Break Up Song

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


One thing that writers of Silly Love Songs don't like to mention is that love usually doesn't last forever. People break up all the time, and when someone writes a song about it, it's called a Break Up Song. Although not as omnipresent as Silly Love Songs, 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 Silly Love Songs you hear. Many times it emerges from the songwriter coming from a breakup himself.

Breakups inspire all different kinds of emotions in people, so there's a lot of variety among Breakup 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.

Compare Anti-Love Song. Contrast Silly Love Songs.

Examples of Break Up Song include:

Needing sorting

  • Beck - pretty much the whole of the Sea Change album.
  • Chely Wright - "Shut Up And Drive"
  • George Strait - "Baby's Gotten Good at Goodbye"
  • Aly & AJ - "Potential Breakup Song"
    • A pretty Genre Savvy version, especially with lyrics like "This is the potential breakup song: our album needs just one".
  • Nelly Furtado - "Back in God's Hands"
  • Zox - "Leaving Me"
  • Level 42 - "Leaving Me Now"; "It's Over"
  • Air Supply - "Goodbye"
  • Honestly - "This Is Goodbye"
  • The Veronicas - This is How It Feels
  • Brian May - "Too Much Love Will Kill You" ("Torn between the lover/and the love you leave behind.")
  • Claude Demetrius - "Mean Woman Blues". The most popular version was sung by Roy Orbison.
  • 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.
  • ABBA - "The Winner Takes It All", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "One of Us", "When All Is Said And Done", and likely many other ones, too.
  • Rainbow - "Since You've Been Gone" (actually by Russ Ballard, this is also a case of Covered Up).
    • Presumably not to be confused with the Weird Al parody Break Up Song of the same title
  • The Moody Blues - "Go Now"
  • Napoleon XIV - "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Haa" (a parody, naturally. It was his dog that broke up with him.)
  • 2Gether - The Hardest Part of Breaking Up (Is Getting Back Your Stuff) is a rather, shall we say, "unusual" take on the subject.
  • They Might Be Giants have done a few of these, including "They'll Need A Crane", "Narrow Your Eyes", and "Broke in Two".
  • The entirety of Bowling for Soup'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.
  • The entirety of the Del Amitri album "Change Everything".
  • American Hi-Fi's The Breakup Song and SR-71's Mosquito are two of the nastiest, and funniest examples. Not sure which folder they belong in.
  • Leonard Cohen - Coming Back to You; Ain't No Cure for Love; Ain't No Cure for love
  • Hedley - "She's So Sorry"
  • Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
  • P!nk - "Funhouse"
  • Queen - "Love of My Life"
  • Blur- Most of the "13" album
  • The musical show Total Drama World Tour has a song by the character Sierra called 'Oui, my Friends,' where 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!')
  • Keyshia Cole - "I Should Have Cheated" A song where the singer states that she should of cheated on her boyfriend after the multiple times he accused her of doing so, which he has been suspected of as well.
  • Khonnor's "An Ape Is Loose" can be interpreted to concern the singer instigating a breakup with a popular girl or celebrity.
  • Katy Perry's "Circle The Drain" is about her breakup with the drug-addicted Travis McCoy.
    • And her latest single, "Part of Me", was recorded in the aftermath of the dissolution of her marriage to Russell Brand. Take a guess on what it's about. Go on!
  • Most of Fall Out Boy's earlier material consists of songs that fall into at least one of these categories. Examples include "Yule Shoot Your Eye Out", where the singer spitefully tells his ex what she should do for Crhistmas 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"
  • Escape the Fate'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.
  • Vanessa Carlton'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.

Relationship breakup

  • Bob Dylan - pretty much the entirety of his mid-70's album Blood on the Tracks.
  • The Theme Song to Dear John
  • The Academy Is... - "Everything We Had"
  • The Wedding Singer has an unfinished Break Up Song he wrote after his girlfriend cheated on him the night before their wedding.
  • Neil Sedaka - "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"
  • Annie Lennox - "Walking On Broken Glass"
  • Naked Eyes - "Always Something There To Remind Me" particularly harsh because it has the beloved's wedding bells as part of the background music.
  • ABC - "Poison Arrow"
    • Virtually the entire Lexicon of Love album is a flavour of this.
  • A-ha - "Crying in the Rain"
  • Catatonia - 'Blues Song'
  • Dannii Minogue - "It Won't Work Out"
  • Go West - "The King of Wishful Thinking"
  • The Flirts - "Jukebox"
  • Johnny Logan - "Hold Me Now"
  • Kylie Minogue - "Where Has The Love Gone?" and "So Now Goodbye"
  • Olivia Newton-John - "Please Mister Please"
  • Taylor Swift - "Breathe"
  • Phil Collins - "Against All Odds" and "In The Air Tonight"
  • The Nails had two:
    • "88 Lines About 44 Women" was about all the women the singer had slept with and/or had relationships with
    • "These are the Things You Left Behind" is about all the stuff still in the singer's house after the departure of the girlfriend.
  • The Monkees - "She"
  • No Doubt - "Don't Speak"
    • Tragic Kingdom may very well count as a break-up album. Most of the songs on there were written after Gwen Stefani's break-up with the bassist (see also: Hey You, Sunday Morning, Happy Now?)
  • Angels and Airwaves - "It Hurts"
  • The Police - "Can't Stand Losing You". Also, "Someone To Talk To" (But I fucked it up and now it's too late).
  • Skyclad - "You Lost My Memory"
  • Apocalyptica - "I Don't Care"
  • Tara's side of "Under Your Spell/Standing Reprise" in the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  • The Veronicas- "Leave Me Alone" "In Another Life"
  • The Corrs - "Goodbye"
  • Roxette - "It Must Have Been Love" - the breakup theme from Pretty Woman, written by Per Gessle
  • The Cure "Boys Don't Cry" and "The End of the World"
  • The Swell Season - "Lies"
  • Robyn - "With Every Heartbeat"
  • Relient K - "This is the End (If You Want It)"
  • The Dresden Dolls - "The Jeep Song"
  • Sia - "The Girl You Lost To Cocaine"
  • Pet Shop Boys - "Love Is A Catastrophe"
  • The Bouncing Souls - "Wish Me Well (You Can Go to Hell)"
  • The Beatles - "For No One"
  • Weird Al Yankovic - "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.
    • It's not completely straight, since it's set to the tune of a slow dance and the lyrics are turned Up to Eleven. Weird Al also had "You Don't Love Me Anymore", which is definitely not a straight example.
    • He also did "Since You've Been Gone", which starts out sounding like a straight depressing breakup song (albeit comparing his lovers absence to several outlandishly painful and masochistic acts). This being Weird Al, there's of course a twist at the end.
  • Carole King - "It's Too Late" (also covered by Gloria Estefan)
  • Aerosmith - "What It Takes" and "Hole in My Soul".
  • Keyshia Cole - "I Changed My Mind", "(I Just Want It) To Be Over"
  • Taylor Swift - "Tim McGraw"
  • Epica - Never Enough
  • Keith Urban - "You'll Think Of Me"
  • Martina McBride - "When Love is Gone", from The Muppet Christmas Carol.
  • The Greg Kihn Band - "The Break-Up Song (They Don't Write 'Em)"
  • Edguy - "Trinidad", effectively "you don't give me respect because you're taller than me, so I moved to Trinidad without telling you."
  • The Crystalline Effect- "Poetry"
  • Anneliese van der Pol - "Cute Boys with Short Haircuts", from the musical of Vanities
  • OneRepublic: "Apologize"
    • Also covered by Silverstein
  • Justin Timberlake - "What Goes Around..."
    • Also covered by Alesana
  • Hoobastank - "I Don't Think I Love You"
  • Journey - "Separate Ways"
  • David Bowie - "Something in the Air."
  • All-American Rejects - "It Ends Tonight"
  • Space - 'There's No You', 'Begin Again'
  • The Veronicas - "In Another Life"
  • Delta Goodrem - "Not Me Not I"
  • Ben Folds - "Song for the Dumped", which has become an anthem for mishandled breakups.
  • Nick Cave, 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.
  • No Light, No Light - Florence + the Machine
  • "Leave" by Jojo
  • Adele's album 21 is all about these (thanks to her going through a rough breakup) and various songs can be found on the folders. It was the album that brust her into the United States charts and several songs have become HUGE hits.
  • Selena Gomez - "Middle of Nowhere"
  • Vanessa da Mata/Ben Harper - "Boa Sorte (Good Luck)"
  • Commodores - "Easy"
  • Garbage - "It's All over But the Crying"


