Greetings. It is 11PM on a Sunday night and I am dying. Normally this doesn’t happen until about 4AM, which is why it’s quite strange. Here are my top emo songs of the year, not necessarily from the year, but of the year. Get ready to go down and get wild. Your local emo (TRUE EMO NOT FAKE EMO LIKE MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE AND AMERICAN FOOTBALL REAL EMO IS PAGENINETYNINE AND BLABLABLA… kidding) is about to show you what true torment in the form of soundwaves and lyrically-induced existential crisis is all about.
1.) Rory
By Foxing
If you want to amp up the pain and get wild with sadness just put this ON. The screaming, coarse, yet somewhat relaxed vocals amp up the feeling of existential torment and unrequited love; the repetition of “Why don’t you love me back” particularly stings — amidst metaphorical clamor, this standout, straightforward part just oozes up all the pain. They will never love you back. It must be known.
Favorite lyrics: “But my hands shake and shudder at the mention / Of half hearted reasons why we’ll only be friends”
2.) Jake’s Apartment
By Head North
Is this really emo? I have no idea. They kind of turn indie folky whatever in their newest album, but regardless, this song is a masterpiece. This is all about being alone. And being sad. Like a lot of other songs. But it shows that sadness well. After a long introductory build-up, it goes into that kind of screaming that you do at 2AM in the bathroom when you feel like nobody loves you because nobody does love you. It’s a nice screaming song with good metaphors bunched up.
Favorite lyrics: “And you’re just the fog that the dawn of reality burned.”
3.) Your Deep Rest
By The Hotelier
Nothing is better than a title that actually means “You’re depressed” right on! Hear it? Your Deep Rest… You’re Deeprest… You’re depressed. Oooh good word play.
This song is so amazing. It’s even better when you watch live performances of it and just hear the crowd singing along the entire time. It took me only four plays to memorize all the depression and anguish within; perhaps the only greater sadness than being along from the very beginning is losing someone that was your only other person. It is isolation. It is desperation. It is reclamation. It is regret. This song captures the anguish in living, the futility after the storm, and why we must keep going — and at times, it is almost entirely convincing to do so, but perhaps we still do not. Even if we’re condemned to sadness in the start, let us not fall victim to it.
Favorite lyrics: All of it.
4.) Seven
By I Would Set Myself on Fire For You
There are only few things that I am 100% thankful for. Modern day computing, Allen Ginsberg, and the Believes in Patterns album. A melancholic, nearly seven minute tirade of rage, fuel, peace, pain, and everything in between — few songs are pieced together so strangely yet so mellowly that stick to me so easily. From the sudden blast of guitar bits (I do not know how to describe music sounding thingies) toying with strings before going onto the repetition… We will never know what 49531 583 6713 is, but we will forever remember it.
Favorite lyrics: “The text will tell the truth.”
5.) I Am a Snail, and You Are a Pace I Cannot Match
By empire! empire! (i was a lonely estate)
Sometimes, when the band title is so utterly pretentious you can tell that their music is also going to be as pretentious and juicy. The lull and sleepy vibes of this song mixed with its confessional vocals (which are just so good, I can’t really piece why but they’re uniquely perfect and make me sad all around) with its Plyrics page written in lowercase is recipe for formulaic emo. Protection, unwarranted distance, the isolation and desperation from misconstrued love, and of course, a deep longing that remains pervasive throughout. Also I am lonely.
Favorite lyrics: “like, ‘there was nothing more that we could do.’ or that i still loved you (when nothing could be further from the truth)…”
6.) Welcome to Castle Irwell
By Crywank
FIRST LVOE DOES NOT MEAN BES TLOVE AND BEST FIRENDS MAY NOT MEAN BEST FRIENDS FOREVER BUT THEY BOT MEAN AT SOME PPOINT SOMEWHERE SOMEONE DID CARE. Alternatively, aside from pretentious band names, when the artist is named something as gloriously as Crywank, you can tell that it’s going to be good. This song is literally just pure, unadultered unrequited regret and agony. There is so much that you can feel in the vocals — it’s all there, the rawness of the pain, the sharp tinge of love. If my internal monologue matched the tone of my existential crisis, then this is what it would’ve sounded like during my SAT Physics subject test. It’s that raw.
Favorite lyrics: “First love does not mean best love.”
6.) The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
By Brand New
We don’t sleep on classics. Going back to 2003, I recount how Brand New had converted a niche portion of the teenage public into utter messes; simply because they had captured the self-deprecating hatred and regret that we all feel bottled up inside, and shot it down seven times to rub the pain in. Anyone who has ever felt detrimental to the ticking continuum of the world–like their presence generally worsens the world each and every second– or that perhaps they are hated by virtually everyone they had ever known has related to this song. What sets this song apart–however– is how it’s so confessional and selfless. It is indeed, wallowing in self-pity, but it does so for non-contrived reasons — which is pretty important when in general, most songs of this nature blame everyone but oneself; which is a nice change and of course, redirects the blame to our own being and makes us a bit more loathesome.
Favorite lyrics: “And if it makes you less sad, we’ll start talking again.”
7.) Haruka Kanata
By ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
A classic.
8.) Never Meant
By American Football
Yeah okay sure, American Football isn’t “real emo” copypasta does prevail around the internet but it doesn’t negate the fact that they are darn good. This makes me want to lay down on my bed and think about how I suck and cry and how things could have been a lot better.
Favorite lyrics: This song is so vibey that I often forget it has lyrics. Anyway, “When we realized
We were falling out of love.”
I don’t know what the purpose of writing this was. I think I’ll add more. Enjoy.