Emma Yue’s Top 4 Ballads

New Year’s Day - Taylor Swift 

  • This song feels so intimate to me and I love the concept of experiencing someone’s highs and lows together; loving both the loud and quiet moments. Anyone who knows me would absolutely expect there to be a Taylor Swift song on this list and she has many stunning love songs, but I think this one takes the cake for me. 

  • https://open.spotify.com/track/7F5oktn5YOsR9eR5YsFtqb?si=e8c02ea0f97c4eda

 

That Would I - Hozier

  • It’s giving cottage-core, it’s giving intimacy. I love the lyricism in this song and I’m so addicted to the guitar tones. Hozier makes love feel quiet and naturalistic but also grand and moving. There’s an element of destruction that comes through in the lyrics to me, but it almost feels like this destruction is so welcome which is such a cool juxtaposition. The idea that you’re saying goodbye to your past self who didn’t love this person and you couldn’t be more happy and accepting that you’re letting go to become the person who’s in love with them. 

  • https://open.spotify.com/track/37zuIvk4KBkAxxLJsxJaHq?si=4cf07ffd4902492a

 

Cosmic Love - Florence and The Machine 

  • This is another love song that is begging to be danced to barefoot in a forest. This song gives love this huge monumental element which really speaks to me, I’m someone who feels a lot and deeply and singing this song can be such a cathartic experience. There’s this element of abandonment with the lyric “you left me in the dark” which is later built upon by the lyric “then I heard your heart beating / you were in the darkness too”. Having a love powerful enough that you would stay in the dark with someone and that’s better than being in the light without them gives the concept of love such depth. 

  • https://open.spotify.com/track/1myEOhXztRxUVfaAEQiKkU?si=46b252dc85134c84

 

Loretta - How To Swim 

  • I love the optimism and hope in this song, there’s so much excitement for the future with someone. I relate so hard to the lyric “I’m calling coz you’re all I see in everything” and how they conceptualise the process of realising that you’re in love with someone. This song sounds like what it feels like to realise you’re in love with someone and you’ve got so much to look forward to with them. 

  • https://open.spotify.com/track/12Znv2agtII57o7w1HrG9F?si=07c57865bd0b416a

Michelle Symes