Since magic is a fictional concept (Gasp! I know!), I think the closest thing we have to it IRL is music. Music can make us feel better when nothing and no one else seems to be able to. If you got into an argument with a friend or a parent, there's a song for that. If you failed a really important exam, there's a song for that. If you're mending a broken heart or fighting with a lover, there's a song for that, too. Sad love songs that capture exactly what you're going through are anything but few and far between. There's an endless amount of songs out there that can get through to you in a way that maybe your best friend or your mom couldn't in that particular moment.
I'm sure music is a part of your life in some way, shape, or form. Whether you listen on your commute to work, at the gym, or in the shower, it's probably somewhat present in your day-to-day life. Sometimes, you may use music as a filler for the blank background noise you'd have otherwise, but when you really listen, lyrics can speak to you when you need it most. When you're sad, or going through something difficult in your relationship, these 18 songs will get you, and they'll get you through.
1. 'I Almost Do' by Taylor Swift
Ex's and Oh's a play off the XO (hugs and kisses). I interpret the song as a lament of a lover, who while claiming that lovers will come back to him or her, knows that the lovers listed will only be received as memories. Meet Elle King, the man eatin’, shit talkin’ spitfire of your dreamsor nightmares.(Boys: You’ve been warned.) Admittedly, the raspy blues rocker doesn’t quite fit the usual MuuMuse mold (stilettos, wigs and an ongoing love affair with the dance floor tend to be the usual M.O.) but, hey: Good music is good music, and “Exes And Oh’s” is just that. Since magic is a fictional concept (Gasp! I know!), I think the closest thing we have to it IRL is music. Music can make us feel better when nothing and no one else seems to be able to. “XO” is a common way to sign off in love letters, or if you’re gossip girl. Her ex’s and oh’s spark memories of a more sexual nature, which we can presume the “oh’s” to be the orgasms she gave, to whom became her “ex’s”.
And I just wanna tell you, it takes everything in me not to call you / And I wish I could run to you/ And I hope you know that every time I don't, I almost do.
Ah, the queen of breakup songs herself, Taylor Swift. Swift gets a lot of grief for always writing songs about her relationships, but those songs speak to your soul if you're going through a breakup.
2. 'Heartbreak Warfare' by John Mayer
How come the only way to know how high you get me / is to see how far I fall / God only knows how much I'd love you if you let me / But I can't break through at all.
Sometimes no matter how much you want to love someone, they don't want to let you in. If that's the case, there's nothing you can really do about it, and that can be the most frustrating part.
3. 'Call Out My Name' by The Weeknd
Guess I was just another pit stop / 'Til you made up your mind / You just wasted my time.
Not everyone is meant to be in your life forever. Sadly, some are meant to just make an appearance.
4. 'Stone Cold' by Demi Lovato
God knows I tried to feel / Happy for you / Know that I am, even if I / Can't understand, I'll take the pain / Give me the truth, me and my heart/ We'll make it through / If happy is her, I'm happy for you.
When someone moves on from you, it can be really hard to be happy for them in the beginning. But eventually, you will grow to want the best for them, even if it's regrettably not you.
5. 'Marvin's Room' by Drake
I'm just sayin', you could do better / Tell me have you heard that lately / I'm just sayin' you could do better / And I'll start hatin', only if you make me.
Because you love someone, you're always going to think they can do better. It's second nature. That goes for your friend, your ex, or even a parent. Wanting the best for them (and no one ever living up to that) is understandable.
6. 'Stay With Me' by Sam Smith
Why am I so emotional / This is not a good look, gain some self-control / And deep down I know this never works / But you can lay with me so it doesn't hurt.
Sometimes all you need is someone to lay down with you — no words, no tears.
7. 'So Sick' by Ne-Yo
It's been months, and for some reason I just (can't get over us) / And I'm stronger than this (enough is enough) / No more walkin' round with my head down / I'm so over being blue, cryin' over you.
Time is a tricky thing. It does wonders for the healing process for any situation, but getting through each day while you're still aching can be ridiculously painful. But it gets a little better each day, even if you don't notice it.
8. 'Say Something' by A Great Big World, featuring Christina Aguilera
Anywhere, I would've followed you / Say something, I'm giving up on you / And I will swallow my pride / You're the one that I love / And I'm saying goodbye.
When you're with someone you love, sometimes it just doesn't work,and you have to say goodbye.
9. 'Drive' by Miley Cyrus
You told me that you wanted this / I told you it was all yours, If you're done with it/ Then what you say forever for? / If forever's out the door / I'll ignore, when you call.
'Forever' is a big word, and sometimes people tend to use it too lightly. When that happens, love can get a little messy because you thought they meant forever, for real, and things change.
10. 'Already Gone' by Kelly Clarkson
And I want you to know / You couldn't have loved me better / But I want you to move on / So, I'm already gone.
