Not everything Adam Young makes gives Sweetness Aversion. Some of it gives sadness aversion, instead.
- "Vanilla Twilight" when you think about it, especially when coupled with "Lonely Lullaby". Both were written about his ex-girlfriend, Ann Marie, who was apparently his first serious girlfriend. "Lonely Lullaby" in particular is the most personal song he's ever written, making it all the more heart-wrenching.
- To some degree the opening lyrics of "Honey and the Bee" when you realize he's talking from the perspective of a bee in the countryside and referencing other insects being splattered on car windscreens...
- The bridge of "The Real World," especially compared to how upbeat the verses are."If we dissolve without a trace/would the real world even care?"
- "Silhouette" is already hauntingly beautiful, but then you consider the possible Reality Subtext that this might have been Adam venting his frustrations over fans not wanting him to change styles.The more I try to move on, the more I feel alone.
- His cover of Taylor Swift's "Enchanted," directed to Taylor herself, has some pretty sad lyrics in it. In particular:
- "This Isn't the End," the story of a man who shoots himself and the daughter he leaves behind. The last verse gives the story a happy ending as the daughter moves on with her life, but it's still easily the darkest, saddest song he's ever written.
- His cover of "Bright Eyes"
from Watership Down, because apparently that song wasn't depressing enough. - "Youtopia", a collaboration with Armin Van Buuren, has the point of view of a deceased person singing to their bereaved love interest.
- His promotional cover of "Waving Through A Window" from Dear Evan Hansen. Again, that song was already depressing enough, and then they had to have Adam sing it (not to mention it practically sounded like an Owl City song already).
- "Galaxies," on it's own, isn't really sad. It's actually an upbeat dance pop song, but once you know that it's about the Challenger explosion, it becomes incredibly bittersweet, especially with the snippet of Ronald Reagan's "touch the face of God" speech preceding it.
- This music video for "This Isn't The End" focuses on two girls - one whose father leaves her, and another whose father commits suicide.
- "Kelly Time" is written from the perspective of Wilson the volleyball, and while the music never stops being upbeat, the lyrics just before the second chorus reach the film's most infamous tear-jerker - Wilson being dragged away from Chuck by a wave. Whereas the film has Chuck screaming he's sorry for not being able to grab him, here Wilson is apologizing because Chuck lost his only friend.And just like that it happened, the waves took me away
And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that you lost a friend that day.
