Everybody goes through phases in life when they listen to a different genre of music. Maybe you loved heavy metal or punk rock when you were a teenager, but today you listen to nothing but oldies and country. Perhaps you listen to a special playlist while you're sleeping or on your Monday morning commute.
Music is cathartic. Depending on the year or the mood, you might choose to listen to different music, and that especially applies to the time after a breakup.
After a messy breakup, you may mourn the loss of a person from your life, but have the added pain of them cheating on you or not accepting who you are. Feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness may drive you to listen to sad, empowering, or ragey songs to help you get over the person, and oftentimes it works!
Letting out your emotions can be very healing, and we've found a 21 tracks that will ease your heartache. Because let's face it: They never deserved you anyways.
1. Say Something by A Great Big World
While it's not a happy or empowering song, this sad ballad reflects on a great love that was never returned and the vulnerability that comes with loss. It'll have you crying, in a good way.
Best lyric: "You're the one that I love and I'm saying goodbye."
2. Titanium by David Guetta ft. Sia
I love listening to this at the gym because it reminds me how strong I am and how much I'm capable of. Those are always good things to remember after rejection.
Best lyric: "You shoot me down but I won't fall. I am titanium."
3. All I Ask by Adele
Sometimes we're blindsided by a breakup, and other time we can see it coming a mile away. Adele's song explores the emotion behind a last night together before each person goes their separate ways.
Best lyric: "It matters how this ends. 'Cause what if I never love again?"
4. It's Raining Men by The Weather Girls
How can anyone be sad when listening to this song? Along with the catchy beat and funny lyrics, it brings hope that you'll find that special someone one day.
Best lyric: "God bless Mother Nature, she's a single woman too. She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do. She taught every angel to rearrange the sky so that each and every woman could find her perfect guy."
5. Better in Time by Leona Lewis
Although this track isn't a chart-topper anymore, the words resonate throughout the years. Leona Lewis croons about lost love and the hope that healing will come someday.
Best lyric: "And even though I really love you, I'm gonna smile cause I deserve to."
6. All I Want by Kodaline
All those promises. How many did they make to you, only to break every last one? We can all relate to this heartfelt song. Listen and watch the music video at the same time for even greater effect.
Best lyric: "But if you loved me, why'd you leave me?"
7. Let Her Go by Passenger
They say you never know what you have until it's gone, and you can't help but remember all the good times you shared with your partner after the breakup happens. Passenger nails it on the head.
Best lyric: "Only know you love her when you let her go."
Go to the next page to discover more post-breakup tracks.
Maybe you can't cry into the phone to your best friend about your breakup because it's 2 a.m., but you can always listen to music. "No one else will ever love me," "I'm never falling in love again," "I don't care about anything anymore," and "I miss him/her" are all things you could be thinking. They are normal.
Be sure to get yourself a tub of ice cream and some headphones to listen to this next set of songs. Allow yourself a little self-pity. It's all part of the healing process.
8. Un-Break My Heart by Toni Braxton
If broken hearts could be reversed, we would do it. This sad song begs a lover to return so all the pain they brought could be rewound like the tape on a VHS player.
Best lyric: "Undo this hurt you caused when you walked out the door and walked out of my life."
9. Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake
Good old JT can be relied on when it comes to healing heartbreak songs. This unpitying song shows that karma comes for those who cheat. It's pretty satisfying when it comes to visit an ex!
Best lyric: "Your bridges were burned, and now it's your turn to cry."
10. It's My Life by Bon Jovi
You can't build a post-breakup playlist without Bon Jovi, and this oldie is an important reminder to make the life you want to live, with or without someone else.
Best lyric: "I ain't gonna live forever I just want to live while I'm alive."
11. Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye
Losing love isn't only sad, it's also confusing. Knowing someone well and seeing them every day only to have them disappear from you life can be disorienting. As time goes by, you slowly forget and things get easier.
Best lyric: "Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over but had me believing it was always something that I'd done."
12. Shots by Imagine Dragons
Knowing someone isn't right for you but staying with them anyways is universal. Imagine Dragons explores this folly with an upbeat song that asks for forgiveness and reflects on personal weaknesses.
Best lyric: "Oh, I'm wishing you're here / But I'm wishing you're gone / I can't have you and I'm only gonna do you wrong."
13. Restless Heart by Matt Hires
This song is a warning to steer clear of lovers who can't make up their minds. After a breakup, it can be tempting in the first few months to get back together. Don't fall for it.
Best lyric: "Heartbreakers like you are hard to erase. You lift me up just so I fall."
14. Good Life by OneRepublic
While OneRepublic's hit song isn't about heartbreak, it will give you good vibes, which is just what you need right now. That person who left you doesn't have to make life any less wonderful.
Best lyric: "Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight / Like this city is on fire tonight / This could really be a good life."
Continue to listen to 7 more songs!
Music is the best medicine for an aching heart. After your significant other leaves you, it can be tempting to lie around and watch Netflix for days. Don't do it! Instead, grab a journal and some headphones, and hunker down for a day of real emotion. Think about what you're upset about, listen to what song artists have to say about it, and write it down. Invite a friend over if you're feeling lonely, but don't text the ex!
We have 7 more post-breakup tracks for you to listen to. Don't forget to scroll all the way to the bottom and leave us a comment with the song that did your heart the most good.
15. The Last Time by Taylor Swift ft. Gary Lightbody
We can't explain why we keep coming back to an ex, only to have them leave us again, but it's a thing. Maybe we love them. Taylor Swift thinks that's what it is.
Best lyric: "This is the last time I'm asking you why / You break my heart in the blink of an eye."
16. Mr. Brightside by The Killers
Watching someone cheat on you is one of the worst feelings, but it's also no fun to see an ex move on to someone else quickly after a breakup. Mr. Brightside explores feelings of jealousy, longing, and betrayal.
Best lyric: "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea / Turning through sick lullabies / Choking on your alibis."
17. Flipside by Lana Del Rey
Have you ever had a feeling someone will break up with you soon? You know it's coming, and you do anything to prevent or delay it. Lan Del Rey will put your thoughts into words in this crooning track.
Best lyric: "Are you gonna hurt me now? Or are you gonna hurt me later?"
18. Miss Missing You by Fall Out Boy
Instead of a sad, slow song, Fall Out Boy goes for a fast, upbeat track that explores anger behind loss.
Best lyric: "Sometimes before it gets better / The darkness gets bigger/ The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger."
19. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
This classic will make you feel empowered all over again, even if you've heard it 100 times before. It may seem like heartbreak is something you'll never get over, you're stronger than you think.
Best lyric: "I've got all my life to live / I've got all my love to give / And I'll survive."
20. The Scientist by Coldplay
Breaking up can feel empowering at first. You're leaving a toxic or dead-end relationship behind you and asserting your independence once more. After the initial adrenaline surge, being away from that person might become harder than you expected. Listen and weep it out.
Best lyric: "Nobody said it was easy / No one ever said it would be this hard."
21. Breakeven by The Script
It's maddening when your ex seems perfectly fine after breaking up, while you're struggling to get through each day. The Script demonstrates what this feels like in this sad song.
Best lyric: "What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you? And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK?"
Tell us the song you listened to after a breakup and SHARE this post with anyone who needs a pick-me-up!