Sure, the majority of pop hits are about love troubles. But when I started remembering the music that got me through being dumped, I realized it wasn’t necessarily about heartache at all. In high school, this ridiculous Eurodance track one dude had introduced me to soothed the self-pity, and after a guy I dated in college disappeared, the catchy, feel-good Devendra Banhart number we’d sung along to once played on repeat.
Just like breakups, no two breakup songs are the same. (Phil Collins can’t save all of us from our misery, no matter how hard he tries.) Here are 25 songs with all kinds of broken-heart vibes: From Robyn’s dance-y “Call Your Girlfriend,” in which she coaches her current lover through comforting an ex, to decades’ worth of feels from moody ‘90s queens like Cat Power and an abundance of ‘80s anthems, including a Smiths cover by the Dum Dum Girls. Click the playlist below to wallow in a range of sounds guaranteed to bring a little bit of harmony to your romantic turmoil.
