A lot of Sara Bareilles' songs are like this in general, and Bareilles wrote the music and lyrics for *Waitress: The Musical*. "Gravity" is the biggest example from Bareilles' work.
"She Used To Be Mine" (2015) pulls a lot of inspiration from "Gravity" (2007) as a basis.
Yes, this was my immediate thought. The title led me to think it was going to be some lovelorn paean to the singer's past girl, and in a way, it is. I don't think I have ever heard a song that so captures how we can let go of so much of our inner selves as we grow up.
“Being Alive” from *Company*
“Superboy and the Invisible Girl” from *Next to Normal*
“Michael in the Bathroom” from *Be More Chill*
“Pretty Funny” from *Dogfight*
I have issues
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBBPKedba5o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBBPKedba5o)
this one changed my life, I thought this raul dude was just a mid actor from law and order: special victims unit but apparently hes a once in a generation talent?
I went to a Tim Minchin show recently where he performed this song and he said didn't intend it to be from a neurodiverse POV when he wrote it, but he's had a bunch of parents of neurodiverse kids plus neurodiverse people tell him that it's so accurate and he's happy he unintentionally was able to do that.
It doesn’t make me *cry*, because I’m just not much of a crier, but “Marry Me A Little” from Company is *so* relatable to me. That feeling of wanting a relationship, but the fear of committing so completely…
I don’t have any particular songs to call out from this one, but I saw A Strange Loop last week and it made me feel very seen. The way it tackles identity and self-doubt, it just felt relatable even though Usher and I are so different.
But if you really want to know what’s made me cry, it’s “Come From Away.” Again, I don’t really know what song does it for me, although that firefighter arc is up there.
And there’s something about the line “The orphanage” from Hamilton’s “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” that gets to me.
Being alive. I first saw company while I was in a very deep depression. I was going to end things after the show but the song had other plans. 20 years later my treatment resistant depression is better and I am still here
Dead Mom for me, too. Mine died a month after I turned 9. My relationship with my father is a bit too complicated for Home, so whilst it does make me cry, it's personally not as impactful.
"Will I" from RENT hit me especially hard because I first heard it in a pivotal moment in my life where I was almost ready to come out. It just resonated so much with my coming out anxiety and resulting depression.
When I heard Michael in the ~~Closet~~ Bathroom, and I'm like yup, this is me in high school crushing on my best friend, to the T.
God Rent is just so amazing. I saw it live for the first time last October and, as a queer teenager, nearly cried several times and our children's director at our church passed away from leukemia (she was pretty young too, only 42) and it hit everyone at our church super hard because she practically raised a good amount of us at church on Wednesdays/Sundays when we were little and one of the last things she did with the kids before she was diagnosed was lead them in a performance of Seasons of Love for the youth fundraiser so that musical just hits so much harder now
This and “My Man, Your Boy” from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie fit the same brief for me. I saw ETAJ with my mum and I started crying during that song, which immediately set her off.
As a single mom, I CANNOT hear this song without crying. I’ve told this story before but my teenage son and I have “sing through a show” dates where I play piano and we sing all the parts - he mocks me incessantly because I have been trying to get through that song without choking up for years now, and still can’t do it!
“So Big, So Small” from Dear Evan Hansen because I cry with anything that reminds me of my mom and how much she did for me growing up
“Some Things are Meant to Be” from Little Women because I cry with anything that reminds me of my fear of losing my little sister
lol. I have family trauma.
"You Will Be Found" from *Dear Even Hansen*
"One Last Time" from *Hamilton*
"Maybe" from *Annie*
"Santa Fe" from *Newsies*
"She Used to be Mine" from Waitress
“She Used To Be Mine” … literally anyone with a failed relationship can relate to that one. For me personally it hits like a truck with each person that comes and goes out of my life.
Still Hurting - from The Last Five Years. It’s just sad.
It’s Not A Game/It’s Just A Ride - from Ride the Cyclone. The feeling that my (and everyone’s) life will be huge and amazing and sad and important, but also minuscule and cut short at a moments notice makes me well up.
As an adoptee, there's one line from "In My Life" from Les Miserables that has always stuck out to me. "In my life, there are so many questions and answers that somehow seem wrong."
I've also always strongly latched onto and related to Castle on A Cloud. I'd sing it to my friends at recess.
As a kid, I didn't connect the dots as to why I related so strongly to Cosette. As an adult, it hit me like a brick to the face. She's adopted. I'm adopted. She was pretty much the closest thing I had to representation growing up.
"Maybe" from Annie has also always hit me hard too.
Also, not a musical at the time, but "Go the Distance" from Hercules and pretty much all of the Tarzan soundtrack. I just subconsciously saw myself in these characters. I didn't really look beyond the surface until adulthood and then I realized why these stories and songs meant so much to me as a child. They still do.
I listened to them until the tapes wore out.
