Let It Hurt

About this mixtape

The first night after a breakup isn't the time for songs that tell you to move on. This tape was made for someone who is sad and wants to feel it, so it doesn't try to cheer you up. It gives the sadness somewhere to go: twelve songs that sit with you, say the things you can't say yet, and let you cry if you need to.

It opens with Adele's "Someone Like You", just piano and voice, wishing someone well while it plainly hurts. Lorde's "Liability" is a quiet piano song about feeling like too much for the people around you, and Taylor Swift's "Exile", sung with Bon Iver, tells one break-up from two sides. Then comes Johnny Cash's "Hurt", his 2002 cover of the Nine Inch Nails song, sung in a weathered, late-life voice, and Coldplay's "The Scientist", which wishes it could go back to the start.

The middle gets hazier and older. INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" swells with strings, Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" is a drifting guitar and a vocal you feel more than understand, and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is the plain ache of missing someone. Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry on Their Own" carries a little defiance over its upbeat swing, before Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" and Kodaline's "All I Want" go straight for the heart. Jeff Buckley's "Lover, You Should've Come Over", from his album Grace, closes the tape with longing rather than despair.

The songs run from 1975 to 2020, from rock ballads to piano pop, and every one takes the feeling seriously. It's best on headphones, the whole way through, without skipping. It's sad on purpose, but it isn't hopeless. If it feels heavier than songs can hold, talk to someone you trust. And when you're ready for something lighter, make a mixtape for how you feel now.