Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / BreakupSong

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%%
5%%
6%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
7%%
8%%
9%%
10%%
11%%
12%%
13
14->''"Apparently she wrote this about an ex-boyfriend who broke her heart; I'm guessing not the only song she wrote about it either."''
15-->-- '''WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows''' about "Jar of Hearts" by Music/ChristinaPerri
16
17One thing that writers of SillyLoveSongs don't like to mention is that love usually ''doesn't'' last forever. People break up all the time for reasons both good and [[MinorFlawMajorBreakup lousy]], and when someone writes a song about it, it's called a Break-Up Song. Although not as omnipresent as SillyLoveSongs, if you turn on a radio station and listen for a while, there's a good chance that you'll hear a Break-Up Song or two mixed in with the endless stream of SillyLoveSongs. Many times it emerges from [[CreatorBreakdown the songwriter coming from a breakup himself.]]
18
19Breakups inspire all different kinds of emotions in people, so there's a lot of variety among Break-Up Songs. Songs written from the perspective of someone who has been dumped tend to be different from songs written from the perspective of the person doing the dumping. Please sort examples by the general category they fit into.
20
21SuperTrope to CelebrityBreakUpSong, when the artist writes about their own breakup with another celebrity. Certain types of breakup songs will veer into TheDissTrack, or even IHateSong, as well. Compare AntiLoveSong, GriefSong, DeathSong, and TelephoneSong. If the breakup was nasty enough, this can develop into a RevengeBallad. Contrast SillyLoveSongs.
22----
23!!Examples:
24
25[[foldercontrol]]
26
27!!!Artists with their own page:
28[[index]]
29* BreakUpSong/TaylorSwift
30[[/index]]
31
32[[folder:Needing sorting]]
33* "It's All I Can Do" by Music/AnneMurray concerns a woman who tears up when she encounters a former lover.
34* Music/{{beabadoobee}}: "I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus" contains a bunch of conflicting emotions about the breakup, alternating between despondent about it ending, happy to be rid of the ex and looking forward to the future, and ending with straight up anger at the ex for not understanding her.
35* Music/{{Beck|Musician}} - pretty much the whole of the ''Sea Change'' album.
36* Music/ChelyWright - "Shut Up And Drive" (talking herself into going through with a breakup)
37* Music/GeorgeStrait - "Baby's Gotten Good at Goodbye"
38* Music/LisaHannigan - "What’ll I Do"
39* Music/NellyFurtado - "In God's Hands"
40* Zox - "Leaving Me"
41* Level 42 - "Leaving Me Now"; "It's Over"
42* Honestly - "This Is Goodbye"
43* Lou Barlow's written most of these kinds of songs.
44* "It Don't Matter to Me" by Music/{{Bread|Band}} is about a man who is OK with his girl leaving, resting secure on an assumption that she'll end up running back to him, and he'll welcome her back with open arms.
45* Music/BrianMay - "Too Much Love Will Kill You" ("Torn between the lover/and the love you leave behind.")
46* Claude Demetrius - "Mean Woman Blues". The [[CoveredUp most popular]] version was sung by Roy Orbison.
47* [[Music/VanDerGraafGenerator Peter Hammill]]'s solo album ''Over'' deserves a special mention. The album was written in response to his girlfriend running off with (and probably even marrying) his best friend, and so all the songs on the album (with the notable exception of "Autumn") are about how he deals with it. A consequence of this is that the album is so claustrophobic and sparse that anyone who has suffered a breakup will find the album an emotionally harrowing listen.
48* Music/{{Rainbow}} - "Since You've Been Gone" (actually by Russ Ballard, this is also a case of CoveredUp).
49** Presumably not to be confused with the Music/WeirdAlYankovic parody BreakupSong of the same title
50* Music/TheMoodyBlues - "Go Now".
51* Music/NapoleonXIV - "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Haa" (a parody, naturally. [[spoiler:It was his dog that broke up with him.]])
52** Josephine XV- "I'm happy they took you away- ha-haa!"
53* 2Gether - The Hardest Part of Breaking Up (Is Getting Back Your Stuff) is a rather, shall we say, "unusual" take on the subject.
54* The entirety of Music/BowlingForSoup's album: A Hangover You Don't Deserve (except "1985") details a break-up, either one specific break-up or a variety of them. Special note to - "Ohio" a come-back to me song where the band says the entire state of Texas would rather have the girl in Texas than Ohio; "Down For The Count" where the guy's 'guard goes up and [he's] fighting dirty;" and "Next Ex-Girlfriend" where the singer just wants a quick rebound to get over his past love.
55* The entirety of the Music/DelAmitri album "Change Everything".
56* American Hi-Fi's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Breakup Song]] and SR-71's Mosquito are two of the nastiest, and funniest examples. Not sure which folder they belong in.
57* Hedley - "She's So Sorry"
58* Music/TheJacksonFive: "Who's Lovin' You?"
59* Music/{{Queen}} - "Love of My Life"
60* Music/{{Blur}}- Most of the "13" album.
61* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
62** Sierra sings an angry breakup song after Cody shoots her down once too often[[note]]Sierra and Cody were never really a couple in the first place, [[StalkerWithACrush except in Sierra's diseased mind]].[[/note]] during the music-based ''[[NewSeasonNewName World Tour]]'' season. In "Oui, my Friends", she sings about a boy who she thought loved her, but she finds out he didn't love her at all, and proceeds to sing about how all boys are just out to get girls and use them. (Or as she puts it, 'Break your heart and chew it up and spit it out and step on it and throw it down a sewer, call it names, and then, laugh!').
63** Also in the musical season, Owen sings a nostalgic ballad after Izzy dumps him.
64* Khonnor's "An Ape Is Loose" [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory can be interpreted]] to concern the singer instigating a breakup with a popular girl or celebrity.
65* Music/KatyPerry:
66** "Circle The Drain" is about her breakup with the drug-addicted Travis [=McCoy=].
67** "Part of Me" was recorded in the aftermath of the dissolution of her marriage to Creator/RussellBrand. Take a guess on what it's about. Go on!
68* Most of Music/FallOutBoy's earlier material consists of songs that fall into at least one of these categories. Examples include [[AntiChristmasSong "Yule Shoot Your Eye Out"]], where the singer spitefully tells his ex what she should do for Christmas and new Year's, and "Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today," where he basically tells her he hates her for breaking up with him for another guy and tells her to "stop burning bridges / and drive off of them / so I can forget about you"
69* Music/EscapeTheFate's "Let It Go" consists of the singer asking himself if he lets his girl go, since she's not his to own, would the emotional scars and trauma she's inflicted go away or remain.
70* Music/VanessaCarlton's "Carousel" is an unusual example. It's a third-person song advising people who've broken up not to dwell on it and to move on.
71* Music/JackJohnson - "If I Had Eyes".
72* Music/{{Robyn}} - Call Your Girlfriend (coming from the interesting perspective of the "other woman", telling the guy that it's time to leave his girlfriend for her -- "Call your girlfriend/It's time you had the talk/Give your reasons/Say it's not her fault...")
73* Sunny Sweeney - "Staying's Worse Than Leaving".
74* Alison Krauss - "Forget About It".
75* Music/ImagineDragons - "Pantomime". The singer spends a lot of time telling the ex not to touch him, and also boasts that he's become rather popular among her friends. However, he also says that he loves her "part time", instead of not at all, and also notices her crying over the lack of emotional commitment in her current relationship. The bridge seems to tell her that it's her choice whether or not to leave her current lover.
76* Egyptian - "Fade". The first verse has the male sing to the female about how while she has a pure heart, society seems to forbid their love. The second verse has the female sing to the male about how he seems shady to others, including her, by leaving her alone at night. The chorus has him ask her to maintain positive memories of their romance, even after it ends.
77* Music/JeffBuckley - "Forget Her"
78* Music/{{Banks}} - Any song that isn't about a DestructiveRomance is this.
79* Music/{{AFI}}'s album Burials is an entire album of these, in particular stand out the angry "I Hope You Suffer" and the melancholy "Heart Stops".
80* "Southern Cross" by [[Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung Crosby, Stills, and Nash]]. It's about someone who realizes that he and his ex really were not meant to be, and that it's mostly his fault. He's sailing through Polynesia when he comes to this realization, and though he's having difficulty, he's made the decision to move on for both their sakes.
81* Music/{{XTC}} - "That's Really Super, Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}" and "1000 Umbrellas".
82* Music/GoodCharlotte - "Dance Floor Anthem (I Don't Wanna Be In Love)"
83* Music/BlackKids - "If My Heart is Broken"
84* In the comic strip ''ComicStrip/SafeHavens'' Bambi is a professional singer. Her agent, Jenny, wants her to produce some of these because they're big money makers. Initially it didn't go over so well because Bambi sung about her breakup with Gerald, which had been an amicable one once they realized they weren't compatible anymore. Eventually, she did produce an album full of these songs...[[spoiler:after she had been catfished by the dodos.]]
85-->'''Samantha''': "Ground Sushi", "Chum Bucket", "Benihana My Love"...\
86'''Jenny''': There's real pain there.
87* Music/RedVox - "In A Dream" is one. It takes a much more somber, confused look at the end of the relationship especially with the line, "I don't know what any of this means to me."
88* Music/MadelineHarperGuest has a lot of these (unsurprising, since she credits Music/TaylorSwift as one of her inspirations), especially "The Ending Stays The Same", "When We Break Up", "Mr. Bright Eyes", and "Under The Willow Tree".
89* Music/VisionDivine's "Taste of a Goodbye", from ''Send Me An Angel'', deals with the aftermath of a breakup.
90-->''"It's getting cold outside\
91the same as in my life\
92Now that we are going to say goodbye...\
93The future how will be?\
94I got no certainty\
95but it hurts so much to me."\
96(...)\
97"It seems like yesterday,\
98the beauty of your smile\
99and we were like two shining stars...\
100And now we say goodbye\
101a new future to realize\
102and a new life to live alone..."''
103* Barnes & Barnes' "I Hope She Dies", from ''Voobaha''. Parodied in that it becomes clear that the narrator is a misogynist who's only upset about his girlfriend leaving him because he can't have sex with her anymore.
104* [[Creator/FrankSinatra Frank Sinatra's]] ''Music/MyWay'' has "Yesterday" and "If You Go Away", which both feature a protagonist depressed over the fact that his partner has left him.
105* Los del Río' "Macarena", at least in the [[EclipsedByTheRemix more popular remix by the Bayside Boys]]. While the Spanish lyrics are clearly about the titular character cheating on her boyfriend Victorino while he's serving in the military, the English-language parts are the titular character bragging about how she no longer needs Victorino.
106* ''VideoGame/RiverCityGirls'': "Rich" about breaking off a relationship that's built on being paid because ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules:
107--> I don't care what you pay,\
108Just watch me walk away.\
109If cash is your reason\
110you won't keep anyone.
111[[/folder]]
112
113[[folder:Relationship Breakup]]
114* ? and the Mysterians - "96 Tears".
115* Music/{{ABBA}} - "The Winner Takes It All", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "One of Us", "When All Is Said And Done".
116* ABC: "Poison Arrow", and virtually the entire ''Lexicon of Love'' album.
117* Music/TheAcademyIs - "Everything We Had".
118* Music/{{Adele}}'s album ''21'' is all about these ([[CreatorBreakdown thanks to her going through a rough breakup]]) and various songs can be found on the folders. It was the album that burst her into the United States charts and several songs have become HUGE hits.
119* Music/{{Aerosmith}} - "What It Takes" and "Hole in My Soul".
120* Music/TheAllAmericanRejects - "It Ends Tonight".
121* Music/AngelsAndAirwaves - "It Hurts".
122* Music/TheBeatles - "For No One".
123* Music/TheBeautifulSouth - "A Little Time": the male singer has a trial separation from the female singer, saying he needs some space. When he tries to get back together, the female singer (who suspects "space" means "other women") isn't having it.
124-->''"The freedom that you wanted bad\
125Is yours for good, I hope you're glad\
126Sad into unsad..."''
127* Benjamin Biolay - "15 Août".
128* Music/{{Blackbear}} - "I Needed You" (both versions).
129* The Bouncing Souls - "Wish Me Well (You Can Go to Hell)".
130* Music/DavidBowie - "Something in the Air."
131* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Tara's side of "Under Your Spell/Standing Reprise" in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More, With Feeling]]".
132* Music/EricCarmen - "Boats Against the Current".
133* Catatonia - "Blues Song".
134* Music/NickCave, being a bit broody, is partial to these. "Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?" and "It Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore" are two of the lighter, happier example. Note that this is not a joke: they get darker.
135* Čechomor - "Dívčí kámen" (Girl Rock - name of a Czech castle). The singer goes to war and gives a metaphorical middle finger to his ex-girlfriend (or just a girl he was unsuccesfully pursuing, the song isn't very clear on this point).
136* Victoria Celestine - "Wasted Tears", "Here I Am".
137* Chris Clark - "Love's Gone Bad".
138* Keyshia Cole - "I Changed My Mind", "(I Just Want It) To Be Over".
139* Music/PhilCollins - "Against All Odds" and "In The Air Tonight".
140* Color Theory - "The Fifth of July" (no relation to the similarly titled Louise Goffin song)
141* Music/{{Commodores}} - "Easy". It overlaps a bit with the AntiLoveSong, in that the singer is overall quite relaxed and happy about breaking up with his girlfriend since the relationship has apparently been unhappy for a while.
142* Music/TheCorrs - "Goodbye".
143* Music/TheCrystallineEffect- "Poetry".
144* Music/{{The Cure|Band}} - "The End of the World".
145* Music/CutCopy - "Standing in the Middle of the Field", which crosses with AntiLoveSong in the borderline cynical verses before emotionally collapsing in the chorus along with a mantra of "you've gotta give up the things you love to make it better".
146* Music/MileyCyrus - "Wrecking Ball".
147* Vanessa da Mata/Ben Harper - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSTWcsU91ZY "Boa Sorte (Good Luck)"]].
148* Skeeter Davis - "The End of the World".
149* The ThemeSong to ''Series/DearJohn'', sung by Wendy Talbot.
150* Music/DireStraits - "When It Comes To You".
151* Music/DragonForce - "Seasons".
152* Music/DreamTheater - "Space-Dye Vest", this is truly one of the most haunting examples of the genre ever recorded. The emotional breakdown of the one whose SO left, ending in the emotional collapse & shutdown in the final verse is a real tear jerker.
153-->''"And I'll smile and I'll learn to pretend\
154And I'll never be open again\
155And I'll have no more dreams to defend\
156And I'll never be open again."''
157* Music/TheDresdenDolls - "The Jeep Song".
158* Music/DuranDuran - "Ordinary World".
159** WordOfGod says that this is actually meant to be a GriefSong about a friend of lead singer Simon Le Bon who died from a massive drug overdose. The music [[LyricsVideoMismatch video]] probably doesn't help with the misunderstanding.
160* DYCE - "Feels", "Painting"
161* Music/BobDylan - pretty much the entirety of his mid-70's album ''Music/BloodOnTheTracks''.
162* Music/{{Edguy}} - "Trinidad", effectively "you don't give me respect because you're taller than me, so I moved to Trinidad without telling you".
163* Epica - "Never Enough".
164* Music/EnVogue - "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)"
165* Music/TheEverlyBrothers – "Born Yesterday". The lyrics strongly imply a breakup, but the song's video tells a slightly different story, showing a married couple on the brink. Subverted at the end of the video, with the couple getting back together.
166** "Crying in the Rain", famously covered by Music/{{Aha}}.
167* Faderhead - "Atoms and Emptiness".
168* The Flirts - "Jukebox".
169* Music/BenFolds - "Song for the Dumped", which has become an anthem for mishandled breakups.
170** "Selfless, Cold and Composed" is a more somber form of breakup song. And it sort of inverts the "I'm ruining your stuff" category- though there's no mention of cheating, it's about ''wishing'' the other person would break something or even get physically violent, because instead they're letting things go so easily that it seems like they never cared.
171* Music/{{Garbage}} - "It's All over But the Crying".
172* Music/GloriaGaynor - "I Will Survive".
173* Music/GlassAnimals - "Gooey", in which the singer announces their departure from an AdultChild partner and disillusionment with their naïve and lackadaisical ways.
174* Music/SelenaGomez - "Middle of Nowhere".
175* Music/GoodKid - "Drifting" was written with this purpose. It's about a guy who no longer listens to his girlfriend, and wants to forget everything they've done together. The final line, "and now I know that you’ve been gone", confirms that the break up did happen. Good Kid often uses "Drifting" to close tours or playlists.
176* Music/DeltaGoodrem - "Not Me Not I".
177* Greg Kihn Band – "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" is both an example and an aversion, as hinted at in the extended title. While the song starts "We had broken up for good / Just an hour before", and mentions the breakup throughout the verses, the song is equally (if not more) a lament of the perceived passing of this genre, with the chorus saying "they don't write 'em like that anymore".
178* Music/{{Halestorm}} - "Apocalyptic", about the singer and their SO, who've reached the point where they can't stand each other so they're breaking up, but first they're going to have some [[TitleDrop apocalyptic]] DestructoNookie.
179* Music/{{Halsey}} - "Haunting".
180* Music/HoneyWorks - "Nakimushi Kareshi" is about Miku and Len breaking up. It has a sequel "Hajimeshi no Sayonara", which is about Miku wanting to get back together with Len, but realizing that he's already with someone else.
181* Hoobastank - "I Don't Think I Love You".
182* Music/IconaPop - “I Love It”
183* Music/ImagineDragons - "Leave Me".
184* Music/InformationSociety - "Running".
185* Interface - "The Softest Blade".
186* Jermaine Jackson - "Don't Take It Personal".
187* Music/JoanJett:
188** "Soulmates To Strangers", which is about the couple realizing that things just didn't work between them (with maybe a hint of TakeThat in the line "I know that we were intimate, but that's the part I don't recall at all").
189** "Little Liar".
190* Music/{{Jojo}} - "Leave".
191* Music/{{Journey|Band}} - "Separate Ways".
192* Music/CaroleKing - "It's Too Late" (also covered by Music/GloriaEstefan).
193* Music/{{LANY}}'s "never mind, let's break up". The guy doesn't feel like his girlfriend is treating him right, since she [[ExiledToTheCouch exiles him to the couch]] and constantly fights with him, despite his best attempts to give her what she wants. The conclusion? "I thought about giving you one more chance. Never mind, let's break up!"
194* Music/AnnieLennox - "Walking On Broken Glass".
195* Music/LeonaLewis - "Better In Time".
196* Local H - "The One With 'Kid'" (and, to an extent, every song on ''Twelve Angry Months'').
197* Johnny Logan - "Hold Me Now".
198* Music/{{Marillion}} - "The Web".
199* Music/MelanieMartinez - "Alphabet Boy" and "Dead To Me".
200* Music/ImeldaMay:
201** "Too Sad to Cry", on the album ''Mayhem'', is about being emotionally wrung out following a breakup.
202** All of ''Life Love Flesh Blood'' has been seen as a break-up ''album'', but actually, it's a bit more complex than that. Still...
203*** "Black Tears". Nothing says "relationship gone bad" like [[YourMakeupIsRunning mascara running]].
204*** On the other hand, "Leave Me Lonely" has been mistaken for a breakup song, but it isn't; WordOfGod is clear that it's about [[IntercourseWithYou a passion so intense that any brief separation leaves the singer lonely]].
205* Martina [=McBride=] - "When Love is Gone", from ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol''.
206* Music/KatMcSnatch - "Fuck You".
207* Music/{{Mew}} - "White Lips Kissed"
208* Melotron - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAihD-3Owys "Du Bist Es Nicht Wert]] (You Aren't Worth It)".
209* Dannii Minogue - "It Won't Work Out".
210* Music/KylieMinogue - "Where Has The Love Gone?" and "So Now Goodbye".
211* Music/TheMonkees - "She".
212* [[Music/ThinLizzy Gary Moore]] - "Empty Rooms".
213* Music/MandyMoore and [[Music/{{Switchfoot}} Jonathan Foreman]] - "Someday We'll Know".
214* The Nails had two:
215** "88 Lines About 44 Women" was about all the women the singer had slept with and/or had relationships with
216** "These are the Things You Left Behind" is about all the stuff still in the singer's house after the departure of the girlfriend.
217* Music/OliviaNewtonJohn - "Please Mister Please".
218* Music/{{Noah|Indonesia}}: "Mungkin Nanti" takes place around the break-up, with the singer telling his lover to get over it and not to ever talk about it again.
219* Music/NoDoubt - "Don't Speak".
220** ''Tragic Kingdom'' may very well count as a break-up album. Most of the songs on there were written after Music/GwenStefani's break-up with the bassist (see also: Hey You, Sunday Morning, Happy Now?)
221* Music/PetShopBoys - "Love Is A Catastrophe".
222* Music/{{Pink}} - "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" is such a cathartically explosive declaration of ''doneness'' with an emotionally-draining relationship that it crosses the line into making a breakup sound like the kind of occasion that warrants throwing a party.
223* Phildel - "The Wolf".
224* Anneliese van der Pol - "Cute Boys with Short Haircuts", from the musical of ''Vanities''.
225* Music/ThePolice - [[LyricalDissonance "Can't Stand Losing You"]]. Also, "Someone To Talk To" (''But I fucked it up and now it's too late'').
226* Music/ColePorter standard "Just One Of Those Things". Interestingly, this one may be the TropeCodifier, but is suprisingly amicable.
227-->''"So good-bye, dear, and amen\
228Here's hoping we meet now and then\
229It was great fun\
230But it was just one of those things."''
231* Jerry Reed - "She Got the Goldmine, I Got the Shaft".
232* Music/RelientK - "This is the End (If You Want It)".
233* Music/CliffRichard - "We Don't Talk Any More"
234* Music/MartyRobbins - "Singing the Blues"
235* Music/{{Robyn}} - "With Every Heartbeat".
236* Music/{{Roxette}} - "It Must Have Been Love" - the breakup theme from ''Film/PrettyWoman'', written by Per Gessle.
237* Sagittarius - "My World Fell Down".
238* Music/NeilSedaka - "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do".
239* Sally Shapiro - "If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind", which also marked the duo's ([[TenMinuteRetirement temporary]]) [[RealLifeWritesThePlot real-life breakup]], "Fading Away".
240* Music/{{Sia}} - "The Girl You Lost To Cocaine".
241* Music/{{Skyclad|Band}} - "You Lost My Memory".
242* The Skyliners - "Since I Don't Have You".
243* Music/SoftCell - “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is the song of a man breaking up with a woman who, he has evidently concluded, he just doesn’t like very much. Or maybe he’s making excuses for dumping her.
244* Music/{{Space}} - 'There's No You', "Begin Again".
245* Music/DustySpringfield - "What Do You Do When Love Dies" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself".
246* Music/{{Suede}} - "Barriers", "The 2 of Us".
247* Music/SufjanStevens - "I Walked".
248* Music/BarbraStreisand - "My Coloring Book".
249* Music/Sum41 - "Blood in My Eyes" and "Time for You to Go".
250* Sunrise Avenue - "Fairytale Gone Bad"
251* Music/TheSupremes: "Reflections".
252* The Swell Season - "Lies".
253* Music/TaylorSwift - "Breathe", “All Too Well,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “White Horse”, “I Knew You Were Trouble” (Swift is, in fact, a particularly infamous example of an artist specializing in breakup songs.)
254* The Temptations - "Sorry Is a Sorry Word".
255* Music/TheyMightBeGiants:
256** "Cyclops Rock"
257--->''"I taught you how to Cyclops Rock\
258And then you go and turn around and break my heart\
259And waste my cyclops time\
260And mess up my cyclops mind."''
261** "They'll Need A Crane"
262--->''"Lad looks at other gals\
263Gal thinks Jim Beam is handsomer than lad\
264He isn't bad\
265Call off the wedding band\
266Nobody wants to hear that one again\
267Play that again."''
268** "Narrow Your Eyes"
269--->''"Now we'll toast the sad cold fact\
270Our love's never coming back\
271And we'll race to the bottom of a glass\
272Narrow your eyes."''
273** "Broke in Two"
274--->'''"I would go back to the top of the day from scratch\
275If I thought this thing could be fixed\
276Though sadly I'd do exactly the same thing as when\
277We broke in two."''
278** "Let Me Tell You About My Operation"
279--->''"Oh, let me tell ya about my operation\
280Doctors declared I'm better now\
281Our liaison, oh it was poison, baby\
282Our liaison, it was a drag"''
283** "Say Nice Things About Detroit"
284--->''"Say nice things about Detroit\
285The way you left, you were a big big jerk\
286There I was anticipating\
287Some kind of love, I'm still waiting."''
288** “All Time What”
289---> ''”And now I’m all torn up because my buttercup\
290Up and gone and left me, said she’d finally had enough\
291Left me here to ruminate\
292On all she can’t admit and all she can’t explain”''
293* Music/JustinTimberlake - “Cry Me a River”, "What Goes Around..." (also covered by Alesana).
294* Music/ToyDolls: "She'll Be Back With Keith Someday".
295* Music/{{Train}} - "50 Ways to Say Goodbye," which details how the singer intends to tell his friends that his ex died in various freak accidents rather than admit that they've broken up.
296* The Trammps - "Hold Back the Night".
297* Music/TuneYards - "Sunlight".
298* Music/KeithUrban - "You'll Think of Me".
299* Music/SharonVanEtten - "Love More" is about a bad relationship that has since ended.
300* Music/TheVeronicas - "Leave Me Alone" "In Another Life".
301* Music/{{Vocaloid}} - The Dixie Flatline song "Just Be Friends" is one that takes place right in the middle of the breakup, and all the complicated feelings that led to that point. It has a followup song titled "Answer" which is a song that takes place three years after the breakup and how the girl has moved on.
302* ''Film/TheWeddingSinger'' has an unfinished BreakupSong the protagonist wrote after his girlfriend cheated on him the night before their wedding.
303* Pretty much all of Music/KanyeWest's 2008 album "808s & Heartbreak".
304* Music/CharliXCX - “Breaking Up”
305* Music/TheWhiteStripes: "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is about a guy discovering unexpectedly that his lover has left him, and feeling distraught
306* Music/AmyWinehouse - pretty much the whole ''Music/BackToBlack'' album, but particular examples include, "Love Is A Losing Game", "Tears Dry On Their Own", "Wake Up Alone" and "Back To Black" itself.
307* Music/WeirdAlYankovic - "One More Minute". Oddly enough, this is a completely straight example, despite being a Weird Al song; he wrote it to help himself through an ''actual'' breakup.
308** It's not completely straight, since it's set to the tune of a slow dance and the lyrics are exaggerated. Weird Al also had "You Don't Love Me Anymore", which is definitely ''not'' a straight example.
309** He also did "Since You've Been Gone", which starts out sounding like a straight depressing breakup song (albeit comparing his lover's absence to several outlandishly painful and masochistic acts). This being Weird Al, there's of course a twist at the end: "I feel almost as bad as I did, When you were still here!"
310[[/folder]]
311
312[[folder:Warning Others About the Ex]]
313* Music/PaulaAbdul - "Cold Hearted".
314* Anuna - "If All She Has is You".
315* Music/TheBeachBoys - "Here Today".
316* Music/BellBivDevoe - "Poison", which warns to never trust a big butt and a smile.
317* Boyzone - "Picture of You" is a song warning people about {{False Friend}}s.
318* Music/ToniBraxton - "He Wasn't Man Enough".
319* Music/ClanOfXymox - "She is Falling in Love"
320* Music/PhilCollins and [[Music/EarthWindAndFire Philip Bailey]] - "Easy Lover".
321* Consider Me Dead - "The Island" switches perspectives from a "you drew me in, I was captivated and now I know better so screw you" tone in the verses to a chorus warning anyone romantically interested in the antagonist:
322-->''"She swims in a sea of diamonds\
323She is numb to touch\
324She left me here on this island\
325She didn't leave me with much."''
