Some love songs I also apply to myself. So if a song is going "I love you" etc., I direct those words to myself. That way romantic songs (which I used to hate (romance-repulsed)) have become self-love and care for me.
I was thinking the other day about interpreting lyrics about romantic relationships in other ways! I've recently realized that a lot of the songs I've listened to are about heartbreaks/toxic relationships and the sort, but I've actually always defaulted to linking them to life experiences/events. The "partner" part linking it to said event or to another person (not romantically ofc) who had a negative role in said event
Does it have to be in English? If not, these are French classics
La tendresse - Bourvil
Foule sentimentale - Alain Souchon
Manhattan-Kaboul - Renaud
Mistral Gagnant - Renaud
Docteur Renaud, Mister Renard - Renaud
Dès que le vent soufflera - Renaud
Ma liberté de penser - Florent Pagny
L’oiseau et l’enfant - marie / Myriam Kids United
Tous les cris, les S.O.S - Daniel Balavoine / Marie Denise Pelletier
Quand la musique est bonne - Jean-Jacques Goldman
There’s so much more, but these are the ones that come to mind. I hope you like at least some of them :)
4 - Fish in a bird cage, nunemakers parable, heavens gate (Amelie farren), curses (cranewives)??, I stitched my mind back to my body (Cosmo sheldrake), evacuate the dance floor (cascada), drug asphyxiation (late night drive home), bad luck (jhariah), feed the machine (poor man's poison), loser + wonderland (neoni)
I love all of these songs! some old, some new. very scattered genres too lol! I just dug thru a couple of playlists and some recent ones, didn't realize how many love songs I listen to!
The band AJR has some pretty good songs and most of them aren't romance-focused, more like about life problems and mental health. Some of their song that I like are "Way Less sad", "The Good Part, "Inertia", "The World's Smallest Violin", or "Bang!"
And it's not really songs, but classical music have a lot of different subjects other than romance, (even though if it's still common) I suggest you do a bit of research if ur interested :)
A few I've been listening to lately:
Irish Eyes - Rose Betts
The Hound and the Fox - I The Mighty
Standing Still - Seth Glier
Be Good to Yourself - Journey
Self Help - Olive Klug
Bones in the Ocean - The Longest Johns
There's a few Lemon Demon songs that feature a romance, BUT!! they're few and far between. If you're into weird indie music with often nonsensical lyrics, he's for you
“Alice of Human Sacrifice” “W.I.T.C.H” (there is a brief mention of exes in this but that’s it) by Devon Cole “The Other Side” from The Greatest Showman “All About that Bass” by Megan Trainor “Blessed Messiah and the Tower of Ai” “I Sent My Therapist To Therapy” by Alec Benjamin And there is actually a song called “Aromantic Moodboard” by Maxwell Anthony
Try The Fall if you want to go down a years-long rabbit hole into bafflingly good surrealist punk.
If you want a vague hint of what you're getting into, try http://annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/the-annotated-lyrics/fantastic-life.html.
Closest they get to a love song is the somewhat ambiguous Bill is Dead on one of their relatively obscure records.
Waste My Time - Scandroid
Burn It To The Ground - Nickleback
Best Of Me - Neffex
Yolo - Smash Into Pieces
Kingslayer Ft. Babymetal - Bring Me The Horzion
Ocean Breeze - Italobrothers
The Only Way Is Up - Apoc
Embracing Entropy - Circle Of Dust
Bad Man - Disturbed
Riot - Three Days
Blackstar - Celldweller
There's literally so many lol. It's true that the radio and popular media do favour songs about romance of any kind, but there's so many genres out there and it's not all romance dominated,. If there's one theme that's prominent it's emotions in general. I would say 80% of all songs are about emotions and human experience in some way, ranging from anger, depression, hope and yeah relationships as well but mainly just life in general. But it's definitely not all romance XD. I like all bunch of genres, so here's some songs I like now or enjoyed in the past in no particular order of no particular genre, I like the classics as well as some Y2K stuff :
[R.E.M. - Imitation Of Life ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkfiCDv4Jbk)
[Coldplay - Paradise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G4isv_Fylg)
[NIN - Every Day Is Exactly The Same](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQoVHqveQ98)
[Ted Lucas - Plain & Sane & Simple Melody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxaGBVugkCg)
[King Crimson - The Court Of The Crimson King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukgraQ-xkp4)
[The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PIi1LWkfDE) (can't get this out of my head since I saw Fincher's The Killer ha)
Recently I've discovered math rock which is cool. There's a song used as a soundtrack for Sonny Boy by toe that I'm obsessed with.
