10 Songs About Suicide

According to the WHO, more than 700,000 people die due to suicide every year. Many happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses such as financial problems, illness, mental health, relationship issues, bullying etc. Suicides are preventable and a number of measures can be taken to prevent various attempts.

Below is a list of songs that touch on the topic of suicide:

1. Rascal Flatts – Why

Rascal is seeking a reason why the persona had to take his own life and shares that he had no clue of the struggles he was going through mentally. He also wonders if there was anything he could have done.

 

2. Whitney Houston – I Look To You

The song managed to reach #70 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is basically about giving up after getting tired of fighting.

 

3. Linkin Park – Breaking The Habit

Mike Shinoda wrote the song after getting inspired by his friend’s drug addiction. The protagonist of the song has given up on finding out the answers to any of the questions he might have had. The only way to break the habit is to die.

 

4. Logic feat Alessia Cara, Khalid – 1800

Logic shows that suicide is never the answer to anyone’s problem. He want people to know there is help available at any given moment and they can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Logic said that the song details the story of someone calling the NSPL wanting to commit suicide but after a conversation he decided otherwise.

 

5. Billie Eilish – Listen Before I Go

The song is centered around suicide. Eilish warns her lover to hurry up and listen before she kills herself. The song is not necessarily about her life but just an artifact of her songwriting process.

 

6. Owl City – This Isn’t The End

The song features a story of a little girl whose father commits suicide when she is very young. He ends with a positive message of not giving up and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

7. Metallica – Fade To Black

This is a ballad about a man that wants to commit suicide and eventually does it. It was inspired by James Hetfield’s first Marshall amplifier which his mother helped him get before she died.

 

8. Katelyn Tarver – You Don’t Know

This is a heartfelt song about the struggle with depression. A lot of times when people with depression talk to others about it, they’ll tell them it takes times and that you have to wait. Katelyn states that she is tired of waiting since nothing is getting better.

 

9. Eminem – Going Through Changes

Eminem describes his life which was full of overeating, daytime napping, pill addiction and sorrow triggered by the loss of his childhood friend Proof.

 

10. Blink 182 – Adam’s Song

Blink-182 describes a young boy’s suicide note. In the end he decides not to go through with it.