Song by song, line by line, he speaks directly to her and into her absence. Every clever, colorful verse teases a course to victory while stoically accepting defeat: “We must blend into the choir, sing as static with the whole/ We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul/ And in this endless race for property and privilege to be won/ We must run, we must run, we must run.” Joy in the face of hopelessness or the existential equivalent of gallows humor, it’s a nihilistic glimpse into the empty void that ends: “Oh my morning’s coming back/ The whole world’s waking up/ All the city buses swimming past/ I’m happy just because/ I found out I am really no one.” - Josh Jacksonįollowing the passing of his wife, visual artist and musician Geneviève Castrée, Phil Elverum took a couple months to grieve and then sat down in the room where she died and recorded the 11 songs that make up A Crow Looked at Me. Introduced as a song sung from one passenger to another on an airplane plummeting into the sea, it’s a call to resistance, but an utterly ironic one.

Bright Eyes: “At the Bottom of Everything”ĭon’t be fooled by one of the jauntiest melodies Conor Oberst has ever written. Here are the saddest songs of the 21st century so far:ĥ0. This list has been updated from its original publish in 2018. We kept it to one song per artist, though several had multiple nominations. So grab a pint of your favorite ice cream and your best pair of headphones and queue up our playlist for your pain.

We all have our go-to sad songs, like security blankets for those all-too-common times of need. A few years ago, Paste looked at the 50 saddest songs of all time, but as the need for new music to help you grieve-to show you that you’re not alone in your pain and to give you the space to process sorrow-is unending, we asked our staff and writers what songs they return to in times of sadness.

Top depressing tech n9ne songs