Six musicians shared their go-to albums for heartbreak in a new Singles' Day feature. Pratika picked The Weeknd’s After Hours, saying, "It gave me the space to cry and dance at the same time." Meanwhile, Jashan Bhumkar suggested Shubha Joshi’s ghazal collection to help listeners heal through difficult times.
Everyone's got a breakup playlist - something with self-pity, regret, a diss track and eventually closure. But what do musicians listen to when their own hearts shatter? We asked six of them about the albums they have turned to. Not one asks you to wallow.
If you want to cry, but dance too...
Pratika picks The Weeknd's After Hours
The playback singer behind Vaazhkaye, Piranth and Laagli Waat was going through a breakup in 2020, when the album dropped. "It gave me the space to cry and dance at the same time. Very few albums can do that."
Lurking beneath the album's '80s arrangements and dream-pop vibe is a darkness, which she likes. It deals with a toxic relationship, a man cheating on his girlfriend, then going on a bender. "There are also dramatic videos to go with the theme." But it's a tender, introspective album about a man who's picking up the pieces. The Weeknd sings about self-doubt (one track is literally called Scared To Live), and his identity outside of being coupled. "Typical breakups don't talk about the spiral a person goes into. Some do, but this tops a lot of them," says Pratika.
If you think ghazals are tragic...
Jashan Bhumkar picks Shubha Joshi's Sartaje Ghazal
A ghazal album for heartbreak sounds obvious, the singer admits. But this one puts conversational Urdu to refreshing melodies. It's a compilation of recordings from 1997 to 2004, composed by Ustad Taj Ahmed Khan and Siraj Ahmed Khan. "You can connect with the sadness of the words and still enjoy the tune." Plus Joshi extracts more pathos from a note than most ghazal vocalists.
Bhumkar recommends Koi Aarzoo for when your feelings are still raw; Meri Zindagi Pe for when you're tired of being pitied; and Dil Mein Ab Yun (which sets Faiz's poetry to music) for when memories return but have started to loosen their grip. Healing, he says, comes when something starts to hurt a little less.
"The vulnerable moments often come when my life is full and busy," the singer says. "I might have had a long working day surrounded by people, or spent an evening at an outing or a party. When I'm returning home alone, that's when it hits me.The sudden quiet can make you feel someone's absence very sharply. That's when I turn to this album," he says.
If you want to heal without drama...
Samahita Narang picks Kaavish's Gunkali
Pakistani semi-classical and fusion band Kaavish's 2010 debut is soulful, a little melancholic and, as Narang points out, timeless. This isn't a conventional breakup album. It isn't angry, it isn't trying to make a statement about an ex, and it doesn't feel like it's asking you to pick yourself up and move on immediately. Narang, a singer-songwriter, says that's exactly why it works: It lets you feel things at your own pace.
The album went though a bit of a break-up itself. Drummer Raheel Manzar Paul, quit late 2008, right before the band was due to shoot their launch video. It took two years for Gunkali to finally come out. The title takes its name from a morning raga. Its mood of plaintive devotion offers both pain and hope. And the songs, written by Jaffer Zaidi, Maaz Maudood, Nayyara Noor and Arshad Mahmud feel old-school, like they're holding on to an idea that the mind is starting to forget.
"Heartbreak music is often associated with sadness or anger, but Gunkali reminds me that there is beauty in simply feeling something deeply," says Narang. Sometimes, you don't need a song to tell you that everything will be okay. You just need one that understands why things don't feel okay right now.
If you're not yet broken up...
Frizzell D'Souza picks Lizzy McAlpine's Older
This one is written from the liminal space before the end, says D'Souza. McAlpine knows the relationship is falling apart and is looking at someone asking for love that isn't there anymore. It's a bold idea: "Guilt and liberation, sorrow and tranquility all in the same string". Her favourite from the 2024 album is Spring Into Summer, which she describes as "a final word, wishing them well in an email you can't send". A live audience is layered into a choir, and the sound is larger than life. "You can't truly escape that love," she says.
If you think sad songs must be sad...
Gagan Baderiya picks Divyam Sodhi and Khwaab's Aas
The composer believes that the theme of a song needn't match its arrangement. "Sometimes an upbeat groove can carry the saddest thought." Aas sits "somewhere in between... where most human emotions actually exist".
Released in March, the single sits with the weight of someone's absence, but harbours hope that there's a road back to them. "Sometimes the last thing you want is another song reminding you how miserable you are. That's why I'd pick this album. There's something beautiful about how it allows you to feel things without drowning in them."
If you're in repair mode...
Shariq Shez picks Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Pritam's 2016 soundtrack doesn't promise a happy ending, which is precisely why Shez picks it. It explores loving someone who may never love you back, and argues that you don't become a loser just because someone didn't choose you.
Shez turns to the title track for when you realise it's over, Channa Mereya for when nostalgia makes you want to reread old messages ("Remembering someone doesn't mean you need to return to them") and The Breakup Song for when you're ready to reboot. "You don't have to stop missing someone before you start enjoying your life again," he says. "You can dance, laugh, spend time with friends and make new plans, even when a part of you still hurts."