain is unbearable and you just need to feel. Photo illustration by SAM ANDRUS.
Breakups suck. I would know.
I get feeling like the world is ending, being unable to get out of bed and spending long hours crying. Sometimes the pain feels like it’ll never go away. Add the isolation of a pandemic during your first year of college into the mix, and it’s almost too difficult to handle.
Sometimes the only thing you can do is put on that one playlist and let the pain wash over you. In the five months since my relationship ended, I’ve been building the perfect playlist for when I just can’t handle it anymore. A lot of the songs are sad. Some are special for personal reasons. But most are applicable to anyone wallowing in the grief that comes after losing that special someone. I’m here today to share some highlights of artists with you.
Lorde
I’m not kidding when I tell you I listened to Lorde’s “Melodrama” start to finish every day for a month following my breakup. I had never listened to her music before, but I swear this album spoke directly to me.
I won’t make any jokes about waiting indefinitely for her next album (even though it’s been four years). But seriously, “Melodrama” is utter perfection.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard something more beautiful than “Liability,” but “Hard Feelings/Loveless,” “Writer in the Dark” and “Supercut” gut me every time I hear them. I don’t know what Lorde did to make those songs so good, but heartbroken Angelina ate it right up.
Taylor Swift
I’ve never been a huge Swiftie. Sure, I loved her as a child, but as I grew up, I drifted away from her music. But my breakup — and the re-release of “Fearless” — brought me back to Taylor. Screaming “All Too Well” and “Forever and Always” in my room makes me feel seen and not alone with the overwhelming feelings that I can’t seem to shake.
Ironically, my relationship ended in the middle of December, which makes “Back to December” hit much harder than it ever had before.
More recent releases — like “champagne problems,” “Bye Bye Baby,” “We Were Happy” and “the 1” — round out the playlist beautifully. Thank you so much, Taylor, for writing music to help me through my first very true heartbreak; you’ve definitely gained a fan back.
Olivia Rodrigo
Yes, yes, everyone lost it when “drivers license” came out. But the song was released only three weeks after my breakup, so the timing was impeccable in my case. I’ve probably listened to it at least 100 times.
When I got inevitably tired of it, I started listening to “All I Want” from Rodrigo’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” Then in 2021, she came out with “Deja Vu” and “Good 4 You” which both shocked the world yet again. Olivia hasn’t been holding back with the gut-wrenching bangers.
Rex Orange County
I’m not sure how relevant Alexander James O'Connor even is anymore, but he broke up with his girlfriend just one month before I broke up with mine. So it only makes sense that I include some of his more depressing songs, which make me cry really hard.
“A Song About Being Sad” and “It’s Not The Same Anymore” are great. The lyrics are beautiful, and he articulates emotion so well. The six minutes and 26 seconds of “It’s Not The Same Anymore” is an entire journey in and of itself. Turning on that song and reflecting inward, my life and my feelings hurt like hell, but feel great at the same time.
Honorable Mentions
“everything i want” - Billie Eilish
“Hurt Me Once” - Ben Platt
“I Should Probably Go To Bed” - Dan + Shay
“tell me it’s okay” - gnash
“Jealous” - Labrinth
“Stay” - Mayday Parade
“Line Without a Hook” - Ricky Montgomery (feat. mxmtoon)
“Happier” - Ed Sheeran