I dedicated this song to my high school boyfriend the second time we broke up. He really couldn't have loved me better, but I couldn't love him half as much, and he needed to know I was really gone so he could actually move on.
11. 'Gone' by *NSYNC
Was it something I said to make you turn away / To make you walk out and leave me cold / If I could just find a way to make it so that you were right here.
Such a classic song, honestly. *NSYNC > Backstreet Boys, any day. Sue me.
12. 'One Wish' by Ray J
If I had one wish, we would be best friends / Love would never end, it would just begin / If I had one wish, you would be my boo / Promise to love you, trust me I'll trust you.
If you tell me you never jammed out to this song, I don't believe you!
13. 'Haunted' by Taylor Swift
Stood there and watched you walk away / From everything we had / But I still mean every word I said to you / He will try to take away my pain / And he just might make me smile / But the whole time I'm wishin' he was you instead.
Even if you move on post-breakup, there may be times when your ex still lingers in your mind and your heart. This new person makes you smile, but a small part of you may still wish it was your ex instead, and that's OK. Eventually, you won't feel that way anymore.
14. 'It Will Rain' by Bruno Mars
If you ever leave me baby / Leave some morphine at my door / 'Cause it would take a whole lot of medication / To realize what we used to have / We don't have it anymore.
Ugh, Bruno Mars. My heart.
15. 'Just Give Me A Reason' by P!nk featuring Nate Ruess
Just give me a reason, just a little bit's enough / Just a second, we're not broken, just bent / And we can learn to love again.
Sometimes, you really can learn to love again. But if you've tried, and you can't fix whatever may be wrong in your relationship, it may be in your favor to move on.
16. 'Now You Tell Me' by Jordin Sparks
You were nonchalant, strong and unaffected / And you never wanted me to be there / I never saw your heart that's how close you kept it / So right now I'm so unsure how to care.
You know when you want someone, and they don't want you back, so you move on, and then they decide to come back and hit you with the, 'I was wrong'? Hi! This is the worst!
17. 'Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye' by Luke Bryan
Girl rest your head, one more time in my bed / Love me like you loved me when you loved me and you didn't have to try / Let's lay down tonight, and kiss tomorrow goodbye.
Hooking up with your ex is almost always a bad idea, but it's easy to romanticize one last night together, even if you know it's not doing much for your healing process.
18. 'Our Last Summer' by Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, Amanda Seyfried, and Meryl Streep
I can still recall our last summer / I still see it all / Walks along the Seine, laughing in the rain / Our last summer, memories that remain.
And with that, I bring you the perfect song for when you're feeling nostalgic and reminiscing on your past love. The memories rarely completely fade away, and they're nice to look back on from time to time to remember the good times you may have had together.
Next time you're feeling sad and your best friend's pep talks aren't doing it for you, try listening to these songs — and I mean really listening. Sometimes all you need are some sweet, relatable lyrics, some killer music chords, and time to just sit there and get lost in the music.
This post was originally published on Oct. 17, 2018. It was updated on Aug. 16, 2019 by Lilli Petersen.
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Exes & Ohs Song
Ex's and Oh's Lyrics
I drank too much
Cause of you my liver turned to dust
Cold rust takes
cool creeping cold pain
Do you understand what I mean?
When you feel your soul drop to the floor
Like a hole, like an open bleeding sore
Then you'll...
1TOP RATED
ATREYU_O3O
click a star to voteFeb 8th, 2010 2:02pmreportThis song is not about a fucked relationship...if you guys have any clue about the bands life in relation to their albums you would know better.
this song is about Alex dealing with his alcohol problems
he pointed out clearly in one interview where he talked about Death grip on yesterday, he said he was done with writing about love gone wrong, and he was dealing with a lot of alcohol problems when he was writing that book
and lyrics don't really have specific language, it's not a different language where you can translate it's a story
he was talking about beer or liquor corrupting his body, his liver, and how he tries to stop but it was just so hard
and how he should've got away from alcohol the last time he had tasted it but he just kept going back
and alcohol is like a plague that he caught
that got his sick and made him weak
and I'm not sure what he meant by you're just like all the rest
he might be referring to a girl, someone of the similar circumstances, or mostly likely himself
where he is no different than any other alcoholic, he was weak and he was stuck2TOP RATED
anonymous
click a star to voteFeb 21st, 2009 2:38pmreportOk you guys are seriously wrong.its about a girl that entered a very crappy and abusive relationship.'you took me home I drank to much because of you my liver's turned to dust'quite simply she got totally wasted and went home with the dude thinking it was all good.'Cold rust tastes
Cold creeping cold pain'this refers to the blood she tastes in her mouth from being hit and the creeping cold pain is that humiliating pain
'Do you understand what I mean?
