Being a self-proclaimed “sad girl” takes a lot of work, and it’s not about crying your eyes out to Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times” on an endless loop anymore. It’s about putting on Muni Long’s “Made For Me” to watch the autumn leaves wither from green to golden brown—a slow-moving but steady downtempo time of reflection. Like nature, sadness is dynamic; it’s an array of blues, from Taylor Swift’s soul-searching “loml” during brisk sunrise walks to finding late-night honesty in the stars above with Coleman.X’s “I Miss When You Would Hold Me.”
It happens that too often, being a “sad girl” is equated to being heartbroken, which would elicit the oh-so-inappropriate response of playing The Marías’ lush instrumentals of “Echo” and similarly the chamber pop-ification of Clairo, particularly on the trumpet-influenced “Slow Dance,” to inquisitively ruminate on life’s mistakes.
Other times, being a “sad girl” is feeling the wind and doing nothing about it, much like the surf-rock loneliness in Beabadoobee’s “Beaches” and the gritty digital detachment in Caroline Polachek’s “Starburned and Unkissed.” Sad girls also hate the future, either twiddling their thumbs to Oklou’s eerie prophecy on “family & friends” or Hailey Knox’s nostalgic R&B tell-all “Work In Progress” to clear their conscience before sitting in nail-biting silence with their therapists.
There are still many qualifiers to being a “sad girl” and, perhaps, a non-negotiable: dancing away a crying episode before it happens, just shaking it out to Ariana Grande’s pop perfection “we can’t be friends (wait for your love).” But don’t leave out Afrobeat, though, because Tems’ “Free Fall” deserves major “sad girl” points for writing a song about being afraid of being burnt out by love.
And finally, the most essential quality of a true “sad girl” is the ability to be blue to the point it chills your bones. If that’s not possible, Griff’s space-lost ballad “Astronaut” and the intense blossom of Billie Eilish’s “WILDFLOWER” capture the total annihilation of the heart.
With these rules in mind, here are 25 of the saddest songs from 2024 (so far) that will make you weep like an official “sad girl”:
1. “Nice To Meet You” by A.G. Cook
Britpop has never sounded better than in the hands of A.G. Cook. A true visionary of what music can be, the PC Music founder stews in regret and demure longing in this deconstructed deep synth cut.
2. “Beaches” by Beabadoobee
The Filipino-British singer’s new album, This Is How Tomorrow Moves, is an unexpected delight. The dedicated cozy music crooner is now equipped with surf-rock angst that’s constantly flirting from one beach to another in search of company and belonging… and ends up blissfully alone.
3. “Dispose of Me” by Omar Apollo
One of many sobering moments from the Mexican-American singer’s latest album, God Said No, yet this promo single has that extra pang over its contemporaries. “It don’t matter if it was 25 days, it was real love,” he sings over doo-wop strings and manipulated echoes, all painting a bluesy portrait of a broken-hearted guy.
4. “Echo” by The Marías
The triumphant-sounding track is quite ironic to the thesis of their Submarine record, which chronicles the romantic breakup of the band’s frontwoman María Zardoya and drummer-producer Josh Conway. On the third track, María knows that the “situation” is that she cannot let go of her massively flawed relationship. Instead, the track sinks further with every razor-sharp lyric.
5. “B.O.A.T.” by Camila Cabello
“Trying again, too jealous to just be friends,” Cabello sings on the synth ballad, like stumbling out of a Miami nightclub at 7 a.m. Whether it’s the dramatized autotune, lasering Pitbull sample, or reflection-styled lyrics, this pre-C, XOXO teaser is the best of all time for new-age heartbreak.
6. “Free Fall” (feat. J. Cole) by Tems
Don’t know how to set boundaries? Scared of getting burnt out? Tems has been there and done that: ending a relationship is the worst when neither person is the problem—just best for all parties. In true Tems fashion, she unravels this defeat in a lush display of R&B-influenced Afrobeat, with J. Cole offering a male perspective to this young love ordeal.
7. “Dream Sequence” by Jane Remover
When life doesn’t go as planned, Jane Remover creates a guitar rock anthem to pass the time, cranking up the speaker volumes as each minute passes. “Dream Sequence” isn’t a traditional sadness; the longing slowly burns until the post-punk chaos consumes the soul.
8. “Comedown” by Maude Latour
The New York transplant laments her teenage glory days in tribute to a “first love” high school friend who passed away. Latour fuels colorful licks of not-so-innocent happenings like being 16 and not getting carded through a mixture of Marina Diamandis-esque pop sensibilities and a Lorde growl.
9. “Work In Progress” by Hailey Knox
The introductory track to Knox’s For The Best EP is a spider web of anxiety, one from which she attempts to free herself through an impressively intellectual layering of wispy melismas, nostalgic piano, R&B snares, an unshy bassline, and pure vulnerability. It’s a tender confessional up the sleeve of TLC, but completely made for the 21st-century girl.
10. “Astronaut” by Griff
It’s true: boys love to play astronauts, finding that operating from afar gives them emotion-free clarity. Sometimes, though, distance doesn’t make the heart grow fonder, if anything at all. In Griff’s case, the rising English star is having difficulty not feeling defeated by the “space” her partner demands for reinvention. This grandiose piano ballad is the perfect way to vent those frustrations… and wipe a few tears away in the process.
11. “Starburned and Unkissed” by Caroline Polachek
Made for A24’s coming-of-age thriller, I Saw The TV Glow, Caroline Polachek takes an all-too-well stab at digitized love via a “straight-up grunge track” about the feelings of fear and crushing that long-distance relationships often harbor. Polachek, known for her angelic vocal flips, generates an angsty, mournful performance with a rare full-belt vocal delivery.
