The Songs That Held Me This Year

ssalg31
15 hours ago
7 min read

Wow, this is my first blog post here are UIC Radio…. This semester has been surreal, and genuinely, I’ve never been happier. I’m not going to do any huge lore drops, but let's just say I don’t think I’ve genuinely smiled as much as I have these past 2 months in the past 5 years. I just have to preface that because this blog isn’t about the joy that happened to me this year, but rather appreciating the pain that I went through. I wouldn’t be half the person I am today if I didn’t trudge through the lows. I call them my ✧˖°character building arcs✧˖°. because I feel that pain and joy are two of the most important feelings that make me feel human. Soooooooooo, to pay homage to everything that happened to me in 2025, here are the songs that held me this year and why.

Busy/Sirens by Saba ft The Mind

Saba, the man that you are. I knew him from Bucket List, but I didn’t keep up with him. I started listening to him again when a Few Good Things dropped. I still didn’t listen to CARE FOR ME until this year, and I wonder how much it would’ve helped me in 2021. It's an amazing album detailing grief, memorializing the dead, and creating a social commentary. I had a hard time choosing which song I wanted to highlight. I was between this one or "HEAVEN ALL AROUND ME" but "BUSY/SIRENS" was there for me for the month of February. I tend to self-isolate when things get hard. Juggling school, work, school applications, and February overwhelmed me. On the nights when I was so emotionally exhausted, I would just lie in the dark on my couch and listen to this song and just think. Let all the thoughts in my head run around. Would I act on anything? No, but they do need an outlet. That would happen during "BUSY," and then "SIRENS" would drag me back to the present. In the summer, I would do this while driving back from work after working for 10+ hours a day. This song really just helps me process my emotions.

DtMF by Bad Bunny

A timeless album for me. It dropped while I was in New York City with my parents on a trip to fulfill promises they made to my sister and me. It was on repeat for that whole trip. I’m going to be honest, I feel like I haven’t found new artists who pay homage to the genres my parents grew up on. This is probably the first album whose done it perfectly. Either way, I was obsessed with this song because of the lyrics. I wasn’t really a photo gal before the song, but now I’m obsessed. When you spend time with someone, you never know when you’ll see them again. It could be days, months, years, or never. You can remember the night but as we grow old, our memory begins to fade. The only way to truly immortalize a moment or a person is to take a picture. It's something I regret I didn’t do when I was younger, and that regret pops up too often. When it does, I pop this song on and just sit, listen, and remember.

Nights By Frank Ocean

A classic. I would listen to this song on repeat when I would go biking to the lake in 2020-2021. I listened to the song once on the way there, and then it was on repeat at the lake. I was obsessed because it was my only way out. I couldn’t drive yet, and the lake was so peaceful, so I was just there every other day to escape and feel my emotions. Five years later, I still do that, but in a car. Driving down the highway during the night with the windows down and blasting this song changes you. The tears would dry, and the wind would make me feel free. For context, I HATE IT when I feel that my life is mundane. Just makes me think that I’m a clog in the system.

Bleach By Brockhampton

Brockhampton… Guys, I’m still at the restaurant ( is this a Taylor meme?). Genuinely believe that Brockhampton had a generational run with their Saturation trilogy. They were also the perfect amount of angst for high school me. If only half the band wasn’t evil💔💔 they HAD SO MUCH MORE POTENTIAL 😭😭 it’s okay listen to WHATMORE!!!! Genuinely think they can fill their shoes. Either way, Matt Champion’s verse, Ameer’s Verse, Dom’s Verse, JOBA AND BEARFACE AT THE END RAGHHHHHHHHH. This is genuinely my favorite song to kinda rage and cry to😭 It’s been that way since I first heard it. That chorus too.. MUAH MUAH MUAH!!! Like this song really just hits sooooooo hard and arguably ONE OF THEIR best songs to ever drop.

Come back to me By RM

I’m going to be honest, when RPWP dropped, I was like “eh, the albums aight, come back to me, it's the best songs”. It took until September to truly understand the album’s greatness. As an Army from 2013, I’ve seen the boys grow up with me and have seen how their stylistic choices are just so them. Out of all of the solo releases done by the boys, this is the one that crosses all generations in my opinion. It’s beautiful. Despite listening to the album multiple times, "Come Back to Me" remains my favorite. It’s one of those songs you listen to after a long day, and you just want to relax. It’s 6 minutes of just calm, reassuring vibes. The lyrics are my favorite part of the song. It’s such a beautiful commentary on being lost in this bustling society, yet having that one person who’s there for you. I especially feel the song’s theme of loss. While I’m having an amazing time at UIC, there are just some days when I question if I truly fit in. Going to a commuter school is not for the weak.

Room 27 By Reijie Snow

Wow. Just wow. This song's been one of my comforts since high school. An old online friend recommended this to me, and it did generational numbers that year. For reference, it was the winter of 2020. Wow… I’ll be honest, I don’t remember much from that year. What I do know is that this song was on repeat. I’m someone who has a hard time processing emotions, but music helps me. Listening to artists write their stories or share the stories of others made me feel like I wasn’t alone, especially in the moments I needed the most. The lyrics are rather dark, yet the melody holds you. It lets you feel these dark thoughts while simultaneously telling you it’s okay. In a way, it saved me those years. With no one to truly talk to about my thoughts, listening to this song was my only outlet.

Like Him By Tyler the Creator

A song that has done SO MUCH in less than a year. The edits that would come from this song broke my heart. My favorite was when people animated the teacup scene from Uptown Girls with different characters who’ve suffered major losses, and "Like Him" was the song playing in the background. Changed my life. All I could think of was my sister and I as kids in the teacup and as it spins we age. By the end it’s only me…. For months, I couldn’t play this song without tearing up and playing this scene in my head. For me, it represented how many years after her passing, I started to look like my sister. It’s crazy because in 2026, I’ll reach an age she never did. Yet it continues to make me ask the question, “Do I Look Like Her?” Funny enough, now I see it with my dad. I won’t get into it, but when I was young, everyone would say I looked like my dad. I hated it, yet now all I can think about is how they’re right. Especially after everything happened, I wonder if I remind him of his past. Well, more like: do I look like him?

Blinking Game By Jognhyun

My pearl aqua star. Fun fact! Part of my tattoo is a reference to his song “Diphylleia Grayi”. I didn’t listen to that song as much this year but whenever I’m having a hard time I always listen to Jonghyun. Ever since 2017, his music has held my heart in a chokehold. Doesn’t matter the problem, his songs …. just carry you and force you to feel everything you didn’t want to feel. My favorite is "Blinking Game", for when I get rejected… Sure, it’s a love song, and if you read the lyrics, it’s cute. At the same time, it feels as if it’s about an unrequited love, something I know too well. You could take those same lyrics as someone begging them to love them back and deluding themselves that their feelings are reciprocated. Did I get rejected this year? Yes SIRRRRRR, so this song was on repeat…. if you saw my history on Airbuds… do not say anything.

GODSTAINED By Quadeca

Hmmmmmmm, I’m going to be honest, this song is really here for the vibes. This was my song of the summer during the night. Occasionally, I would sit outside and just feel the earth and the wind. The breeze was almost carrying me as I let go of all of my worries. Sometimes I would listen to music, and "GODSTAINED" always played at least once. The waves at the beginning made the breeze feel as if it came from the ocean. The flutes, guitars, and percussion blend so well, I really do feel like the SpongeBob meme. The stressful nights of opening a new restaurant went away. For three minutes and twenty-five seconds, I could forget where I was and who I was.

Soledad Y El Mar By Natalia Lafourcade

Ahh.... the last song. All of these songs are favorites, but this one? In the Top 10 songs of my whole life. It’s one of the songs that I feel so comfortable singing. No need to belt or try some amazing vocal technique. All that matters is emotion and soothing tone. When I sing this song, I finally let myself feel my deepest thoughts. I tend to avoid them, but when they build up, I play this song. It feels as if I’m having a conversation with myself: cradling and acknowledging all the pain. Particularly, it's the outro that holds me dearly so dearly. I’ve always had an affinity for water. As it asks the ocean to sing a bolero of loneliness, I imagine myself at the ocean and plunge myself. When I make it to the surface, every dark thought I felt goes radio silent. It’s as if the ocean took them in.