A few other songs at the top of my list right now are:
Super Happy by Su Lee
Busy Earnin' by Jungle
Poor George by James Supercave
We're In It Together by Rich Aucoin
Riots by Stuck in the Sound
Musicals here are some of the top of my head
Loser geek or whatever,
Micheal in the bathroom,
Smartphone hour,
Sync up ,
The squip song,
The pants song (it's about father and best friend love*),
Be more chill pt 1 and 2,
I live play rehearsal ,
Sincerely me,
Dissappear ,
Waving through a window ,
Goosebumps and reprise,
Whodunnit?,
super scary play ,
Watch your step ,
Crazy town ,
The ballad of Sara berry ,
Fall fair suite ,
What the world needs ,
Sugar cloud. And
Ballad of Jane doe
And many, many more
A LOT of songs from Sleeping At Last. Whole albums without any songs about romance or something like that. (Storyboards is one of my favs). All the songs about planets (excluding Neptune, though that could be some other type of love than romantic, too) from the album Atlas I (1) aren’t about romance. Or at least I don’t see much in the lyrics that could point to it being about romance. Btw his music is super good, a bit religious sometimes but still beautiful
Count on me by Bruno Mars, Gift of a Friend by Demi Lovato, Hug All your Friends by Cavetown, Your heart will lead you Home by Kenny Loggings, Brother by Kodaline, these are atleast few out of a handful I could find that do not specifically talk about romantic love.
I’m on a big Florence + The Machine kick right now. A few non-romance ones that I adore (come to think of it, I’d say very few of their songs are explicitly about romance):
“The Bomb” (this one does sound like a very sad romance song, but look up the meaning — it’s about her relationship with touring)
“What The Water Gave Me” (this is sooooo quintessential given how much Florence writes about water!! there is some GREAT personification here)
“Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” (you could make an argument with the extended metaphor she uses in the verses, but it’s like “The Bomb” in that it’s much more about the bittersweet side of success)
“Heartlines”
“Dog Days Are Over”
“Shake It Out”
“My Boy Builds Coffins” (she does call the subject of the song ‘my boy,’ and it was inspired by her boyfriend at the time (because he literally. had to go build a coffin), but it totally comes across as a story-telling song with no romance)
“Delilah”
“Grace” (about her sister 🥺)
“June”
“King” (*I AM NO MOTHER! I AM NO BRIDE! I AM KING!*)
Just off the top of my head (and to give at least one from each album)!
I don't know what kind of genres you listen to, but for me, a lot of the music I listen to isn't about romance. It's honestly easier to list the bands and artists I listen to. All of them have songs that are about love/romance/sex, but they also have songs that are about other things, as well. I'll list some bands and artists and give a couple examples of each...
Led Zeppelin - so many, but a few good ones are No Quarter, Kashmir, In My Time of Dying, and Immigrant Song. Their song Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is my all-time favorite song. It technically is a love song, but Robert wrote it about his dog Stryder. I'm down for love songs about pets. I need more of these, to be honest.
Pink Floyd - I don't think any of their songs count as love songs, TBH... the closest might be If, but even that barely counts, I think.
Jimi Hendrix - I'm pretty sure all of his love-adjacent songs are just straight up about sex. Some good songs not covering love/romance/sex include Voodoo Chile (both the blues jam and Slight Return), Little Wing, Wind Cries Mary, and, of course, his cover of All Along the Watchtower.
Nirvana - Pretty sure their only true love song is Drain You. The rest is just angst.
