At this point, we’ve made it through the lion’s share of April showers, but the rainy season is far from over. There’s something about the gloomy weather that makes us somber, and the best way to pull through these melancholic moments can be through music. So dial up your headphones and remember that the sunshine will return soon.

“Smoker” by Jack Van Cleaf

There’s nothing like a rainy day to make you contemplate every way you feel you’ve ever erred or generally gone wrong. No matter how true we are to our own compasses, it’s sometimes hard not to feel like we’re letting our younger, more earnest selves down. For Van Cleaf, this takes the form of the titular vice —  “And I never thought I would be a smoker / Guess that I forgot, guess I’m getting older” — but the song is an applicable lament for any apparent regret or shortcoming. It reflects on the ways that we shift and change against the pressures and expectations that come with maturing, and Van Cleaf’s soft, soprano vocals and lyricism steeped in memory make the song sting. 

— Eleanor Jacobs, Music Editor

“Get Free” by Lana Del Rey

During the rainy spring season, we’re not fully free of seasonal depression but have ultimately shed the worst of our winter scaries. Lana Del Rey captures the middle point between sad girl winter and city girl summer in “Get Free,” as she declares her desire to move “out of the black” and “into the blue.” The wistful lyrics, along with Lana’s hypnotizing vocals, make “Get Free” the ideal tune for a rainy walk to class.

— Annie Emans, Staff Writer

“Something, Somehow, Someday” by Role Model

I can count the number of men who would willingly sing about their flaws in a relationship on one hand, and Tucker Pillsbury is one of them. His self-deprecating verses juxtapose his troubling traits with an ex he clearly reveres — he’s “got no destination,” but “she’s a plane ride home.” With an open-ended, hopelessly romantic chorus about believing the two are meant to be despite these glaring differences, “Something, Somehow, Someday” is sure to make you teary-eyed.

— Dani Biondi, Film & TV Editor

“Hard Feelings/Loveless” by Lorde

Now that our Lorde and savior has officially teased her return to music, it’s a perfect time to appreciate her flawless discography. In “Hard Feelings/Loveless,” Lorde separates a breakup into two acts. The first half is a gritty, soul-wrenching microcosm of a love now lost, with lyrics like, “But I still remember everything / How we’d drift buying groceries, how’d you dance for me.” However, the song’s second half provides the calm after the storm, where Lorde proudly proclaims that she’s moved on, making it the quintessential soundtrack for the ever-changing energy of spring.

— Amelia Knust, Staff Writer

“Jet Fuel” by Mac Miller

The sound of crashing waves opens the melancholic “Jet Fuel.” Over the next five minutes, we’re taken on a reflective journey up to the clouds, where stress fades away. Miller insists he’ll “never run out of jet fuel,” a solemn recognition of his own drug addiction. My favorite bit is the track’s last minute, when the instrumental strips back and we’re left with nothing but Mac’s autotuned voice. It’s the perfect backtrack to enjoy some rainy day window-watching.

— Leo Field, Staff Writer

“Some Day Come Back To Me” by Low Roar

“House in the Woods,” the Icelandic band’s final album after the passing of its lead singer, opens in appropriately somber fashion with “Some Day Come Back To Me.” Muted horns and lush strings are punctuated by Ryan Karazija’s delicate vocals, as his sparse illustration of an empty household builds against the swell of guitar strums and steadfast drums into a parent’s plea for their child to “Make them understand / But some day come back to me.” After the song trails off into silence, you’re left with a profound sense of bittersweetness that still feels like the reassurance of sunlight after the rain. 

—Kaleo Zhu, Contributing Writer

“Wild Horses” by The Sundays

While this is technically a cover of The Rolling Stones, The Sundays’ “Wild Horses” is the perfect song for pondering in the rain. Originally written as a lullaby, “Wild Horses” is about an unwillingness to leave a loved one. Vocalist Harriet Wheeler hauntingly sings that “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away,” much less anything her loved one could say or do. Harriet’s high-pitched voice, paired with the whimsical ’90s sound of The Sundays, makes for an extremely devastating rendition of an already heart-wrenching song.

—Christine Vigliotti, Contributing Writer

“Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” by Jeff Buckley

This song is suitable for a rainy day not only because the opening line is literally about rain, but because the song’s swelling instrumentation into a crashing tempest suits all degrees of a rainy day. Buckley’s professional yearning encapsulates the overwhelming feeling of waiting for someone and knowing that you could wait forever. In this song, love is both the sting of emptiness and the only thing that can fill it. Grab your proverbial coat and boots because listening to this feels like trudging through mud until you just let the earth consume you.

— Oshmi Ghosh, Contributing Writer

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