326* Music/{{Dion}} - "Runaround Sue":
327-->''"So if you don't wanna cry like I do\
328I'd keep away from a Runaround Sue."''
329* Elastica - 'Stutter" (Unlike most of these, this one isn't about the ex's personality, it's about his [[TheLoinsSleepTonight "performance"]]).
330* Music/{{Eminem}} - "Bagpipes From Baghdad", which starts out with Slim expressing jealousy over his ex (Music/MariahCarey) marrying Nick Cannon, and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent threatening to drink blood out of his neck]]. However, the subtext is that he's warning Nick that Mariah is a drunken, promiscuous psycho, which becomes explicit when he steps out of character in the final verse to wish Nick "luck with the fucking whore". [[TheDissTrack Ouch]].
331* E-Rotic - "Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex"
332* Music/FrankieValliAndTheFourSeasons - "Walk Like A Man".
333* First Choice - "Armed and Extremely Dangerous". In addition to being a {{Jerkass}}, the ex got the narrator pregnant.
334* [[Music/GirlsGeneration SNSD]] - "Lost In Love"..
335* Music/CeeLoGreen's "Fuck You" - which also has some "I Want You Back" elements.
336* Music/GunsNRoses - "You're Crazy" and "Better".
337* Music/HallAndOates - "Maneater" (the singer's previous involvement with the titular "maneater" is ''strongly'' suggested, but never explicitly stated).
338* Music/EltonJohn - "Slow Down Georgie (She's Poison)" and "Don't Trust That Woman".
339* La India - "Ese hombre" ("That Man"), vía a long list of his defects, capped by "unbearable as a friend/ insufferable as a lover".
340* Måns Zelmerlöw - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOvzuTbghFo Brother Oh Brother]]", where the singer's brother gets together with the singer's ex.
341* Brazilian band Matanza has a PlayedForLaughs example, with a song that has the self-describing translated title [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJtgM0jDWM "She Stole My Truck"]].
342* Music/MatchboxTwenty - "She's So Mean". It's basically saying "Beware: my ex is a selfishly {{Jerkass}} HardDrinkingPartyGirl".
343* Music/NoDoubt - "Ex-Girlfriend".
344* Music/ThreeDaysGrace - "Last To Know" starts out with the singer wanting the girl who cheated then dumped him back, but when the electric guitar kicks in halfway through the song, he switches to warning her new boyfriend that when she leaves him for dead, he too will be the last to know.
345* Tony! Toni! Tonè!- "My Ex-Girlfriend Is a Hoe".
346* Music/CarrieUnderwood - "Cowboy Casanova", "Good Girl".
347* Music/{{Usher}} - "You Make Me Wanna", "U Remind Me".
348* Music/VelvetUnderground - "Femme Fatale".
349* Music/TheZombies - ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cYdH46HqpE Tell Her No]]'', the main message of which boils down to "She said she loved me too".
350[[/folder]]
351
352[[folder:Non-romantic, Between Friends]]
353* Music/AlStewart - "Angel of Mercy".
354* Music/BringMeTheHorizon - "Go To Hell For Heaven's Sake" , "True Friends", and "Throne".
355* Coal Chamber - "Friend"
356* "Hard To Say Goodbye, My Love" from ''{{Theatre/Dreamgirls}}'', since the Dreams sing it when they're about to disband.
357* Music/{{Eminem}}:
358** "Cleanin' Out My Closet" is a breakup song with his abusive mother, who had just attempted to sue him for $10m dollars over saying she does drugs in "My Name Is", and who then released [[TheDissTrack a diss track against him]]. Eminem brings up her childhood abuse against him, then declares he's dead to her. (A decade later, he came to regret it, and released "Headlights" as an apology.)
359** "How Come" is about him falling out with D12 over his extreme success compared to the rest of the group.
360** "Stepping Stone" is his breakup song with D12, in which he admits that the group lost its reason to exist after [[TheBandMinusTheFace the death of its founder, Proof]].
361* Fates Warning - "Firefly" (it's ambiguous, since it could just as well be applied to a romantic relationship, but the message of the song is definitely "you entered my life and made it better, and then you left it; we're our own people and neither one of us had any obligation to stick by the other, and while I want you to do what's best for you and won't stop you from leaving, it's going to leave a void in my life and I can't claim that it's not going to hurt")
362* Music/GlassAnimals - "Agnes" is a GriefSong about drifting apart from a friend who's succumbed to substance abuse and poor mental health. While it can sound like a more conventional breakup song, "Heat Waves" is also intended to be about processing the loss of a friend.
363* Music/GreenDay - "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)".
364* WebVideo/{{Jreg}} - "Leftist Unity" from ''Centricide''.
365* The Mills Brothers - "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone".
366* Music/NickCave and the Bad Seeds saw off their long-time guitarist, Blixa Bargeld, with "The Fable of the Brown Ape"...which...let's just say there's reason to assume it wasn't a smooth transition.
367* Not The Nine O'Clock News – [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLgeiRO63mE Kinda Lingers]].
368* Music/OzzyOsbourne - "Goodbye To Romance" (The booklet for the ''Blizzard of Ozz'' rerelease says Ozzy wrote it about his departure from Music/BlackSabbath.)
369* Music/{{Pink}}'s "Who Knew" mourns lost friendships.
370* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': "The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye)" and "Together We'll Make A Promise".
371* Music/RobbieWilliams' song "No Regrets" is about his being fired from Music/TakeThatBand. Since making up with his former bandmates live performances of the song have been less bitter and adjusted certain lyrics to be more hopeful ("the love we once had is officially dead" became "officially alive").
372* Music/{{Sia}}: "Insidiously":
373-->''I tell you, if that's what you're about\
374Friends like you I can do without''
375* Music/SimonAndGarfunkel's "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" is a very thinly-veiled farewell from Paul to Artie. ("All of the nights we harmonized till dawn...").
376* Music/SpiceGirls - "Goodbye", the first single after then former band member Geri Halliwell's departure (she returned nine years later).
377* Music/{{Starflyer 59}}'s ''Gold'' was almost an entire album of breakup songs of this type.
378* Music/TakingBackSunday- "There's No 'I' In Team".
379* Former Music/{{tATu}} member Lena Katina's debut solo single "Never Forget" is about the fallout of her friendship with former t.A.T.u. partner Julia Volkova.
380** The last song of t.A.T.u.'s last album, "Don't Regret", is also about the group's break-up.
381* Vanities - "Friendship Isn't What it Used to Be".
382* Vitamin C - "Graduation (Friends Forever)"
383* Theatre/{{Wicked}} - "For Good".
384* You Me At Six - "Bite My Tongue" (either against his friends or his parents)
385[[/folder]]
386
387[[folder:Please Don't Go / I Want You Back / I Wish We Were Still In Love]]
388* 4*Town - "1 True Love" from ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' cowritten by Music/BillieEilish and Music/{{Finneas}}.
389* A7(later Akira) - "Piece of Heaven".
390* Music/{{Adele}} - "Rolling In the Deep" is a more sinister example, as one of the lines in the chorus is "You're going to wish you never had met me", which implies the protagonist will inflict violence or something severe upon her lover if he leaves.
391* Music/AirSupply - "All Out of Love". It also has shades of the singer admitting he's wrong.
392* Music/TheAlanParsonsProject - "If I Could Change Your Mind".
393* Alejandro Fernández - "Si Tú No Vuelves," "Pájaro Perdido"
394* Alice Deejay - "Back in My Life".
395* Angelina - "Without Your Love".
396* Annie - "Anthonio".
397* Music/ArcadeFire - "Crown of Love".
398* Music/ArcticMonkeys - "Do I Wanna Know?" teeters between singing about unrequited love and this.
399* Most of Assemblage 23's ''Mourn'' album consists of breakup songs, with Tom Shear experiencing a CreatorBreakdown that included divorce and moving back to the East Coast from Seattle.
400* The Avett Brothers - "If It's the Beaches" (The song's basic message is "I would do anything to keep you". Sample lyrics: "Don't say it's over / 'Cause that's the worst news I could hear / I swear that I will / Do my best to be here just the way you like it / Even though it's hard to hide / Push my feelings all aside / I will rearrange my plans and change for you".)
401* Music/AvrilLavigne:
402** "Wish You Were Here".
403** "Let Me Go", a duet with her then husband [[Music/{{Nickelback}} Chad Kroeger]].
404* Music/BackstreetBoys - "Back to Your Heart", "Shape of My Heart", "Incomplete", "I Still", "Inconsolable".
405* Music/TheBand - "It Makes No Difference"
406* Barbara [=McNair=] - "My World Is Empty Without You".
407* Barbara Randolph - "You Got Me Hurtin' All Over".
408* Barry White - "I Don't Know Where Love Has Gone".
409* Basshunter - "Now You're Gone," "All I Ever Wanted," "I Miss You," "Please Don't Go," "Camila" ([[WhatSongWasThisAgain but only the English version]]).
410* Music/TheBeachBoys - "The Warmth of the Sun", "Wendy", "Caroline No", "Getcha Back".
411* Music/TheBeatles - "Yesterday".
412* Music/{{BIGBANG}} - "If You".
413* Music/TheBirthdayMassacre - "To Die For".
414* Music/BlocParty - "Like Eating Glass".
415* Music/BonnieTyler - "Don't Turn Around". Tyler tells her partner that, should they part separate ways, she's willing to accept it. She just asks him to not look back at her, as she doesn't want to be seen crying.
416* Boyz II Men - "Please Don't Go," "End of the Road," "On Bended Knee".
417* Music/BraveSaintSaturn: "Binary".
418* The Break Up - "Come Undone", "Heartstrings".
419* Music/RobCantor has a variant of this: "The Rendezvous" is a CallAndResponseSong about two people having broken up. The man wants to apologize for his mistakes and see her again, while the woman hopes that he's being honest and feels the same. They eventually get back together, getting engaged and admitting that the biggest mistake they made was leaving each other.
420-->''I can see I was wrong (I want you back tonight)\
421Didn’t take very long (I want a hand in mine)\
422I go dark when you’re gone\
423We could start it again''
424* Cary August - "Wish You Were Here".
425* Music/{{Cascada}} - "Miracle", "One More Night", and "Love Again"
426* Music/CelineDion - "Pour Que Tu M'Aimes Encore"
427* Music/{{Cher}} - "If I Could Turn Back Time"
428* Music/CherLloyd - "Want U Back," about a girl who dumped her boyfriend because he "never had much game" and then got all pissy because he got together with someone else instead of crawling back to her like she expected.
429* Music/{{Chicago|Band}} - "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," "If You Leave Me Now", "Hard Habit to Break"
430* Music/TheClash - "Train in Vain."
431* Music/{{Coldplay}} - "Warning Sign" from the album ''Music/ARushOfBloodToTheHead''.
432* Color Theory - "The Future You Is Forever"
433* Music/TheCorrs - "Radio," "Long Night," "Old Town," "Give Me A Reason," ...suffice it to say, they like this one.
434* Music/ClaudeFrancois - "Reste"
435* Crystal Gayle - "You Never Miss a Real Good Thing ('Til He Says Goodbye)"
436* Music/CutCopy - "Far Away"
437* Cynthia - "Thinking About You".
438* "You Go First" from ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend", an 80's style PowerBallad DistantDuet between Rebecca and Paula after their fall-out, parodies this type, with both singing about how sorry they are and how everything's their fault and they want to be friends again, just as soon as the other apologises first.
439-->''"Go ahead and say you're kinda sorry\
440So I can say 'No, no, no, please,' just like I rehearsed\
441If you open the door, I'll apologise so much more\
442Yes I will, but you go first."''
443* Music/DaftPunk - "The Game of Love".
444* Music/DanielRomano - "Old Fires Die". A rarer example of a song about a presumably once-happy marriage that burned out.
445* Dannii Minogue - "I Don't Wanna Take This Pain", "So Hard To Forget", "Kiss And Make Up", and "I Begin To Wonder".
446* Creator/DavidSoul - "Don't Give Up On Us"
447* Dawes - "All Your Favorite Bands".
448* Music/DeadOrAlive - "Turn Around and Count 2 Ten", "Baby Don't Say Goodbye".
449* Music/DebbieGibson - "Foolish Beat".
450* Deborah Cox - "Things Just Ain't The Same", "I Never Knew", and "House Is Not A Home".
451* Deep Blue Something - "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
452* Music/DeltaGoodrem -" Lost Without You", "I Can't Break It To My Heart".
453* Music/{{Dido}} - "White Flag".
454* Dierks Bentley - "Settle for a Slowdown" (although in the end he resigns himself to her leaving, and only wishes she would show some sorrow over it). "Trying To Stop your Leaving" is also literally this, with the narrator using a freight train and the Rio Grande river as metaphors.
455* Music/DollyParton - "I Will Always Love You" (famously covered by Music/WhitneyHouston, and also listed under "It's Not You, It's Me").
456* Most songs by Double You. [[LyricalDissonance Dissonantly]], their music style is bouncy Eurodance.
457* "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," from ''{{Theatre/Dreamgirls}}''.
458* DYCE - "Tomorrow Can Wait".
459* Easton Corbin- "I Can't Love You Back" is about how many different ways the narrator loves his ex, but as much as he loves her, he knows it wont bring her back. The music video actually plays the ex's ''death'' in reverse until the moment she walked out the door to drive the point home.
460* Music/EdSheeran - "Sunburn", primarily about the narrator's regret that an old relationship didn't work out: "We never even tried / We never even talked / We never even thought in the long run". The new-girlfriend-who-reminds-him-of-the-old is a secondary aspect of the song.
461* Elliot Yamin - "Wait For You".
462* Music/ElvisPresley - "Are You Lonesome Tonight" (though Creator/SamKinison's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJKg4TXf6PQ version]] drifts into "don't want you back" with hilarious results).
463* Music/EscapeTheFate - "Harder Than You Know".
464* E-Type - "Angels Crying".
465* Music/EnVogue - "You Don't Have to Worry"
466* Music/{{Expose}} - "I'll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me".