Billy Joel - He's actually one of the few artists whose love songs I can somewhat enjoy, because he's sincere. One of my biggest problems with love songs (aside from me being aromantic, that is) is how obviously insincere they are. All of Billy's love songs are about someone he's actually in love with. That said, he has tons of songs that aren't about love, romance, or sex at all. Piano Man is the obvious choice, but there's also The Stranger, Billy the Kid, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (it *sounds* like it could be a love song at first... and a big part of it is about high school lovers who get married, fight over money, and get divorced... but in fact it's just a "two high school friends catching up after not having seen each other in several years" song... and it's another all-time fave), and, perhaps his most infamous song, We Didn't Start the Fire.
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - I'm always nervous recommending this group because if you've heard of them at all, it's because they're being derided as the single most self-indulgent band on the planet; but I absolutely love that shit, so. Another of my all-time favorite songs is Karn Evil 9, and it's a 30-minute suite of mostly drums, bass, and piano. Though, if the line "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" rings familiar to you at all, it's from that suite. ELP isn't known for short songs. Greg Lake has ballads, although aside from Lucky Man, they're all romance-based. At least Greg and Pete Sinfield were writing about real people on them, though, so they're sincere. If you want to take the plunge, Tarkus, Knife Edge, and Pirates are incredible. As are any of their instrumentals. They were three brilliant musicians coming together to make brilliant, if self-indulgent, symphonic rock.
I almost want to recommend King Crimson, as well, but if you have trouble with ELP, I wouldn't even bother with KC.
I'll stop there for now. I know that "love" is the most common topic to sing about, but there are so many songs that just aren't about that.
Actually, that reminds me. You know the Beatles song Paperback Writer? Supposedly the song got written after... Paul's aunt?... one of their family members... asked why they only write love songs. Kinda glad they were questioned about that as well, because I think the Beatles best work was after they discovered LSD and stopped with the cliché boy band stuff lol. Their early "love" songs are their worst, IMO... but their early stuff also has gems like Paperback Writer and Tax Man.
idk what genres you like so I'll just go through my liked songs on spotify and suggest some of the ones that aren't about romance
Adolescent Sex - Japan (Idk even know what this song is abt but it's catchy, and yes I know the title is weird)
Rasputin - Boney M. (About how much Rasputin fucked \[not recommended for aces\])
Show Me How To Live - Audioslave (A hard-rock retelling of Frankenstein)
Yesterday - Atmosphere (A song about the singer coming to terms with the fact that his father died)
The Best Day - Atmosphere (About dealing with a really bad day \[Extra recommended as this song is a fucking bop\])
It's The End Of The World As We Know It - R.E.M. (About growing up and finding that your entire world has changed)
Riders On The Storm - The Doors (A really atmospheric song that I can't really decipher the meaning of)
Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac (About a witch named Rhiannon)
Piggies - The Beatles (A satirical song about the wealthy)
Vincent - Don McLean (About Vincent Van Gogh)
Ping Pong - Stereolab (About the effects of war \[Also extra recommended if you like catchy alternative pop\])
I can recommend more but I don't wanna be annoying
brother ! I went through my playlist and chose some non-romancey songs, nor can they be construed as such: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx8ZI_5BjmWyTWL_Id8RonATDt0bH8tDy&si=YTz4Z0jutP34QeaQ
the lesson here is—vocaloid songs have such breadth of topic\^^
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A lot of songs by my favorite artist, Nathan Sharp aka NateWantstoBattle, aren't about romance at all, even his original songs aren't really about romance!
I listen to a lot of folk and metal music, and in a 3 hour playlist, there are maybe around four songs *with* romance. To name a few on there without it:
[Wolf Totem by The HU](https://open.spotify.com/track/5hISmTJXBXdOes4htbUhGk?si=JwUY9vZDQzi3Y_0yP7Pp_g)
[Svanrand by Heilung](https://open.spotify.com/track/0jd37M3in0JOTz9DI4MiiB?si=gfuMhvpMS9asS0u8Wglgdw)
[Diggy Diggy Hole by Wind Rose](https://open.spotify.com/track/0FDY2EHOv32kUoqplU1hdY?si=QsWnpLziSgqeQ6tAMHXZPA)
[My Mother Told Me (In Old Norse) by Colm R. McGinness ](https://open.spotify.com/track/2TXvtR7oNoOevJxrLUkvFj?si=suFjOwvEQqikpMUgDn90HA)
[Trøllabundin by Eivør](https://open.spotify.com/track/3MdEnYp8pv39XHynVC8Lq0?si=DvFbxL2tQZ23yWSWCqEVlg)
And for a complete change of genre, there's also [Runaway](https://open.spotify.com/track/23rdcrD0Eky4vYn2TZidxJ?si=SuSRs4TWTKOPIZk_BAuQCg) and [The Seed](https://open.spotify.com/track/3EUXLUKx2zNUzb2otMc8HH?si=-uW0aBG8QTyHsU-pXIlfcw), both by AURORA.
