Our Favourite Break-Up Songs

Our Favourite Break-Up Songs

The Courteeners - Hanging Off Your Cloud Katie Evans

The Courteeners are known for their Brit-pop songs about conundrums regarding relationships and friendships, but it wasn’t until their 2020 album More. Again. Forever. that they truly released a song fitting for that moment after a break-up where music seems the only monetary cure. ‘Hanging Off Your Cloud’ asks all the questions we have when our significant other is no longer around as much: how we wonder if it’s okay to miss the other person or if our mind should simply cut ties. The sentiment of ‘Hanging Off Your Cloud’ is one that reminds you that your break-up is allowed to stay on your mind, for as long as is necessary. This melodic, violin and piano-heavy tune is certainly not a track for Valentine’s Day, instead, it’s perfect for a bit of weeping or feeling sorry for yourself - which is perfectly okay!

Katie Evans

Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u

It goes without saying that Olivia Rodrigo’s album, SOUR, offers plenty of great breakup songs to cry your heart over or to scream out loud. ‘drivers license’ and ‘traitor’ have typical pangs of heartbreak while being great songs in themselves, but in terms of songs that will have you loudly declaring that you’re over your ex (when you might actually not be), ‘good 4 you’ is a powerful declaration of teen angst and anger. Brimming with lyrics packed with bitterness and showcasing a side of Olivia Rodrigo that no one expected to exist, ‘good 4 you’ is Rodrigo in full force, capturing the delightfully satisfying spirit of wishing every ex who did you wrong a firm “f**k you”. The song is filled with cynicism; Rodrigo provides some truly expressive voice work, and its rocky backing track all accumulate into a powerhouse of music that has you ready to break in into your ex’s house and trash everything (not that we support you doing that). Even its video was perfectly matched to the song, and it’s the type of music that will have you screaming the lyrics full-pelt in what can only be the true definition of catharsis.

Sam Pegg

Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Let’s be honest, Valentine’s day is overly romanticised. So for the single or heartbroken ones out there, it’s not a day celebrating a relationship - it becomes a celebration of freedom, self-love, confidence and liberation; a happy breakup. Can a breakup be happy? Well, it can for Taylor Swift! When you decide, like Swift, that it’s your decision to let go of someone, you can listen to ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’ proudly. The singer-songwriter really exceeded the expectations of a breakup song. What is supposed to feel like the most emotional and depressing time in a breakup is made into an upbeat melodic, positive and catchy song where you don’t feel like crying into your pillows over someone who doesn’t really love you. The entirety of Swift’s album Red is based on her true breakups; with genuine emotion from someone who has experienced many breakups, we can feel more connected to her music in an upbeat light. Swift makes the best catchy lyrics and melodies; it’s almost impossible to still be sad about a breakup after listening to her music. The repetition of ‘never ever’ really sticks through the song, and makes you feel like your strong individual self. What a perfect song for not only a breakup but to echo self-love by letting people go, through a day where you don’t need anyone else to love you but yourself.

Amrit Manku