Reading the Harry Potter series for the first time in the fourth grade changed me. It inspired me to read more and one day write my own book. Like millions of other people, the Harry Potter books, movies, and other pieces of the franchise left a profound impact on my childhood and life in general.
Unfortunately, since the series’ publication, the author, J.K. Rowling, has publicly voiced her anti-transgender beliefs, leading several fans to cut ties with anything directly associated with her. Fans have been taking the fandom into their own hands, crafting interesting backstories for different Harry Potter eras, like the Marauders.
Personally, something would be amiss if I didn’t share songs that remind me of this nostalgic series. Here are my picks for songs inspired by Harry Potter:
- “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by The Smashing Pumpkins
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Harry Potter is so moody and sassy in the fifth novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (OOTP). This book is one of my favorites, and I think most of us have related to Harry’s teenage angst at one point or another.
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” opens with pessimistic lyrics about the brutality of our world, and lead singer, Billy Corgan, acknowledges in the chorus that “despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.”
Harry was going through it after the events of the preceding novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and OOTP is a never-ending reminder that things are going south in the wizarding world.
Conveniently, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” was released in late 1994, so Harry could’ve totally been rocking out to it on the radio in the summer of 1995 when OOTP begins.
- “Cloudbusting” by Kate Bush
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Luna Lovegood would be obsessed with Kate Bush, and you can’t tell me otherwise.
“Cloudbusting” is one of those songs that’s difficult to place. It’s nostalgic, hopeful, wistful, and a delight to listen to. Bush took inspiration from Peter Reich’s memoir A Book of Dreams, in which Reich’s relationship with his father is developed.
Bush sings: “And every time it rains / You’re here in my head / Like the sun’s coming out.” If the objects of Bush’s songs were gender-bent, the song would perfectly encompass Luna’s relationship with her mother, who passed away when she was a child.
When introduced in OOTP, Luna becomes the token “weird girl,” but this is what characters (and fans) love about her.
Luna would likely feel connected to this song because she, too, would see her mother in something strangely beautiful, like rain and the sunshine after.
- “Broken Machine” by Nothing But Thieves
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In another universe, this song was sung by none other than the vanishing cabinet in Hogwarts’ Room of Requirement.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (HBP), resident bully, Draco Malfoy, is tasked with fixing a vanishing cabinet housed within Hogwarts. The vanishing cabinet has a twin located in Diagon Alley that can be used to portal Voldemort’s followers, the Death Eaters, into the castle undetected to kill the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.
In a way, “Broken Machine” not only explains the literal brokenness of the vanishing cabinet, but also the devolution of Draco’s character over the course of HBP and the following novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Although readers aren’t meant to sympathize with Draco, he becomes one of Voldemort’s victims. He was manipulated into joining the Death Eaters and doing Voldemort’s bidding unless he wanted to die or risk his parents’ fates. Draco’s physical changes as a result of stress are described in HBP and become evidence in Harry’s insistence that Draco is up to no good.
- “Hope In The Air” by Laura Marling
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I’ll never forgive the Harry Potter movies for excluding the Gaunt family from their HBP adaptation.
For those of you who don’t know, Merope Gaunt is Voldemort’s mother. She’s the only daughter of the Gaunt family, the direct pureblood descendants of Slytherin House’s founder, Salazar Slytherin.
She was abused by her father and brother, whose abuse became more severe once she fell in love with the handsome Muggle, Tom Riddle, Senior. Merope and Tom would later conceive a child under a love potion, producing their son, Tom Marvolo Riddle, who would later become Lord Voldemort.
Merope died after childbirth, and before, she spent her pregnancy, depressed, poor, and lonely, on the streets of London. She had renounced her magic after releasing Riddle, Senior, from the love potion.
“Hope In The Air” is a melancholic song, and its chorus specifically encompasses Merope’s fate: “No hope in the air / No hope in the water / Not even for me / Your last serving daughter / Why fear death? / Be scared of living.”
Despite the title, this song is about giving up and finding peace in suffering. It accepts the terms of the struggle, even though they’re less than ideal.
- “notre dame” by Paris Paloma
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You can’t convince me this song isn’t about the Grey Lady, Ravenclaw’s house ghost. Before she was a ghost, she lived as Helena Ravenclaw, the daughter of the Ravenclaw house founder, Rowena Ravenclaw.
Before she was the Ravenclaw house ghost, Helena stole her mother’s diadem and fled to Albania. Rowena sent the Baron, who was secretly in love with Helena, after her daughter, and he killed her because she didn’t feel the same way, before killing himself. The Baron becomes the Slytherin house ghost, known as the Bloody Baron.
“notre dame” is about a woman living in the ceilings of a grand cathedral. She’s lonely, scared, and longing to be set free, but finds comfort in the familiarity of the rafters.
Paloma tells a story through her lyrics: “I just live in the ceiling ‘cause / I’m lonely on the fringes, and it gives my life some meaning / In the exile.”
Helena lives with her guilt, especially after telling young Voldemort where her mother’s diadem is. In Deathly Hallows, it’s revealed that Voldemort turned the diadem into a Horcrux, causing Helena to further retreat in her role as a ghost in isolation.
Her story’s sad, and I think she deserves a good cry to “notre dame.”
- “The Hand” by Anabelle Dinda
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I feel like I almost don’t have to explain this one. If you know this song and you know Hermione Granger, you’re unsurprised. If you need further convincing, edits on TikTok will do that for me.
“The Hand” juxtaposes the grandiose portrayal of men in media with the fear many women hold: taking up space in a world that is equally theirs.
Harry Potter would’ve died in the first book if it weren’t for Hermione. She’s the brains of the operation, always two steps ahead, and keeps Ron and Harry from acting too stupidly.
Despite her significance in the series, in some ways, Hermione doesn’t receive enough credit. Harry is praised for being the Chosen One, yet Hermione did the majority of the work to get him to fulfill his prophecy.
I think Hermione would relate to “The Hand” a little too well at times.
I don’t know about you, but I’m long overdue for a Harry Potter reread and rewatch. Until I find time to do so, don’t be surprised if you find me listening to one of these songs and thinking about these characters.
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