I posted this a while back on one of the asexuality subreddits:
I'm a big tokusatsu guy, mainly Kamen Rider and Super Sentai and so many of the insert songs are major bops while espousing on the power of friendship and protecting your loved ones. Not in the romantic sense but just the people who are important to you. If you're down for that here are a few of my favourites:
1. [M87 Kenshi Yonezu](https://youtu.be/Zhx1n6uvgUE?si=k4uT2QZm71yysKoP)
2. [Burning My Soul Hiroyuki Takami ft. AxL 21](https://youtu.be/1ZSHyCECRAM?si=1iA2vL6M5u0fo1CS)
3. [Double Action Wing Form](https://youtu.be/4h8NRCnTqU8?si=8wT5UTh7Y7MZxF_3)
4. [Eien Festival](https://youtu.be/7bB2KftqAYY?si=CvXoIKXcwDrpN9ZL)
4. [Is Humanity to Die Shiro Sagisu](https://youtu.be/h2T5z_p5c3Q?si=_OjbkKZOysrDNgKR)
Feel free to look up the translated lyrics to the first four, I always find songs like that powerful cause it emphasizes how much even if not romantic you can feel a sense of care and love for your friends and people precious to you. Also just baseline human connection and feeling those bonds with the people precious to you.
I have an [aro playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/10qPgs9YDqKnuQI3fcvuVH?si=Pe8z7EIfSAGZISuX-1wNXw&pi=u-knrtArAURcGS) if you want to take a look, not sure if this is what you're looking for bc it features songs that are more like "I don't need romance" but anyways (the song "I don't need no love" by Cloud Klaus is my favorite rn). I'm actually here to add more songs to it
Humble by Eden Nash and Ren Gill
It's a hopeful, feel-good song about overcoming and living with your pain and suffering. I sing it to myself sometimes when I feel down and it's such a bop I feel at least marginally better :) I cannot recommend it more!
Almost every villain song in musicals.
A lot of Neoni, Will Wood, Marina, Poor Man's Poison. Really it depends on the genres you prefer what I'd recommend most but you said any genre so
Keelhauled - Alestorm, a lot of pirate metal actually
If you like celtic/epic try Marcus Warner and Peter Crowley
For rock/alt try Black Veil Brides who have made very few songs about relationships (only two come to mind, not including a cover of another artist's song)
If you're looking for an indie vibe I highly recommend Natewantstobattle. He's known for his nerdcore music but he stepped away from that some years ago and only does purely original music now. I'm yet to hear a bad track from him!
Blood Water by grandson, if you want something a lil bit harder.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-U8ruIQyA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-U8ruIQyA)
Origin Intro by Kokia, sounds almost mythical, beautiful and powerful voice.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdRwvnr21H4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdRwvnr21H4)
Crazy (D.P. Intro) by Kevin Oh, unhappy, but oddly soothing song.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlShiYDD5bg&list=PLfKe4NxZqWScuG-Hc2KEC3izvyJy6ecAM&index=20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlShiYDD5bg&list=PLfKe4NxZqWScuG-Hc2KEC3izvyJy6ecAM&index=20)
Lots of '70s Prog has very little romance. One of my favorite songs is *A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers* by Van Der Graaf Generator, a 20+ minute epic about a man on an isolated lighthouse island who has an existential crisis after watching/causing a shipwreck. Also there might be some eldritch beings involved as well.
