Kat Says: “When You’ve Got A Heart Of Glass, You’ve Just Got To Let It Burn’”

The top 10 breakup anthems getting me through the day right now.

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Hey Friends,

Thanks for all the great feedback on my breakup essay. It’s scary being so vulnerable and personal on here. You don’t know if it’s going to land for people, or if they’re just going to think you kind of egotistical and boring lol, so I was really touched to hear how it sent some of you down your own relationship memory lanes. 

As always, it means the most when you reach out and share with me what it brings up for you. With that in mind, I’m keeping this love train going with a list of my favorite heartbreak anthems, most of which have played a pretty instrumental part in my path to reintegrate with singlehood.

Some of these songs are total breakup classics. Others you may not have even noticed were about breaking up at all. Special honorary mention to Neil Sedaka’s 1960 jam “Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do.” It’s one of my all-time favorite songs and I think about it like, every morning, because I often sing to myself “Waking Up Is Hard To Do” when I don’t want to get out of bed. Now you will also sing that in the am! Congratulations!

Now, onto the official list:

Blondie - “Heart of Glass” (1978)

For whatever reason, this was the first song I wanted to listen to once I stopped blubbering like I was dying on my friend’s couch. I mustered the courage to hit the streets and have a beer at the bar down the street, and all I wanted was Debbie Harry talking about “Once I had a love and it was a gas / Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass.” This tune is as upbeat as it is real, the exact kind of rhythm you need to peel your sorry self off the pavement and back out into the world. God save the real queen of dance punk.

Empire of the Sun - “We Are The People” (2008)

For some reason, this was the next song that popped into my head when I wanted to jam out to breakup vibes, and I wasn’t even thinking about it in those terms. I have a strong love for Empire. This duo has created some of the most luscious melodies ever born into indie (and the live show is not to be missed). This cut from 2008’s seminal LP Walking On A Dream is full of bittersweet nostalgia and backward glances at better times. Luke Steele’s voice isn’t the easiest to tune into lyrically, what with all those incredible layers of psychedelic echo, but if you do pay attention to the chorus, it is full of the fear of losing one’s love, but it’s laced with the hope that you’ve got to keep moving forward regardless. That’s why I think it deserves to be on this list and on your next (hopefully never?!) breakup playlist.

Avicii - “Without You” (2017)

Seeing as how I was dumped mid EDM nostalgia train, it’s no real surprise that Avicii’s big-room breakup-pop anthem came to mind. It’s another rosy melody considering how sad the story of its lyrics, but that was truly Avicii’s strong point. Sandro Cavazza delivers a strong vocal performance to match the Swede’s somewhat manic synth chorus—and really, isn’t there something manic in the move-on phase of a breakup? The best part is when Cavazza’s message of strength in the face of letdown just kinda derails into reality and he’s like “fuck, I’m going on without you.” Like, I felt that. Hopefully you do, too.