Fall is the season of pumpkin patches, sweatpants, cozy sweaters, and pumpkin spice lattes. It is also the season of midterms, seasonal depression, and anxiety-inducing activities that come with the second half of the semester.
While there are many things you can do to aid these stressful feelings – a warm bath, hot girl walks, binging the latest Netflix drama, or cooking a nice meal, sometimes that isn’t enough.
I’m a firm believer that sometimes you just need to cry it out. For me, locking my door, putting on some sad music, and letting all the heavy feelings that have been sitting inside me come out in tears is very therapeutic.
Here are some of my favorite songs to curl up under some blankets, pretend I’m in a coming-of-age drama and cry it out (each justified by my favorite lyric):
- Jolene by Ray LaMontagne
“Been so long since I’ve seen your face/ Or felt a part of this human race/ I’ve been living out of this here suitcase for way too long”
- Killer by Phoebe Bridgers
“When a machine keeps me alive/ And I’m losing all my hair/ I hope you kiss my rotten head/ And pull the plug”
- I’m Sorry by Joshua Bassett
“Sure it wasn’t perfect back then/ I’ll be the first to admit/ But it was better than being strangers again”
- Enough for you by Olivia Rodrigo
“I’d say you broke my heart/ But you broke much more than that/ Now I don’t want your sympathy/ I just want myself back”
- Halley’s Comet by Billie Eilish
“And I don’t want to want you/ But in my dreams I seem to be more honest/ And I must admit, you’ve been in quite a few”
- I Wish I Was by The Avett Brothers
“I wish a was a tune you sang in your kitchen/ Putting your groceries away and washing your dishes/ I could float around your tongue and ease the tension”
- My Mother & I by Lucy Dacus
“My mother hates her body/ We share the same outline/ She swears that she loves mine”
- I’ll Never Love Again by Lady Gaga
“I would’ve said what I wanted to/ Maybe even cried for you/ If I knew it would be the last time/ I would’ve broken my heart in two”
- She Used to be Mine by Sara Bareilles
“She’s imperfect but she tries/ She is good but she lies/ She is hard on herself/ She is broken and won’t ask for help/ She is messy but she is kind/ She is lonely most of the time/… She is gone but she used to be mine”
- Make you Feel my Love by Adele
“I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue/ I’d go crawling down the avenue/ No, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do/ To make you feel my love”
- Somebody Else by The 1975
“Our love has gone cold/ You’re intertwining your soul with somebody else”
- In the Kitchen by Renne Rapp
“Deleted the playlist/ But I still hear all your favorite melodies/ Strangers to lovers to enemies”
- How Many Things Sabrina Carpenter
“I wonder how many things you think about before you get to me”
- Complex by Katie Gregson-Maclead
“I need him like water/ He thinks that I’m alright”
- River by Joni Mitchell
“I’m so hard to handle/ I’m selfish and sad/ Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby/ That I ever had”