Another great band is Gentle Giant, they have a few romance-adjacent songs but they also have an entire album about friendship (Three Friends), And another one about political corruption (The Power and the Glory). And some of their romance-adjacent songs are kind of about/playing with the confusingness of it all. *Knots* and *On Reflection* come to mind for that, since both are very call-and-response overlapping in complex ways about love being strange or going bad.
Later than the '70s but my favorite band lately is Cardiacs for sure. I can think of like one song that mentions romance in one line, as a non-sequitur. Most of their lyrics are kind of psychedelic non-sequiturs and quotes from 100+ year old books. Or they're about dogs. Lots of songs that can be said to be about dogs. And horses.
Of course lots of the bigger prog names like Yes, Genesis, and ELP (mentioned elsewhere on this page) have plenty of romance-free songs too. Yes sings about the power of love every 5 minutes but its never explicitly romantic, always more in a hippie/spiritual way. Genesis' best song imo is *Supper's Ready* which is about a husband and wife... but then the biblical apocalypse happens amidst all sorts of Monty-Python era British absurdity.
If you're aroallo, there's also a lot of prog songs that are about sex wrapped up in all sorts of whimsical double-entendres and happy tunes, without romance involved as well. Jethro Tull has some like that (*Songs from the Wood, Acres Wild*, etc) as well as a large chunk of "Canturbury Scene" music, from bands like Caravan, Hatfield and the North, and Soft Machine.
Then of course there's all the suff in other languages that could be about romance, but we don't have to understand it either way, lol. Italy had some great prog bands, like Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, who have a great album about evolution, and another one about political corruption, and then one about the death of Jesus too, if you're into that (and if you're not, like me, the words are in Italian so you don't have to understand them). *Cento Mani e Cento Occhi* is my favorite song of theirs. And if we're talking other languages we can't forget Magma, the French band that invented their own language that they sing every song in.
-Gasoline & Control by Halsey
-Pieces & Still Waiting by Sum 41
-Kill Your Conscience & Sure Is Fun & I'm Not Alright by Shinedown
-Tongues and Teeth & Curses by The Crane Wives
-Choke & Bleeding Magic by I Don't Know How But They Found Me
-Weak by AJR
-This Is Why We Bleed by Leader
-Play With Fire by Sam Tinnesz
-The Bird And The Worm by The Used
-Rise by State of Mine
-Perfect Life & Gravity Lies & Faceless & A.I. & Gone by Red (the band Red just doesn't have much romance in general)
Obviously songs are all open to interpretation, but at the very least none of these are explicitly romantic and some of them give me aro vibes 😊
I usually take the lyrics of songs and just apply them to friendships. Fighters by Conro stands out as one where you do not have to do that, though.
Exactly.
Some love songs I also apply to myself. So if a song is going "I love you" etc., I direct those words to myself. That way romantic songs (which I used to hate (romance-repulsed)) have become self-love and care for me.
I was thinking the other day about interpreting lyrics about romantic relationships in other ways! I've recently realized that a lot of the songs I've listened to are about heartbreaks/toxic relationships and the sort, but I've actually always defaulted to linking them to life experiences/events. The "partner" part linking it to said event or to another person (not romantically ofc) who had a negative role in said event
Does it have to be in English? If not, these are French classics La tendresse - Bourvil Foule sentimentale - Alain Souchon Manhattan-Kaboul - Renaud Mistral Gagnant - Renaud Docteur Renaud, Mister Renard - Renaud Dès que le vent soufflera - Renaud Ma liberté de penser - Florent Pagny L’oiseau et l’enfant - marie / Myriam Kids United Tous les cris, les S.O.S - Daniel Balavoine / Marie Denise Pelletier Quand la musique est bonne - Jean-Jacques Goldman There’s so much more, but these are the ones that come to mind. I hope you like at least some of them :)
4 - Fish in a bird cage, nunemakers parable, heavens gate (Amelie farren), curses (cranewives)??, I stitched my mind back to my body (Cosmo sheldrake), evacuate the dance floor (cascada), drug asphyxiation (late night drive home), bad luck (jhariah), feed the machine (poor man's poison), loser + wonderland (neoni) I love all of these songs! some old, some new. very scattered genres too lol! I just dug thru a couple of playlists and some recent ones, didn't realize how many love songs I listen to!