467* The Fireflies - "You Were Mine".
468* Music/FooFighters - "Walking After You".
469* Music/FrouFrou- ''Hear Me Out''.
470* Galaxy Hunter - "Thousand Miles Away", "When I Close My Eyes", "I Miss You So Much"
471* Music/GloriaEstefan - "Can't Forget You".
472* Gotye - "Somebody That I Used To Know" is arguably a deconstruction. It seems like a song in this vein, but then in the second part we hear the perspective of the ex and it could from her angle be a "Don't Want You Back" song.
473* Music/{{Guy}} - "Goodbye Love," where both parties know things aren't working out and split, but can't find it in their hearts to truly let things end, and decide to try and work things out one last time.
474* Music/{{Halsey}} - "Is There Somewhere". This is an interesting one because it is written from the perspective of the former other woman (whom the boyfriend has chosen his partner over)
475* Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes - "Don't Leave Me This Way".
476* Music/HarryNilsson - "You're Breakin' My Heart" and "Without You" (CoveredUp by Music/MariahCarey).
477* Music/HoboJohnson - "Mover Away" and "Moonlight" are about Hobo's girlfriend leaving him. "Mover Away" reminisces fondly about how much he loved her and wanted to things to work out, while "Moonlight" pus the focus on the despair he feels about her being gone.
478* Music/TheHumanLeague - "Don't You Want Me?" (Phil Oakey's verse)
479* Music/HumanNature - "Don't Say Goodbye" ("There's no reason why/this part of us should die./Don't say goodbye.")
480* Music/{{Hurt}} - "Falls Apart," "On the Radio", "Aftermath" (with shades of a passive ObsessionSong)... They like these.
481* Ian van Dahl - "Will I" and "Where Are You Now?"
482* Music/ImagineDragons - "Darkness" and "My Fault" play this straight. "Shots" fluctuates between the singer wishing he and the lover stayed together, and him admitting that maybe he'd screw up their relationship again.
483* Music/InformationSociety - "Tomorrow", "Over the Sea", "Back in the Day", "Where Were You?"
484* Interface - "Outside Looking In", "Not With Me", "Fire In the Sky".
485* Music/JasonIsbell: "Songs That She Sang in the Shower" is about missing the small, everyday details of life with someone.
486* Jackson Five - "I Want You Back".
487* Music/JacquesBrel's "Ne me quitte pas" deserves a special mention: that song is so full of RomanticHyperbole that [[MisaimedFandom people often believe it is a love song]].
488* Jazmine Sullivan - "Need U Bad"
489* Jaya (later Stevie B) - "If You Leave Me Now"
490* Jennifer y Los Jetz - "Contigo Otra Vez," "You Say," Vuelve".
491* Music/JessicaSimpson - "Where You Are" (A DistantDuet between her and then-love interest Nick Lachey).
492* Music/{{Jewel}} - "You Were Meant For Me".
493* Jimmy Ruffin - "Don't You Miss Me a Little Bit, Baby?".
494* JLS - "Beat Again".
495* Music/{{Jodeci}} - "Stay", "I'm Still Waiting".
496* Joey Kid - "Counting the Days".
497* The Music/GeorgeJones classic "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is one of the greatest BreakupSongs ever written, and boy howdy is it a doozy. Told from the point of view of a friendly third party, this song is an absolute tearjerker from start to finish. It tells the story about a man who, as his wife is leaving him for good and not looking back, swears to her that he'll love her till he dies. And he does.
498* Music/{{Journey|Band}} - "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)"
499* Music/KateBush - "You're the One"
500* KC and the Sunshine Band - "Please Don't Go"
501* Music/KellyClarkson - "My Life Would Suck Without You".
502* Music/KennyRogers - "Ruby (Don't Take Your Love To Town)".
503* Keyshia Cole - "Love".
504* Music/KidRock & Sheryl Crow - "Picture" (Two ex-lovers both realize they can't live without each other).
505* Kristine W. - "One More Try".
506* Kumbia Kings - "Con El Tic Tac Del Reloj," "Se Fue Mi Amor," "Why Did You"
507* Music/KylieMinogue - "I'll Still Be Loving You", "Hand On Your Heart", "Never Too Late", "Better The Devil You Know", "If You Were With Me Now", "No World Without You", "Where In The World?", "Put Yourself In My Place", "Disco Down", and "Soul On Fire"
508* Laura Branigan - "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (co-written, and later covered, by Michael Bolton) (singer's love for other person apparently unrequited, other person has found love of his/her own life)
509* Music/LeonardCohen - "Coming Back to You"; "Ain't No Cure for Love". "Hallelujah" sounds like a break-up song (and is frequently covered as one), but actually [[LoveIsLikeReligion uses romantic symbolism as an allegory for a man's contentious relationship with God]].
510* Les Fatals Picards - L'Amour à la française
511* Lisa Stansfield - "All Around The World"
512* Little Anthony and the Imperials - "Tears on My Pillow".
513* Los Bravos - "Black Is Black"
514* Loudness- "Ares' Lament/So Lonely" and "Never Again"
515* [[https://soundcloud.com/lovelife Lovelife]]'s songs are almost exclusively about breakups and longing for the other person back. The most notable examples being "Your New Beloved", "Dying to Start Again" and "Nova"
516* Lifehouse - "Whatever It Takes"
517* Music/{{Ludo}} - "Drunken Lament" is sung by a man who's on an extended bender after being dumped, begging into the void for his ex to come back and give him the chance to change himself into what she wants - with the implication being that [[{{Irony}} what she wants is a partner who doesn't have his tendencies to wallow in self-hatred.]]
518* Music/LuisFonsi - "Se Supone," "Te Echo De Menos," "Viviendo En El Ayer"
519* Music/LukeCombs- "One Number Away" describes the things the narrator does to occupy his time away from his love, all on the verge of calling her, wondering if she's doing the same.
520* Music/MariahCarey:
521** "Can't Let Go," "Just to Hold You Once Again," "My All", "Love Takes Time", "I Still Believe"
522** "Always Be My Baby" is a variant, saying "[[LoveWillLeadYouBack I don't mind if you leave, because I know you'll come back]]." Forever is another variant, where she acknowledges the time between them is over but if he ever wants her back then all he has to do is call her back. Butterfly is, yet another, example. Its main message is very similar to Always Be My Baby except it's more, "If you truly love me, you will come back but, until then, I have to set you free."
523** "Don't Forget About Us" and her exceptionally famous "We Belong Together" definitely do count.
524** "Angels Cry" and "Inseparable" from ''Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel'' count. "H.A.T.E.U." is an odd variation where she wants to hate her ex, but can't because she misses him.
525* Music/{{Marillion}} - "Kayleigh"
526* Music/MaroonFive - "Won't Go Home Without You", "Payphone"
527* Music/MatchboxTwenty - "If You're Gone"
528* Music/MichaelJackson - "She's Out of My Life".
529* Michael Oakley - "Crystal Ships" and "Real Life".
530* Mike Mareen - "Don't Leave Me Now". Uses LyricalDissonance, setting the breakup lyrics in a dancy Hi-NRG song.
531* Mike Posner - "Please Don't Go".
532* Music/MileyCyrus, "7 Things".
533* The Moody Blues - "Go Now!".
534* Music/MyBrightestDiamond - "Gone Away".
535* Naked Eyes - "Always Something There to Remind Me"; a particularly harsh because it has the beloved's wedding bells as part of the background music..
536* Music/NeilSedaka - "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do".
537* Music/NewEdition - "Is This the End?"
538* Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock - “Please Don’t Go Girl”
539* NINA - "It Kills Me".
540* No Mercy - "Where Do You Go" and "Please Don't Go"(not a cover)
541* [[Music/{{NSYNC}} *NSYNC]] - "I Thought She Knew", and of course, "I Want You Back"
542* Os Paralamas do Sucesso - "Quase Um Segundo" ("sometimes I hate you for [[TitleDrop almost one second]], then I love you more...")
543* Passenger - "Let Her Go".
544* Patsy Cline - "Faded Love," "I Fall to Pieces," "She's Got You," "So Wrong", "Crazy"
545* Peabo Bryson - "Can You Stop the Rain".
546* Music/PearlJam - "Black", from ''Music/{{Ten|PearlJamAlbum}}''.
547* Music/KatyPerry - "TheOneThatGotAway" and "Thinking Of You".
548* Music/PetShopBoys:
549** "The Way It Used To Be".
550** "What Have I Done To Deserve This", for both singers.
551* Music/{{Prince}} - "Nothing Compares 2U" ([[CoveredUp famously sung]] by Music/{{Sinead O Connor}}).
552* Music/{{Pink}} - "Please Don't Leave Me", with a dark twist in that it's from the perspective of an abusive partner desperately attempting to manipulate their victim into taking them back.
553* Player - "Baby Come Back".
554* Music/{{Queen}} - "Save Me"
555* R. Dean Taylor - "There's a Ghost in My House".
556* Music/RascalFlatts / Music/{{Cascada}} - "What Hurts The Most".
557* Music/RedVelvet - "Body Talk"
558* Regina Belle - "Make it Like it Was".
559* Ricky Nelson - "Don't Leave Me This Way".
560* Robert Knight - "Everlasting Love" (Covered by many, many other performers).
561* Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} - "Miss You".
562* Music/RoyOrbison - "Crying".
563* Sally Shapiro - "Sundown".
564* Music/SarahBrightman - "The Second Element" and "Colder Than Winter".
565* Music/TheScript - "Breakeven", "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" & "Six Degrees Of Seperation".
566* Music/{{Seether}} and [[Music/{{Evanescence}} Amy Lee]] - "Broken".
567* Music/SelenaGomez - "The Way I Loved You", "Ghost of You".
568* Music/{{Sia}} - "My Old Santa Claus"
569* Music/{{Sisquo}} - "Incomplete".
570* Music/SleaterKinney - "One More Hour".
571* Music/{{Space}} - "Love You More Than Football".
572* Music/{{Steps}} - "One for Sorrow" and "Deeper Shade of Blue".
573* The Streets - "Dry Your Eyes" alternates between the verses - begging her not to go - and the chorus - encouraging the narrator to let it go and accept that it's over.
574* Music/SonataArctica - "Tallulah".
575* Stevie B. - "Spring Love".
576* Steve Winwood - "Valerie" (SampledUp by Eric Prydz in "Call on Me").
577* Music/SufjanStevens - "Enchanting Ghost".
578* Sugar Ray - "When It's Over".
579* Music/TheSupremes - "Where Did Our Love Go?".
580* Music/TakeThatBand - "Back For Good".
581* Music/TaylorSwift: "Back to December," "Haunted", "Music/AllTooWell".
582* The Temptations - "Ain't Too Proud To Beg".
583* The Rain Within - "Innocent", "Violet Glow"
584* Tiffany - "Could've Been," "Should've Been Me".
585* Music/TomPettyAndTheHeartbreakers - "The Best of Everything," "Trailer".
586* Trisha Yearwood - "When a Love Song Sings the Blues," "When We Were Still in Love"
587* Toni Braxton - "Unbreak My Heart", "I Don't Want To".
588* Travis Tritt - "Tell Me I Was Dreaming".
589* Music/{{Usher}} - "You Got It Bad".
590* Music/TheVeronicas - ''Someone Wake Me Up", "Worlds Apart", "Don't Say Goodbye", "In Another Life", "We Are One''.
591* Victoria Celestine - "Let Go", "Favorite Daydream".
592* Music/ViolentFemmes - "Please Don't Go": the narrator begs his lover not to leave and discusses how heartbroken he will be if she does.
593* Music/VioletUK:
594** "Amethyst". The breakup is due to the death of one of the partners, and the song is pure I Want You Back GriefSong from the widowed partner's perspective.
595** "Unnamed Song/7th" is also a GriefSong about a relationship ended by death.
596* The Walker Brothers - "Make It Easy on Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore".
597* Music/WhitneyHouston - "All At Once"
598* Music/WarrenZevon - "Empty-Handed Heart".
599* Music/TheWeeknd - "Wasted Times", in which despite his attachment-avoidance, the singer realizes he's not happy seeing anyone other than his ex, is jealous thinking about her dating other men, and tries to tell her she could come back anytime.
600* Music/WithinTemptation - "What Have You Done Now" (about two lovers who are [[DatingCatwoman also mortal enemies]])
601* The Wrens - "Come Back My Love".
602* Music/{{Yazoo}} - "Only You", "Don't Go".
603* Music/FrankZappa - "Stuff Up the Cracks", the final track of ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'', has the singer plead his girl not to leave him [[SuicideAsComedy or else he'll kill himself with oven gas]].
604* Music/{{Zucchero}}: The theme of "Senza Una Donna" (Without A Woman) tells about Zucchero singing to a woman who used to be his LoveInterest (it's left ambiguous whether they were married or merely engaged), saying that since they parted ways he's been alone and hasn't found any other woman to love, but he's learned to live with that reality.
605[[/folder]]
606
607[[folder:We're About To Break Up Because I Know You're Cheating]]
608* Ace - "How Long".
609* Angus and Julia Stone - "I'm Not Yours".
610* Creator/AnnaAkana - "Screw You".
611* Music/BackstreetBoys - "Quit Playing Games With My Heart".
612* The Band Perry - "You Lie".
613* Music/{{Beyonce}} - "Me, Myself and I". Also features elements of "warning about others" and "over you", mentioning that the guy's family and friends tried to warn her about him and that it's just "me myself and I" now.
614* Brandy - "Tomorrow".
615* Music/TheByrds - "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better".
616* Music/CarrieUnderwood - "Before He Cheats".
617* Music/ChristinaAguilera - "You Lost Me"
618* Music/TheClash - "Train in Vain".
619* Connie Francis - "Lipstick on Your Collar".
620* Dannii Minogue - "Mystified".
621* Deborah Cox - "It's Over Now".
622* Music/DestinysChild - "Bills, Bills, Bills" (cheating with her money).
