I have one playlist of all the sad songs in my col­lec­tion. I named it OAC because that was the year I first made the playlist (it has since come to define that time in my life), and it’s grown from 11 songs to over 50.

I late­ly find myself skip­ping songs when I lis­ten to that par­tic­u­lar playlist, and to me, the entire point of playlists is so that one does­n’t have to skip songs. I’ve start­ed to dis­tin­guish between two types of sad emo­tions, and with this dis­tinc­tion comes the sep­a­ra­tion of two types of sad songs.

There is the “true sad”, which delves into depres­sion. Songs such as Tindersticks – Trouble Every Day, or Dir En Grey – Mushi are the per­fect com­pli­ments for such a mood. Then there’s the “hurts-so-good sad”, where there’s bare­ly any sad­ness at all, but just enough to remind one­self of what one has been through and how far one has come. The ben­e­fi­cial sad­ness, which does good and not harm. The type of lin­ger­ing, resid­ual sad­ness that almost leaves one crav­ing more of the once famil­iar feel­ing. And with this beau­ti­ful emo­tion goes songs such as Bad Astronaut – These Days, Portishead – Wondering Star, Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside.

I need to make anoth­er playlist.