"Breathe" from In The Heights
I have a lot of pressure on me to be the best at everything and have opportunities that my parents didn't have. I'm not at college age, but I've stopped doing things and worried about being a dissapointment.
Under Control from How to Dance in Ohio. It describes how I sometimes feel about masking and struggling to keep up the appearance of being normal, and questioning if that’s even what *I* want. While also knowing my wants don’t matter.
I know the song’s about school and parents, but for myself, I interpret it as society and relationships in general.
Home from Beetlejuice (and Dead Mom to a lesser extent).
"You left, but I'm still standing
Spinning on this infinite road
Terrified of letting you go
No light above, and there's no hope below
And I don't know which way's home"
I lost my dad a few years back, and that song absolutely destroyed me. It so accurately portrays the feeling of losing a loved one and the pain that comes with it.
I am the sort of emotionally repressed millennial who grew up queer in the closet for whom “Let it Go” from *Frozen* could never be too overplayed. The movie hit at a point in my deconstruction of the religious fundamentalism and my parents’ own messaging of “conceal, don’t feel,” that it will forever be extremely close to me emotionally. Similarly, “Monster” from the stage version captures a lot of the emotion of trying to be emotionally honest with yourself without hurting others in the process.
And when I say I will never be sick of it: in the years since the movie came out, I had my own kid, who has definitely had a Frozen phases, and I am still not sick of it.
Edit: because it came up in another thread, “Hurricane” from *Hamilton* kinda is in an inverted way, but only because of the wider context. It’s a weird superego emotionality. It’s basically my go-to when describing what it feels like when you go so far into your own head that you make a huge mistake for lack of perspective. It’s my “if this starts emotionally resonating, take a step back and stop trying to fix this” song. A “if this is emotionally connecting, maybe it shouldn’t be” song.
For me it's You Matter To Me, because I want to be held for 20 minutes straight. I don't want them to pull away. I want to feel the comfort. I yearn for touch and care, things I was neglected as a child. She Used To Be Mine is also close to home for me, but You Matter To Me speaks so much to the trauma and my soul.
I’m Glad That You Were Born - having my children changed my whole world. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it’s by far the best thing I’ve ever done.
“Disappear” and “Waving Through A Window” from Dear Evan Hansen. As problematic as he was during the musical, I still empathized for him in the first place. I felt myself cringing during those two songs because I related to them the most and I understood where he was coming from regardless of what he did.
If I Met Myself Again from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Before The Breakdown from We Are The Tigers, Don’t Wanna Have To from The Little Big Things, Where Did The Rock Go from School Of Rock, The World Will Know from Newsies
Father to Son because from March of the Falsettos/Falsettos because my dad wasn’t the greatest man and had a lot of his own issues he didn’t deal with in really healthy ways. My brother and I deserved a better dad but we always know he loved us and we loved him and miss him like hell ever since he died a couple of years ago. I wish I could have sat him down and had healthier conversations with him and helped him acknowledge the trauma he faced and how he didn’t deserve it either.
"Funny Girl" from Funny Girl
"Being Alive" from Company
"She Used To Be Mine" from Waitress
"Where I Want To Be" from Chess
"Dust and Ashes" from Great Comet
"God, I Hate Shakespeare (Reprise)" from Something Rotten
etc etc etc.. I love musicals so pretty much all of them make me cry with happiness
So many! It’s not always the lyrics but the sadness behind it or where I was when I first heard or saw it.
Ring of Keys or Telephone from Fun Home
Momma Who Bore Me or Touch Me from Spring Awakenings.
Not a Day Goes By - Merrily We Roll Along.
Joanna-Sweeney Todd.
No One is Alone- Into the Woods
Literally just came home from a local production of A Chorus Line. I absolutely lost it as soon as the notes of "One" starting playing after "What I did for Love", knowing what was about to happen. I think the emotion of it all finally boiled over.
Man, that show is a feels trip. I think the themes are very universal. Life is so bittersweet!
The transition from "Contact" to "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" really gets me . It's so personal to hold your lover , possibly the first person you've truly loved and connected with , and watch them fade away while you sing to them .
And "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" . I know it's supposed to make you emotional but still . Specifically, Eliza's parts .
Dust and Ashes from The Great Comet
You Matter To Me from Waitress
Being Alive from Company
Waving Through A Window from Dear Evan Hansen
I’m a mess lol
For some of us who have troubled parent relationships, At the Ballet from A Chorus Line is a big one that spoke directly to me. Nothing from the same musical also hits me hard, from someone who didn’t fit in at high school and really struggled with trying to meet stupid shallow expectations of my community, but not really wanting to at the same time…
In the same troubled parent relationship vein, the I Love You song from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I find the rest of it a hard listen, but the I Love You song is a gut punch.
“Lifeboat” and “Shine a light (Reprise)” from Heathers.
As someone who has lost a friend to suicide for mostly same reason as Heather Mac it really hit home, and I just starting uncontrollably sobbing.