12. “family and friends” by Oklou
After a three-year wait, the French ambient perfectionist is back with an elusive single. Full of contradictions, methodological ramblings, and purposeful intention, Oklou rests her existential insecurities with family and friends. The manipulated production, a mix of haunting echoes and dotting synthesized percussion, hovers like a looming cloud over her lyrical epiphany, fueling enough mystery to label the track “ominous” rather than “hopeful.”
13. “Tears” (feat. Omah Lay) by Kehlani
Like any feisty R&B songstress, Kehlani will call out any hint of dishonesty and make a banger out of it—“Tears” is no exception. Kehlani isn’t the biggest fan of soft-spoken ballads; she always presses play on zesty deep cuts. This time, she questions her man about club outings over house-influenced Afrobeat. Nigerian singer Omah Lay rides the beat as the male counterpart, spewing nonreassuring rhymes that perpetuate her fears.
14. “I Miss When You Would Hold Me” by Coleman.X
If Troye Sivan’s Blue Neighbourhood and Kim Petras’s Clarity had a baby, it would be Coleman.X’s self-produced record Boy On Ur Mind—a chronicle of their first adolescent heartbreak and its residual painful questionings. “I Miss When You Would Hold Me” is the showpony of his grief, cloaked in an addictive, industrial hyperpop-meets-R&B sound.
15. “WILDFLOWER” by Billie Eilish
“I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, so I kept it to myself” is one of many nuclear lyrics Billie sets off during what could be her best ballad yet. Her wordplay is a samurai sword slicing through insecurities as she ruminates on comforting a girl after a difficult breakup. Over four minutes, the track blossoms from soft-spoken introspection to a cathartic belting episode that just feels right.
16. “Made For Me” by Muni Long
There’s no heartbreak without love, and Muni Long imbues a Mariah Carey-level penmanship where even the most joyous love feels out of reach. Technically, the piano-driven powerhouse single was released in 2023. Yet, its acclaim has steamrolled into 2024 with a feature from The Songbird Supreme, award show performances, and a top placement on her fourth studio album, Revenge.
17. “FIREFLIES” by Doechii
On Alligator Bites Never Heal, the Tampa-born MC proves she isn’t a one-flow pony and etches “wordsmith” next to every out-of-pocket bar delivered. “FIREFLIES” also proves her punchlines are bedroom-approved as she asks the lightning bug to keep shining all night until the “love drug” gives both participants closure.
18. “Robbed” by Rachel Chinouriri
“There was a baby in our family who passed away, and I felt like I was robbed of them,” the South London singer told Apple Music. This entry is perhaps her most poetically damaged indie ballad among the 14 tracks on her sophomore album, What A Devastating Turn of Events—an unforsaken postcard of coming-of-age and hardcore adulting. “We were perfect strangers, one life torn into two. […] You were robbed of summer; I was robbed of you,” she chimes atop a bluesy shoo-doo-wop, composed almost acoustically.
19. “Slow Dance” by Clairo
Clairo and 70s chamber pop are a match made in heaven. The symphony components of her junior effort, Charm, utterly blur the line between love and loss. However, the enamored woodwinds of “Slow Dance” bring forth a melancholic torch song about an unfaithful lover laced with pungent trumpets and dreadful confrontations.
20. “Keep That To Yourself” by Tristan
Olivia Rodrigo is raising a whole new generation of singer-songwriters, and Tristan is the latest superstar byproduct of sapphic lyrics with a pop-rock itch. “If your feelings come back the minute you see me, hope it hurts […] hope you finally grieve me,” she softly lashes at her ex, destined to one-up the tormentor till the end of time.
21. “Sharpest Tool” by Sabrina Carpenter
According to Short n’ Sweet producer Jack Antonoff, “Sharpest Tool” is his favorite track from pop music’s newest magnum opus. What Carpenter describes as an “interesting corner of the album” is a long-lost sister to “Tornado Warnings” and rich in storyboarding the second-guessing stage of post-romance. The sweet “we never talk about it” refrain alone dusts the track in a wondrous shimmer.
22. “Bored” by Laufey
On the Goddess Edition of the Icelandic crooner’s highly acclaimed sophomore album, Bewitched, her vocal jazz incantations—partly influenced by Billie Holiday and Chet Baker—flavor every track with a smoky sense of impending doom, particularly on “Bored,” which calls out a narcissistic lover. “And maybe you’re just way too vain to be interesting,” she muses. “Baby, keep talkin’, but nobody’s listening. Don’t mean to walk out the door, but, baby, I’m bored.”
23. “loml” by Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift loves to play with people’s feelings. This time, the pop titan rebrands the “love” of a well-known romantic IM acronym to read “loss of my life” by dragging her ex-boyfriend (supposedly Joe Alwyn) through a muddy ballad with once rose-colored imagery that’s now “engulfed in fire.”
24. “I Love You, I’m Sorry” by Gracie Abrams
Nobody is the perfect communicator, and Gracie Abrams hits a lyrical sweet spot in voicing her own shortcomings on “I Love You, I’m Sorry.” Sure, her acoustics are top-tier, and calling herself a “d*ck” was even better, but her raw honesty is a refreshing testament that we can mess up and still mean well.
25. “we can’t be friends (wait for our love)” by Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande is no stranger to dancing through heartbreak. Still, she went deep in her music references, presumably reminiscent of Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend,” to create this Europop-influenced ballad about the blissful ignorance of forbidden love. The music video displayed the same tear-jerking magic of an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-inspired character struggling to let go of the good memories.
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