Less is Amore

They say that Valentine’s Day is for lovers, but Valentine’s Day has a special place in the broken hearts of the loveless, too. It’s a day to rage sing in the shower, rejoice in the trainwrecks of relationships they’ve survived, cry at a love that could have been, and fantasize about the perfect revenge outfit that’s always ready for a “chance” encounter.

I’ve been single for most of my 32 years, and over time, I’ve crafted the perfect anti-Valentine’s playlist(s) filled with songs for hearts that are bleeding, angry, unrequited, resolved, and everything in between.

So grab your power heals, beat-yo-ass boots, or whatever makes you feel like your strongest self, and strut to this playlist made just for you. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Dead to Me – Melanie Martinez

The opener of this playlist is the perfect balance of the self-confidence that comes when you know you’re so much better off without a scrub of a partner...and the bitterness that comes with being betrayed.

Her matter-of-fact “I need to kill you,” sung with an air of innocence at the beginning of the song sets a tone of self-righteous revenge that will make people who’ve survived a betrayal feel seen.

Wicked Games – The Weeknd

A modern king of complicated and twisted relationships, the Weeknd gives us a jam that can hypnotize or disgust, depending on which perspective you relate to in this song. Are you the scorned woman The Weeknd sings about when he says, “I left my girl back home/I don’t love her no more,” or are you like the damaged singer just looking for love in all the wrong places?

Bad Intentions — Niykee Heaton

Ms. Niykee needs you to know that it’s not only men like The Weeknd who can play with hearts and mess with minds. No, she proudly exclaims that she’s “got some damn bad intentions” when it comes to love. And, honestly, haven’t we all at some point?

Before I Ever Met You — BANKS

BANKS makes a couple of appearances on this playlist and for good reason. Her lyrics combined with deep and dark synth and drum beats perfectly mirror the people who have loved with all they had only to have it thrown back in their faces.

When she sings, “As for our house, I’ll move out/You can keep the dog we trained,” you know that some fool did her real dirty, and she’s fed up in a big way.

Her other song in this playlist, Waiting Game, is equally goosebump-inducing, but it’s more sentimental and even more vulnerable as she sings directly to someone she really cared about and, as the name suggests, has waited for. But don’t get it twisted, she still holds her ex-partner accountable in her lyrics.

Woman Put Your Weapon Down — Justin Nozuka

Full disclosure: I partly included this song because I think Justin Nozuka is criminally underrated, but this song is also a legit, non-traditional, anti-love song.

In Woman Put Your Weapon Down, Nozuka pleads to his girl as he’s coming clean to the fact that he has cheated on her. He tries every trick in the book: he recalls their first date, all they’ve been through together, fully admits he’s fully wrong and weak. He genuinely sounds sincere as he begs her to set her anger aside long enough just to hear him out.

Would I listen and give him another chance? Probably not. But this song is so good, I may let him buy me one last meal before leaving his ass.

Rainbows & Pots of Gold — The Stereophonics

This is also an interesting anti-love song because it’s about the broken heart that comes from being betrayed by a best friend. Legend has it that the lead singer wrote this song to his best friend who had run off with his girlfriend, but he found that he missed his friend more than his lady.

Even bromances aren’t immune to heartache, unfortunately.

P.S. This song single-handedly got me through a broken engagement, so my love for this one runs deep.

Closer — Kings of Leon

This is a song about a haunting. When the lead singer cries out, “She took my heart/I think she took my soul,” you get the sense that he’s not only mourning the loss of a love, but of himself, and he’s haunted by memories, the town they lived in, everything.

While a lot of this playlist is some good ol’ R&B (they don’t call it rhythm and blues for nothing), rock has known its share of broken hearts and dreams.

Love is Madness — Thirty Seconds to Mars, Halsey

Proving my point, this song is about how falling in love with the wrong person can be dangerous and leave you mad. Jared Leto and Halsey’s strained, angsty voices combined with Shannon Leto’s dramatic drumming in the background perfectly blend and leave you reflecting on past relationships, asking yourself: Was I the crazy one?

When Doves Cry — Prince

Prince will forever be king of my heart. He’s given us some amazing breakup tunes (e.g. Little Red Corvette). And what’s great about them is that they’re not necessarily full of rage, but he’s also not weeping by a window somewhere, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

His beats are funky, and his honest and open reflection on breakups often makes you realize that it often takes two to make a relationship go sour.

Like I Would — ZAYN, White Panda

If you’re like me, dance is a cure for anything. It can be hard to find a good dance song that’s also an amazing breakup song. This remix of Like I Would will have you leaving all of your tears and fears on the dance floor — right where they belong.

Needed Me — Rihanna

Like BANKS, Rihanna has loved hard and lost hard, and it’s evident in so many of her songs. It was difficult to choose just one from RiRi, but Needed Me was my life theme for about 10 years.

I’ve always deeply felt this song because she starts the song almost chastising herself. There’s a sense of “I knew better” and “I never needed a man” that, whether healthy or not, was always my first stop on a heartbreak spiral. But, then, she quickly redirects her anger from herself to her ex-lover. And you root for her every step of the way.

Check out the other songs on the playlist here: