5 Songs About Love and Relationships that I Covet

Janis Joplining by CMAT

Janis Joplining is the final song on 2025’s Euro-Country, the third album of Irish musician CMAT (born Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, making her stage name her initials). The song’s perspective is from the fascinating point of view of a woman developing a crush on a married man, not because of anything specific about him, but because of watching him and his wife interact and really desiring that intimacy and closeness. In the blurb for this song on Apple Music, CMAT explains how the title relates to the song. “‘Janis Joplining’ is a name I’ve given to being self-destructive,” she said. “...what I want is this egalitarian relationship and to comfortably talk intimately with everyone in the world, and if I can’t have it, then I self-destruct and go Janis Joplining,” she added, soon after in the interview. At the end of the chorus, CMAT sings one of the most heartbreaking lyrics on her entire record, and one that I think encapsulates the song’s thesis: ‘I don't need to touch you, just speak to me like I'm your wife or a part of your soul / If we keep these thoughts in our head, babe / They'll never hurt us, no / So, baby, please become my head and my body, oh, please just for the night.’

Eau D'Bedroom Dancing by Le Tigre

Lyrically, Eau D’Bedroom Dancing is pretty sparse. The verses are short and the chorus, which only plays once, is repetitive: a mantra of, ‘No one to criticize me then / No one to criticize me.’ However, it still effectively communicates its intended intimacy. On the second verse, Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Le Tigre, sings, ‘There's no fear when I'm in my room/ It's so clear and I know just what I want to do / Eau d'bedroom dancing / To you, I wanna say you're my thing.’ Her voice is saccharine and contrasted nicely against a distorted, mid-tempo guitar riff. While the song doesn’t tell the epic of a relationship, or hone in on a more specific aspect of love, the song remains very romantic.

Green Eyes by Erykah Badu

Green Eyes, the finale to Erykah Badu’s critically acclaimed sophomore album Mama’s Gun, is one of the best break up songs of all time, and it’s a strong contender for one of my favorite songs ever as well. This song is the story of break up told in three sonically different parts. The first part features Badu’s voice, gorgeous and filtered through an old-timey sounding crinkle. The tinkling piano and scattered brass instruments add to the dated effect of the songs intro, as Badu sings coyly about her jealousy. ‘My eyes are green / 'Cause I eat a lot of vegetables / It don't have nothing to do with your new friend,’ she sings. As the almost a capella nature of the first part fades, Badu’s voice, now unfiltered, beautifully sings the songs, ‘I’m insecure.’ This part of the song puts me more in mind of a smokey jazz bar. It’s slow and kind of sultry. In my head, I can always imagine Badu up on stage, kind of melancholy as she tries to sort out the confusion of her break up. ‘But I don't love you any more / Yes, I do, I think / Loving you is wrong,’ she sings, unsure how she really feels through the smokescreen of grief. The third part transitions into the more-familiar R&B sound as Badu's desperation seeps through the cracks, the lyrics repeating, ‘See, I can’t leave, it’s too late / I can’t leave, it’s too late.’ The final lyrics of the song are, ‘I know our love will never be the same / But I can't stand these growing pains / Thank you.’

Big Mike's by Dijon

Is it bragging to say that I’ve seen this performed live...? It was incredible. Big Mike’s is the song that got me into Dijon. I think that a lot of people can say that. I had stumbled across a clip of Dijon performing this in what looked to be the living room of a regular house, with a guy with a blond bob. As I soon discovered, this performance was a clip from Dijon’s film for his debut album Absolutely. As it also turns out, the guy with the blond bob was Mk.gee, fellow acclaimed musician and frequent collaborator. Big Mike’s is the first song that the two ever collaborated with each other on, which feels hard to believe due to how incredible this song is. But, to bring it back to the song, Big Mike’s is one of the most emotionally evoking love songs that I’ve ever heard. Dijon voice is raspy as he croons over the stomp-y instrumentation of his band. ‘I like how you look when you got questions,’ he sings. ‘I like how you look when you get stressed / ...I like when you get mood swings / ...I like how you look when you undress.’ The verses are all lists of what he likes about his wife, Joanna, whom he mentions by name during the songs chorus. ‘I might drop to my knees, Joanna please / Will you take me? Will you take me?’ he sings. ‘Sings’ is actually an understatement: I would say that Dijon wails these lyrics. The entire song is an incredible, emotionally wrenching testament to the strength of Dijon’s love for his partner.

Love Drought by Beyoncé

Love Drought is my favorite Beyoncé song of all time. I like it more than the song that got me into Beyoncé (Suga Mama) and more than the song I called my favorite for years and years prior (Partition). There’s something about the open honesty of this song, of all of Lemonade, really, but I see it represented here, in Love Drought, really beautifully. The whole song is a heartbreaking plea: ‘Tell me, what did I do wrong? / Feel like that question has been posed, I’m movin’ on,’ she sings almost midway through verse two. At the end of the verse, she sings, ‘Tell me, what did I do wrong? / Oh, already asked that, my bad.’ Throughout the song, we get a glimpse into Beyoncé’s indignant questioning of how her partner could have cheated on her. ‘If I wasn't B, would you still feel me? / Like on my worst day? Or am I not thirsty enough?,’ she sings in the pre-chorus, posing the question, would you still love me if I wasn’t Beyoncé?