December 19th is National Emo Day and I wanted to honor it by sharing my spotify playlist with my favorite Emo Songs. I started listening to Emo music when my best friend introduced me to Taking Back Sunday and Brand New in college. I liked the music but didn’t get into it until the summer of 2021. I remember I was on my summer staycation from hell and had this feeling of numbness and shock in my body as I was doing my power walk and no song was hitting the spot for me to feel something. I was also having a lot of intrusive and negative thoughts at the time so I was trying to feel something, anything to get out of my head and stay safe. None of the music I was listening to was hitting the spot and then I decided to try my former angry playlist and Cut without the E came on and omg my anger came out in full force. It was like this weird gift from the universe because well, I finally felt something and it was powerful. It feels strange to say that rage felt empowering to me but it did. It knocked me out of my self pity and hardcore suicidal ideation into my anger phase of the grief I was in and it was what I needed at the time. It was the song I needed to get me through one of the hardest times in my life. Anyways, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to the album, “Tell All Your Friends” by Taking Back Sunday that summer. Then I rediscovered Brand New, and discovered Fallout Boy, Panic!At the Disco and the music really resonated with me. I always joke around with my friends that “maybe I just like these white boys yelling angry lyrics in my ear” lmao. But seriously, there is something about that white boy angst and anger that really hits the spot when I’m in a bad mood. Well, rap music also hits the spot but that’s another blog post. Lol. This summer I was actually lucky enough to see Taking Back Sunday with Third Eye Blind in concert with the same best friend who introduced me to TBS. It’s weird to say but it was one of the most joyous experiences of my life. It was one of the times when I was thankful of the intensity of emotions that comes with my BPD because when I’m happy, oh boy, it’s almost overwhelming but in a good way.

Below is a video of me in the summer of 2021 and the summer of 2022. There is a clear difference in both versions of me. I remember being so reactive and full of rage when I recorded the video where I’m in my room and immediately posting it on tik tok. I was in my “fuck the world” stage of grief. The video at the concert is me in this state of complete happiness and joy. I remember thinking “wow, I’m just really happy at this moment listening to this song. There is no room for anger in my heart”. It’s dramatic to say that it was cathartic for me but it was. To diminish that moment to something less than that would be invalidating what I felt at that moment.

1. Helena -My Chemical Romance
2. Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have without Taking Her Clothes Off- Panic!At the Disco
3. Cut without the “E”-Taking Back Sunday
4. Motorcycle Drive By- Third Eye Blind
5. The Kill-Thirty Seconds to Mars
6. There’s No “I” in Team-Taking Back Sunday
7. Seventy Times 7-Brand New
8. Hands Down-Dashboard Confessional
9. Sugar We’re Going Down-Fall Out Boy
10. Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades-Brand New
11. I’m Not Okay (I Promise)-My Chemical Romance
12. Head Club- Taking Back Sunday
13. The Patron Saint of Liars- Fall Out Boy
14. The Only Difference Between Matrydom and Suicide is Fame- Panic!At the Disco
15. Screaming Infidelities-Dashboard Confessional
16. Great Romances of the 20th Century-Taking Back Sunday
17. A Decade Under the Influences-Taking Back Sunday
18. Tell that Mick He Just Made My List of Things to do Today- Fall Out Boy
19. Vindicated- Dashboard Confessional
20. Jude Law and A Semester Abroad- Brand New

Here is my spotify playlist of my favorite emo songs for your listening pleasure: