The Best Of: Breakup Albums
March 1, 2017
Any album can be a breakup album depending on personal experience, but certain albums have a way of resonating with our collective emotional consciousness more so than others. And no matter how amicable the breakup, sometimes you just need to blast “Go Your Own Way” and allow yourself to feel everything at once. While this is by no means a comprehensive list of every great breakup album ever created, here are a few of my personal favorites:
Rumors—Fleetwood Mac
Favorite Song: “DreamsÛ
Courtesy of NPR
Imagine you’re in love with someone and together you create one of the most enduring albums of all time. Now imagine breaking up with them but still remaining artistic partners, not to mention being under an incredible amount of pressure to make another hit record. Thus, Rumours was born—a rush of pure emotion set to the tune of the real-life drama of its bandmates. The end of the Nicks/Buckingham relationship and the McVie’s marriage at the height of the band’s fame is part of the reason for the album’s incredible success; it felt—and feels—so real. It was revolutionary in its pure vulnerability, something that wasn’t yet a cultural standard in an era that predated social media. This album is, quite frankly, iconic. If you ever feel guilty about subtweeting your ex, think about Stevie Nicks singing “players only love you when they’re playing” directly to the man who broke her heart, or Christine McVie writing “You Make Loving Fun” about a crew member she cheated on her husband of six years with.
The Altar—Banks
Favorite Song: “Gemini FeedÛ
Courtesy of Genius
Banks is a witchy, alt-pop powerhouse, and her sophomore album perfectly encapsulates her artistic and emotional growth after the dissolution of an unhealthy relationship. In thirteen tracks, she fluctuates between every emotion you feel during and after a breakup: from a defiant self-empowerment anthem (“Fuck With MyselfÛ) to punch-a-hole-in-the-wall rage (“TrainwreckÛ) to a direct callout to a passive-aggressive lover (“Gemini FeedÛ) to the sad, wistful longing that comes with accepting that it really is over (“To The HiltÛ). It’s so hard to pick a favorite song because each is a masterpiece in its own right, but the crowning jewel of the album may be “27 Hours,” a crushing confessional of Banks’ own insecurities and their contribution to her current situation. It is a hauntingly personal ode to her own demons as much as it is about her former partner. The Altar is as hard-hitting and unapologetic as it is soft and nostalgic, and Banks never compromises on the fact that all of these things can exist simultaneously, and in one person. It’s refreshing to see a female artist embracing her anger and ugliness in an industry that prefers its women polished, polite, and sad.
For Emma, Forever Ago—Bon Iver
Favorite Song: “BlindsidedÛ
Courtesy of Consequence of Sound
Listen. I know it’s a stereotype. This man is the original lumberjack softboy, but, damn, if Bon Iver doesn’t make me miss exes I don’t even have. He did what we all secretly want to do after a breakup: retreat to a cabin in rural Wisconsin and write the perfect indie-folk album about it. The result is a powerfully introspective, soulful work that touches on lost love, isolation, and the trapped, helpless feeling of mid-twenties mediocrity. Far and away the most popular song on the album, “Skinny Love” speaks of the heartbreaking reality of trying to keep a dying love alive despite not being able to fully give yourself to another person. Much like Banks, Bon Iver is revolutionary because he doesn’t just allow himself to access his emotions, he bathes in them, throwing traditional masculinity to the wind with his high falsetto and sweet, plaintive lyrics. He is every sensitive artist that you ever had a crush on from afar, and he knows it.
808s and Heartbreak—Kanye West
Favorite Song: “Love LockdownÛ
Courtesy of Pitchfork
Far from being his most popular album, 808s and Heartbreak marked a significant departure from the aggressive, stylized rap that Kanye fans know and love. Following the unexpected death of his mother and his breakup with his longtime fiance, West took to the studio and began to create the cold, sparse-sounding beats that would characterize the album. 808s was never really meant to be a hip-hop record, but is more widely considered some brand of avant-garde electro-pop, with the defining feature being West’s voice, strategically masked in a hundred layers of icy AutoTune that barely conceals his naked hurt and self-pity. It is bitter, it is spiteful, it is experimental and ephemeral. It represents a specific moment in the life of Kanye and demands that we bear witness to it. He hasn’t made an album like it before or since, nor will he, which is part of the reason why I hold the 808s and Heartbreak era so near to my heart (much to the chagrin of all the True Kanye Fans™ I’ve dated).
blink-182—blink-182
Favorite Song: “Feeling ThisÛ
Courtesy of Aux.tv
I would be remiss to not include this album for the angsty 9th grader in all of us. The Southern California-based pop-punk group decided to go down a different route for their eponymously titled fifth album, experimenting with a darker tone and different arrangement styles. Restless, moody, and eclectic, blink-182 is representative of major changes in the band member’s lives and a newer, more mature sound. Songs about love, lust, and regret abound; “Violence” compares broken hearts to global conflict, “Down” is full of ambient, rain-soaked longing, and “Feeling This” chronicles a fading summertime fling. And of course, who among us can say that we haven’t tearfully listened to “I Miss You” while thinking of our unrequited high school (and college, and post-grad) crushes? blink-182 is an album that connects us to our collective past while still remaining relevant to our present.