623* Music/TheEverlyBrothers - "Cathy's Clown"
624* Music/{{Garbage}} - "Automatic Systematic Habit", in which the singer vents her rage and disgust to the man she's involved with on having discovered that she's one of many women he's been having affairs with and hiding from each other.
625* Music/GarthBrooks - "The Thunder Rolls" (particularly extreme example, if you listen to the live version).
626* Music/GirlsGeneration - "Run Devil Run".
627* Music/HankWilliams, Sr. - "Your Cheatin' Heart".
628* Hey Monday - "How You Love Me Now".
629* Music/{{Hurt}} - "Unkind".
630* Jason Derulo - "Whatcha Say": the narrator is the one caught cheating.
631* Jill Jones - "I Used To Worship The Ground You Walk On" from ''Film/EarthGirlsAreEasy'', which led to a great DefenestrateAndBerate scene.
632* Music/JoanJett- "I Hate Myself For Loving You".
633* Joe - "Stutter".
634* Music/{{JoJo}} - "Leave (Get Out)".
635* Kelis - "Caught Out There".
636* Music/{{Kesha}} - "Kiss 'n' Tell".
637* Keyshia Cole - "I Should Have Cheated" A song where the singer states that she should have cheated on her boyfriend after the multiple times he accused her of doing so, which he has been suspected of as well.
638* Music/KylieMinogue - "It's No Secret" and "Word Is Out".
639* Kumbia Kings - "U Don't Love Me".
640* Creator/LauraBellBundy- "Giddy On Up (Giddy On Out)" (Wife caught husband sneaking out and kissing another woman).
641* The Like - "Wishing He Was Dead"
642* Music/MariahCarey - "Standing O", "It's A Wrap", and "Betcha Gon' Know" from ''Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel'' count. "Shake It Off" from ''Emancipation of Mimi'' counts too.
643* [[Theatre/TellMeOnASunday Marti Webb]] - "Take That Look Off Your Face"
644* Music/MaydayParade's ''When I Get Home, You're So Dead''.
645* Music/{{Ministry}} - "I Wanted to Tell Her".
646* MarkMorrison - "Return Of The Mack".
647* Music/TheOffspring - "Spare Me The Details".
648* OneHitWonder Sarah Connor's "Bounce" is a particularly vicious example of this.
649* Music/PanicAtTheDisco - "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off"
650* Paul Revere and the Raiders - "Steppin' Out".
651* Music/PetShopBoys - "So Hard" (''both'' partners are cheating on each other) and "Domino Dancing".
652* Music/{{Rihanna}} - "Unfaithful"; in this case, the singer is the one caught cheating.
653* Sanford and Townsend - "Smoke From A Distant Fire".
654* Santana - "Evil Ways".
655* Music/SelenaGomez, "I Won't Apologize".
656* Sergio Mendes - "Alibis"
657* Music/{{Showbread}}'s "Check Yes If You Like Me (If You Don't I'll Die)".
658* Music/{{Sia}} - "Confetti"
659* Music/SimplePlan - "Your Love is Just A Lie," "You Suck at Love".
660* Skye Sweetnam - "Fallen Through".
661* Music/TakingBackSunday - "Cute Without The E (Cut From The Team)".
662* Music/TaylorSwift - "White Horse", "Should've Said No".
663* Theory of a Deadman - "Little Smirk".
664* Music/VanessaAmorosi - "Sleep With That".
665* Music/TheVeronicas - "Revenge Is Sweeter", "Everything I'm Not".
666* Music/TheWeeknd - "Secrets", which samples the chorus of "Talking In Your Sleep" by the Romantics and recontextualizes it so that the singer's partner isn't talking about how much she loves ''him'' as she sleeps, but rather confirming his suspicions that she's interested in other people.
667* Music/TheWho - "I Can See For Miles".
668[[/folder]]
669
670[[folder: You Cheated On Me So I'm Ruining Your Stuff]]
671* Blackhawk - "Goodbye Says It All" (the narrator comments on '''his partner''' having ruined '''his''' stuff).
672* Bowling For Soup - "Two Seater".
673* Blu Cantrell - "Hit'em up Style (Oops)" (more specifically, ruining his credit.)
674* Music/CarrieUnderwood - "Before He Cheats", where she vandalizes her ex's car (except she has no real evidence of him cheating, she just thinks he is).
675* Music/{{Garbage}} - "Vow" (actually, not so much the lover's stuff as the lover himself... it's {{yandere}} overdrive).
676* Theatre/{{Hamilton}} - "Burn," about Eliza's real-life destruction of her and Alexander's love letters in the wake of the Reynolds affair, with the specific intent of ruining any attempts he could make to redeem himself in the public eye.
677* Music/MirandaLambert - "Kerosene".
678* Jazmine Sullivan- "Bust Your Windows".
679* Music/NataliaKills - "Acid Annie".
680* Music/{{Pink}} - "Funhouse".
681* In the video for Music/{{Shakira}}'s "Don't Bother", she sends her boyfriend's Ford Mustang to the crusher.
682* She Daisy - "Little Goodbyes".
683* Theory of a Deadman - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHUdLyshWfI "Little Smirk"]]
684* Music/VanessaAmorosi- "I Thought We'd Stay Together.", "Sleep With That".
685* Music/TheVeronicas - "Revenge Is Sweeter".
686* Music/VictoriaJustice - "Begging on Your Knees". Also has elements of the warning others type.
687* Music/TiffanyYoung - "Teach You."
688* Music/ZZWard has a few breakup songs of different tones, but ''365 Days,'' one of her singles, is in this category. There's even a line about giving the guy's money to the poor.
689[[/folder]]
690
691[[folder: You're Leaving Me So I'm Killing You]]
692* Music/{{Eminem}}:
693** The third scenario in "Guilty Conscience" is about a construction worker, Grady, murdering his wife and the man she was cheating on him with.
694** "Kim", in which Slim/Marshall drives his wife out into the woods and slits her throat.
695** In "Space Bound", Slim/Marshall's girl, who he no longer wanted anyway, attempts to leave him (while not explicit in the lyrics, the music video suggests she's cheating), so he [[MurderSuicide snaps her neck and kills himself]].
696** "Love The Way You Lie" doesn't quite get to this stage, but ends with Slim/Marshall threatening his girl that if she ever leaves him, he'll tie her to the bed and set the house on fire. However, its SpiritualSuccessor "Tragic Endings" ends with Slim/Marshall getting burned to death by his girl in revenge for trying to leave him.
697** "Black Magic" is about Slim being under the thumb of, and eventually killing, his bad girlfriend.
698* Music/TheKillers - The infamous Murder Trilogy is, as the name implies, a three-song arc spinning a tale of this. "Leave the Bourbon On the Shelf" centers on the leaving, "Midnight Show" centers on the killing, and "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" is the ex-boyfriend's [[UnreliableNarrator misleading account of events given to the police afterwards.]]
699* Music/{{Space}} - 'Now She's Gone' (''spiking her food with cyanide'').
700[[/folder]]
701
702[[folder:Teetering on the Brink of a Breakup]]
703* Music/AceOfBase - "Don't Turn Around".
704* Music/AlyAndAJ - "Potential Breakup Song". It's a pretty GenreSavvy version, especially with lyrics like "This is the potential breakup song: our album needs just one".
705* Music/AmyGrant - "That's What Love Is For". A couple is plagued by petty fights and doubts but love continually gives them "strength to try once more."
706* Andy Williams - "Say It Isn't So".
707* Music/AvrilLavigne - "My Happy Ending".
708* Music/{{Beyonce}} - "Ring the Alarm".
709* Music/BillyTalent - "Afraid of Heights" is a desperate plea to be a team again with a partner who's grown emotionally distant.
710* Music/BlocParty: ''Intimacy'' is a goldmine of these. It was written after a bad breakup of the lead singer, Kele Okereke. We've got: "Trojan Horse", "One Month Off", "Your Visits Getting Shorter", "Zephyrus" and "One More Chance".
711** Arguably" Letter to My Son" and "We Were Lovers" as well.
712* Music/BrooksAndDunn - "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone"
713* Music/CardboardCutouts - "Fifteen" revolves around a man who fell in love when he was fifteen, and has remained in the relationship since. However, since then, his girlfriend has become overly jealous and attached. He feels that the relationship is "killing him" and he refuses to come home because he doesn't want to deal with her. The hostile tone of the song and the line that he "needs some time to think this through" implies he might break up with her when he gets back.
714* Music/TheCardigans, "My Favourite Game".
715* Music/{{Cascada}} - "Can't Stop The Rain".
716* Music/CelineDion - "Think Twice"
717* Chairmen of the Board - "Give Me Just a Little More Time".
718* Sort of inverted in ''Heaven Help my Heart'' in Theatre/{{Chess}}. The singer enters a relationship knowing that it will end with the guy leaving her despite all that's she's done and how much he loves her.
719* Chris Clark - "The Beginning of the End".
720* Music/TheClash - "Should I Stay or Should I Go".
721* Music/TheCranberries - "Linger" is about a woman who knows her lover is unfaithful, but she's too deeply in love with him to actually go through with the breakup herself. She's left wishing that he'd terminate the relationship for her so she can move on.
722* Music/CutCopy - "Going Nowhere"
723* Dan Hill (with Vonda Shepard) - "Can't We Try".
724* Dannii Minogue - "Be Careful" and "Who Do You Love Now".
725* Creator/DavidSoul - "Don't Give Up on Us"
726* Music/ADayToRemember - "If It Means A Lot To You".
727* Dean Geyer - "If You Don't Mean It".
728* Debbie Gibson - "Goodbye," "How Can This Be?".
729* Music/TheDillards: "Reason to Believe". The lyrics indicate the singer knows he should leave behind his old girlfriend, who is AllTakeAndNoGive and who lied to him, not caring about his feelings. However, he knows that if he gives her a chance to talk him out of the breakup, he'll forget it all.
730* DYCE - "Pictures Left In the Dark".
731* Eden's Crush - "Let Me Know"
732* [[Music/ElectricLightOrchestra ELO]] - "The Fall", from ''Film/{{Xanadu|1980}}''.
733* Music/{{Elysion}}: "Made of Lies" is a song about a relationship bordering on breakup due to trust issues.
734* Emilio Navaira - "Lo Dice Tu Mirada".
735* Music/EscapeTheFate - "Something".
736* Music/GordonLightfoot - "If You Could Read My Mind".
737* Music/AGreatBigWorld - "Say Something", in which the speaker begs his lover to say something, anything, that will impel him to continue the relationship.
738* Music/GunsNRoses - "November Rain " and "Estranged"
739* Music/HavalinaRailCo: For the ConceptAlbum ''Space, Love, & Bullfighting'', the Love theme is entirely about a relationship on the brink.
740* Helen Reddy's "I Can't Say Goodbye To You" concerns the feelings experienced when you still love someone who suddenly breaks up with you, even if you do ackowledge its happening.
741* Music/HumanNature - "Last to Know" ("I don't know why I keep hanging on./Even love's got the message, and it's already gone./Tell me why/am I always the last to know?").
742* The Herd - "I Don't Want Our Loving to Die".
743* Music/{{Hurt}} - "Assurance," "Et Al"
744* Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews - "If This Is It"
745** "Girl, don't lie and tell me that you need me...girl, don't cry and tell me nothing's wrong...I'll be all right, one way or another...so let me go or make me want to stay..."
746* Music/ImagineDragons - "Hear Me," "Every Night"
747* Music/InformationSociety - "What's On Your Mind".
748* Interface - "Doubts and Fears", "Inside".
749* Jennifer y Los Jetz - "Si Tú Te Vas"
750* Jazmine Sullivan - "My Foolish Heart".
751* Music/JohnFrusciante wrote "Song to Sing When I'm Lonely" during his relationship with Creator/MillaJovovich. She had put so much faith in him, almost to the point of naivety, and the song mostly talks about how she lost interest in him when she began to see him as a human being.
752* John Mayer - "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room".
753* The Jones Girls - "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else".
754* Music/JoyDivision - "Love Will Tear Us Apart", which is about Ian Curtis's failing marriage.
755* K's Choice - "My Heart" is sung from the perspective of one half of a marriage that all of the joy has deteriorated from, with the only thing that both people have in common anymore is their love for their new baby. And based on the singer's pleas for their spouse to break anything but their heart, that's not proving to be enough to hold them together.
756* Music/{{Kerli}} - "Love Me Or Leave Me" is Kerli asking her partner to either make their relationship great again, or just end the pain and let her go.
757* Music/MariahCarey - "I Don't Wanna Cry," "If It's Over", "Forever" could be interpreted like this but the more common interpretation is listed above.
758* Music/{{Marillion}} - "Jigsaw".
759* Music/Maroon5 - "Nothing Lasts Forever" and "Better That We Break" are both about looking at dying relationships and accepting that, even if it's painful to consider, the only healthy option one and one's partner might have is to end things.
760* Music/KateNash - "Foundations".
761* Music/KellyClarkson - "Behind These Hazel Eyes"
762* Creator/KrisKristofferson - "For The Good Times" (performed by Bill Nash, Ray Price, Perry Como, and others) concerns the narrator aiming to make an inevitable breakup go as nicely and smoothly as possible with one more night.
763* Music/KylieMinogue - "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi", "Tell Tale Signs", and "Trippin' Me Up"
764* Music/LadyGaga - "Million Reasons" is about being frozen on the brink of ending a relationship you know you have every reason to leave, begging your partner to give you just "one good one to stay".
765* Music/LaurynHill - "Ex-Factor", which is supposedly about her tumultuous relationship with former Music/TheFugees bandmate Wyclef Jean.
766* Music/LuisFonsi - "Te Vas".
767* Melissa Manchester - "If This Is Love"
768* M:G - "Sweet Honesty"
769* Music/NeilDiamond - "You Don't Bring Me Flowers".
770* Music/NewEdition - "Is This the End?"
771* NINA - "The Wire".
772* [[Music/{{NSYNC}} *NSYNC]] - "Tearin' Up My Heart"
773* Music/OKGo - "The Writing's On the Wall"
774* Olivia Newton-John:
775** "Hopelessly Devoted To You".
776*** Reprised in ''Series/PushingDaisies'' by Olive Snook, who knows it isn't presently working out but harbors hopes for the future.
777** Suspended in Time", from ''Film/{{Xanadu|1980}}''.
778* Orianthi - "According to You"
779* Music/Patsy Cline - "Leavin' On Your Mind"
780* Music/PaulSimon's ''50 Ways To Leave Your Lover'' and ''Overs''. Paul describes the latter as being 'about that point in a relationship where you both know it's going nowhere'.
781* Music/PearlJam - "Parting Ways" ( "...She knows their future's burning, but she can smile just the same...").
782* Music/PetShopBoys - "One More Chance", "Left To My Own Devices".
783* Music/{{Pink}} - "Just Give Me a Reason" is about a relationship falling apart, yet neither participant wants to break up.
784* Music/PoetsOfTheFall - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3rYhyIk8jM&list=PLjACqN5i5sDV1jkUkrNCzytFOlYdQN8rM The Ultimate Fling]]," a hypercombative song that dares the listener to "GiveMeAReason" for the breakup while dropping references to dialogue from Film/DirtyHarry.
785* Prefab Sprout - "When Love Breaks Down".
786* Music/PussycatDolls - "I Hate This Part".
787* The Righteous Brothers - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (cover versions by lots of people).
788* Music/RobThomas - "This Is How A Heart Breaks".
789* Ross Hannaman - "Probably On Thursday".
790* Sally Shapiro - "What Can I Do?"
791* Music/SarahBrightman - "Tell Me On a Sunday," from the Creator/AndrewLloydWebber musical of the same name. Knowing that their relationship is doomed, the singer details how she wants her lover to finally end things.
792** "Let me down easy/ No big song and dance/ No long faces, no long looks/ No deep conversation..."
793* Selena - "No Debes Jugar".
794* Music/{{Sentenced}} - "Killing Me, Killing You".
795* Music/{{Space}} - "Disco Dolly".
796* [[Music/FleetwoodMac Stevie Nicks]] and Music/TomPettyAndTheHeartbreakers - "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around".
797* Music/FrancoDeVita - "Si la ves" (If You See Her). Franco is singing to a friend; he is telling them that, should they see by any chance Franco's ex-girlfriend, they should tell her on his behalf that he overcame his sadness over their breakup, that he has since found a new significant other, and that he has moved on from thinking of her. At the end of the chorus, Franco changes his mind and tells his friend instead that, should they see his ex-girlfriend, they should just make her believe that they haven't even seen Franco himself in a long while (likely to prevent the girl from trying to reignite an OldFlame or sabotage Franco's new relationship).
798* Music/SufjanStevens - "All of Me Wants All of You".
799* The Kinleys - "Please". A couple is "drifting further from each other", and the singer resolves to "do anything if it'll bring our hearts together."
800* Music/TheSupremes - "Going Down for the Third Time".
801* Music/TaylorSwift: "Forever And Always".
802* Music/TheTemptations - "Don't Send Me Away" and "(I Know) I'm Losing You".
803* Terence Trent D'Arby - "If You Let Me Stay".
804* Music/ThompsonTwins - "Hold Me Now", which details how the protagonist and his girlfriend's love life has become "tattered and torn" in spite of his affections, and in the chorus, he begs her to "stay with me" and "let loving start". During one verse, he mentions he considered leaving her to "go far away", but then changed his mind becaue "there's nowhere that I'd rather be than with you here today".
805* Music/TheVeronicas - "All I Have", "Don't Say Goodbye", and "In Another Life".
806* Music/ViennaTeng - "Between".
807* Music/TheWhiteStripes - "I'm Finding it Harder to be a Gentleman" is told from the perspective of a guy who can't quite put in the effort the maintain the relationship, but hasn't gotten around to breaking up, and the relationship is slowly falling apart.
808* Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Maps".
809* Zee Avi - "Concrete Walls".
810[[/folder]]
811
812[[folder:Don't Want You Back]]
813* Music/The1975 - "The Sound", in which the narrator freely lists off both his own and his ex's toxic tendencies (including slipping in that he's still her booty call after they agreed to end their involvement for his sanity's sake) and assures her that "I don't regret it, but I'm glad that we're through".
814* Music/{{Aborted}} - "Your Entitlement Means Nothing" (Sven's not saying anything, but it most likely is about his ex-wife, and it is definitely a "I don't regret leaving you one bit, stay the fuck out of my life and eat a bag of dicks while you're at it" kind of song).
815* Music/AceOfBase - "The Sign".
816* Music/{{Adele}} - "I Found A Boy." (She's happily dating someone else.)
817* Music/TheAllAmericanRejects song "Gives You Hell" is a hard-hitting "screw you" to the singer's ex. The entire song is one long gloat about how he's living the rock star life now, and where the hell is she? It includes a clever interlude line where the singer says, "The truth be told, I miss you/And the truth be told, I'm '''''lying!'''''", and he goes right back to describing what a bitch she was and how glad he is that she's out of his life.
818* Angelina - "I Don't Need Your Love" and "Love Ain't Here No More"
819* Ariya - "Go Away And Never Come Back" ("Уходи и не возвращайся")
820* Music/BackstreetBoys - "Don't Want You Back"
821* Avant - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9241X9sm0qo "Separated"]].
822* Music/{{beabadoobee}}: "Dye It Red" is an anthem about being more confident and happy without your shitty ex.
823* Music/{{The Beatles}} - "Not A Second Time".
824* Music/BenFolds - "Smoke", a particularly melancholy example even for the genre comparing unloading your emotional baggage to burning a book, before taking a particular bitter turn towards the end.
825* Music/{{Beyonce}} - "Irreplaceable".
826* Music/BigSean - "I Don't Fuck With You".
827* Music/{{Blink182}} - "Dammit".
828* Music/BowlingForSoup's "Life After Lisa" is an odd example. The singer clearly misses the girl, and is saddened by the end of the relationship, but to his surprise is doing okay without her; the song focusses on that last part.
829* Music/BraveSaintSaturn: "Enamel".
830* Music/BritneySpears - "What U See (Is What U Get)" "Lonely" "Rock Star".
831* Music/{{Cascada}} - "Bad Boy"
832* Music/CharliXCX - "You (Ha Ha Ha)", “Breaking Up”
833* Music/SamanthaFish - "Go to Hell" is about a boyfriend who thinks too much of himself; not only does she not want him back, she has a suggestion for what he can do instead.
834* Chris Isaak - "Wicked Game"
835* Christina Perri - "Jar of Hearts".
836* Cynthia - "I Never Said"
837* Dannii Minogue - "Get Into You", "Someone New", and "Goodbye Song".
838* Eamon - "F*** It (I Don't Want You Back)".
839** And the follow-up song, from the woman's perspective, Frankee's "Fuck You Right Back".
840* Eden Kaine - "Well I Ask You".
841* Electronic - "Reality".
842* Music/{{Epica}} - "Never Enough".
843* Music/{{Evanescence}} - "Call Me When You're Sober", "Sweet Sacrifice" "Going Under" "Lacrymosa", "The Change", "Oceans" and "Made Of Stone".
844* Music/EverythingButTheGirl - "Temperamental"
845* Music/FleetwoodMac - "Go Your Own Way"
846* Music/GammaRay - "Leaving Hell".
847* Music/GeorgeMichael - "Faith".
848* Gloria Gaynor - "I Will Survive".
849* The Grass Roots - "Where Were You When I Needed You?" (later covered by the Bangles).
850* Music/GunsNRoses - "Dead Horse" (there are shades of the next folder - "I'd like to think that our love's worth a tad more" - but mostly fits here).
851* The Guess Who - "No Time" (the relationship is even compared to a slaughterhouse at one point).
852* "Take Back Your Mink" from ''Theatre/GuysAndDolls'.
853* Music/{{Halsey}} - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nBFqZppIF0 "You Should Be Sad"]] pulls absolutely no punches.
854* Hedley - "On My Own", although the lyrics could also be interpreted as a teenager running away from an abusive home, as well as someone leaving their boyfriend or girlfriend.
855* In-grid - "Tu es foutu (You Promised Me)"
856* Interface - "City Limits", "Mind Killer".
857* Jim's Big Ego's ''I'm Lucky'', the chorus of which is the line "I'm lucky you left me" repeated about six dozen times, and which includes the line, "Now here's the part of the song where you'd expect to find a little ''irony''/About how I'd really much rather have you back... Well '''''SORRY!'''''"
858* Music/JoanJett - "Jezebel" (From the ''Bad Reputation'' album).
859* Music/JoDeeMessina - "Bye Bye".
860** Also applies to "My Give-a-Damn's Busted," charted in Canada by Michelle Wright and from the male perspective by Joe Diffie.
861* Music/KatyPerry - "Part of Me".
862* Keiko Kimura -"電話しないで(Don't Call Me)"
863* Music/KellyClarkson - "Never Again" (the bitter variety).
864* Music/{{Kimbra}}'s part in "Somebody That I Used To Know" gives her ex TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
865* Krypteria - "You & I", "Too Late, Game Over And Goodbye".
866* Music/KylieMinogue - "I'm Over Dreaming Over You", "What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before)", "Through The Years", "Dancefloor", "Baby", "Promises", "Obsession", and "Someday".
867* Music/LinkinPark - "Don't Stay".
868* Music/LOHess has several - "Take You Back Again", "Crocodile Tears", and "Price Of Love"
869* Music/{{Lovejoy}} - "Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry" is sung from the perspective of the girlfriend's friend/new lover, who openly mocks her toxic, violent ex.
870-->''Well, now, now, you need to calm down\
871What good's this energy? (It's no good!)\
872When you devote it to me\
873Why not be a little more friendly?\
874Now, now, you need to calm down\
875Does she still think of me?\
876Say my name in her sleep?\
877I thought you knew her better than me''
878* Music/MariahCarey - "Someday", also, her, "You cheated on me so get out" songs count. H.A.T.E.U. is an odd mix between this and, "I really do still want you back". She goes back and forth between longing to be with them, and stating she can't wait to hate them. Up Out My Face is another example.
879* Music/MaroonFive - "Makes Me Wonder".
880* Music/MaryJBlige - "Not Gon' Cry".
881* Me & My - "Dub-i-dub".
882* Melys - "I Don't Believe In You".
883* M:G - "If You Think"
884* Los Mismos - "No Quiero Volverte a Ver".
885* Music/MutyaKeishaSiobhan - "Boys"
886* Music/MyChemicalRomance - "I Don't Love You".
887* Eurobeat Brony - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzj85SfvrI "Fly"]], a [[FilkSong filk]] based on the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipisMagicS1E5GriffonTheBrushOff "Griffon the Brush-Off"]].
888* NINA - "Gave Up on Us".
889* Music/{{Noah|Indonesia}}:
890** "Lihat Langkahku" has the singer telling his ex hat he is so over their relationship and doesn't want to see her again.
891** In "Seperti Kemarin", the singer boasts about how fine he feels without his ex and rejects an attempt from her to get together again.
892* [[Music/{{NSYNC}} *NSYNC]] - "Bye Bye Bye", “The Game Is Over”
893* OMD - "So in Love".
894* Music/OrvillePeck - "Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)."
895* Music/PattyLoveless - "Blame It On Your Heart".
896* Music/{{Pink}} - "There You Go"
897* Music/PinkMartini sings "And Then You're Gone," a counterpoint to "But Now I'm Back."
898* Music/{{Poison}} - "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" starts out in sad and melancholy mode, with the singer regretful about hurting his significant other and wishing that he could have known what to say in order to save the relationship -- and then the final verse turns bitter as hell with the revelation that she's found somebody new, and "that I never meant that much to you."
899* Few would see the [[FoeRomanceSubtext characters']] [[RoboShip relationship]] as romantic, but ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'''s "Want You Gone" is a perfect example of this kind of song.
900* Music/RayCharles and The Raelettes: "Hit the Road, Jack".
901* Music/{{Restart}} - "Bye Bye" (Noticing a pattern there?).
902* Rob Swift - "I'm Leaving" is of the "I Have to Leave" / "Don't Want You Back" variety.
903* Rockell - "I Fell in Love" and "What You Did to Me".
904* [[Series/HeeHaw Roy Clark]] - "Thank God and Greyhound" which starts out wistful then [[MoodWhiplash switches mid-chord]] to something far more cheerful.
905* Sally Shapiro - "I Dream With an Angel Tonight"
906* Music/SarahBrightman - "Not Having That!"
907* Music/SayAnything - "That Is Why", which is frontman Max Bemis exorcising his demons about his abusive ex by mockingly comparing her to his new beau.
908* Selena - "Si Una Vez," "Ya No".
909* Music/SelenaGomez - "Bang Bang Bang", "Sick of You".
910* Scandal - "Goodbye To You".
911* Music/{{Shakira}} - "Don't Bother".
912* Music/{{Space}} - "Influenza".
913* Music/TaylorSwift: "Picture to Burn", "Should've Said No", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".
914* Texas - "Strings of Life (Stronger On My Own)".
915* "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" sung originally by Teresa Brewer, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m7bB-WtKow&feature=BFa&list=LL99E3ZhTOBPmYyc6aX5zA0A covered brilliantly by Aussie Pop Singer Tracey Dey]] and by the duo She & Him.
916* The Rain Within - "Eclipse"
917* Music/ThreeDaysGrace:
918** "Gone Forever" (arguably, more denial). While it ''is'' a breakup song, it's not actually about a woman: WordOfGod says that it's about the lead singers addiction to a painkiller.
919** From the same album is "Over And Over", which is about the same subject despite the generic break-up lyrics.
920* T'Pau - "Thank You For Goodbye".
921* Music/{{Weezer}} - "Go Away" featuring [[Music/BestCoast Bethany Cosentino]]. Cuomo's verses teeters on "I want you back."
922* Music/TravisTritt - "Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares".
923* The Walker Brothers - "No Regrets".
924* Music/WhitneyHouston - "It's Not Right (But It's Okay)"
925* Worm Quartet - "Great Idea for a Song", which has the singer tear into his ex and make it perfectly clear that he despises her with a passion for what she's done to him, in addition to lamenting that he'd come up with a decent song if only his ex's name rhymed with any of the insults he could think of.
