19 Great Songs About Being Broken

Top songs about being broken

The challenges a person faces as a result of job losses, financial ruin, loved ones lost, and personal disease can be physically and emotionally taxing. They exhaust us. We are able to relax now.

However, humans are tough. With resiliency and grace, the human soul can find a way to overcome such brokenness. Never think that you are irreparable. You are not alone if you feel emotionally damaged. Make a playlist of songs about people who feel broken. To get you started, here is a collection of pop, rock, country, metal, and R&B tracks.

19 Songs About Being Broken

1. Johnny Cash, “Hurt”

Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” is almost certainly going to be the first song that comes to anyone’s mind when they are asked to mention songs about being broken.

During the final years of his remarkable career spanning five decades, legendary country singer Johnny Cash recorded this industrial rock song by Nine Inch Nails in 2003. The song was a strange choice, but it ended up becoming a well-known illustration of a cover song that was superior to the original.

The Man in Black did not deny the mistakes he had made during his life. He even referred to himself as “the biggest sinner of them all.” The 71-year-old country artist was in poor health and swiftly accepting of his human weakness after a life of drug addiction, drinking, and early philandering. It is ironic that the video was filmed in the singer’s abandoned and run-down house and museum, The House of Cash

June Carter Cash, his wife, would pass just three months after the filming. So would he, seven months after filming. Despite having sold over 90 million albums, receiving many halls of fame inductions, and receiving Grammy Lifetime Achievement and Hall of Fame Awards, as the song goes, “Everyone I know fades away in the end.”

2. Lovelytheband, “Broken”

In this appealing 2017 indie pop song, the narrator instantly connects with a stranger he meets at a party once he realizes how similar their brokenness is. She seems lost and uncomfortable, just like he does. She holds his face in her hands and tells him she appreciates that he’s emotionally scarred, which helps him feel more confident. She is also. But watch out for the extremely familar.

3. Zoe Wees’ song “Girls Like Us”

In this 2021 pop song, the insecure girl reaches out to other young girls who lack the self-assurance to see themselves as deserving and beautiful. Instead, they put their misplaced trust in family members and friends who continually let them down with unrealistic beauty standards. The idea that love and acceptance have requirements makes young females feel alone, hurt, and undervalued.

4. Rag’n’Bone Man and Logic’s song “Broken People”

One of the most well-known songs on being proken is “Broken People”. This 2017 song for the disenfranchised—burnt out, cold, bleeding, and yes, broken people who are trying to improve their lot in life—is performed by British singer Rag’n’Bone Man and rapper Logic.

The song honors the courageous fight for equality by people of color. It conveys assurance that they will ultimately be successful. In the service of those who came before them as well as those who will come after them, they struggle against an oppressive system of injustice and work for a better way of life.

5. Linkin Park, “Heavy” (Featuring Kiiara)

This masterpiece also reflects on songs about being broken. The narrator’s problems weigh on his mind like a 400-pound man. As his tremendous personal problems mount, his frail spirit becomes more and more desperate, drawing him deeper and deeper into the depths of his own psyche.

This 2017 alternative metal song’s protagonist has a fixation on the idea that everything revolves around him. Unfortunately, everyone is aware of how Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington’s story turned out. When he took his own life in July 2017, the weight of his burdens had finally broken him.

6. “Broken” by Lund

It would be an understatement to suggest that the enraged and vindictive man in this 2016 electro-pop song has problems. He still has anger issues from a failed relationship that ended because both he and his girlfriend were unfaithful.

Initially, the broken man views death as a solution to his suffering. He then reverses course after realizing that it won’t solve anything. Get help, dude; else, everything and everyone you touch will be broken.

7. Lifehouse’s “Broken”

After visiting a friend who required a life-saving kidney transplant, the rock band Lifehouse’s lead singer was inspired to write this poignant song in 2008. The song is about a person who feels like they are crumbling. They are in such a terrible state that they are barely breathing, and their heart is broken.

The song’s narrator perseveres nonetheless because their companion gives them hope that they will survive. All they can do at this point is cling to someone who can be there for them even though they feel as though they have lost their way in life. Hopefully, this broken person will soon receive assistance.

8. Kelly Clarkson’s song “Broken & Beautiful”

It need not be dismal to be broken. 2019’s uplifting pop empowerment anthem “Unconditional Acceptance” by Kelly Clarkson is about finding unwavering acceptance. The song may be found on the soundtrack for the film Uglydolls, whose plot celebrates the virtue of being delightfully imperfect.