When you feel your soul drop to the floor
Like a hole
Like an open bleeding sore
Then you'll have bled like I bled
And you'll have wept as I've wept'do you get what I mean when your so embarassed by something that it feels like your soul is just thrown to the floor as if it were nothing because that's how you make me feel so so you try going through what I went through then you'll understand'Suck me down, it's time to rock and roll
Lets hit the bar, lets lose control
One false move, you took me home
One false move, and you're all alone'the first two lines of this refers to when they first met(maybe at a concert or something of the sorts?)but in false move,you took me home(on her part of getting wasted and leaving with him)one false move you're all alone(you laid your hands on me and now I you're alone because she left him)'But it looks so good and it feels so nice'yeah this looks like a good idea what could go wrong if I went home with this guy?(she of course was intoxicated when she thought this)
'I paid the price'my stupidity was rewarded with your abuse
'I'll cut you out just to hear you scream,
Get away from, get away from me'ok now this was a little tricky but I think it refers to how a person tries to stand up to their abusive spouse.one way of doing this is by cutting them out of their lives which this in turn causes the abuser to get super pissed off about everything to the point where they scram and tell the person I want nothing to do with you get the hell outta here or something like that.
'And I can feel my heartbeat racing,
As I realize what I must do
Get away from,
Get away from,
Get away from you'this is where she realizes holy shit my plan worked he's telling me to get out of his life.so she gets all excited(I feel my heartbeat racing)and decides I'm done with this ass I gotta get outta here(as I realize what I must do get away from get away from get away from you).'I should have turned and ran like hell
Last time I got a taste of you
I should have turned and ran like hell
And I'll say we're through
I should have turned and ran like hell
last time I got a taste of you
I should have turned and ran like hell
And I'll say we're through
And I'll say we're through'I should have turned and ran and said were through the last time you laid your hands on me.so this part refers to how she's saying she should have done this a lot sooner.'You fell upon me like a plague
Weakness sweet weakness
But I digress
After all this...
You're just like all the rest'when we first met(at the concert???or wherever she got drunk and met him)i was weak but at the same time it was sweet because you were so charming.but let me back off a little bit(I digress)and put it very simply I thought you were different but you turned out like the rest of the abusive dicks in the world.then the song goes back to the chorus as the way to tie it all up with her final painful memory of the guy(the very night this all started the night they met.)anonymous
click a star to voteDec 25th, 2015 12:58amreportI always thought it was about sex. that she went thru bad relationships but she always thot about her exes and the o's was the orgasms was something she couldn't forget about and the fact that the guys would always come back cause they couldn't forget either
anonymous
click a star to voteMay 19th, 2013 5:05amreportIt's like a lot of metalcore these days, it uses the traditional overlay of a relationship that went wrong in some way as either a metaphor or to augment the hidden, deeper, more mature meaning of the song. This song may seem like Alex and Brandon (Brandon/Brendon? How do you spell that guys name?) are singing about another failed relationship, but it is in fact about alcohol addiction, and by the sounds of all the associated stuff like interviews etc, Alex's personal experience with alcoholism. 'You took me home/I drank too much/because of you my/liver turned to dust' - this is really the only line that can be put into any relationship scenario, although probably as a metaphor, it seems to be used to set the scene for the addiction problem. The rest of the song hops perspective between personal experiences, again probably Alex's, and a very blatant warning to everyone just how damaging it can be
Atreyu4life
click a star to voteDec 1st, 2010 12:14pmreportI believe this is about Alex's alcohol addiction.
'Suck me down it's time to rockn'roll. Let's hit the bar and lose control.' Is pretty much sayind let's hit the bar and get drunk. I don't think he's approving the lyric 'Cause of you my liver to my dust.' Is talking about how alchol damages your liver. That's what I took from it. When I first listened to it I thought it was about a failed relationship too but then I REALLY listened to it and thought other wise after I figured out that most of the c.d. is about his struggle.anonymous
click a star to voteJul 27th, 2008 7:06amreport'This song is about getting wasted and why it's great not to'
From the big man Alex himself.TheRedSpade
click a star to voteJul 3rd, 2007 7:43pmreportAlex blames her for his drinking problem. If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have started drinking so much.
anonymous
click a star to voteDec 12th, 2006 12:50pmreportthis song is about heartbreak and revenge(kind of).
It looks like he wants something done bad to her because she made him feel like nothing but yet he's still hurt about it and even though he may not want to admit it, he might still like her(because you are not really over a person until you are able to not be hurt by the whole situation).Too bad he kinda hates her though.Believe me, I know the facts because my ex boyfriend dedicated that song to me and I know what I did and what he's going through...- This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
self_inflicted
click a star to voteMay 30th, 2006 5:50amreportI believe this song is about a failed realationship. He is having a hard time dealing with it and doesn't know how to hanle the situation.'I've paid the price, I'll cut you out just to here you scream get away from me', means he has felt pain and wants something bad to happen to her because she made him feel like shit.
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