Though they are both still relatively young, Adele and Taylor Swift are long-standing icons of heartbreak music, and with each artist dropping new tracks this month, my emotions are fully in their control. I’ve already argued that you should embrace this sad girl autumn (don’t be deterred by the name; you can be a sad girl regardless of age, gender, or emotional state), and right now, it certainly feels like ‘tis the damn season.
Today, Swift unveiled Red (Taylor’s Version), a rerecording of her acclaimed 2012 album of the same name. One of the biggest regrets of my life is wasting so much of my precious teen angst on hating Taylor Swift instead of embracing her talents. A huge part of my newfound love for her comes from my desire to support the artist’s right to her own music; the rerecording project is Swift’s countermeasure against the changed ownership of the masters for her first six studio albums.
On the power ballad side of things, Adele’s newly released “Easy on Me” is part of 30, the artist’s first album in six years. Adele revealed the forthcoming album touches on “the most turbulent period” of her life. (Since her last album, 25, the artist has gotten both married and divorced).
But which of these titans of the perfectly phrased kiss-off reigns supreme in our broken hearts? Why choose? Just mix together the best of both. When it comes to the perfect breakup song, we all need something a little different depending on what stage we’re in—catharsis, nostalgia, yearning, regret, or any of the swirling emotions that come with the end of a relationship. (My stance is that any song can be a breakup song, actually, if you’re sad enough.) This mix covers all the bases.