Warning others about the ex

  • Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You"—which also has some "I Want You Back" elements.
  • Dion - "Runaround Sue"
  • Carrie Underwood - "Cowboy Casanova", "Good Girl"
  • E-Rotic - "Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex"
  • Elastica - Stutter (Unlike most of these, this one isn't about the ex's personality, it's about his "performance")
  • Frankie Valli - "Walk Like A Man"
  • Tony! Toni! Tonè!- My Ex-Girlfriend Is A Hoe
  • Paula Abdul - "Cold Hearted"
  • Toni Braxton - "He Wasn't Man Enough"
  • The Zombies - Tell Her No, the main message of which boils down to "She said she loved me too"
  • Måns Zelmerlöw - "Brother Oh Brother", where the singer's brother gets together with the singer's ex
  • Three Days Grace - "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.
  • The Beach Boys - "Here Today"
  • Phil Collins and Philip Bailey - "Easy Lover"
  • Usher - "You Make Me Wanna"
  • Bel Biv Devoe - "Poison", which warns to never trust a big butt and a smile


Non-romantic, between friends

  • Coal Chamber - "Friend"
  • Green Day - "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
  • Pokémon - "The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye)"
  • "Hard To Say Goodbye, My Love" from Dreamgirls, since the Dreams sing it when they're about to disband.
  • Ozzy Osbourne - "Goodbye To Romance" (The booklet for the Blizzard of Ozz rerelease says Ozzy wrote it about his departure from Black Sabbath.)
  • Starflyer 59's Gold was almost an entire album of breakup songs of this type.
  • Simon and Garfunkel's "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" is a very thinly-veiled farewell from Paul to Artie. ("All of the nights we harmonized till dawn...")
  • Vanities - "Friendship Isn't What it Used to Be"
  • Nick Cave 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.
  • Taking Back Sunday- "There's No 'I' In Team"


Please Don't Go / I want you back / I wish we were still in love

  • Adele - "Rolling In the Deep"
  • Alejandro Fernández - "Si Tú No Vuelves," "Pájaro Perdido"
  • Basshunter - "Now You're Gone," "All I Ever Wanted," "I Miss You," "Please Don't Go," "Camila" (but only the English version)
  • Bloc Party - "Like Eating Glass"
  • Boyz II Men - "Please Don't Go," "End of the Road," "On Bended Knee"
  • Brave Saint Saturn: "Binary"
  • Cascada - "Miracle", "One More Night", and "Love Again"
  • Cher - "If I Could Turn Back Time"
  • Chicago - "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," "If You Leave Me Now", "Hard Habit to Break"
  • The Corrs - "Radio," "Long Night," "Old Town," "Give Me A Reason," ...suffice it to say, they like this one.
  • Crystal Gayle - "You Never Miss a Real Good Thing ('Til He Says Goodbye)"
  • Dannii Minogue - "I Don't Wanna Take This Pain", "So Hard To Forget", "Kiss And Make Up", and "I Begin To Wonder"
  • Debbie Gibson - "Foolish Beat"
  • Deep Blue Something - "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
  • 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)
  • Most songs by Double You. Dissonantly, their music style is bouncy Eurodance.
  • Foo Fighters - "Walking After You"
  • Frou Frou- Hear Me Out
  • Gloria Estefan - "Can't Forget You"
  • Gotye feat. Kimbra - "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.
  • Ian van Dahl - "Will I" and "Where Are You Now?"
  • Jackson Five - "I Want You Back"
  • Jazmine Sullivan - "Need U Bad"
  • Jaya - "If You Leave Me Now"
  • Jennifer y Los Jetz - "Contigo Otra Vez," "You Say," Vuelve"
  • Jessica Simpson - "Where You Are"
  • Jewel - "You Were Meant For Me"
  • Jodeci - "Stay", "I'm Still Waiting"
  • Journey - "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)"
  • KC and the Sunshine Band - "Please Don't Go"
  • Kelly Clarkson - "My Life Would Suck Without You"
  • Kenny Rogers - "Ruby (Don't Take Your Love To Town)"
  • Keyshia Cole - "Love"
  • Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow - "Picture" (Two ex-lovers both realize they can't live without each other)
  • Kumbia Kings - "Con El Tic Tac Del Reloj," "Se Fue Mi Amor," "Why Did You"
  • Kylie Minogue - "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"
  • 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)
  • Lifehouse - "Whatever It Takes"
  • Luis Fonsi - "Se Supone," "Te Echo De Menos," "Viviendo En El Ayer"
  • Mariah Carey - "Can't Let Go," "Just to Hold You Once Again," "My All", "Love Takes Time", "I Still Believe"
    • "Always Be My Baby" is a variant, saying "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."
    • Don't Forget About Us and her exceptionally famous We Belong Together definitely do count.
    • Candy Bling, Angels Cry and Inseparable off of Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel count. H.A.T.E.U. is an odd variant where she wishes for him back, but, at the same time, wishes that she didn't so she can hate him.
  • Maroon 5 - "Won't Go Home Without You"
  • Michael Jackson - "She's Out of My Life"
  • Mike Mareen - "Don't Leave Me Now". Uses Lyrical Dissonance, setting the breakup lyrics in a dancy Hi-NRG song.
  • Mike Posner - "Please Don't Go"
  • My Brightest Diamond - "Gone Away".
  • No Mercy - "Where Do You Go" and "Please Don't Go"(not a cover)
  • NSYNC - "I Drive Myself Crazy," "I Thought She Knew", and of course, "I Want You Back"
  • Os Paralamas do Sucesso - "Quase Um Segundo" ("sometimes I hate you for almost one second, then I love you more...")
  • Patsy Cline - "Faded Love," "I Fall to Pieces," "She's Got You," "So Wrong", "Crazy"
  • Peabo Bryson - "Can You Stop the Rain"
  • Pet Shop Boys - "The Way It Used To Be"
    • "What Have I Done To Deserve This", for both singers
  • Prince - "Nothing Compares 2U" (famously sung by Sinead O'Connor)
  • P!nk - "Please Don't Leave Me"
  • Player - "Baby Come Back"
  • Rascal Flatts / Cascada - "What Hurts The Most"
  • Regina Belle - "Make it Like it Was"
  • Robert Knight - "Everlasting Love" (Covered by many, many other performers)
  • Roy Orbison - "Crying"
  • The Script - "Break Even"
  • Selena Gomez - "The Way I Loved You", "Ghost of You"
  • Space - 'Love You More Than Football'
  • The Steps - "One for Sorrow" and "Deeper Shade of Blue"
  • Sonata Arctica - "Tallulah"
  • Stevie B. - "Spring Love"
  • Steve Winwood - "Valerie" (Sampled Up by Eric Prydz in "Call on Me")
  • Sugar Ray - "When It's Over"
  • Take That - "Back For Good"
  • Taylor Swift: "Back to December"
  • Tiffany - "Could've Been," "Should've Been Me"
  • Toni Braxton - "Unbreak My Heart"
  • Travis Tritt - "Tell Me I Was Dreaming"
  • Trisha Yearwood - "When a Love Song Sings the Blues," "When We Were Still in Love"
  • Harry Nilsson - "You're Breakin' My Heart" and "Without You" (Covered Up by Mariah Carey)
  • Within Temptation - "What Have You Done Now" (About two lovers who are also mortal enemies)
  • "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," from Dreamgirls
  • The Beatles - "Yesterday"
  • Taylor Swift - "Back To December"
  • Deborah Cox - "Things Just Ain't The Same", "I Never Knew", and "House Is Not A Home"
  • Escape the Fate - "Harder Than You Know"
  • The Birthday Massacre - "To Die For"
  • The Veronicas - Someone Wake Me Up, Worlds Apart, Don't Say Goodbye, In Another Life, We Are One Amongst others..
  • Delta Goodrem - Lost Without You, I Can't Break It To My Heart.
  • The Alan Parsons Project - "If I Could Change Your Mind"
  • Florence + the Machine - "No Light, No Light"
  • Hurt - "Falls Apart," "On the Radio", "Aftermath" (with shades of a passive Obsession Song)... They like these.

We're about to break up because I know you're cheating

  • Hank Williams, Sr. - "Your Cheatin' Heart"
  • Ace - "How Long Has This Been Going On"
  • Brandy - "Tomorrow"
  • Destinys Child - "Bills, Bills, Bills" (cheating with her money)
  • The Who - "I Can See For Miles (And Miles)"
  • Jill Jones - "I Used To Worship The Ground You Walk On" from Earth Girls Are Easy, which led to a great Defenestrate and Berate scene.
  • Sanford and Townsend - "A Distant Fire"
  • Carrie Underwood - "Before He Cheats"
  • Kelis - "I Hate You So Much Right Now" "Caught Out There"
  • Theory of a Deadman - "Little Smirk"
  • The Offspring - "Spare Me The Details"
  • Kumbia Kings - "U Don't Love Me"
  • The Clash - "Train in Vain"
  • Hey Monday - "How You Love Me Now"
  • Jojo - "Leave (Get Out)"
  • Garth Brooks - "The Thunder Rolls" (particularly extreme example, if you listen to the live version)
  • Fitz Kreiner - "Contains Spoilers"[1]
  • Mayday Parade's When I get home, You're so dead
  • Showbread's "Check Yes If You Like Me (If You Don't I'll Die)"
  • Pet Shop Boys - "So Hard" (both partners are cheating on each other) and "Domino Dancing"
  • Joe - "Stutter"
  • Ke$ha - "Kiss 'n' Tell"
  • Kylie Minogue - "It's No Secret" and "Word Is Out"
  • Dannii Minogue - "Mystified"
  • Girls' Generation - "Run Devil Run"
  • Taylor Swift - "White Horse", "Should've Said No"
  • The Like - "Wishing He Was Dead"
  • Deborah Cox - "It's Over Now"
  • The Band Perry - "You Lie"
  • In this case, the singer is the one caught cheating. Rihanna - "Unfaithful"
  • Simple Plan - "Your Love is Just A Lie"
  • Taking Back Sunday - "Cute Without The E (Cut From The Team)"
  • Panic At the Disco - "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off"
  • The Veronicas - "Revenge Is Sweeter", "Everything I'm Not"
  • Hurt - "Unkind"
  • Vanessa Amorosi - "Sleep With That".
  • The Byrds - "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better"
  • Mariah Carey - 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.


You Cheated On Me So I'm Ruining Your Stuff

  • Jazmine Sullivan- "Bust Your Windows"
  • Carrie Underwood- "Before He Cheats"
  • Blackhawk - "Goodbye Says It All" (except it's the narrator commenting on his partner having ruined his stuff)
  • Blu Cantrell - "Hit'em up Style (Oops)"
  • Bowling For Soup - "Two Seater"
  • Theory of a Deadman - "Little Smirk"
  • Garbage - "Vow" (actually, not so much the lover's stuff as the lover himself... it's Yandere overdrive)
  • Victoria Dawn Justice - "Begging on Your Knees". Also has elements of the warning others type.
  • Space - 'Now She's Gone' (not so much breaking the woman's stuff as spiking her food with cyanide)
  • The Veronicas - "Revenge Is Sweeter"
  • In the video for Shakira's "Don't Bother", she sends her bf's Ford Mustang to the crusher.
  • Vanessa Amorosi- "I Thought We'd Stay Together.", "Sleep With That".
  • "The Ground You Walk On" from the film Earth Girls Are Easy, sung by Geena Davis as she systematically demolishes everything owned by her (former) boyfriend.

