Five Stages of POP!

I’m 24, and this year will be my, well, 24th Valentine’s day single. I’ve never been one to sit around and mope while everyone else is smelling red roses in candlelight...maybe because I actually don’t like roses and conventional “romantic gestures” seem really boring and anticlimactic to me.

Sure, love certainly has its perks. And I know I’ll be a sappy girlfriend some day. But I’m young, and I actually love being single. And I LOVE music. So why waste time sharing one side of my Airpods to listen to John Legend and Marvin Gaye (ew) when I could be blasting some sick electropop beats with the people who I know will always share my taste in music: me, myself, and I?

This Valentine's day, I wanted to celebrate my singleness AND pay homage to my recent almost-relationship that led to a sort-of breakup (and the little twinge of frustration that I still taste in the sweet freedom of my solitude). Cycling through bubblegum pop, alternative pop-rock, and even some Kpop – featuring tracks from Pop Queens like Taylor Swift and Charli XCX, and up-and-comers like Cyn and Astrid S – here is a chronological pop playlist of all the songs you’ll need to represent (and treat) the five stages of romantic grief this February.

(And make for a wickedly-fun single V-day.)

STAGE ONE: DENIAL

1. Drinks - Cyn

2. Want U Back - Cher Lloyd

3. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (For even MORE fun than the amazing original, check out Elle Fanning's cover of this song as appears in the movie Teen Spirit!)

4. How to Be a Heartbreaker - MARINA (and the Diamonds)

5. Crying in the Club - Camila Cabello

6. Elastic Heart - Sia

7. Hard Times - Paramore

8. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

9. Maniac - Conan Gray

10. Dance Dance Dance - Astrid S

11. Devil On My Shoulder - Kelsy Karter (More rock than pop, but this is SUCH a fun song, I had to include it.)

STAGE TWO: ANGER

12. Army of Me - Bjork

13. Bad Blood - Taylor Swift, ft. Kendrick Lamar

14. The Baddest - K/DA

15. Hot n Cold - Katy Perry

16. I Did Something Bad - Taylor Swift

17. Hate Me - Ellie Goulding, ft. Juice WRLD

18. Catch Me If You Can - Kelsy Karter (If you're looking for a revenge fantasy song, here it is.)

19. I Knew You Were Trouble. - Taylor Swift

20. Break Free - Ariana Grande, Zedd

21. Uh-Oh - Cyn

22. Don’t Call Me Angel - Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey

23. Break Your Heart Worse - Crimson Apple

24. Look What You Made Me Do - Taylor Swift

STAGE THREE: BARGAINING

25. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Taylor Swift

26. Primadonna - MARINA (and the Diamonds)

27. Such a Boy - Astrid S

28. enemy - Charli XCX

29. Terrible Ideas - Cyn

30. Sorry - Justin Bieber

31. Afterglow - Taylor Swift

32. One Last Time - Ariana Grande

33. Stay Away - Charli XCX

34. Never Really Over - Katy Perry

35. Taking Me Back - LANY

36. Stockholm Syndrome - One Direction

37. Paper Love - Allie X

38. Problem - Ariana Grande, ft. Iggy Azalea

39. Just For A Moment - Gryffin, ft. Iselin

40. Downtown (2020) - Allie X, ft. Della Casa

STAGE FOUR: DEPRESSION

41. Icy - Kim Petras (One of the best pop songs of our generation!)

42. Antisocial - Ed Sheeran, ft. Travis Scott

43. Bitter - Evie Irie

44. forever - Charli XCX

45. REMEDY - Alesso, ft. Conor Maynard

46. Porsche - Charli XCX, ft. MØ

47. Chandelier - Sia

48. breathin - Ariana Grande

49. Tears - Charli XCX, ft. Caroline Polachek

50. you broke me first - Tate McRae (The Gryffin Remix of this song is also amazing!)

51. I Miss Myself - NOTD, ft. HRVY

52. Green Light - Lorde

53. Rain On Me - Lady Gaga Ariana Grande

STAGE FIVE: ACCEPTANCE

54. Peach -Broods

55. Gorgeous - ILLENIUM, ft. Blanke and Bipolar Sunshine

56. Alone - Avril Lavigne

57. Dance Again - Selena Gomez

58. Over Him - Evie Irie

59. Yeah, No. - Elle Winter

60. So over You - Charli XCX

61. Look At Her Now - Selena Gomez

62. Anti Socialite - The Foxies

63. Number One Fan - MUNA (The ULTIMATE self-love song.)

64. Oh No! - MARINA (and the Diamonds)

65. POP/STARS - K/DA

66. Tonight I’m Getting Over You - Carly Rae Jepsen

67. Over Now - Calvin Harris, ft. The Weeknd

68. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift

Thanks for reading, and happy listening!

-A