Emotional Wreck Playlist (Grab Your Tissues!)

By Eric Assaly On 1 August 2012 In Playlists

This could very well be the most intimate blog post of my life. Let me start by saying that I am objectively über sensitive and I love to indulge in my emotions. I use music as a way to fully feel and linger in these emotions, so I can eventually set them free. Music as catharsis. So, as a self-proclaimed emotional expert, I’ve broken down sadness into 4 reoccurring themes. Hopefully you can listen to these songs and experience the same catharsis to rid yourself of the blues.

**Please remember I am not by any means a licensed therapist**

Anxious-Preoccupied Attachment:
This is when you realize that you may have come on too strong. You are begging for attention. You are a delicate orchid who needs tending. You are sensitive and you know it. You think you are stupid for wanting all this attention but you can’t help it. Active Child sums it up pretty nicely: “I fall in love…way too fast”. These songs can help you realize you really are beautiful in every single way. Sing it, xtina. SING IT.

Active Child – Way Too Fast
Eisley – Telescope Eyes
Evanescence – Good Enough
Jónsi – Tornado
Samantha Ronson – Built This Way
Christina Aguilera – Beautiful
Alanis Morissette – That I Would Be Good
Tegan and Sara – My Number
Perfume Genius – Hood
Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
Björk – Hyperballad
Tegan and Sara – Where Does the Good Go
Sia – Breathe Me

Heartbreak:
Heartbreak is really hard to write about. It can feel like someone is literally crushing your heart. I’d say Sinéad O’Connor really captures the essence in her hit song “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Her shaved head also helps.

The Cure – Pictures of You
Adele – Someone Like You
Sinéad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
Toni Braxton – Un-break My Heart
Amy Winehouse – Wake Up Alone
Leonard Cohen – Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye
Antony & The Johnsons – Flétta
Evanescence – My Immortal
The Cranberries – Empty
Ólafur Arnalds – Ljósið
Our Lady Peace – Are you Sad?
R.E.M. – Everybody Hurts
Gary Jules – Mad World
Imogen Heap – Half Life
Tori Amos – Your Cloud

Growing Up:
Reflecting on the past is very bittersweet. You cherish the good times but realize that they are very much in the past. You reflect on the bad times but realize how you’ve managed to overcome many obstacles to get to where you are now. This is one of my favourite types of sadness.

The Cranberries – Twenty One
Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time
Broken Social Scene – Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl
Jann Arden – Good Mother
Paula Cole – I Don’t Want to Wait
Our Lady Peace – 4 a.m.
The Cranberries – Ode To My Family
Tracy Chapman – Fast Car
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
Gwen Stefani – Cool
Imogen Heap – First Train Home
Nelly Furtado – Try
Peter Gabriel – Don’t Give Up
Coldplay – Fix You
Dashboard Confessional – Remember to Breathe
Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work
Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved
Something Corporate – Konstantine
Alanis Morissette – You Learn
Regina Spektor – Braille
The Cure – Disintegration

Unrequited Love:
We’ve all had a crush. A person you are dying to get them to notice you. You just can’t get past the ‘friend-zone’. It’s so frustrating!!! Argggg.

Frou Frou – It’s Good To Be in Love
Kate Havnevik – So:Lo
Joshua Radin ft. Maria Taylor – When You Find Me
t.A.T.u – All the Things She Said
Portishead – Roads
Lydia – This is Twice Now
Sufjan Stevens – To Be Alone With You
Kings of Convenience – Love Is No Big Truth
Broken Social Scene ft. Feist – Lover’s Spit
Jens Lekman – Someone to Share My Life With
Antony & The Johnsons – Hope There’s Someone
Stars – Personal
Ellie Goulding – Fighter Plane