The “Falling In Love With The Villain” Playlist

We listen to music to create our own stories or add to a story we like, to make all these stories within our head, and solely use the music as the generator of these stories.

One of the most popular creative playlists is the trope of the villain falling in love with the hero or vice versa. There’s a fascination with the doomed love story and the music supplies the idea to elaborate the story. We know that these are two characters that are in love, but we don’t know how they got to be together, we don’t know if the love interest is kept in the dark that the one she loves is not the person she thinks he is if she does know, does she accept him? It's a tragic storyline where the character can't deny their feelings anymore. You feel for the character that they're heartbroken at their realization that it's too late and they've fallen for them. It’s a cruel love for the fact it won’t end well… as much as their relationship is doomed, the love that they have for each other can’t be denied as much as they try to deny it.

There are many layers to go into it, and many songs can explore that trope.

I'm throwing my hat in the ring with some songs that fit the tragic storyline.

If you are writing a story with two characters that are in a doomed relationship, I hope these songs help your storyline

Real Love by Beach house

Most of the songs in this storyline usually have a dark tune or compose of dark lyrics to add to the tragedy. This song fits the troupe solely because of the heartbreak of perspective and understanding the pain of the other.

In some stories, the villain does have preset tragedy in his origin. The actions don't justify the reasons he chose a darker path, but the pain still exists with him on that evil path.

I can imagine a villain and an innocent woman or man falling in love because the protagonist understands the pain of the villain's past. The villains we get are created from their tragedy. This song can be used from the perspective of the innocent one that understands why the person they love became a villain. They know the backstory of the tragedy.

Lust For Life by Lana Del Rey & The Weeknd

Lana De Rey's songs are like the manual on how to write a doomed relationship. One of Lana Del Rey's themes is self-sabotage, she is aware that her partner is toxic, she never thinks too into the future, and she's too busy living in the present.

her character in these songs is a woman that chooses these terrible relationships that won't have a happy ending. You can choose ANY Lana Del Rey song like Serial Killer, Dark Paradise, or Once Upon A Dream that can fit this trope, but this one doesn't get the recognition. This song is a good fit to surmise that they know the future is bleak for them, but they’ll enjoy having this moment in their life together.

Losing My Religion by BeLL

This cover of the original R.E.M. song definitely covers that feeling of being stripped of your barriers. The villains that we read about or watch on TV have a level of tragedy in them that, despite getting back to the world that didn’t understand them, deep down a part of them does want to be understood. This cover by BeLL of the iconic REM song does make you feel the weight of the frustrations that they have together in a world that failed them both.

Disappearing by The War On Drugs

This is the song for the storylines involving the idea of the aftermath.

Let’s say…the villain is defeated in the end, what happens if he had someone he loved? Would she still wait for him?

it's a song that doesn't have much context because the music provides an unspoken answer.

Devotion by Hurts

This last song I want to throw into the mix is one of my favorites. When I first thought about the trope of a woman, falling in love with the villain. I thought about the shock and the heartbreaking acceptance that it was too late, she’s already fallen for him, and she accepts that it was his choice. The song comes to mind from Hurts. And to love someone like a villain that has a heartbreaking past and decisions that he can’t take back, and she takes all of that for him because it’s what you do for the one you love that you take all of that person. Unfortunately, in real life, when we know someone has done something bad, we have to stay away from them, but in the fictional sense, there is sympathy and empathy that we know why they are devoted to them. The song encapsulates that feeling of how much these two love each other, despite the weight of the world that is going to be against them, and their doomed relationship.