Arts Spotlight: :(

Lachlan Mitchell takes us through some tear-jerkers for moments where you can’t help but cry

Sometimes, you just have to cry. Maybe your dog said ‘buh-bye!’ and checked out into the void of nonexistence. Maybe you just ended a relationship. Maybe you just realised how happy you are in your relationship – we can cry without it ruining our day. And you just need the right song to get it out, to elicit the sweet nectar of sorrow that has been building up in your crushed soul. Let the melodrama find you!

And in my due diligence and care for your well-being, I have chosen a few songs and created situations in which they could apply, so you know just when to plug in your headphones and surrender to whatever you are feeling.

Notes: There’ll be no Sarah McLachlan, no Wind Beneath My Wings and no Sia. Too fucking easy.

White Flag – Dido

Situation: You’ve woken up. Something in you just doesn’t feel right, but you have things to do today. You take a shower, knowing that the hot water won’t be able to melt away the lingering feeling of incompleteness from your mind this cool morning. You leave your bed completely unmade, which isn’t like you. You go out. It’s not your worst day, but just when you’ve reached lunch, a lone bird aims their burning shit right into the delicious folds of the wrap you lovingly made the night before. You sigh. All your friends, however many of them you have, are preoccupied and you’re just not feeling the day. You decide to skip a lecture and do some work at home instead. You open the door and you realise that you accidentally left one of the windows open, not only leaving your vicinity freezing, but the small level of rain has just so happened to blow into the curtains and drench them. You can’t remedy this right now and you’re starting to get a little upset. It just hasn’t been a good day. You sit down to do some work, when you realise that you left your charger at uni and the rain is starting to come down heavily. You really feel it now. Left without other options, you wrap yourself in an ill-fitting blanket and go sit on your bed, fumbling through the music on your phone. After a few minutes, Dido presents herself. And 30 seconds into the delicately layered string section, a single tear runs down your face. You don’t know why. You make a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner and call it a day.

By Your Side – Sade

Situation: You’ve had a bad day at work – a bad week, really – management took out their frustrations at corporate out on you, and you had to stay and miss what was supposed to be a lovely movie night with the partner, who recently got back from a month-long reassignment for their job, whatever it is. They had bought a shitload of awful snacks from New World and they weren’t going to wear pants that whole night. Neither were you. You’re both tired, but they waited up for you, reluctantly snacking on the Cheese Balls that they got for $1.80 – a steal, mind you! You walk in, stressed out from replaying the raised voices in your head and not in the mood for anything, no matter how lovingly prepared. Your partner tries to bridge the mental gap and offers you a hug, but you just can’t be bothered. They see the furrowed brow and frizzed hair. They understand. You sit down on the couch and eat a couple of cheeseballs, trying to find the remote without actually looking for it. Your partner turns on the TV. Some kids have died. You wonder why you still watch broadcast TV at all and change the channel. It is 11:30pm and you see a Suzanne Paul infomercial for, I don’t know, sparkly vaginal glitter foundation. I don’t really know what the fuck she gets up to these days. You turn off the tv and return to an uncomfortable silence. You get a text. CARLY DROPPED SHIFT. COME IN TOMORROW 6AM. You start yelling and some cheeseballs are accidentally mushed into the couch by your errant hand. Your partner sits down and tells you not to worry about it, they don’t go in tomorrow and they’ll clean it up. But before that, they put on a little music. You laugh. “What the fuck is this?” But they just hold you tight and let you know that it’s okay. Sade begins to sing. You cry. It is okay.

Tiny Tears – Tindersticks

Situation: It’s late. You’re waiting at the bus stop, having just left your partner’s house after a massive (verbal) fight. It’s over between you both.  You’re drunk – not excessively, but you want the open space of a bus compared to an Uber. The bus you need just drives on by, oblivious to your needs. They didn’t see your hop card for shit. Infuriated, but more at the fight than at the bus driver, you sit down and just cry. It’s bitter. These really sting. It’s been months of this and it’s all coming out. You cry like this for ten minutes, hating yourself for doing so, but lacking the willpower to stop it. The last bus of the night finally stops, although at this point, you were barely considering the thought of getting on one. But you do. You sit right at the back and put in some headphones, having cried out all the bitterness already. Well, for this particular night, at least. Tiny Tears comes on. You’re still upset, but it’s somewhat uplifting as well. You still feel pathetic and bitter. But not as pathetic as you could have felt.

And finally, Baby Love Child – Pizzicato Five.

Situation: If you have any lingering issues with family, boy, have I got the song for you! There’s no better scene I could create than the final scene of Leela’s Homeworld, the episode of Futurama in which it is used. I sob like a baby every fucking time. Have fun!