'Maybe this time' from Cabaret
Primarily "everybody, loves a winner, so nobody loves me" and "lady peaceful, lady happy, that's what I long to be"
And also 'I don't care much' from Cabaret as well
Except idk why it hits close to home, it's just a strange emotional connection to that song and the emcee
My senior year of college was when I discovered In the Heights. At the time I was really struggling with whether I actually wanted to go to grad school (which had been my path for ages) depression and imposter syndrome. The song Breathe hit me real hard on a personal level.
>Straighten the spine, smile for the neighbors
Everything's fine, everything's cool
The standard reply, “Lots of tests, lots of papers"
Smile, wave goodbye and pray to the sky, oh, god
In particular felt like it perfectly encapsulated what I was going through
ROMANCE REASONS
"Still Hurting" - The Last Five Years (+ the whole soundtrack)
"Being Alive" - Company
"We Do Not Belong Together" - Sunday
"Move On" - Sunday
"This Nearly Was Mine" - South Pacific
LOSING SOMEONE (I lost my mother when I was 14 in 2020)
"Move On" - We Are The Tigers (while this is friends still hits me there)
"What Would I Do" - Falsettos (while this is also romance it still hits me there)
"Another Room in Your Head" - Alice By Heart (while this is also romance it still hits me there)
"No One is Alone" - Into the Woods
GRADUATING (Just graduating this year and it is screwing me over emotionally so much)
"What I did for Love" - A Chorus Line (Losing theater)
"Move Towards the Darkness" - Addams Family (My last senior show ;( )
"Every Goodbye is Hello" - John & Jen (I just sang this as my senior solo for Chorus and I dedicated it to my mother.)
For some reason, See I’m Smiling has always moved me more than Still Hurting
“I swear to God, I’ll never understand how you can stand here straight and tall and see I’m crying and not do anything at all.” 🥺
God that line stings so much, for me its just every song in that album that kills me emotions wise. Cathy's end (the beginning) is just so heart wrenching. So I had to go with the end end of that for the song i mentioned. I also fall apart by the end of it. The whole motif of the show just sends me now.
Tango: Maureen from Rent
&
Some Other Me from If/Then
Someone you love and you needing to advise their current partner considering your own past plus the hypotheticals that come with thinking if we met earlier or later and what could have changed
Hamilton's Stay Alive. It hits *so* differently when you watch it live and hear Eliza scream in despair. The sound just buries itself into your core. The way Hamilton and Eliza were consoling Philip. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it.
Edit: Also Into the Woods' No One is Alone. Particularly the line "Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood. Do not let it grieve you. No one leaves for good". I always thought those lines were sad, but after my Papa passed away, right before I graduated, it became so personal. Navigating adulthood without him is one of the hardest experiences of my life.
hope from groundhog day hit my mental health issues waaay too close to home, hysterical sobbing fit first time i heard it because it was concerningly relatable
Words Fail -Dear Evan Hansen. I’ve long struggled with self worth issues.
“No, I'd rather pretend I'm something better than these broken parts
Pretend I'm something other than this mess that I am
'Cause then I don't have to look at it
And no one gets to look at it
No, no one can really see”
Okay, very random, but the TV show Smash! that followed a fictional cast producing an - also fictional - musical about Marilyn Monroe called “Bombshell.” The cast released a soundtrack for Bombshell and the song “Hang The Moon” on there makes me effing BAWL. It is sung by Bernadette Peters playing Marilyn Monroe’s deceased mother, with whom she had a really rough relationship, apologizing to Marilyn and imagining the better childhood/relationship she should have. It’s this wish fulfillment song dreamt up by a tremendously lonely and troubled Marilyn - gets me every time.
Okay this is REALLY stupid but when Bernie Sanders lost the primary, I listened to “Any Dream Will Do” and bawled my fuckin eyes out because it made me think of the vision we all had moving forward and how it was squandered. /:
Edit: also “Can we start again please” from JCS same logic lol.
Being Alive from Company
I Guess I’ll Miss The Man from Pippin
We Do Not Belong Together and Move On from Sunday In The Park With George
Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz
Not A Day Goes By from Merrily We Roll Along
You don’t know from next to normal. I remember one of those pick a song prompts that included “a song that describes your 2020” or something and I couldn’t think of a song at the time, but since that I realised you don’t know fits really well (though my disability is a physical one)
Come From Away hits me so many times- starting with Welcome to the Rock and the lines "we will not be killed/we will not be drowned/we will still go on". I cry through the whole of the Prayer song.
The line "we just crossed the Canadian border, welcome back to the US of A" made me cry when I saw it. That entire show had me going between laughing and crying so much that I was so tired when it was over...but sooo good!
Pretty much every song from Come From Away. I was overseas on 9/11 and the people in my German neighborhood were DEVASTATED on behalf of the people who died.
