Everyone desires, no, deserves a good cry every now and then. And one of the best ways to do that is by listening to an “In your feels” playlist. A playlist like this could include anything from a classical song written ages ago or even a popular song from a modern-day movie. Music can make such an impact on our emotions. By resonating with either the words or even the feeling of the notes, it can actually be a reliever of stress. And by allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, these feelings of sadness or frustration come to the surface and can be released in a healthy way. It’s extremely cathartic.

Below are my top songs for when I need a great cry.

A beautiful instrumental piece, “Parting at the River of Three Crossings” by Hong Dae Sung. From the Korean drama “Tale of the Nine Tailed,” this song makes me sob every single time. Whenever I hear it, I always think about the main characters and their heartbreaking story of how the male lead waited centuries to be reunited with the reincarnation of his one true love. 10/10 recommend if you want a good sob! 100/10 recommend if you watch the K-drama as well.

“Mia and Sebastian’s Theme” by Justin Hurwitz is another gorgeous instrumental piece. One phrase to describe the feeling to you is, “Things don’t work out.” I always think back to the first time I watched this movie and remember when this song came on. I actually thought my heart was broken. I just couldn’t get over the fact that they didn’t end up together. This song will always manage to sink your heart into despair. 

“The Night We Met”  by Lord Huron. I am actually tearing up just thinking about this song. It gives you overbearing feelings of intense longing for someone and the worst emotion in the world, regret. For instance, in one of the lyrics, “I had all and then most of you, some, and now none of you.” Have at least five tissue boxes handy when listening to this song.

At number four, I’ve got “Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Rey. In this song you feel these overbearing emotions of desperation, possessiveness and neediness in the best way possible. It shows her conflicting thoughts on her relationship, in which she’s wondering if he’ll always love her even when she’s not young and beautiful. I think we’ve all been there one way or another, where we truly couldn’t imagine a life without a significant other. The lyrics truly impact me. 

Last but not least, we have “No Me Queda Mas” by Selena. The title of this song translates to “There is nothing left for me.” It symbolizes emotional defeat and unrequited love with beautiful lyrics. The song is about a heartbroken woman wishing the best for her previous lover and his new partner. The lyrics are so poetic and emotional when translated to your own language. It gives you such a better understanding of the feelings that went into that song.

Music is a language of emotions.  It can say what we can’t put into words and moves us in ways we can’t even begin to explain. American novelist Elizabeth Berg once said, “I like to listen to sad music when I’m sad. It seems honest. It makes me cry, and sometimes a good cry is the only thing that can make you feel better.” 

According to a blog post called “Moved to Tears,” “Certain pieces of music can remind us of past events, experiences and people, triggering memories and associated emotions.” This cleared up everything for me. I realized that when I listen to music, I always think about a certain someone who isn’t in my life anymore, or I picture a film the movie came from and imagine myself in the character’s situation. It makes me feel empathetic towards them, and I cannot help but feel sad. 

I researched the science of it, and it all leads back to our brain. According to an article called “Why does music make us emotional,” “One possibility is that once we’ve understood what the emotional content of the music is, it activates a population of brain cells called mirror neurons. These cells mentally simulate behaviors that we perceive in the world around us, which helps us with social understanding and empathy. In this case, they allow us to empathize with the emotion of the music, triggering the same emotions in us by activating the limbic system — the emotion hub of the brain.” 

All of this basically says that we connect with music because of our inner workings and feelings. We cannot help but feel sad when a melancholic tune comes on or feel heartbroken when a certain lyric reminds us of someone we lost.  

We all need a release every now and then, and music is a great way to do that. Give those five songs a listen, and I promise it will have you crying faster than you can grab a tissue.