10 Song Lyrics That Will Turn You Emo

No matter how cringey you may believe emo music to be, you can’t deny that the genre produces some truly heart-wrenching lyrics. Sometimes an artist perfectly captures a feeling you didn’t know anyone else felt, or sometimes it’s just a silly, vague combination of words that each listener can interpret themselves. Here are some of the most compelling emo lyrics in this author’s listening rotation. 

10. “I was out one night when I saw you, and you froze me where I stood, I would hate you, I would hate you if I could” (I Would Hate You If I Could, Turnover)

The whole album that this song comes from, “Peripheral Vision,” is full of haunting tunes and striking lyrics. While this one is a more basic one on this list, the concept Turnover sings of here is one that everyone has related to at some point or another. It might be cliche, but it’s worthy of singing along on a long, ponderous car ride. 

9. “When you’re feeling safe in your skin, maybe we’ll meet again” (Safe In Your Skin, Title Fight)

Putting Title Fight on a list of emo lyrics may be controversial, but this lyric in particular just perfectly fits the intended energy of this blog. The line comes after a long and very recognizable guitar intro, ultimately building up to the singing of this line. It’s barely audible, but the first time you stop and actually pay attention to what he’s saying, it hits hard. 

8. “So you ache through the days, cause you’ll never mend your ways” (Derailed, Joyce Manor)

The entirety of this song is a strange narrative that I recommend checking out and seeing what you make of it. Dark themes run throughout, and the guitar intro just goes so insane every time it comes on. This particular lyric is pretty depressing, but combined with the rest of the song and the fast tempo, it’s energetic and angry. I am a huge fan of Joyce Manor’s lyricism (and them in general), so we’ll be hearing more of them later. 

7. “He needed more than me, I’m friendly and thoughtful and quite awfully pretty, but he needed more than me” (Tears Over Beers, Modern Baseball)

You know Modern Baseball had to make an appearance on this list. This song is a quintessential one in the world of Midwest emo (a genre which you’ll notice most of these lyrics come from), with this particular line perhaps being the most famous. It’s relatively simple in meaning, but if you as a listener have a connection to it, it will hit every time. 

6. “Will you promise to love me more than you might hate me?” (now THIS is podracing, Mom Jeans)

This song is line after line of heart wrenching words. I am a Mom Jeans fan, but anyone who listens to them knows that most of their songs are just cheesy sad breakup ones. So, the fact that “now THIS is podracing” could be considered a love song is pretty revolutionary for them on its own. Bring in a bar like this and that song just transcends their others. 

5. “She thinks that love’s this sick little disease that attacks you, but I could fall deep in it every day if I had to” (This Must Be My Exit, Oso Oso)

Wow. Oso Oso isn’t quite as on my radar as some of these other guys, but this line is making me want to change that. This lyric is pure poetry. I’m a sucker for metaphors, and they hit the nail right on the head with this one. 

4. “How did it make you feel to know you’re not quite enough for someone who took so much from you and then just gave up” (Vape Nation 2.0, Mom Jeans)

Another Mom Jeans lyric, this time from what I believe to be their most criminally underrated song. It’s on an album they made with Prince Daddy and the Hyena, but this song is all Mom Jeans. There is an original version, “Vape Nation,” on their album Best Buds, but this version just clears it. While the two versions share the same lyrics, the vocals on this one are so much more raw and powerful, making for a much more emotional listening experience. 

3. “So let’s just pretend everything and anything between you and me was never meant” (Never Meant, American Football)

American Football is another classic of Midwest emo music, perhaps the classic. I tried to find the time signature of this song on the internet and found about four different results, so let’s just say it has funky timing that comes off as incredibly unique and very catchy. This experimental music style combined with melancholy lyrics all culminate in the song's final line, the one listed above. Just devastating. 

2. “I would sleep better on your floor than I would ever in my bed, and if your carpet makes my face itch, it’d still be heaven in my head” (Jim Bogart, The Front Bottoms)

Oh, the Front Bottoms. Kings of super random words that somehow strike everyone right in the heart, sung by some guy named Brian. He himself has even said that a lot of the time, his random lyricism is truly just trolling, but so many folks find solace and meaning in this group, and isn’t that just beautiful. An honorable lyric mention that comes from the same song: “I would stop doing all those things the doctor tells me not to do, but I don’t think he understands I do all of these things for you.”

1. “You hang me up, unfinished, with the better part of me no longer mine” (Constant Headache, Joyce Manor)

I warned you Joyce Manor was coming back, and they’re indeed going to take the number one spot. I feel that the artistry of this line speaks for itself, so there isn’t a lot to say, but the metaphor of an unfinished art piece being displayed after losing the better part of itself – yeah. I’ll just leave that up to interpretation.