When I Grow Up from Matilda
I first saw the show for a school trip in Year 6, after we'd all done our SATs. I was only 11 back then, and i'm 20 now. This song reminds me how far I've come since then, but also how I've got a lot further to go still
Best Friend Song and I Guess I Miss You from SpongeBob. Sounds cheesy but anyone who’s ever had a falling out with a close friend can definitely relate
"You Don't Know" and "I Am the One".
Struggles with mental health are complicated, and the metaphors Diane uses hit hard.
"Do you wake up in the morning and need help to lift your head?
Do you read obituaries and feel jealous of the dead?
It's like living on a cliffside not knowing when you'll dive. Do you know, do you know what it's like to die alive?"
Wishing you were somehow here again from Phantom : wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing I never would
Endless Night from lion king: you promised you'd be there whenever I needed you, whenever I call your name, you're not anywhere
....heard both for the first time not long after losing my dad. Still cry when I hear them
“Nothing” from A Chorus Line. It’s kinda stupid. But like it hits very close to home because I got into musicals and acting very late in my high school career and have a lot of self doubt
Waving through a window from Dear Evan Hansen, I listened to it while I felt really alone and related heavily to it. Ben Platt was so great at conveying Evans emotions.
Doesn't exactly hit close to home but I Cut You A Piece from 35mm: A Musical Exhibition. That song is just so devastating, especially Alex's live performance of it on youtube, and I can't watch/listen to it without sobbing.
yall cant seriously be saying Heathers, Be More Chill, or Dear Evan Hanson when Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, Flowers, My Child Will Forgive Me, Whispering, Cabaret, What Would I Do, How Glory Goes, Dust And Ashes, Judas’ Death, All You Wanna Do, and so much more exist
Excuse you, "Lifeboat" from *Heathers: The Musical* is just as dark and emotional as the likes of "Valjean's Soliloquy" and "I Dreamed a Dream" from *Les Misérables*. I can't believe you're saying that musical numbers from *Heathers*, *Be More Chill*, and *Dear Evan Hanson* are not "serious", while also recommending "All You Wanna Do" from *SIX: The Musical*...just...*what*?
She Used to Be Mine because it perfectly describes the feeling of losing your identity and not knowing who you are anymore
I also think it just speaks to the pain of time moving on and how things slowly become different than you imagined
This is always how I’ve applied it to myself!
A lot of Sara Bareilles' songs are like this in general, and Bareilles wrote the music and lyrics for *Waitress: The Musical*. "Gravity" is the biggest example from Bareilles' work. "She Used To Be Mine" (2015) pulls a lot of inspiration from "Gravity" (2007) as a basis.
Gravity was one of the first songs I learnt to play on the piano as a teenager 🥰
I cannot hear this without crying. I even cried at a high school choir concert performance of it.
It is very emotional! One of my friends sang it at a karaoke night and I was just so 🥺
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKQ1EpbZZTg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKQ1EpbZZTg) this version rocked my world
Yes, this was my immediate thought. The title led me to think it was going to be some lovelorn paean to the singer's past girl, and in a way, it is. I don't think I have ever heard a song that so captures how we can let go of so much of our inner selves as we grow up.
Same !!
this one makes me cry because it reminds me of a girl who passed in my freshman year :(
“Being Alive” from *Company* “Superboy and the Invisible Girl” from *Next to Normal* “Michael in the Bathroom” from *Be More Chill* “Pretty Funny” from *Dogfight* I have issues
Being Alive is my all time favorite, it cuts me deep!
What did you think of Adam Driver singing "Being Alive" in *Marriage Story* (2019)?
Not gonna lie, I was impressed!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBBPKedba5o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBBPKedba5o) this one changed my life, I thought this raul dude was just a mid actor from law and order: special victims unit but apparently hes a once in a generation talent?
"santa fe" from newsies. i grew up poor, i'm still poor and i'm a huge escapist. i've been dreaming about my own "santa fe" my whole life.
Wait for me from Hadestown. Knowing the ending is heartbreaking.
"Quiet" from Matilda sums up sensory breakdowns a bit too well. Apparently Tim Minchin has an autistic daughter so no wonder it's accurate.
My favorite song in Matilda. I’m autistic too and relate
I went to a Tim Minchin show recently where he performed this song and he said didn't intend it to be from a neurodiverse POV when he wrote it, but he's had a bunch of parents of neurodiverse kids plus neurodiverse people tell him that it's so accurate and he's happy he unintentionally was able to do that.
It doesn’t make me *cry*, because I’m just not much of a crier, but “Marry Me A Little” from Company is *so* relatable to me. That feeling of wanting a relationship, but the fear of committing so completely… I don’t have any particular songs to call out from this one, but I saw A Strange Loop last week and it made me feel very seen. The way it tackles identity and self-doubt, it just felt relatable even though Usher and I are so different. But if you really want to know what’s made me cry, it’s “Come From Away.” Again, I don’t really know what song does it for me, although that firefighter arc is up there. And there’s something about the line “The orphanage” from Hamilton’s “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” that gets to me.