Teetering on the brink of a breakup

  • Ace of Base - "Don't Turn Around"
  • Olivia Newton-John - "Hopelessly Devoted To You"
    • Reprised in Pushing Daisies by Olive Snook, who knows it isn't presently working out but harbors hopes for the future.
  • Olivia Newton-John - "Suspended in Time", from Xanadu
  • ELO - "The Fall", from Xanadu
  • Sort of inverted in Heaven Help my Heart in 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.
  • Beyoncé - "Ring the Alarm"
  • Taylor Swift: "The Story of Us"
  • Jazmine Sullivan - "My Foolish Heart"
  • Paul Simon'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'.
  • Debbie Gibson - "Goodbye," "How Can This Be?"
  • Mariah Carey - "I Don't Wanna Cry," "If It's Over", "Forever" could be interpreted like this but the more common interpretation is listed above.
  • NSYNC - "Tearin' Up My Heart"
  • Patsy Cline - "Leavin' On Your Mind"
  • Eden's Crush - "Let Me Know"
  • Selena - "No Debes Jugar"
  • Jennifer y Los Jetz - "Si Tú Te Vas"
  • Luis Fonsi - "Te Vas"
  • Emilio Navaira - "Lo Dice Tu Mirada"
  • Pearl Jam - "Parting Ways"
    • "...She knows their future's burning, but she can smile just the same..."
  • John Mayer - "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room"
  • Orianthi - "According to You"
  • Havalina Rail Co: For the Concept Album Space, Love, & Bullfighting, the Love theme is entirely about a relationship on the brink.
  • The Cardigans, "My Favourite Game"
  • Celine Dion - "Think Twice"
  • Huey Lewis and the News - "If This Is It"
    • "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..."
  • Kylie Minogue - "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi", "Tell Tale Signs", and "Trippin' Me Up"
  • Dannii Minogue - "Be Careful" and "Who Do You Love Now"
  • The Righteous Brothers - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (cover versions by lots of people)
  • The Veronicas - "All I Have" "Don't Say Goodbye" "In Another Life"
  • Intimacy by Bloc Party 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.
    • Arguably Letter to My Son as well.
      • From other albums you could have We Were Lovers.
  • Dan Hill (with Vonda Shepard) - "Can't We Try"
  • Sarah Brightman - "Tell Me On a Sunday," from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name. Knowing that their relationship is doomed, the singer details how she wants her lover to finally end things.
    • "Let me down easy/ No big song and dance/ No long faces, no long looks/ No deep conversation..."
  • Cascada - "Can't Stop The Rain"
  • Vienna Teng - "Between"
  • Pussycat Dolls - "I Hate This Part"
  • Space - 'Disco Dolly'
  • Escape the Fate - "Something"
  • Brooks and Dunn - "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone"
  • Florence + the Machine - No Light, No Light
  • Hurt - "Assurance," "Et Al"
  • A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera - "Say Something"

Don't want you back

  • Ace of Base - The Sign
  • Adele - "I Found A Boy." (She's happly dating someone else)
  • Angelina - "I Don't Need Your Love"
  • Krypteria - "You & I"
  • Krypteria - "Too Late, Game Over And Goodbye"
  • Gloria Gaynor - "I Will Survive"
  • The Guess Who - "No Time" (the relationship is even compared to a slaughterhouse at one point)
  • Texas - "Strings of Life (Stronger On My Own)"
  • Eamon - "F*** It (I Don't Want You Back)"
    • And the follow-up song, from the woman's perspective, Frankee's "Fuck You Right Back"
  • Mariah Carey - "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.
  • Three Days Grace - "Gone Forever" (arguably, more denial)
    • While it is a breakup song, it's not actually about a woman: Word of God says that it's about the lead singers addiction to a painkiller.
    • From the same album is "Over And Over", which is about the same subject despite the generic break-up lyrics.
  • Evanescence - "Call Me When You're Sober", "Sweet Sacrifice" "Going Under" "Lacrymosa", "The Change", "Oceans" and "Made Of Stone"
  • Travis Tritt - "Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares"
  • T'Pau - "Thank You For Goodbye"
  • The Grass Roots - "Where Were You When I Needed You?" (later covered by the Bangles)
  • Selena - "Si Una Vez," "Ya No"
  • Space - 'Influenza'
  • Los Mismos - "No Quiero Volverte a Ver"
  • Patty Loveless - "Blame It On Your Heart"
  • Gamma Ray - "Leaving Hell"
  • Jo Dee Messina - "Bye Bye"
  • N Sync - "Bye Bye Bye"
  • The Corrs - "I Never Loved You Anyway"
    • Again, more of a denial song than anything else.
  • Beyoncé - "Irreplaceable"
  • Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts
  • Brave Saint Saturn: "Enamel"
  • Britney Spears - "What U See (Is What U Get)" "Lonely" "Rockstar"
  • Mary J Blige - Not Gon' Cry
  • Melys - 'I Don't Believe In You'
  • Kylie Minogue - "I'm Over Dreaming Over You", "What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before)", "Through The Years", "Dancefloor", "Baby", "Promises", "Obsession", and "Someday"
  • Dannii Minogue - "Get Into You", "Someone New", and "Goodbye Song"
  • Restart - "Bye Bye" (Noticing a pattern there?)
  • Few would see the characters' relationship as romantic, but Portal 2's "Want You Gone" is a perfect example of this kind of song.
  • My Chemical Romance - I Don't Love You
  • Linkin Park - "Don't Stay"
  • Blink-182 - "Dammit"
  • Rockell - "I Fell in Love" and "What You Did to Me"
  • Whitney Houston - "It's Not Right"
  • OMD - "So in Love"
  • Scandal - "Goodbye To You"
  • Shakira - "Don't Bother"
  • "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" sung originally by Teresa Brewer, covered brilliantly by Aussie Pop Singer Tracey Dey and by the duo She & Him.
  • Ben Folds - "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.
  • Taylor Swift: "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No"
  • Bowling for Soup'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.
  • "Take Back Your Mink" from Guys and Dolls'.
  • Yvette Michele - "I'm Not Feeling You"
  • P!nk - "There You Go"
  • Epica - "Never Enough"
  • Selena Gomez - "Bang Bang Bang", "Sick of You"
  • Ariya - Go Away And Never Come Back (Уходи и не возвращайся)


