17 Songs About Crying & Tears
Crying is a normal human response to a wide range of emotions that has a number of health and social benefits such as pain relief and self-soothing. Humans produce three types of tears which basal (keep the eyes moist), reflex (triggered by irritants) and emotional (in response to a range of emotions). Below is a list of songs that talk about crying and tears:
1. Camila Cabello – Crying In The Club
The song is Camila’s first solo single but did not feature on her debut album Camila. It is generally about uplifting yourself after a downfall. Camila believes a club is a place for celebrating and not for being upset. This is to encourage her to enjoy the present moment.
Camila stated that writing about her pain helped her start her healing process and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Despite singing about the club, she despises them in real life because of all the screaming involved.
2. Fergie – Big Girls Don’t Cry
This is the tenth track from Fergie’s debut studio album The Dutchess. It ended up becoming the third number-one single from the album thus making Fergie the first female artist to have three number-one singles from a single album since Christina Aguilera got the record seven years prior.
Fergie drew her inspiration from her recent breakup with her boyfriend due to the relationship becoming long-distance. She was still in love with her ex but the circumstances she was in left her having to straighten out her own life.
3. Justin Timberlake – Cry Me A River
This is Justin’s second single from his debut album, Justified (2002). It was inspired by his former relationship with fellow singer Britney Spears. He uncovered her alleged affair with Wade Robson when he discovered a note in Britney’s room in February 2002 on the night that the two pop stars were scheduled to appear on SNL.
Britney tried to make amends but Justin was too angry to reconcile. ‘Cry me a river’ is a hyperbole (an exaggerated claim to state a point). He tells Britney to do so since he has already grieved the loss of the relationship.
4. Taylor Swift – Teardrops On My Guitar
The track is about the unrequited love Taylor Swift felt for classmate Drew Hardwick. She said that Drew would often ask her for advice and date ideas for his girlfriend and being a good friend, Taylor would give her many good ideas.
Taylor would hide her feelings and end up being nothing more than friends with Drew. She would cry at night because of these feelings hence the use of the term ‘teardrops on my guitar’.
5. Lana Del Rey – Pretty When You Cry
This is the 7th track from Ultraviolence. Lana sings about a guy who she will do everything for even though she isn’t sure if he is coming back for her. She justified his poor treatment of her and when they are together he makes her feel special and beautiful.
Lana is tired of her lover’s inconsistency and inability to commit despite his promises. She pleads with him to stop stringing her along since he knows he is unable to sustain the relationship.
6. Jay Z – Song Cry
This is an emotional ballad where Jay Z describes the pain of a long-term relationship ending mainly due to his professional schedule and random hookups. His pride and masculinity don’t allow him to show his emotions visibly hence is using tear-jerking lyrics to do it.
Jay Z revealed that he drew inspiration from three different relationships rather than a specific girl. In an interview about the song he stated, “It’s about a guy who isn’t fully ready to commit, but the girl he’s with, he really loves her, you know? And he wants to be with her. So what happens is, she’s sick of putting up with his stuff and she finally moves on to another relationship, and he’s crushed. But even after all that, his pride won’t allow him to cry”
7. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry
This is the lead single from Ariana’s fourth studio album, Sweetener and was her first track after taking a hiatus from performing in the 2017 Manchester bombing attack.
Ariana is asking people to join her in using love to fight hatred and show sympathy to those who were affected. She is now ready to be happy and get over the PTSD she had suffered.
8. Sia – Big Girls Cry
The track is from her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear. Lyrically, in addition to showing her emotions, Sia wants the world to feel them. Ever since she got famous in the music industry, her life has been busy and hectic thus making it difficult to settle down in a relationship. At the end of the day, she is just on her own.
9. August Alsina – Song Cry
August reflects on the pains that fame can’t fix such as the death of his brother. At the time, he also didn’t speak with his mother anymore and his family has become divided.
August echoes the words from Jay Z’s 2003 track Song Cry which has the lines:
I can’t see ‘em coming down my eyes
So I gotta make the song cry”
We can see him crying in public unlike Jay Z and still wants to cry through his song.
10. Bullet For My Valentine – Tears Don’t Fall
This is the fourth single from the band’s first full-length studio album, The Poison. It peaked at #24 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Charts and #32 on the Top Modern Rock Charts. It ended up winning the Kerrang Award for Best Single.
The guy in the song can’t seem to get things right with the girl he loves and he keeps thinking about the affair he is having.
11. Guns N Roses – Don’t Cry
This is a melodic ballad off their 1991 album Use Your Illusion 1. Axl described the song as being about a woman leaving a man. The girl is someone who Izzy Stradlin once dated and Axl was attracted to. He really liked this girl but things couldn’t work out between them which really hurt him and inspired him to write the track. He started crying when she was telling him goodbye while she was telling him ‘don’t cry’.
12. The Weeknd – Save Your Tears
The Weeknd talks about his past relationships and recollects the experiences they went through together with his ex but doesn’t provide emotional support for her. Fans speculated that some of the lines in the song could be directed at his ex Bella Hadid whom he dated from 2015 to 2019.
Abel admits to abandoning his former relationship when he is having problems but is trying to figure out why he reacts like this when issues between them become difficult to handle. He acknowledges it is insensitive of him to desert her.
13. Carrie Underwood – Cry Pretty
The song is about Carrie Underwood’s journey of coming to terms with herself and her difference in appearance after an accident she had. She fell on the steps of her home and had to receive around 50 stitches on her face.
In the track, she exposes her vulnerability and insecurities. Her aim is to enable others to feel comfortable doing the same. She asks her listeners to join her in embracing their emotions even when they don’t feel pretty.
14. Melanie Martinez – Cry Baby
The track is about people who are extremely sensitive and tend to be upset easily hence ending in tears. In an interview with Vice, Melanie had this to say about the song:
I am Cry Baby. It’s very hard to separate myself from the character. It’s still something that I’m trying to figure out. I knew that I wanted the album to be called Cry Baby for the longest time and my main reason for it was because I was teased as a kid for being super emotional and I took things way too seriously.
15. Eric Clapton – Tears In Heaven
Eric wrote the track as a way of mourning his 4-year-old son, Conor, who died after accidentally falling from a 54-storey apartment. In it, he wonders what it would be like to interact with him when he saw him in heaven. He uses the phrase ‘no more tears in heaven to symbolize that there will be no more pain and suffering.
16. Usher – I Cry
Usher cries for the sons who have lost their fathers to police brutality, social injustice and violence. He recognizes how painful it is for the mothers who lose a child and the wives who lose a husband. He won’t stop crying until there’s change. He added that change starts on an individual level through self-reflection and is questioning if he is willing to go outside his own comfort to help.
17. Adele – Cry Your Heart Out
In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Adele shared that the song describes the time after her divorce when she felt like her whole world had ended and she became extremely depressed and lethargic. She admits that crying and outpouring is healthy and helped her come out of that state of mind.
The track is part of the album 30. It debuted at #44 on Billboard’s Hot 100.