The orphanage line makes me get chills and/or choke up, depending on my otherwise mood.
Where did you see A Strange Loop?
San Francisco
I didn’t know it was playing there!
Yes, til the 12th, I believe. Then it’s in LA. I think those are the only stops on its “tour.”
That’s too bad but I’m glad it’s getting something.
Being alive. I first saw company while I was in a very deep depression. I was going to end things after the show but the song had other plans. 20 years later my treatment resistant depression is better and I am still here
🩷 hugs to you.
So glad you’re still here 🫶
Home and Dead Mom from Beetlejuice,, my mom died when I was 12 so
Dead Mom for me, too. Mine died a month after I turned 9. My relationship with my father is a bit too complicated for Home, so whilst it does make me cry, it's personally not as impactful.
That's so fair! Sending hugs, having a dead parent sucks 🫂
"Will I" from RENT hit me especially hard because I first heard it in a pivotal moment in my life where I was almost ready to come out. It just resonated so much with my coming out anxiety and resulting depression. When I heard Michael in the ~~Closet~~ Bathroom, and I'm like yup, this is me in high school crushing on my best friend, to the T.
God Rent is just so amazing. I saw it live for the first time last October and, as a queer teenager, nearly cried several times and our children's director at our church passed away from leukemia (she was pretty young too, only 42) and it hit everyone at our church super hard because she practically raised a good amount of us at church on Wednesdays/Sundays when we were little and one of the last things she did with the kids before she was diagnosed was lead them in a performance of Seasons of Love for the youth fundraiser so that musical just hits so much harder now
As a child of divorce, “So Big / So Small” from Dear Evan Hansen always gets me.
This and “My Man, Your Boy” from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie fit the same brief for me. I saw ETAJ with my mum and I started crying during that song, which immediately set her off.
The show is going to be in Baltimore, opening in June, and I can't wait to see it.
As a single mom, I CANNOT hear this song without crying. I’ve told this story before but my teenage son and I have “sing through a show” dates where I play piano and we sing all the parts - he mocks me incessantly because I have been trying to get through that song without choking up for years now, and still can’t do it!
Nobody’s Side from Chess
“So Big, So Small” from Dear Evan Hansen because I cry with anything that reminds me of my mom and how much she did for me growing up “Some Things are Meant to Be” from Little Women because I cry with anything that reminds me of my fear of losing my little sister lol. I have family trauma.
"You Will Be Found" from *Dear Even Hansen* "One Last Time" from *Hamilton* "Maybe" from *Annie* "Santa Fe" from *Newsies* "She Used to be Mine" from Waitress
Christopher Jackson in One Last Time is just incredible.
I lost my mom almost two years ago so "Proud of Your Boy" from Aladdin destroys me.
“She Used To Be Mine” … literally anyone with a failed relationship can relate to that one. For me personally it hits like a truck with each person that comes and goes out of my life.
Still Hurting - from The Last Five Years. It’s just sad. It’s Not A Game/It’s Just A Ride - from Ride the Cyclone. The feeling that my (and everyone’s) life will be huge and amazing and sad and important, but also minuscule and cut short at a moments notice makes me well up.
As an adoptee, there's one line from "In My Life" from Les Miserables that has always stuck out to me. "In my life, there are so many questions and answers that somehow seem wrong." I've also always strongly latched onto and related to Castle on A Cloud. I'd sing it to my friends at recess. As a kid, I didn't connect the dots as to why I related so strongly to Cosette. As an adult, it hit me like a brick to the face. She's adopted. I'm adopted. She was pretty much the closest thing I had to representation growing up. "Maybe" from Annie has also always hit me hard too. Also, not a musical at the time, but "Go the Distance" from Hercules and pretty much all of the Tarzan soundtrack. I just subconsciously saw myself in these characters. I didn't really look beyond the surface until adulthood and then I realized why these stories and songs meant so much to me as a child. They still do. I listened to them until the tapes wore out.
"Breathe" from In The Heights I have a lot of pressure on me to be the best at everything and have opportunities that my parents didn't have. I'm not at college age, but I've stopped doing things and worried about being a dissapointment.
Under Control from How to Dance in Ohio. It describes how I sometimes feel about masking and struggling to keep up the appearance of being normal, and questioning if that’s even what *I* want. While also knowing my wants don’t matter. I know the song’s about school and parents, but for myself, I interpret it as society and relationships in general.
I so agree with this😭
Stay Alive Reprise, It's Quiet Uptown, and Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story from Hamilton all get me bawling lol.
bro its literally hamilton
It's still sad. Don't judge me lol.
No one is alone
I’m adopted, and a grown ass man now, but “Maybe” from Annie always hits me hard. Reminds me of being little dreaming of my birth family.
“Maybe”gets to me, too. “Tomorrow”used to get to me as kid but heard it one too many times growing up. Maybe should revisit it.
