14 Songs About Getting & Staying Sober
The most difficult step in sobriety is often the first and it can seem intimidating to look at the end goal and know how many steps it will take. Sobriety is more than just giving up drugs or alcohol but an ongoing process that requires a commitment to a substance-free life. Below is a list of songs about getting & staying sober.
1. Mitchell Tenpenny – Drunk Me
The track is about a guy who was left by his girlfriend because he was a drunk. He is trying to get her to forgive him but she won’t do it until he ends his drunken ways. He tells her that ever since she left, he hasn’t stopped thinking about her and has even stayed sober all through.
The song is part of the album Telling All My Secrets (2018).
2. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Starting Over
This is from the album The Heist (2012). Macklemore raps about his relapse after being clean from cough syrup for over three years. Ever since he overcame drugs, the public has put him in the category of someone against drugs and now since he has relapsed he feels they will be ashamed they believed in him and made him their source of motivation.
Macklemore thought his addiction to codeine had gone after he had stayed clean for 3 years but after relapsing he realized that it was with him the entire time. Now he has to start all over again.
3. James Arthur – Recovery
In this single, we see James talk about his past struggle with addiction and describe the benefits of recovering. When he was still abusing, he would smoke 15 joints before going to bed.
The song peaked at no 19 on the UK Singles Chart.
4. Demi Lovato – Sober
In a number of interviews, Demi has admitted to battling drug addiction and alcohol addiction. She had stayed for 6 years sober as of 2018 and at that time admitted to using drugs while promoting a sober lifestyle back in 2012. She often used cocaine and Xanax then went ahead to fake her urine tests.
Demi had prided herself in being a role model and being open with her fans about addiction and sobriety. Her recent relapse makes her feel like she has been a bad influence on her followers.
5. G Eazy feat Charlie Puth – Sober
G Eazy dedicated this track to finding the balance between drinking for fun but also being able to avoid the mistakes that come about with overindulging. He says his rockstar lifestyle is unpredictable and can go too far any time. The intoxication that he constantly finds himself in is what he fears may eventually kill him. He is simply trying to keep his head on straight and live in moderation.
6. Pink – Sober
The song is off Pink’s fifth studio album Funhouse. It peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 hence becoming her second Top 20 single from her album. Speaking to MTV, she had this to say about the track:
‘I wrote a song called “Sober”, which is actually really dark. I was at a party at my own house, I didn’t want to be there, I didn’t want anyone else there. And I had this line in my head saying, ‘How do I feel this good sober?’, it’s not just about alcohol, it’s about vices, we all have different ones. We try to get away from ourselves, and find our ‘true selves’ and then we do these things that take us so far from the truth, I guess that ‘Sober’ is ‘How do I feel this good when it’s just me, without anything to lean on?’
7. Demi Lovato – Dancing With The Devil
The song dives deep into Demi’s struggle with addiction and touches on her near-fatal overdose in July 2018. To ‘dance with the devil’ means to engage in risky or reckless activities. She started out with red and white wine which she felt was harmless but this led to her craving other harder drugs. She took aftermarket pills that were likely laced with fentanyl and this led to her suffering three strokes.
Over the years, Demi has been trying to stay sober but has relapsed a number of times.
8. Amy Winehouse – Rehab
This is the lead single on the album Back To Black. In it, Amy refuses to go to a rehabilitation center to help take care of her drug and alcohol problem. In the end, she checked into a rehab center in early 2008 and left just in time for the 50th Grammy Awards where she took home a Grammy for Song of The Year, Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of The Year, all thanks to this track.
9. Kelly Clarkson – Sober
“It’s about living without your addiction, whatever it- thus not necessarily drugs, alcohol etc. That the temptation is there but you might resist it” stated Kelly when asked about the song. The line ‘picked all my weeds but kept the flowers’ was given to her by her friend Calamity McEntire. It means she is taking all the bad people out of her life and keeping the good ones.
This track recounts a lost woman finding herself. She finally came to the realization that if she continued on the same path she would wake up one day and find that she let all the years go by wasted.
The song peaked at number on on the US Hot Country Songs Billboard chart.
11. Taylor Swift – This Is Me Trying
Taylor Swift accepts fault for the issues that occurred in the relationship she had and is making an effort to repair them. Fear, alcohol and isolation complicate the healing process but she is willing to take the first step by having the humility to admit things are difficult and uncertain.
12. Linkin Park – Breaking The Habit
The song is from their 2003 album Meteora and was written by Mike Shinoda. He had been inspired by his friend’s drug addiction. Chester was unable to perform it live because it made him feel too emotional because of the parallels between himself and the narrator.
The subject of the song is battling mental health and feels like nothing can cure it but drugs. However, he feels shame in it and just wants a way out.
The co-writer of the song, Richi Supa, revealed that the song originated from a Narcotics Anonymous meeting he had attended.
I told Steven Tyler this woman stood up at a meeting and said: ‘I kept the right ones out and let the wrong ones in,’ and he said, ‘yeah, I had an angel of mercy to see me through all my sin,’
14. Anna Clendening – Relapse
Anna reveals that she fell into depression after going broke and having to drop out of college. She ended up moving back home to try and figure herself out. She got lost in her problems and started cutting herself and drinking. It took her two years to get back to where she started and overcome her alcohol addiction.