926-->''Now, please don't think I want to be your friend now''\
927''I'd rather see John Goodman in a thong''\
928''If only your name rhymed with back-stabbing, heartless tramp''\
929''I'd have a great idea for a song''
930* Music/DwightYoakam - "Ain't That Lonely Yet"
931* Yvette Michele - "I'm Not Feeling You"
932[[/folder]]
933
934[[folder:Claims To Be Over It But Is in Denial]]
935* 10cc - "I'm not in love"
936* Music/AirSupply - "Here I Am".
937* Music/{{Ambrosia}} - "How Much I Feel".
938* Music/ArcticMonkeys - "Snap Out of It" from ''Music/{{AM}}''.
939* Aswad - "Don't Turn Around".
940* Music/AvrilLavigne - "Let Me Go", a duet with her then husband [[Music/{{Nickelback}} Chad Kroeger]].
941* Music/{{Ayria}} - Three Months
942* Music/MichaelBuble - "It's a Beautiful Day", or, "You broke up with me, but joke's on you! I'm glad we're over, I'm definitely not thinking about you anymore, I doubt you can make it on your own, and I wouldn't get back together with you if you asked, hypothetically."
943* Music/BarryManilow - "Even Now".
944* Music/TheCab - "These Are The Lies".
945* Music/LukeCombs - "She Got the Best of Me". He's trying to focus on his music but keeps subtly thinking of her.
946* Music/TheCorrs - "I Never Loved You Anyway".
947* DHT - "I Miss You".
948* Music/{{Eminem}}:
949** "Superman" is about Slim banging groupies he [[MisogynySong despises]], but his boast that he's doing so much better "ever since I broke up with whats-her-face" is totally unconvincing, showing the song as the pathetic OnTheRebound behaviour it is.
950** In "Puke", Slim's so pathetically angry at his "fucking cokehead slut" ex that he derails uncontrollably into BigStupidDoodooHead.
951--->[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial It's not]] that I still love you, and that I still want you back!\
952It's just that when I think of you, it makes me wanna yack! Ya-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ack!
953* Eva Cassidy's [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning cover]] of Buddy Holly's ''It Doesn't Matter Anymore'' comes off as this.
954* Music/{{Five}}'s "Invincible" is about a boy who managed to get through it all following a breakup with his girlfriend. The boy also hoped that he and the girl will remain "just good friends" forever, as "It doesn't work when we're together."
955* Music/GavinDeGraw - "Not Over You"
956* Music/GoodKid: Parodied in "Tell Me You Know": it's made abundantly clear that the guy is ''not'' over the breakup. Although he claims that he'll be fine, it turns out that he's too afraid to actually talk to her. The lengths he goes to avoid his ex include legally changing his name, moving towns, and deleting his entire Internet presence. When they actually do reconnect after a few years, she stops talking once she sees that she's "a bit better off" without him now.
957-->''I'm moving to LA\
958I'm writing a screenplay\
959[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial But it's not about you or what we were]]\
960It's about a new girl, you've never met her\
961She's just got your name\
962And she looks exactly the same''
963* Music/{{Gotye}}'s parts in "Somebody That I Used To Know" implies that the man is still hoping deep down that he'll be able to reconnect with his estranged lover.
964* Go West - "The King of Wishful Thinking"
965-->''"I'll get over you, I know I will\
966I'll pretend my ship's not sinking\
967And I'll tell myself I'm over you\
968'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking."''
969* Interface - "North Star"
970* John Waite - "Missing You"
971* Music/TheKillers - "Smile Like You Mean It" is an unusually positive example of this, about the process of moving on after a breakup - namely in that said process, as the song's title might indicate, can be a matter of "fake it 'til you make it".
972* Music/{{Knox}}: In "I Don't Wanna Know", the protagonist is still in contact with his ex. However, he admits to still trying to forget about about the happy times they had together, and passive-aggressively insults her new boyfriend. He says it's "fine" that they still talk, but he doesn't want to know about ''anything'' she does with her new boyfriend because it reminds him that he lost her.
973* Music/{{Ludo}} - "Good Will Hunting By Myself" is a comedic example, in which the narrator passive-aggressively assures the listener that he's taking a recent breakup well, only to grow increasingly openly frustrated with his ex's treatment of him during the bridge until he ''explodes'' into a ranting TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that comes off much more as vindictive than as genuinely glad to be rid of her.
974* Macy Gray - "I Try".
975* Marti Webb - "Your Ears Should Be Burning Now".
976* Music/MatchboxTwenty - "Disease". It's about hating your ex so much yet you admit that you can't live without them.
977* Music/MitchBenn's "Not Bitter" is a ''glorious'' example of denial, with every line of the chorus starting off as a derogatory term for a woman, before a LastSecondWordSwap turns it into a line about how okay he is about everything. "You bitch, you bitch, you betcha life I'll be okay" ... before finishing off with "Oh, 'cos I'm not bitter. You stupid, evil, selfish slag".
978* Music/EddieNoack's "Sleeping Like A Baby (With A Bottle In My Mouth)": the singer claims that he's doing just fine after his lover broke up with him, sleeping, as the title says, like a baby with a bottle in his mouth... but the chorus makes it clear [[DrowningMySorrows just what kind of bottle it is]] he has in his mouth.
979--> My formula is stronger than most babies take\
980But I find if I don't have it, at night I lay awake
981* Music/{{Noah|Indonesia}} - "Diatas Normal" has the singer insisting that rationally, he should be over a break-up, but he can't to his own frustration.
982* Paul Davis - "I Go Crazy", also covered by DHT, mentioned above.
983* Music/TheProclaimers - "What Makes You Cry?": the guy questions why his ex-wife doesn't seem so broken up by their divorce and suspects it's this.
984* Shiloh - "Remember" is about someone who clearly misses their ex but also regrets being with them. They're having trouble getting over them.
985* Music/TheStatlerBrothers' "Flowers on the Wall" is a [[LyricalDissonance bright, cheerful song]] about how the singer isn't at all hurt by the breakup and is really enjoying a catalogue of lonely, mundane, depressing activities (like "playing TabletopGame/{{Solitaire}} til dawn, with a deck of 51").
986* Stevie B - "Dream About You"
987-->''When I dream about you, that's when everything's alright\
988You're in my arms, here next to me, fore-e-ever\
989When I dream about you, girl you never go away\
990Just close my eyes, and wait for my dreams\
991'Cause I still love loving you.''
992* Music/GeorgeStrait - "Oceanfront Property".
993-->''I don't worship the ground you walk on''\
994''I never have, and that's a fact''\
995''I won't follow or try to find you''\
996'''Cause I don't love you--now [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/I_have_a_bridge_to_sell_you if you'll buy that]]...''
997* Music/{{Sunscreem}} - "Looking At You".
998* [[Music/MarcBolan T-Rex]] - "Life's a Gas".
999* Veronica - "Let Me Go...Release Me".
1000* Music/VerticalHorizon - "Best I Ever Had".
1001* Music/TheWalkmen - "The Rat".
1002* Music/WeirdAlYankovic - "One More Minute".
1003* Music/TheWhiteStripes - "The Same Boy You've Always Known": the narrator reunites with an ex after a breakup, and is still bitter about how things ended.
1004[[/folder]]
1005
1006[[folder: I Have to Leave/It's Me Not You]]
1007* 98 Degrees - "The Hardest Thing".
1008* Music/AirSupply - "Goodbye"
1009* Music/AvengedSevenfold - "Unholy Confessions".
1010* Music/TheBeatles - "I'll Follow the Sun".
1011* Music/TheBlasters - "So Long Baby Goodbye".
1012* Music/SarahBrightman - "Free".
1013* Music/KellyClarkson - "Already Gone".
1014* Music/BiffyClyro - "Opposite". [[WordSaladLyrics Well, it's most likely this, anyway]].
1015* Music/TheCorrs - "Don't Say You Loved Me". It's basically, "If you don't really mean what you say, then go away/let's not do this".
1016* The short story ''Literature/DeathOfAPopIdol'' has one, although it only goes into this category in retrospect, not because of the lyrics (Which fall under 'GriefSong').
1017* Music/CelineDion - "I Love You, Goodbye".
1018* Color Theory - "In Motion".
1019* "It Was A Shitshow" from ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'', which is Greg singing to Rebecca about how he genuinely loves her, but by god that relationship was bad for the both of them.
1020-->''"We're Series/JerrySpringer, not Film/{{Casablanca}}."''
1021* Music/DefLeppard: - “Fractured Love” from Retro Active their album of B-sides, covers and songs discarded from previous albums.
1022* Music/DuranDuran - "Someone Else, Not Me".
1023* DYCE - "Oceans Apart".
1024* E-Type - "Here I Go Again".
1025* Engelbert Humperdinck - "Please Release Me".
1026* Expose - "I'll Say Goodbye for the Two of Us".
1027* Fergie - "Big Girls Don't Cry".
1028* Fort Atlantic - "Let Your Heart Hold Fast".
1029* Gloria Gaynor - "Last Night".
1030* Albert Hammond (covered by Rockell) - "When I'm Gone".
1031* Missy Higgins - "Where I Stood".
1032* Music/TheHumanLeague - "Don't You Want Me?" (Susanne Sulley's verse)
1033* Music/ImagineDragons - "Demons".
1034* Interface - "Pavilion".
1035* Ashley Jade - "Last Goodbye".
1036* Gerard Joling - "Ticket to The Tropics", "Spanish Heart".
1037* Donell Jones - "Where I Wanna Be".
1038* Music/{{Kamelot}} - "Lost and Damned".
1039* Music/{{Kesha}} - "Last Goodbye".
1040* Music/LynyrdSkynyrd - "Free Bird".
1041* Music/{{Marillion}} - "Sugar Mice".
1042* Nation of Language - "Sole Obsession"
1043* The Osmonds - "Love Me For A Reason".
1044* Music/PapaRoach - "Scars".
1045* Music/DollyParton - "I Will Always Love You" (famously covered by Music/WhitneyHouston); also listed in the "In Denial" folder.
1046* Peach (Union) - "On My Own".
1047* {{Music/Radiohead}} - "Motion Picture Soundtrack".
1048* Music/RonnieMilsap - "I Wouldn't Have Missed it For the World."
1049* Sally Shapiro - "Down This Road"
1050* Music/SimonAndGarfunkel - "Wednesday Morning 3 A.M".
1051* Music/ThreeDoorsDown - "Let Me Go".
1052* Vandal Moon - "The Way You Cry"
1053* Music/VerticalHorizon - "You're A God".
1054* Victoria Celestine - "Can You Hear The Echo?".
1055* Music/TheWeeknd - "Sacrifice", in which the narrator swears he tried to stick out a recent relationship and is willing to be there for his ex as a friend, but felt it was inevitable that he return to his comfort zone as an unattached free spirit in the end.
1056* Music/TheWhiteStripes:
1057** "I'm Bound to Pack It Up" is told from the perspective of someone walking away from a relationship
1058** In "A Martyr For My Love For You" is about the narrator breaking up with his girlfriend because he fears he'll screw something up, or perhaps because she's much younger than him.
1059* "For Good" from ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''.
1060* Music/{{Yazoo}} - "Bad Connection".
1061[[/folder]]
1062
1063[[folder:Over You]]
1064* Music/{{Adele}} - "Someone Like You".
1065* Creator/AnnaAkana - "Pretty Girls Don't Cry"
1066* Music/LilyAllen - "I Could Say", “Smile”
1067* Music/AllTimeLow - [[AntiChristmasSong "Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass"]]
1068* Music/VanessaAmorosi - "Blow Me Away", "Sleep With That".
1069* Anthonio - "Annie".
1070* Music/{{Apocalyptica}} - "I Don't Care".
1071* Arab Strap - "Piglet".
1072* Music/{{Beyonce}} - "Irreplaceable".
1073* Boys Like Girls - "Love Drunk".
1074* Music/MichelleBranch - “Goodbye to You”.
1075* The Break Up - "Who's Crying Now".
1076* Carolina Liar's "I'm Not Over" is an interesting example; while the singer isn't over his ex yet, the implication is that he just hasn't had quite enough time, and will be alright eventually.
1077* Music/{{Cascada}} - "Another You".
1078* Victoria Celestine - "It's OK".
1079* Music/CharliXCX - “So Over You”
1080* Music/{{Cher}} - "Believe", "Strong Enough".
1081* Music/KennyChesney - "Save It for a Rainy Day"
1082* Music/KellyClarkson - "Since U Been Gone" (Also covered by A Day To Remember), "Stronger"
1083* Music/{{Clutch}} - "Electric Worry" (Not too straight of an example as it's implied he's trying to get her out of his head with sufficient success.)
1084* Music/LukeCombs - "When It Rains It Pours". She's gone, but he doesn't care because he just won a bunch of stuff and doesn't have to deal with his "ex-future-mother-in-law" anymore.
1085* Music/MirandaCosgrove: "Brand New You", "There Will Be Tears" and "Oh Oh"
1086* Music/MotherMother - "Ghosting" is about finally, truly letting a past flame go on an emotional level and accepting the thought that they no longer need you in their life after having been unable to bring oneself to cut ties.
1087* Music/SherylCrow - "Now That You're Gone"
1088* Music/TheCruxshadows - "All The White Horses"
1089* Culture Beat - "Pay No Mind"
1090* The Cyrkle - "Red Rubber Ball"
1091* Chris Daughtry - "Over You".
1092* Music/DeadOrAlive - "Brand New Lover"
1093* Music/DestinysChild - "Survivor"
1094* Music/{{Eminem}} - "Stronger Than I Was" - a song often believed by fans to have been written from the perspective of his wife, Kim, who he infamously murdered on several of his older songs.
1095* Music/{{Garbage}} - "Special"
1096* Crystal Gayle - "I'll Get Over You"
1097* Music/ArianaGrande - "thank u, next," though it lacks the anger usually associated with this sort of song. It's less "I'm glad you're gone, I'm so over it" and more, "it's for the best that we broke up, but I learned a lot, so [[SincerityMode thank you]] for our time together."