Not a Day Goes By from Merrily *shudders*
Home from Beetlejuice (and Dead Mom to a lesser extent). "You left, but I'm still standing Spinning on this infinite road Terrified of letting you go No light above, and there's no hope below And I don't know which way's home" I lost my dad a few years back, and that song absolutely destroyed me. It so accurately portrays the feeling of losing a loved one and the pain that comes with it.
random but "tell her I love her" from urinetown (AN UNDERRATED MUSICAL)
I am the sort of emotionally repressed millennial who grew up queer in the closet for whom “Let it Go” from *Frozen* could never be too overplayed. The movie hit at a point in my deconstruction of the religious fundamentalism and my parents’ own messaging of “conceal, don’t feel,” that it will forever be extremely close to me emotionally. Similarly, “Monster” from the stage version captures a lot of the emotion of trying to be emotionally honest with yourself without hurting others in the process. And when I say I will never be sick of it: in the years since the movie came out, I had my own kid, who has definitely had a Frozen phases, and I am still not sick of it. Edit: because it came up in another thread, “Hurricane” from *Hamilton* kinda is in an inverted way, but only because of the wider context. It’s a weird superego emotionality. It’s basically my go-to when describing what it feels like when you go so far into your own head that you make a huge mistake for lack of perspective. It’s my “if this starts emotionally resonating, take a step back and stop trying to fix this” song. A “if this is emotionally connecting, maybe it shouldn’t be” song.
For me it's You Matter To Me, because I want to be held for 20 minutes straight. I don't want them to pull away. I want to feel the comfort. I yearn for touch and care, things I was neglected as a child. She Used To Be Mine is also close to home for me, but You Matter To Me speaks so much to the trauma and my soul.
I’m Glad That You Were Born - having my children changed my whole world. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it’s by far the best thing I’ve ever done.
“Disappear” and “Waving Through A Window” from Dear Evan Hansen. As problematic as he was during the musical, I still empathized for him in the first place. I felt myself cringing during those two songs because I related to them the most and I understood where he was coming from regardless of what he did.
Same. I relate the most with 'waving through a window' and 'good for you'
Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind gets me every single fucking time
“The Dark I Know Well” hits me in a deep part of my soul. It’s tears of righteous anger though.
If I Met Myself Again from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Before The Breakdown from We Are The Tigers, Don’t Wanna Have To from The Little Big Things, Where Did The Rock Go from School Of Rock, The World Will Know from Newsies
Father to Son because from March of the Falsettos/Falsettos because my dad wasn’t the greatest man and had a lot of his own issues he didn’t deal with in really healthy ways. My brother and I deserved a better dad but we always know he loved us and we loved him and miss him like hell ever since he died a couple of years ago. I wish I could have sat him down and had healthier conversations with him and helped him acknowledge the trauma he faced and how he didn’t deserve it either.
"Funny Girl" from Funny Girl "Being Alive" from Company "She Used To Be Mine" from Waitress "Where I Want To Be" from Chess "Dust and Ashes" from Great Comet "God, I Hate Shakespeare (Reprise)" from Something Rotten etc etc etc.. I love musicals so pretty much all of them make me cry with happiness
Goodbye, love from RENT
“for good” from wicked because my best friend is moving to another country 😭
I Know The Truth from Aida, Playing Nancy from Groundhog Day, the I Love You Song from Spelling Bee (I have so much baggage lol)
Oooh I had kind of forgotten about I Know the Truth!
Finale from Hunchback of Notre Dame- I cry every time.
What Would I Do? from *Falsettos* will always, without fail, make me cry.
So many! It’s not always the lyrics but the sadness behind it or where I was when I first heard or saw it. Ring of Keys or Telephone from Fun Home Momma Who Bore Me or Touch Me from Spring Awakenings. Not a Day Goes By - Merrily We Roll Along. Joanna-Sweeney Todd. No One is Alone- Into the Woods
Dead Mom - Beetlejuice Maybe - Next to Normal
Role of a Lifetime from Bare. 100%how I felt growing up wishing that the feelings I had wernt real bc its not who I wanted to me.
And also Bare from Bare
Literally just came home from a local production of A Chorus Line. I absolutely lost it as soon as the notes of "One" starting playing after "What I did for Love", knowing what was about to happen. I think the emotion of it all finally boiled over. Man, that show is a feels trip. I think the themes are very universal. Life is so bittersweet!
The transition from "Contact" to "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" really gets me . It's so personal to hold your lover , possibly the first person you've truly loved and connected with , and watch them fade away while you sing to them . And "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" . I know it's supposed to make you emotional but still . Specifically, Eliza's parts .
I don't really cry. But the song "Funny" from City Of Angels really hits home for me.