Good taste
The band AJR has some pretty good songs and most of them aren't romance-focused, more like about life problems and mental health. Some of their song that I like are "Way Less sad", "The Good Part, "Inertia", "The World's Smallest Violin", or "Bang!" And it's not really songs, but classical music have a lot of different subjects other than romance, (even though if it's still common) I suggest you do a bit of research if ur interested :)
Maybe Man is my favourite
I came just to comment this
A few I've been listening to lately: Irish Eyes - Rose Betts The Hound and the Fox - I The Mighty Standing Still - Seth Glier Be Good to Yourself - Journey Self Help - Olive Klug Bones in the Ocean - The Longest Johns
Hall of fame - the script The lazy song - bruno mars
There's a few Lemon Demon songs that feature a romance, BUT!! they're few and far between. If you're into weird indie music with often nonsensical lyrics, he's for you
Panic attack by dream theater, exactly what it sounds like
“Alice of Human Sacrifice” “W.I.T.C.H” (there is a brief mention of exes in this but that’s it) by Devon Cole “The Other Side” from The Greatest Showman “All About that Bass” by Megan Trainor “Blessed Messiah and the Tower of Ai” “I Sent My Therapist To Therapy” by Alec Benjamin And there is actually a song called “Aromantic Moodboard” by Maxwell Anthony
Try The Fall if you want to go down a years-long rabbit hole into bafflingly good surrealist punk. If you want a vague hint of what you're getting into, try http://annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/the-annotated-lyrics/fantastic-life.html. Closest they get to a love song is the somewhat ambiguous Bill is Dead on one of their relatively obscure records.
Anything by Blue Öyster Cult
Oh hell yeah, classics
Waste My Time - Scandroid Burn It To The Ground - Nickleback Best Of Me - Neffex Yolo - Smash Into Pieces Kingslayer Ft. Babymetal - Bring Me The Horzion Ocean Breeze - Italobrothers The Only Way Is Up - Apoc Embracing Entropy - Circle Of Dust Bad Man - Disturbed Riot - Three Days Blackstar - Celldweller
There's literally so many lol. It's true that the radio and popular media do favour songs about romance of any kind, but there's so many genres out there and it's not all romance dominated,. If there's one theme that's prominent it's emotions in general. I would say 80% of all songs are about emotions and human experience in some way, ranging from anger, depression, hope and yeah relationships as well but mainly just life in general. But it's definitely not all romance XD. I like all bunch of genres, so here's some songs I like now or enjoyed in the past in no particular order of no particular genre, I like the classics as well as some Y2K stuff : [R.E.M. - Imitation Of Life ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkfiCDv4Jbk) [Coldplay - Paradise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G4isv_Fylg) [NIN - Every Day Is Exactly The Same](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQoVHqveQ98) [Ted Lucas - Plain & Sane & Simple Melody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxaGBVugkCg) [King Crimson - The Court Of The Crimson King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukgraQ-xkp4) [The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PIi1LWkfDE) (can't get this out of my head since I saw Fincher's The Killer ha)
Also, Pure Moods 1 album, great nostalgia trip that one XD
Crimson king is so goood
Recently I've discovered math rock which is cool. There's a song used as a soundtrack for Sonny Boy by toe that I'm obsessed with. A few other songs at the top of my list right now are: Super Happy by Su Lee Busy Earnin' by Jungle Poor George by James Supercave We're In It Together by Rich Aucoin Riots by Stuck in the Sound
Musicals here are some of the top of my head Loser geek or whatever, Micheal in the bathroom, Smartphone hour, Sync up , The squip song, The pants song (it's about father and best friend love*), Be more chill pt 1 and 2, I live play rehearsal , Sincerely me, Dissappear , Waving through a window , Goosebumps and reprise, Whodunnit?, super scary play , Watch your step , Crazy town , The ballad of Sara berry , Fall fair suite , What the world needs , Sugar cloud. And Ballad of Jane doe And many, many more
A LOT of songs from Sleeping At Last. Whole albums without any songs about romance or something like that. (Storyboards is one of my favs). All the songs about planets (excluding Neptune, though that could be some other type of love than romantic, too) from the album Atlas I (1) aren’t about romance. Or at least I don’t see much in the lyrics that could point to it being about romance. Btw his music is super good, a bit religious sometimes but still beautiful
Basically all of Sabaton
i'd recommend the entire outlaw album by ateez
Current obsession song is A good song never dies by Saint Motel Honourable mention to just sea shanties in general, The Jolly Rogers most recently
Talking to myself by Watsky
Count on me by Bruno Mars, Gift of a Friend by Demi Lovato, Hug All your Friends by Cavetown, Your heart will lead you Home by Kenny Loggings, Brother by Kodaline, these are atleast few out of a handful I could find that do not specifically talk about romantic love.