I Have to Leave/It's Me not You


Over You

  • Beyoncé - "Irreplaceable"
  • Elton John - "I'm Still Standing", "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"
  • Dannii Minogue - "Someone New" and "Goodbye Song"
  • Destinys Child - "Survivor"
  • Cascada - "Another You"
  • Chris Daughtry - "Over You"
  • Kelly Clarkson - "Since U Been Gone"
    • Also covered by A Day To Remember
    • "Stronger"
  • 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.
  • The Cyrkle - "Red Rubber Ball"
  • Arab Strap - "Piglet"
  • Theory Of a Deadman - "So Happy
  • Crystal Gayle - "I'll Get Over You"
  • Jennifer y Los Jetz - "No Te Voy a Perdonar"
  • Katherine Mcphee - "Over it"
  • Kimberley Locke - "Coulda Been"
  • Kumbia Kings - "Desde Que No Estás Aquí"
  • Kylie Minogue - "I'm Over Dreaming Over You", "The World Still Turns", "What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before)", "Dancefloor", "Baby", "Promises", "Someday"
  • Apacalyptica - "I Don't Care"
  • Röyksopp - "Beautiful Day Without You" (it stresses that the memory will last, but still)
  • 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.)
  • Le Ann Rimes - "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)"
  • Lorrie Morgan - "I Didn't Know My Own Strength"
  • P!nk - "So What" (though it's also "It's over, so I'm gonna screw your - and probably other people's - life!")
  • Miranda Cosgrove: "Brand New You", "There Will Be Tears" and "Oh Oh"
  • Pet Shop Boys - "I Get Along" ("...without you very well!")
  • Pulp - "Bad Cover Version" and "Razzmatazz"
  • Yeasayer - O.N.E.
  • Relient K - "Over It". Rare case where the girl dumped the narrator.
  • Hermans Hermits-"I Can Take or Leave Your Loving"
  • Madonna - "The Power of Goodbye" (also fits with "I have to leave")
  • Cher - "Believe", "Strong Enough"
  • Restart - "Recomeçar"
  • Space - 'One O'Clock'
  • Lily Allen - "I Could Say"
  • Adele - "Someone Like You"
  • Boys Like Girls - "Love Drunk"
  • Squeeze - "Black Coffee in Bed"
  • Aaron Tippin - "Kiss This"
  • Vanessa Amorosi - "Blow Me Away", "Sleep With That".
  • The Pretty Reckless - "Since You're Gone"
  • Rogue Traders - I Never Liked You
  • Garbage - "Special"
  1. ↑ the singer/songwriter time-traveled to the future and discovered the person he thought was his true love ends up with another man.
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