Who hurt all of you?

I ask out of genuine concern, because I did not have to look far into the submission form to find three songs about breakups and their aftermath for this week’s Songs You Should Hear. While each one is sonically different, they share a common thread: love has a dark side, and some of us handle its charismatic embrace better than others.

Artist: Coleman.X
Song: secrets
Genre: Electropop
Why You Should Hear It: Because surely, you’ve felt the swirl of emotions that follow the final blows of a breakup. The Alabama native gets personal on this new “crying in the club” anthem, making mention of his own substance abuse, depression, and anxiety attacks that developed in the process of letting go of love.

Artist: Jarrod Gipson
Song: When You’re Not Around
Genre: Alt-pop
Why You Should Hear It: From the Colorado native’s forthcoming EP, Awake But Not, comes this angsty future pop banger about the mental and emotional impact that a toxic relationship has on a person — even years after it’s over.

“It was important to me that the production spoke to the myriad of moods and emotions that I associate with the woman I wrote this song about — eclectic, dark, sensual, dynamic,” Gipson said.

Artist: Mikki Zip
Song: Poor Mama
Genre: Country
Why You Should Hear It: We have a choice after a breakup: use the heartbreak as an opportunity to grow, or let the emotions get the better of us. On “Poor Mama,” the Nashville-based singer employs a smoky, soulful country vocal to tell the tale of an ex who sank to the depths, instead of rising to the occasion.

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What do you think we should hear? You’re always welcome to let us know! And, if you’re an artist (or represent an artist), you can fill out one of these forms to put your music on our radar!