21 Songs About Being Taken For Granted (Unappreciated)
Everyone deserves some appreciation from their partner but sometimes you find yourself in a situation where your partner doesn’t appreciate you. No matter how much effort you put in the relationship, it doesn’t make a difference. If you are in such a situation here is a list of songs you can resonate with:
1. Beyonce – Irreplaceable
It has been described as the ultimate kiss off song. In the song, she destroys the guy who was playing with her mind since he thought he was irreplaceable. He is just a disposable guy who she can replace in less than a minute.
The song is part of the album B’Day (2oo6) and was certified 3x platinum by the RIAA.
2. Drake feat Rihanna – Too Good
This song is about a couple who go out of their way to treat each other well while they feel their love is taken for granted. In the first verse, Drake starts by telling his partner that he is unsure how to connect with his girl emotionally and reveals he doesn’t know how to be there when she needs it. In the chorus, he thinks he is giving too much to an ungrateful lover.
In Rihanna’s part, she sings that she feels like she’s putting in way too much work and she’s getting sick of it. Her lover is ever flying her out to see him but she still has the challenge of getting across to him emotionally.
3. Cardi B – Be Careful
Cardi was issuing a public warning to her partner that she will walk away if he doesn’t value her and continued to sleep around with other women. She is warning him to be aware of what he has done. In her personal life, Cardi warned her husband Offset at the Holiday Hip Hop Festival by citing the final lines of Beyonce’s “Don’t Hurt Yourself”.
Cardi tries to give a word of advice to her partner by stating that nothing can compare to her love for him and that if he loses her, all the fortune won’t mean much since he won’t be able to share it with her anymore.
4. Fifth Harmony – Don’t Say You Love Me
This is a song from their final self-titled album. It’s about a woman wanting more from her partner other than just empty words. She wants more actions to accompany the promises that he keeps making. She is tired of faking that she is okay since there is definitely something missing.
The track is part of Fifth Harmony’s final album that was self-titled.
5. Beyonce – If I Were A Boy
The woman in the song has been taken for granted but at the same time, she doesn’t want to let go and lose everything which she had. In the end, she has to decide whether she won’t take him back or continue hoping that someday he will realize what he has been doing to her and change to be better.
“If I Were A Boy” also sheds light on the double standards that often exist between men and women.
6. Beyonce – Hold Up
In the song, Beyonce asks her partner to state where his intention to figure out where his loyalties even if it will make her go crazy. This is due to his recent strange behaviors.
Beyonce also adds various hints of cheating throughout the song. Hence she ends up asking him to stop and think about who really has his back. She compares her love to the whole host of his groupies.
7. Cherish – Unappreciated
The song is about how this girl feels like she isn’t important in her relationship anymore. The singer admits that things between her and her man have changed and concedes that she’s no longer important in his life as he acts as if she’s not there.
8. Rihanna – Work
Rihanna seeks a deep meaningful connection however her man is only interested in sex. She is fed up and wants to make their relationship more than just bedroom matters. Drake on the other hand asks his hardworking partner to come home and show him some love.
Work debuted at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually climbed up to the top spot after three weeks. It spent a total of nine weeks at the top spot on the chart.
9. Enrique Iglesias – Taking Back My Love
This is the second single from Enrique’s second single from his album Greatest Hits and was produced by RedOne.
The track discusses themes of dishonesty and misleading relationships. Kehlani thought the relationship would be the one but in the end, it wasn’t as nice as she believed in the beginning. She had trusted the other party would care for her emotions while still respecting these feelings were her own but the faith was misplaced.
It is part of the album While We Wait (2019).
11. Bone Thugs, Mariah – Lil Love
12. Mariah Carey – Shake It Off
The song is off the album The Emancipation of Mimi. Mariah sings about a man whom she loves who just keeps playing games with her. She has had enough of that and wants to shake him off and find someone who appreciates all the love she gives.
This is a self-empowerment anthem where Selena recognizes the value in herself that her partner doesn’t see. We also get to see vibes of independence and self-love. Selena stated that she had struggled with self-esteem and confidence for so long and was constantly seeking validation from her partner. Currently, she is seeing more and more value in herself plus knows she has something different than everyone else that she can offer her partner.
During an interview with Apple Music, she had this to say:
Rare actually is a word that sums up what the purpose of my position is, which is letting people know that they are completely unique within who they are. That’s the biggest thing, right? It’s like, they don’t fit in, or they feel like they need to be a certain way… it’s very scary to know who they’re looking up to. I think it was such a perfect description of how I think girls, or women, are meant to feel
14. Jorja Smith – Let Me Down
The song is about meaning very little to someone but being okay with that even though it hurts.
15. Jessica Mauboy – Little Things
The track is off the album Stronger with Each Tear. It peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mary J Blige tells her man that he won’t find anyone that treats him better than the way she does. No matter how single he wants to act or how many women he tries to see, he won’t move from what he has at home. She adds that she loves him and urges him not to go looking for other women since she has everything he will ever need right there.
17. Taylor Swift – Tolerate It
The song is about the continuous struggle of wanting love from someone who isn’t even paying attention to anything you do for them. Taylor stated that she wrote it based on a book she was reading by the title of Rebecca.
“When I was reading Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and I was thinking, ‘Wow, her husband just tolerates her. She’s doing all these things and she’s trying so hard and she’s trying to impress him, and he’s just tolerating her the whole time. There was a part of me that was relating to that, because at some point in my life, I felt that way.”
18. Cardi B – Ring
Cardi B collaborates with Kehlani to express their doubts about their partners’ interests. The song, which has themes of infidelity and a tumultuous, is part of Cardi’s debut album Invasion of Privacy. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Lyrically, Cardi is putting her man on blast for not calling her anymore like he used to do before. She feels less loved and wanted because of this.
Adele wrote the track when she felt rage following her divorce from Simon Konecki. She chides her ex for being complacent, lazy and insecure. She also added that he wasted the potential of their relationship and complain about the decisions he made. He refused to activate the life that he truly wanted hence Adele couldn’t find a way to help him.
20. H.E.R – Losing
In this track, H.E.R sings about her frustration caused by her lover who has been acting distant and uninterested. She is tired of the games he is playing and just wishes he would reciprocate her efforts. She still has feelings for him and compares them to being turned to an addict.
21. H.E.R – Damage
The song samples Herb Alpert’s 1987 song ‘Making Love In The Rain’ and is part of H.E.R’s debut album Back Of My Mind. Wilson expresses how she allows herself to be vulnerable in a relationship but doesn’t want to be taken for granted by her lover.
In an interview, she had this to say about the song: “Damage” is really expressing that vulnerability that you have when you like somebody or you’re getting to know somebody in a relationship and you just hope that they won’t do damage. You hope they won’t break your heart.