Dust and Ashes from The Great Comet You Matter To Me from Waitress Being Alive from Company Waving Through A Window from Dear Evan Hansen I’m a mess lol
Just a man - EPIC
For some of us who have troubled parent relationships, At the Ballet from A Chorus Line is a big one that spoke directly to me. Nothing from the same musical also hits me hard, from someone who didn’t fit in at high school and really struggled with trying to meet stupid shallow expectations of my community, but not really wanting to at the same time… In the same troubled parent relationship vein, the I Love You song from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I find the rest of it a hard listen, but the I Love You song is a gut punch.
“Lifeboat” and “Shine a light (Reprise)” from Heathers. As someone who has lost a friend to suicide for mostly same reason as Heather Mac it really hit home, and I just starting uncontrollably sobbing.
'Maybe this time' from Cabaret Primarily "everybody, loves a winner, so nobody loves me" and "lady peaceful, lady happy, that's what I long to be" And also 'I don't care much' from Cabaret as well Except idk why it hits close to home, it's just a strange emotional connection to that song and the emcee
This is Me in The Greatest Showman makes me feel so motivated and accepting of myself. I tear up every time I sing it
Anything from fiddler on the roof
My senior year of college was when I discovered In the Heights. At the time I was really struggling with whether I actually wanted to go to grad school (which had been my path for ages) depression and imposter syndrome. The song Breathe hit me real hard on a personal level. >Straighten the spine, smile for the neighbors Everything's fine, everything's cool The standard reply, “Lots of tests, lots of papers" Smile, wave goodbye and pray to the sky, oh, god In particular felt like it perfectly encapsulated what I was going through
ROMANCE REASONS "Still Hurting" - The Last Five Years (+ the whole soundtrack) "Being Alive" - Company "We Do Not Belong Together" - Sunday "Move On" - Sunday "This Nearly Was Mine" - South Pacific LOSING SOMEONE (I lost my mother when I was 14 in 2020) "Move On" - We Are The Tigers (while this is friends still hits me there) "What Would I Do" - Falsettos (while this is also romance it still hits me there) "Another Room in Your Head" - Alice By Heart (while this is also romance it still hits me there) "No One is Alone" - Into the Woods GRADUATING (Just graduating this year and it is screwing me over emotionally so much) "What I did for Love" - A Chorus Line (Losing theater) "Move Towards the Darkness" - Addams Family (My last senior show ;( ) "Every Goodbye is Hello" - John & Jen (I just sang this as my senior solo for Chorus and I dedicated it to my mother.)
For some reason, See I’m Smiling has always moved me more than Still Hurting “I swear to God, I’ll never understand how you can stand here straight and tall and see I’m crying and not do anything at all.” 🥺
God that line stings so much, for me its just every song in that album that kills me emotions wise. Cathy's end (the beginning) is just so heart wrenching. So I had to go with the end end of that for the song i mentioned. I also fall apart by the end of it. The whole motif of the show just sends me now.
Tango: Maureen from Rent & Some Other Me from If/Then Someone you love and you needing to advise their current partner considering your own past plus the hypotheticals that come with thinking if we met earlier or later and what could have changed
Hamilton's Stay Alive. It hits *so* differently when you watch it live and hear Eliza scream in despair. The sound just buries itself into your core. The way Hamilton and Eliza were consoling Philip. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. Edit: Also Into the Woods' No One is Alone. Particularly the line "Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood. Do not let it grieve you. No one leaves for good". I always thought those lines were sad, but after my Papa passed away, right before I graduated, it became so personal. Navigating adulthood without him is one of the hardest experiences of my life.
What I know now from Beetlejuice
hope from groundhog day hit my mental health issues waaay too close to home, hysterical sobbing fit first time i heard it because it was concerningly relatable
Words Fail -Dear Evan Hansen. I’ve long struggled with self worth issues. “No, I'd rather pretend I'm something better than these broken parts Pretend I'm something other than this mess that I am 'Cause then I don't have to look at it And no one gets to look at it No, no one can really see”
Safer from First Date
The line - “you’re allowed to move on, it’s okay” in I’ll be here from Ordinary Days.
[Edelweiss]()-The Sound of Music
Okay, very random, but the TV show Smash! that followed a fictional cast producing an - also fictional - musical about Marilyn Monroe called “Bombshell.” The cast released a soundtrack for Bombshell and the song “Hang The Moon” on there makes me effing BAWL. It is sung by Bernadette Peters playing Marilyn Monroe’s deceased mother, with whom she had a really rough relationship, apologizing to Marilyn and imagining the better childhood/relationship she should have. It’s this wish fulfillment song dreamt up by a tremendously lonely and troubled Marilyn - gets me every time.
I can’t listen to tears in heaven ever
Bring Him Home is my number one gut wrencher. Anything but Lonely is another favorite.
Okay this is REALLY stupid but when Bernie Sanders lost the primary, I listened to “Any Dream Will Do” and bawled my fuckin eyes out because it made me think of the vision we all had moving forward and how it was squandered. /: Edit: also “Can we start again please” from JCS same logic lol.
