Crying Hours- A Playlist By Megan Shiells

You know what’s one of the best experiences you could ever have totally alone? Turning off the lights, lighting a candle, putting your headphones on, putting on your sad playlist and having a good old fashioned cry. In these times, it can be easy to feel alone and just wanting to isolate yourself even more by sitting alone in your room crying. It doesn’t have to be about anything in particular, most of the time for me I just feel so empty. In order to truly feel that emptiness and sadness, personally, I listen to sad songs so I can feel something and think about the lyrics other people are singing and feel what they’re feeling while singing. This is just a long winded way of me taking you through my playlist called “Crying Hours.” I’m not going to dissect every song on the playlist, just ones that have been hitting a little different these days.

“Arrival of the Birds” - The Cinematic Orchestra and London Metropolitan Orchestra

Starting off with a banger in the classical relm, one song that will hit me right in the feels every single time is “Arrival of the Birds” by The Cinematic Orchestra and London Metropolitan Orchestra. This song is perfect if you just want to lie down in a dark room and think about life. There are no words in this song, and you don’t need any. This song can be interpreted in any way you want. It is simply stunning and deserves your ear.

“Burn Slowly/I Love You” - The Brazen Youth

I’ll be often, I found this song when I was watching a compilation of dog videos on Twitter and had a breakdown. This song, paired with videos of cute dogs being happy and being themselves brought me to tears. The “Burn Slowly” part of the song is kind of weird to start off with, I don’t really understand the first part and with some research I’d probably find that out but I can’t be bothered. The “I Love You” literally just makes me feel like I’m falling in love with someone and since that’s never gonna happen, I’ll live vicariously through this song.

“Don’t Stop Believin” - Glee Cast (Originally by Journey)

I feel like this is where all my credibility in this post goes out the window. Say what you want, Glee basically owns this song. I remember when Glee aired again on Netflix and I couldn’t make it past the first episode without crying. Glee helped me a lot when I was younger, I’ve been a ‘Gleek’ since 2009 and there is literally no show like Glee. Which is most likely for the best since looking back...it’s very problematic. Aside from all that, “Don’t Stop Believin’” just empowers me, it feels like a warm hug, it’s comforting, which, when you’re crying, makes you cry more. (At least in my experience). You cannot look me in the eye and tell that the opening to this song doesn’t give you chills.

“Home” - Ella Eyre

I hadn’t heard this song in such a long time and suddenly remembered it when I was feeling very homesick. In August of 2019 I moved out of my small Highland village and went to Glasgow for college. In all honesty, the first 4 months were amazing. I truly felt myself, I was making friends and being independent. When I came back after the Christmas holidays, everything was upside down. The friends I made had moved on and we weren’t as close anymore. I longed to go to college to be around people and not be cooped up in the bedroom in my flat. I had about one friend at the time and it was quite a toxic friendship. I felt very homesick and all I would want to do is go home and see my Mum. I remembered this song from my days as an avid Ella Eyre stan. I remember her saying that this was a song she wrote when she was in Uni and feeling homesick too. I listened to it one lonely Thursday night when I could hear my flatmates in the kitchen, playing music, making dinner etc. I don’t really want to spoil the song, I’d just highly recommend it to those of you who might still be living away from home to listen to this song. I didn’t appreciate my home until I left it and when I needed home comforts the most.

“On the Radio” - Chip Taylor

I blame me crying to this song on my poor mental health. Fans of the Netlix show “Sex Education” might recognise this song from Season 2’s final episode. I didn’t cry because of what was happening in the show, the lyrics “we cry until we laugh and we laugh until we cry” really just made me sob. It’s such a simple song but, like “Don’t Stop Believin’”, it’s comforting. I feel like I’m lying outside, looking at the stars, with my friends, camping or whatever. It reminds me of a life and a feeling I want to have, and I’m crying because that will never happen.

“Somewhere Only We Know” - Lily Allen

I’d like to cast your mind back to Christmas time 6 years ago. The newest John Lewis Christmas advert had just come out and told the story of the “Bear and the Hare.” Even at age 12, I understood the weight and emotions in that song. Now, at age 18, it makes me cry like a bitch. Again, it reminds me of home, walking my dog and just being with my mum and brother. It calms me down while simultaneously makes me cry so bloody much. Words can’t explain how this song makes me feel, because I don’t even know how it makes me feel.

I realise now I am so bad at explaining how I feel about these songs. Here’s a brief list of some honorable mentions: “I Loved You” by Day6, “Starlings” by Elbow, “Grace” by Florence and the Machine, “Lonely” by Jonghyun, just to name a few.

In short, I love all these songs with my heart and they all make me so overwhelmed with emotions I can’t even explain it. These songs all deserve a listen regardless of what mood you’re in.