Music is a universal language and so is love. So, it makes sense that one of the most used topics for songs is love. This theme can range from a newly acquired love, one that’s been around for a while, or a breakup or loss of a relationship. Most listeners can relate to any of these, making love songs a very popular topic across all genres.
Music can help heighten emotions and make those sad or happy emotions even stronger when paired with the right song. Often breakup songs help in a cathartic way when a listener is sad. Listening to sad music can offer a chance to reflect on one’s personal experiences. They also can help bring comfort and stir emotions that are healthy to feel. Music is great in that way, where it can reach and help heal many people on an emotional level. So, this week I’ll be exploring sad and slow songs about love. Whether you want a good song to cry about or a specific song to relate to for whatever the reason may be, here are a list of sad slow songs about love to add to your playlist.
To see an entire playlist of sad slow songs about love, click HERE.
Same Boat – Lizzie McAlpine Indie Pop (2020)
Singer-songwriter Lizzie McAlpine has her fair share of sad slow songs about love. Her most listened to track, Ceilings, is another great sad song. A lot of her lyrics are raw and vulnerable, and her voice matches well with her themes, being soft, intimate and beautiful. This song mainly consists of a simple piano and her enchanting vocals. As the song goes on, the instruments, her voice and the lyrics all get more emotional, louder and more intense.
She talks about a past lover who is hard to forget. A lot of things, like the weather, remind her of her ex. She asks the question if she should reach back out and see if they feel the same. While very specific, McAlpine writes in a way that makes it specific, but extremely relatable. A very hard thing to do for any writer, but she has mastered this effect.
Why – Southall Country (2017)
“Why can’t I fall out of love with you?” A question a lot of people ask after a heartbreaking relationship that they didn’t want to end. Many questions like that are asked in the chorus. All asking oneself about “why” can’t I move on, or “why” do I still care and so on. This feeling of not being able to let go of love is a difficult one to break. Even after trying to fall for someone else, or after a lot of time has gone by, the song still asks “why” to they can’t move on, even after trying what seems like everything they can to move on.
j’s lullaby (darlin’ i’d wait for you) – Delaney Bailey Pop, Indie/Alternative Pop (2022)
A very soft, slow and especially sad song, this almost five minute track is mainly a simple acoustic guitar and Bailey’s vocals. Bailey explains how she’d do pretty much anything for this person, including giving the sun or even the universe to the person. There is an extreme, devoted love and even obsession in this song. It’s a scary and illogical situation where you’d give anything to someone else out of love, but it makes sense if you’ve felt it. So, if you’ve been in love to where you’d give or do anything for your partner, this song should be on your playlists.
I Couldn’t Be More In Love – The 1975 Alternative/Pop Rock (2018)
Say what you want about Matt Healy, but he has beautiful lyrics and an emotional vocal range to match. In this song, the lyrics are raw and so is the power behind his singing. He puts you right in the shoes of someone who just was broken up with and who is against being apart. He begs his partner, “what about these feelings I’ve got? I couldn’t be more in love.” Breaking up is hard when one person doesn’t want to let go but the other person already has.
It takes two people to be in a relationship, and even if one is madly in love, all it takes to break the relationship is one person wanting to be done. This song masterfully shows the perspective of someone in love being forced to part with who they are in love with; someone who they won’t be able to find again, or love anyone else more than they currently are. It’s an awful spot to be in, and too many people have faced the same scenario. However, this song does a great job of explaining the emotions and thoughts of someone stuck in this position.
A Soulmate Who Wasn’t Meant to Be – Jess Benko Indie Pop/Singer-Songwriter (2019)
A five-minute-long song that is the definition of “sad slow songs about love”. This slow and emotional track asks if it’s better to love and have lost than to have loved at all. Especially if that love is only one sided. Finding love in someone isn’t easy to do, and the heartache that follows when you do finally fall for someone, but it ends up not working out, is an excruciating type of pain. Benko explains that her reasoning for them not working out is the other person not loving her back. However, there are multiple reasons for finding that someone but it not working out. The lyrics walk the thin line of being specific but also very relatable to a wide audience.
I’ll Wait For You – Joe Nichols Country (2005)
This song tells the story of a couple with the central theme being “I’ll Wait For You.” It starts innocent with waiting to open Christmas presents until the partner was able to get home due to a broken down car. Then, the wife waits until the husband gets to the hospital before she birth’s their first son. What was a cute love song quickly turns to heartbreak as the wife passed away but she leaves a note that says she will wait to get into heaven until her husband joins her. A sweet love song that gets progressively more sad captures how important being with the one person you love is.
Words – Gregory Alan Isakov Indie Folk/Pop Folk (2019)
An emotional song that focuses on a lover/writer’s point of view. There’s a distance between this couple’s love, whether still together, falling apart or ended, this song focuses around one of the biggest issues in love: distance. Isakov sings about love letters, he calls them “his words” and how he wants his lover to read them. He reminisces about what his lover looks like and how things used to be and wishes the long distance apart wouldn’t exist. Due to the long distance, all he can do is write to her because he can’t magically close that distance like he wishes. This song is specific, but if you’re a lover who likes to write to a lost love, whether you send the letters and poems or not, this track’s specificity and easy listening makes it a sad song to have on repeat.
Like You Do – Joji Pop (2020)
You could shuffle Joji’s discography and chances are you’d easily find a song that falls into this playlists category. I chose this one due to how specific yet relatable it is. Most of Joji’s songs also fall into this category, but it’s such a unique and refreshing perspective on love. After you fall out of love, get broken up with, or whatever the situation may be, it’s hard to find that same love in someone else. Especially if you have someone that cares so much about you and love’s you the hardest. You can listen to this song as either a lament that you just can’t do better than your earlier love, or you can listen to it as you’re giving a former love the highest compliment. They loved you the best and hardest that anyone could have.
Forget Her – Jeff Buckley Melancholia, Singer/songwriter (1994)
Love can be blinding and easily hide someone’s flaws. They might not be the best person for you, but nostalgia, attraction and love can all mask those negative flaws. Buckley sings about someone who “is heartbreak from the moment you met [them].” Sometimes it’s best to forget someone and move on, although it might be the harder path. The entire album this song is on, Grace, has great emotional love songs with great lyrics and powerful vocals. It’s a great but sad and emotional listen that has been considered one of the best albums of all time.
While on the surface that’s the message of the song, I have listened to it trying to convince myself that a past love was bad for me, even if it wasn’t. It’s easier to move on when you find flaws in a love, even if those flaws are fabricated. Furthermore, it helps when you have someone in your ear telling you to forget her and that it’s for the best.
Another Life: Motion Picture Collection – Motionless In White, Kerli – Metalcore, Alternative Metal, Orchestral
Motionless In Whites most listened to song on Spotify is a love song, however, it’s this version of the track that makes it fit perfectly into this playlist. It’s a slower tempo, more dramatic and more heartbreaking. Like the song mentioned earlier, “A Soulmate Who Wasn’t Meant to Be,” when everything seems perfect, yet distance, different career paths, whatever the reason keeping you and your loved one apart may be, maybe in another life things would have worked out. The song starts with the perspective of a lover who “hates that they need” this other person in their life, but at the end of the song comes to accept it. They no longer hate the fact they need this person. They’re sorry for whatever reason is keeping them apart and that they “hope that they meet in another life.”
Motionless in White has three songs in their “Motion Picture Collection,” Eternally Yours, Another Life, and Masterpiece. These three songs are arguably they’re heaviest hitting and emotional love songs. These more dramatic and slower renditions appeal to the sadness of love, while the original versions of the songs are more upbeat, angry and have harsher vocals. Both versions are good and can be interchangeable depending on your mood.
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