She doesn’t require pity or sympathy, according to Clarkson’s song. She only wants to be supported and held. The girl is resilient despite being broken. and she is up to the task.

9. Tate McRae’s song “You Broke Me First”

In this 2020 pop song, the ex-lovers haven’t just hurt each other emotionally. They’ve broken one another. The narrator discusses how their relationship was unhealthy. The woman’s ex-partner left her quite soon after their relationship ended. Now he wants her back, but her vengeful response is, “I don’t care how much it hurts that you broke me first.” Ouch.

10. Martina McBride’s “A Broken Wing”

In this 1997 country song, the pain of an emotionally abusive relationship is described. A wife shares her thoughts and dreams with her husband and gives herself entirely to him. She is reduced to tears as a result of his cruel crushing of her spirit. He then makes an unsuccessful effort to undo the harm he has caused.

Her persistent suffering finally gets to her, and one day her husband discovers a message and an open window that represent her escape—either by suicide or by leaving. The victim is an angel with a damaged wing.

11. Eli’s “Worthless”.

This pop song from 2019 perfectly captures the frustration of the millennial age. Because of his difficulties interacting with people, the broken narrator feels disappointed in himself. He unintentionally causes problems in his social circle, therefore being alone himself makes him happier.

One inner voice tells him he’s useless and begs him to stop the suffering now, but another voice is more upbeat and supportive and emphasizes that someone needs him. He wonders why he exists, torn between the two messages.

12. Casting Crowns’ “Broken Together”

This is one of the songs about the being broken that reflects on a lot of things. Idealized dreams and expectations are brought about by marriage, but the actual labor begins when the fairytale ends and real-world human weaknesses emerge.

A young couple struggles to balance the dream with the wounds, secrets, and battle lines left by marital turmoil in this 2014 contemporary Christian rock song. Recognizing their shared suffering, they come to the conclusion that the only way their marriage would endure is for them to recover together.

13. Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”

Lyrically, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt is one of the best songs about being broken. What a lonely, heartbreaking ballad of unrequited love.

The narrator of this ballad from 1990 with blues influences feels discouraged and resigned after giving her beloved everything she has. She’s a shattered lady who can never satisfy him. They spend one final night together before parting ways permanently. She forgives herself for staying too long and she forgives him for not showing her the affection she needs in return.

This song was brilliantly recorded by Bonnie Raitt in a phenomenal take. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is listed among “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” by Rolling Stone.

14. Three Days Grace’s “Animal I Have Become”

This 2006 alternative metal song was inspired by the oxycontin addiction of the band’s lead singer, Adam Gontier. The narrator of the song is damaged and is trapped in a terrifying nightmare. He’s enraged, can’t contain himself, and despises himself for lying so much.

The man pleads for help in taming the ferocious animal that has control over him, pleading that his addiction isn’t the real him. Is it possible to put him back together?

15. Bebe Rexha’s song “I’m a Mess”

The young woman in this 2018 pop song has a positive outlook on the future and accepts herself “as is” thanks to her therapy. She accepts the romantic rejection even when her love partner does not reciprocate her sentiments. Because why not, the woman uses both herself and her flaws as examples of unassuming, flawed awesomeness.

16. The Paramore song “We Are Broken”

In this melancholy pop song from 2007, the shattered narrator talks on behalf of youth, addressing the intense internal conflict some people experience. She looks for solace, reclaimed innocence, and wholeness. The narrator cannot express her experiences since she has seen realms she shouldn’t have and she does not know why she must live in this way. She is broken.

17. Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved”

This 2018 pop song was written by Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi in memory of his grandmother, who passed away following a two-year fight with cancer.

The painful experience of life without a loved one who meant everything is described in the moving number-one song. I was getting kind of used to being someone you liked, the heartbroken narrator laments as he battles to come to terms with his loss and figure out how to pick up the pieces of his life and move on.

18. Metallica’s “Broken, Beat & Scarred”

In this 2009 heavy metal song, the lead character extols the virtues of perseverance. He boasts that you should wear your battle scars with pride because you need to struggle through hardship and acquire life lessons the hard way. You deserve them. You could be broken and bleeding from life, but never give up.

19. Papa Roach’s song “Broken Home”

Despite the fact that divorce rates have decreased since the song’s 2001 debut, a whole generation of children grew up with the knowledge that 50% of all marriages end in divorce. They shared the same damaged families and conflicting parents as the narrator.

The narrator isolates himself and suppresses his emotions by repressing them. The youngster sits by himself, sobbing, unable to confide in anybody. He himself will statistically have a higher likelihood of divorcing as an adult.