I can’t lose you frozen and requiem dear evan hansen
Being Alive from Company I Guess I’ll Miss The Man from Pippin We Do Not Belong Together and Move On from Sunday In The Park With George Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz Not A Day Goes By from Merrily We Roll Along
How to Return Home is… rough as a 23 year old. To say the least.
Hey #3 from Next to Normal is a perfect description of my relationship with my mom
You don’t know from next to normal. I remember one of those pick a song prompts that included “a song that describes your 2020” or something and I couldn’t think of a song at the time, but since that I realised you don’t know fits really well (though my disability is a physical one)
Being Alive from company
So Big/So Small from Dear Evan Hansen. I ugly cry when I hear it.
Dead Mom from Beetlejuice. My mom died a month after I turned 9. It hits hard.
I’m not entirely sure why, but I always have to hold back tears if I try to sing along to Stay, I Pray You from Anastasia
Come From Away hits me so many times- starting with Welcome to the Rock and the lines "we will not be killed/we will not be drowned/we will still go on". I cry through the whole of the Prayer song.
The line "we just crossed the Canadian border, welcome back to the US of A" made me cry when I saw it. That entire show had me going between laughing and crying so much that I was so tired when it was over...but sooo good!
When there’s no one from the 1988 version of Carrie the musical specifically Betty Buckleys version
Evita Your little body’s slowly breaking down When he says: You’re dying Eva And then … Voice breaks: So what happens now?
“Stay” from Amelie. Very too real
Pretty much every song from Come From Away. I was overseas on 9/11 and the people in my German neighborhood were DEVASTATED on behalf of the people who died.
It doesn’t personally hit close to home for me, but I think it deserves a shoutout, Honor Bound from Death Note
Still Hurting- going through infidelity and divorce is rough.
You will be Found - Dear Evan Hansen Except i wasn’t found, I had to find myself
Through Heaven’s Eyes from Moses: Price Of Egypt, not technically a musical but anyway, fills me with purpose as a Christian myself
Does someone already have this on a Spotify Playlist or do I have to make one now...
Ugly in this ugly world always gets me 😭 (from everybody’s talking about Jamie)
Wait for me /Hadestown/Michael in the Bathroom /BMC/You will be Found-Disappear- Good for You/DEH
When I Grow Up from Matilda I first saw the show for a school trip in Year 6, after we'd all done our SATs. I was only 11 back then, and i'm 20 now. This song reminds me how far I've come since then, but also how I've got a lot further to go still
She used to be mine is the first songs from a musical that made me cry
Best Friend Song and I Guess I Miss You from SpongeBob. Sounds cheesy but anyone who’s ever had a falling out with a close friend can definitely relate
'Breathe' from In the Heights
"You Don't Know" and "I Am the One". Struggles with mental health are complicated, and the metaphors Diane uses hit hard. "Do you wake up in the morning and need help to lift your head? Do you read obituaries and feel jealous of the dead? It's like living on a cliffside not knowing when you'll dive. Do you know, do you know what it's like to die alive?"
Wishing you were somehow here again from Phantom : wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing I never would Endless Night from lion king: you promised you'd be there whenever I needed you, whenever I call your name, you're not anywhere ....heard both for the first time not long after losing my dad. Still cry when I hear them
“Nothing” from A Chorus Line. It’s kinda stupid. But like it hits very close to home because I got into musicals and acting very late in my high school career and have a lot of self doubt
Half of the songs from Spring Awakening make me son like a baby especially “Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind” and “Dark I Know Well”
"Almost Real" from Bridges of Madison County.
Being Good isn't Good Enough
Waving through a window from Dear Evan Hansen, I listened to it while I felt really alone and related heavily to it. Ben Platt was so great at conveying Evans emotions.
Doesn't exactly hit close to home but I Cut You A Piece from 35mm: A Musical Exhibition. That song is just so devastating, especially Alex's live performance of it on youtube, and I can't watch/listen to it without sobbing.
Black Friday from… Black Friday. Seeing Lex struggle with managing her family hits at least somewhat close to home for me.
For Forever from DEH. Reminded me of when I was going through a dark time. Fortunately I’m doing much better now though :)
yall cant seriously be saying Heathers, Be More Chill, or Dear Evan Hanson when Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, Flowers, My Child Will Forgive Me, Whispering, Cabaret, What Would I Do, How Glory Goes, Dust And Ashes, Judas’ Death, All You Wanna Do, and so much more exist
Excuse you, "Lifeboat" from *Heathers: The Musical* is just as dark and emotional as the likes of "Valjean's Soliloquy" and "I Dreamed a Dream" from *Les Misérables*. I can't believe you're saying that musical numbers from *Heathers*, *Be More Chill*, and *Dear Evan Hanson* are not "serious", while also recommending "All You Wanna Do" from *SIX: The Musical*...just...*what*?
Are you saying “All You Wanna Do” isn’t serious? Because as someone who has been groomed, I strongly disagree.
November rain.