We all need a hug from time to time. However, in place of a warm embrace, I often opt for music that gives me that same feeling. Nothing fills my heart more than songs that wrap themselves around me and provide instant relief. If you need a hug today (or anytime, really), here’s a playlist of songs that can embrace your heart… and that your heart can embrace right back.
1. Take On Me (MTV Unplugged)
“Say after me, It’s no better to be safe than sorry.”
2. Watch Over You: Alter Bridge
“And who is gonna save you when I’m gone?”
3. Pieces: Andrew Belle
“I love you, I love you, and all of your pieces.”
4. Hey Jude: The Beatles
“Hey Jude, don’t make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better.”
5. Dancing on My Own (Acoustic): Calum Scott
“Somebody said you got a new friend. Does she love you better than I can?”
6. Medicine: Daughter
“You’ve got a warm heart, you’ve got a beautiful brain, but it’s disintegrating from all the medicine.”
7. Waves (Acoustic): Dean Lewis
“We watch as our young hearts fade into the flood, into the flood.”
8. Desperado: Eagles
“Oh, you ain’t gettin’ no younger. Your pain and your hunger, they’re drivin’ you home.”
9. For The Good Times: Elvis Presley
“Let’s just be glad we had some time to spend together. There’s no need to watch the bridges that were burning.”
10. Dream Away: Frank Sinatra
“Dream away, child; let your dreams run wild, or a lifetime of worries might claim you.”
11. Look After You: The Fray
“When I’m losing my control, the city spins around. You’re the only one who knows, you slow it down”
12. Wings: Hurts
“Say you’ll catch me when I fall, wrap your wings around my body.”
13. Angel Eyes: The Jeff Healey Band
“So tonight, I’ll ask the stars above how did I ever win your love?”
14. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room: John Mayer
“Nobody’s gonna come and save you. We pulled too many false alarms.”
15. If You Could Read My Mind: Johnny Cash
“If you could read my mind, love, what a tale my thoughts could tell.”
16. All I Want: Kodaline
“’Cause if I could see your face once more, I could die as a happy man, I’m sure.”
17. For All Time: Michael Jackson
“And if you feel alone, I’ll be your shoulder, with a tender touch you know so well”
18. Don’t Look Back In Anger: Oasis
“Her soul slides away, but don’t look back in anger, I heard you say”
19. Purple Rain: Prince
“I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain.”
20. We Might Fall: Ryan Star
“We should go to sleep now, You should stay the night. I’ll be up to watch the world around us live and die.”
21. In My Blood: Shawn Mendes
“Keep telling me that it gets better. Does it ever?”
22. Saturn: Sleeping At Last
“You taught me the courage of stars before you left. How light carries on endlessly, even after death.”
23. Girl (Acoustic): SYML
“Girl, perfectly her, broken and hurt. Soft and asleep in the morning gray.”
24. Alone With Me: Vance Joy
“I saw you smile, I knew you had spirit. Oh, won’t you let your colors run.”
We all know that music is a gateway to the heart. What we sometimes forget is that songs can be so gentle on such a hard day, so calming during a vicious storm, and so understanding during a hurricane. I’ve leaned on songs my whole life, and I hope this playlist helps you do the same.
Featured image via Marc Fanelli-Isla on Unsplash
