Who says Valentine’s Day is just for lovers, or those who are happily taken? Noooo! It is also for those who yearn for the lost love that they are trying to have, or the love lost they’re trying to move on from!
Here are 11 songs that one may listen to at night or any time which will give them another set of reasons for silky sheets and cotton pillows to witness another perfectly good night’s cry.
11) When you need to get on with your life—this time, without the love you once gave to “that” person.
I Love You But I’m Letting Go by Pamungkas – This song written by the 28-year-old Rizki Rahmahadian Pamungkas talks about deciding to stop waiting around for that one ex and start to delete everything that reminds you of them, for if they are really for you, then they will come around someday, too.
Key lyrics: Nights are the hardest but I’ll be okay / if we are meant to be, hey, we’ll find our way, but now let it be / cause you know what they say, if you love somebody, gotta set them free
10) When you feel like wanting to check up on them after a long time of no communication.
May I Ask by Luke Chiang, Alexis Kim – Released on April 1, 2019, this song entails the desire of wanting to look at their ex-lover’s state of mind, probably to check if they still feel the same way, or to just express how it still hurts to say the ex’s name even if the separation happened a very long time now.
Key lyrics: Don’t you know, you make me nervous still / you pull my thoughts apart / though I’ve been tryna get you off my mind / give me time cause it still burns my lips to say your name out loud, my love
9) When you can no longer see anybody but them to spend the rest of your life with, but their personality just ain’t it.
Better Man (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift – One of the most renowned singer-songwriter of the millennials, this song talks about missing someone filled with half-regrets of ending things with them, but already knowing your worth as a person no longer makes you still want to be with them, but also knowing that things could have been different if they were just a better man.
Key lyrics: Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can feel you again but I just miss you, and I just wish you were a better man / I know I’m better off all alone than needing a man who could change his mind at any given minute
When you feel like imagining a closure.
Exile by Taylor Swift – A song released last year about two ex-lovers who coincidentally saw each other after a long while without communication. The woman in the song has already moved on with someone new but loathes her ex-man for still loving her, for not giving her any “signs” before their once happy romance ended. The song is more of a confrontation, however, a slow-burn telling of what really happened in the relationship.
Key lyrics: So step right out, there is no amount of crying I can do for you / all this time we always walked a very thin line / you didn’t even hear me out (you didn’t even hear me out) / you never gave me a warning sign (I gave so many signs)
7) When the breakup finally hits you after pretending that it did not hurt you at all.
Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paloma Faith – Although in the market for about 9 years now, this song has recently bombarded the TikTok world for its deeper meaning—the woman in the song tells that the pain acquired from the heartbreak did not mean a thing, but as she continued to reflect the time that she had with the ex-lover, memories came in, finally making her realize the absence of her once was lover. Yes, love can hurt like that.
Key lyrics: But it’s the sweetest pain, burning hot through my veins / love is torture makes me more sure / only love can hurt like this
6) When you feel like resting by the shore at night with a can of beer on your side and tissue on your hand.
Halik Sa Hangin, Ebe Dancel’s version – This song from Himig Handog made popular by Ebe Dancel and KZ Tandingan, is a perfect companion in a cold night whilst you hear how the man in the song talks about how short-lived their love was—all while humming to its melodic rendition in guitar. Fun fact: play this at a slower than usual speed.
Key lyrics: Ang ikli ng panahon na binigay sa amin / pag-ibig na para lang isang halik sa hangin
5) When you try to move on, yet still wish that things could be different.
If By Chance by Ruth B – One of her 2015 album’s song that was clapped for its brutal manifestation of expressing feelings about being in the post-breakup state (after a couple of years), it paints how time can’t always mend the unspoken words of hurt, that no matter how long it has been, there will always be that one person that will always have the back of your mind and a special place in your heart, wishing that if it does not work out with their new lover, you’d still hope for them to come around.
Key lyrics: Is it so wrong of me to hope she breaks your heart? / Is it so wrong of me to pray she tears you apart? / And I know that in the darkest part of you, you pray and hope and wish for it too
4) When you have associated a lot of things with that person and all you can do now is to sing about it.
Elyu by Ben&Ben – Released earlier this year, this song was a shorter name derived from one of the famous beaches in the Philippines, La Union. The song is situated on the beach, probably where the two ex-lovers in the song have met and mostly created their memories from.
Key lyrics: Nakikita sa hampas ng mga alon ay ikaw pa rin / Pakiusap na lumayas ka na sa’king isipan / Nang umahon na ang puso sa dalampasigan mo
3) When you want to listen to a sad song but in a happy tune.
Still Beating by Mac DeMarco – One of the popular songs of today, although released about four years now, it tells about how he regrets his actions during the course of the relationship, and still expresses how he was really affected by the breakup, just masked by pretending, too.
Key lyrics: Honey, I cried too, better believe it / Honey, my heart, still beats for you, even though you don’t feel it / Never thought some silly songs could ever go and hurt someone / Never meant to sing my tune for anybody else out there but you
2) When you start to question where it went wrong and want to know when did they lose their love for you.
Out of Love by Alessia Cara – One of Alessia’s famous songs for Gen Z, it tells the story of how a once so in love couple finally reached the end of their relationship, the other partner asking when did their lover fall out of love with them out of bliss. Surely will be feeling all things under the shower while blasting this off the speakers.
Key lyrics: Won’t ask you to stay, but let me ask you one thing / Oh, when did you fall out of love, out of love?
1) When words can no longer express what you feel and all you wish is for the clock to stop its course and go from to the night you both met.
The Night We Met by Lord Huron – Finally, the best song to listen to over a rainy background music, swamped in a comforter with a hot chocolate on one hand. A song made popular by one of the then controversial series. It is filled with a hauntingly-beautiful representation of looking back at a relationship that went from laughter to tears. Its narration talks about how both of the ex-lovers are haunted by the consequences of their relationship and never wanting to have ever concluded in such a bad light now.
Key lyrics: I had all and then most of you / Some and now none of you / Take me back to the night we met / I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, haunted by the ghost of you / Take me back to the night we met
One of the hardest things of being single during the heart’s day is to see your friends and other loved ones receive surprises from the love of their lives. However, that day of love-giving could also mean giving love to yourself, to give yourself gifts that you truly desire, and to spend the rest of the day healing untouched wounds from a breakup in the present, or something that you have been dying to grieve about from years ago. For now, listen to these songs to help you cry it all out. Use the 14th to self-internalize, jot down your journal, and plot for the biggest revenge against that one ex–to become the better, if not, best version of yourself, even without their presence. Do it for you, honey!