1098* Music/MickeyGuyton - "Better Than You Left Me"
1099* Music/HermansHermits-"I Can Take or Leave Your Loving"
1100* Music/TheHumanLeague - "Life on Your Own"
1101* Music/InformationSociety - "Walking Away"
1102* Interface - "Frantic", "Wasted Time".
1103* Jennifer y Los Jetz - "No Te Voy a Perdonar"
1104* Music/EltonJohn - "I'm Still Standing", "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"
1105* Kristine W. - "Land of the Living"
1106* Kumbia Kings - "Desde Que No Estás Aquí"
1107* Music/GordonLightfoot - "Carefree Highway"
1108* Music/{{Little Mix}} - "Shout Out To My Ex"
1109* Music/{{Lizzo}} - "Jerome"
1110* Kimberley Locke - "Coulda Been"
1111* Julie London - "Cry Me a River"
1112-->''Now you say you're lonely\
1113You cry the whole night thorough\
1114Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river\
1115I cried a river over you.''
1116* Music/PattyLoveless - "You Can Feel Bad"
1117* Music/{{Madonna}} - "The Power of Goodbye" (also fits with "I have to leave")
1118* Creator/KatharineMcPhee - "Over it"
1119* Dannii Minogue - "Someone New" and "Goodbye Song"
1120* Music/KylieMinogue - "I'm Over Dreaming Over You", "The World Still Turns", "What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before)", "Dancefloor", "Baby", "Promises", "Someday"
1121* Music/LorrieMorgan - "I Didn't Know My Own Strength"
1122* Mark Morrison – "Return of the Mack"
1123* New York City - "I'm Doing Fine Now"
1124* The O'Jays - "I Dig Your Act"
1125* Music/OliviaRodrigo - "good 4 u" (though it's about the ex having moved on, and being sarcastically complimented for it)
1126* Music/{{Paramore}} - "Feeling Sorry"
1127* Peach Union - "Sorrowtown"
1128* Music/PetShopBoys - "I Get Along" ("...without you very well!")
1129* Music/{{Pink}} - "So What" (though it's also "It's over, so I'm gonna screw your - and probably other people's - life!")
1130* Music/PoetsOfTheFall - "Once Upon a Playground Rainy" is a reflection on romances from one's youth, looking with some melancholy but ultimate acceptance and appreciation on the way that all the people and emotions that were involved look in hindsight and have changed with time.
1131* Music/ThePrettyReckless - "Since You're Gone"
1132* Prince Royce & Maria Becerra - "Te Espero"(Maria B.'s part)
1133* Music/{{Pulp}} - "Bad Cover Version" and "Razzmatazz"
1134* The Rain Within - "Far Far Away", "Rain"
1135* Music/RelientK - "Over It". Rare case where the girl dumped the narrator.
1136* Music/{{Restart}} - "[[SignatureSong Recomeçar]]"
1137* Music/LeAnnRimes - "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)"
1138* Music/RogueTraders - I Never Liked You
1139* Roxi Drive - "Walking Out of Love"
1140* Röyksopp - "Beautiful Day Without You" (it stresses that the memory will last, but still)
1141* Sally Shapiro - "All My Life"
1142* Music/{{Space}} - 'One O'Clock'
1143* Music/BritneySpears - “Stronger”
1144* Squeeze - "Black Coffee in Bed"
1145* {{Music/Taeyeon}} - Subverted in "11:11", as she isn't quite over them yet but she believes she will be soon.
1146* Theory of a Deadman - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2j7SH9Bc5U So Happy]]
1147* Music/AaronTippin - "[[VerbThis Kiss This]]"
1148* Two-Door Cinema Club - "Changing of the Seasons"
1149* Music/TheVeronicas - "This is How It Feels".
1150* Music/WeAreTheInCrowd - "The Best Thing (That Never Happened)"
1151* Yeasayer - O.N.E.
1152* Music/FrankZappa has a few of these. The doo-wop styled "Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder" is a good example.
1153[[/folder]]
1154
1155[[folder:I Blew It, I Regret It, But It's Too Late to Apologize]]
1156* Music/ThreeDoorsDown - "Here Without You".
1157* Music/{{Adele}} - "Hello".
1158* Music/{{Aqua}} - "Turn Back Time", about regretting over a failed and unappreciated relationship.
1159* Music/ArminVanBuuren - "Another You" featuring Mr. Probz. The narrator realizes he's done something wrong by his significant other, but would rather start anew with someone similar to his ex.
1160* ATB feat. The Wild Strawberries - "Let You Go".
1161* Avett Brothers - "I and Love and You".
1162* Music/AvrilLavigne:
1163** "[=Sk8r Boi=]". However, this was sang from the point of view of the new girlfriend, who is saying, "[[UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo Sorry bitch, you couldn't appreciate him when he was the one chasing after you. Now he's mine, so deal with it and scram!]]"
1164** "Let Me Go", a duet with her then husband [[Music/{{Nickelback}} Chad Kroeger]].
1165* In Music/BowlingForSoup's song "A-Hole", the singer fully acknowledges that they were a dick and deserved to be dumped, and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy hopes their ex is happy with someone else now]].
1166* The Box Tops - "Cry Like a Baby".
1167* Music/BrunoMars - "When I Was Your Man". A lovely ballad about how he should have paid more attention to her, but [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy at least she's with someone]] who is doing for her now what the singer should have been doing for her all along.
1168* Music/{{Chicago|Band}} - "Hard to Say I'm Sorry". He still loves her. He did her wrong. She left, and there's nothing he can do to get her back and he knows it.
1169* Music/{{Coldplay}} - "The Scientist".
1170* Crystal Gayle - "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue".
1171* Music/{{The Cure|Band}} - "Last Dance", "Boys Don't Cry".
1172* Cynthia - "If I Had The Chance".
1173* Edwin Starr - "I Want My Baby Back".
1174* Music/{{Eminem}} - "Bad Husband", an extremely belated apology to his prime MuseAbuse target and off-again-on-again-off-again DestructiveRomance partner "Kim".
1175* Music/GarthBrooks - "More Than a Memory." He blew it and she's gone. The knowledge that she left because of things he did and say are slowly killing him, as is the knowledge that she was the best thing to ever happen to him.
1176* Music/{{Gotye}} and Music/{{Kimbra}} - "Somebody That I Used To Know".
1177* Music/GracePotterAndTheNocturnals - "Apologies".
1178* Music/HoboJohnson - "Happiness": about Hobo's girlfriend leaving him due to his comments about her career, while he regrets his actions and wishes her success without him.
1179* Music/HumanNature - "Wishes" ("Sometimes I wish that I could turn back time/I'd kick myself 'cause I was way out of line.")
1180* Music/ImagineDragons - "Amsterdam". He apologizes for his problems and/or behavior leading to the end of the romance, but reminds her that now she has a chance of finding someone better.
1181* Music/InformationSociety - "Think".
1182* Interface - "Northpark(Only A Memory)".
1183* The Isley Brothers - "Got to Have You Back".
1184* Music/JeffBuckley - "Last Goodbye" from ''Music/{{Grace}}''.
1185* Music/JohnnyMathis and Deneice Williams - "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late".
1186* Justin Hayward - "I'm Sorry".
1187* Music/KatyPerry - "TheOneThatGotAway" and "Thinking Of You".
1188* Music/{{Marillion}} - "Script For A Jester's Tear".
1189* M:G - "No One Knows"
1190* Missy Higgins - "Where I Stood".
1191* Mortimer & The DNA Team - "Remorse".
1192* The Motors - "Forget About You".
1193* Music/NewOrder - "Age of Consent".
1194* [[Music/{{NSYNC}} *NSYNC]] - "I Drive Myself Crazy", "Gone".
1195* Music/{{Oliver}} - "The Picture of Kathleen Dunne"
1196* Music/OneRepublic: "Apologize" (also covered by Silverstein).
1197* Prince Royce & Maria Becerra - "Te Espero"(Prince Royce's part)
1198* Music/RebaMcEntire - "Every Other Weekend," a duet with Kenny Chesney, describes a [[AmicableExes divorced couple]] who only have brief contact with each other when they exchange kids. They're still in love with each other and regret their divorce, but are convinced the other has moved on and say nothing. The video takes the emotions to another level. The song has no timeline beyond the present. The video takes place over ten years, with the kids growing from preschoolers to teenagers. Both parents still in love with the other and wanting to be a family again, both saying nothing.
1199* Music/SamHunt: "Break Up in a Small Town" has shades of this in the chorus, but the main hook of the song is that he keeps running into her and being tormented by her memory because they live in a small town and are likely to cross paths.
1200* Music/TheScript - "Breakeven" is mostly about the man's HeelRealization, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and how he wishes his ex to be happy with with her new found love]].
1201* Sally Shapiro & Tommy '86 - "Why Did I Say Goodbye".
1202* Music/SnowPatrol - "You Could Be Happy".
1203* Music/TaylorSwift - "Back to December," though it's more like, "I blew it, I regret it, and it's too late to apologize but I'm gonna try anyway because I miss you -- but if you can't forgive me, I understand."
1204* The Rain Within - "Home"
1205* Music/ThomasRhett - "Crash and Burn".
1206* Music/TomPettyAndTheHeartbreakers - "Runaway Trains".
1207* Music/VerticalHorizon - "Best I Ever Had".
1208* Music/WarrenZevon - "Empty-Handed Heart"
1209* Music/TheWeeknd - "Out of Time", in which the singer returns to a partner he ran out on after doing some work on unpacking his intimacy issues, only to find himself needing to accept she's fallen for someone new.
1210* Music/WilburSoot - "Your Sister Was Right"
1211[[/folder]]
1212
1213[[folder:Attempting To Convince Someone To Breakup With Their Partner]]
1214* Ariana Grande - "Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored".
1215* Music/AvenueBeat - "I Don't Really Like Your Boyfriend" has the singer telling her friend to break up with her controlling boyfriend because she deserves better.
1216* Music/AvrilLavigne - "Girlfriend" is a song about a woman trying to steal another's boyfriend. According to Avril, it's supposed to be comedic and you're not supposed to agree with the singer.
1217* Music/BackstreetBoys - "All I Have To Give", and "More Than That", both of which at least present the partner in question as treating her badly, both mentioning him making her cry in the first line.
1218* Music/TheBeatles - "This Boy".
1219* The Dambuilders - "Break Up With Your Boyfriend".
1220* Daniel J - "A Girl Like You", which is about a man who is in love with someone who has a boyfriend. He doesn't care and wants her to be his girlfriend instead.
1221* Music/{{Eminem}}'s "We Made You" is a version of this in which a LoonyFan attempts to persuade all the female TabloidMelodrama protagonists of 2009 to ditch their significant others to date him, including in cases of IncompatibleOrientation.
1222* G-Dragon - "That XX"
1223* Gladys Knight and The Pips - "If I Were Your Woman" is about a woman trying to convince a man to leave his abusive girlfriend/wife for her.
1224* Music/HumanNature - "He Don't Love You", which makes a good case for their partner being controlling and borderline abusive.
1225-->''"Do you know his friends? Girl do you know the score?\
1226Don't you think it's strange, they don't know who you are?\
1227He takes you out to somewhere new, then he leaves you alone\
1228And if you talk to anyone then he tells you to go.\
1229Your forgive him then, he does it again.\
1230Tell me how long will you take it?"''
1231** Also "Whisper Your Name," which really doesn't.
1232* Interface - "Syndrome".
1233* LFO - "All I Need To Know." {{Boy band}}s really liked this subject.
1234* Lobo - "How Can I Tell Her" is an inversion, where the narrator asks his new lover for advice on how to break up with his old one.
1235* Lou Bega - "Boyfriend" is about a man who's attracted to a woman with a boyfriend. He tries to convince her to leave.
1236* Mario - "Let Me Love You" is about a man telling a woman that he'd treat her better than her unfaithful lover.
1237* Music/Maroon5 - "Figure It Out" and "Feelings" are about men who are in affairs (the former) or trying to have affairs (the latter) with women who have boyfriends. In each case, the man tries to convince her to leave her boyfriend.
1238* Music/MichaelJackson and [[Music/TheBeatles Paul McCartney]] - "The Girl is Mine".
1239* Music/MelanieMartinez - "Pacify Her" is about the VillainProtagonist trying to convince her crush to break up with his girlfriend.
1240* M:G - "Someone Knows Better".
1241* Mortimer - "Gone".
1242* Nelly - "Dilemma" is about a man who's debating whether he should try to date a woman who has a family already.
1243* [[Music/NSync *NSYNC]] - "Girlfriend" follows in the footsteps of the Backstreet Boys' songs on this subject: "Hey girl, is your boyfriend treatin' you bad? Ditch him for me, cuz I can treat you better."
1244* Old Dominion- "Break Up With Him". A little on the nose.
1245* Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl" is about a man in love with his friend's girlfriend.
1246* The Righteous Brothers - "Substitute".
1247* Music/ShawnMendes - "Treat You Better" is about a man who thinks he can be a better boyfriend to a woman than her current, possibly abusive, one.
1248* One-hit wonder Steam (later CoveredUp by The Nylons) - "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)"
1249* Music/StudioKillers' "Jenny", where the (female) singer tries to convince the girl of her affections to leave ther current boyfriend.
1250* Music/TaylorSwift - "You Belong With Me" is about a girl who's jealous that her friend has a girlfriend. She thinks his girlfriend is bad for him and thinks she'd be a better match for him.
1251* Music/TheyMightBeGiants - "Take Out The Trash".
1252-->''"Girl, why not take out the trash\
1253And once you get him out\
1254Tell him not to come back again?\
1255Girl, put that cat in the bin\
1256After what he said\
1257After everything he did."''
1258* The Vamps - "Cheater" is a song about a guy explaining to a girl that her boyfriend has another girlfriend behind her back and that she should be with him instead. Depending on how the lyrics are read, it's also implied that the singer is cheating with the girl behind ''her'' boyfriend's back as well.
1259[[/folder]]

Top