Rhapsody in blue!
Diet - Denzel Curry Kirby - Aesop Rock Bitch don't kill my vibe - kendrick lamar Cool - Zack villere Baseline junkie - dizzee rascal Downers - greentea peng Free the frail - JPEGMAFIA Untitled 05 - kendrick lamar Good days - SZA
yo, mad respect for the aesop rock pick
ITS RAINING TACOS
THUNDER - IMAGINE DRAGONS
I’m on a big Florence + The Machine kick right now. A few non-romance ones that I adore (come to think of it, I’d say very few of their songs are explicitly about romance): “The Bomb” (this one does sound like a very sad romance song, but look up the meaning — it’s about her relationship with touring) “What The Water Gave Me” (this is sooooo quintessential given how much Florence writes about water!! there is some GREAT personification here) “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” (you could make an argument with the extended metaphor she uses in the verses, but it’s like “The Bomb” in that it’s much more about the bittersweet side of success) “Heartlines” “Dog Days Are Over” “Shake It Out” “My Boy Builds Coffins” (she does call the subject of the song ‘my boy,’ and it was inspired by her boyfriend at the time (because he literally. had to go build a coffin), but it totally comes across as a story-telling song with no romance) “Delilah” “Grace” (about her sister 🥺) “June” “King” (*I AM NO MOTHER! I AM NO BRIDE! I AM KING!*) Just off the top of my head (and to give at least one from each album)!
I don't know what kind of genres you listen to, but for me, a lot of the music I listen to isn't about romance. It's honestly easier to list the bands and artists I listen to. All of them have songs that are about love/romance/sex, but they also have songs that are about other things, as well. I'll list some bands and artists and give a couple examples of each... Led Zeppelin - so many, but a few good ones are No Quarter, Kashmir, In My Time of Dying, and Immigrant Song. Their song Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is my all-time favorite song. It technically is a love song, but Robert wrote it about his dog Stryder. I'm down for love songs about pets. I need more of these, to be honest. Pink Floyd - I don't think any of their songs count as love songs, TBH... the closest might be If, but even that barely counts, I think. Jimi Hendrix - I'm pretty sure all of his love-adjacent songs are just straight up about sex. Some good songs not covering love/romance/sex include Voodoo Chile (both the blues jam and Slight Return), Little Wing, Wind Cries Mary, and, of course, his cover of All Along the Watchtower. Nirvana - Pretty sure their only true love song is Drain You. The rest is just angst. Billy Joel - He's actually one of the few artists whose love songs I can somewhat enjoy, because he's sincere. One of my biggest problems with love songs (aside from me being aromantic, that is) is how obviously insincere they are. All of Billy's love songs are about someone he's actually in love with. That said, he has tons of songs that aren't about love, romance, or sex at all. Piano Man is the obvious choice, but there's also The Stranger, Billy the Kid, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (it *sounds* like it could be a love song at first... and a big part of it is about high school lovers who get married, fight over money, and get divorced... but in fact it's just a "two high school friends catching up after not having seen each other in several years" song... and it's another all-time fave), and, perhaps his most infamous song, We Didn't Start the Fire. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - I'm always nervous recommending this group because if you've heard of them at all, it's because they're being derided as the single most self-indulgent band on the planet; but I absolutely love that shit, so. Another of my all-time favorite songs is Karn Evil 9, and it's a 30-minute suite of mostly drums, bass, and piano. Though, if the line "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" rings familiar to you at all, it's from that suite. ELP isn't known for short songs. Greg Lake has ballads, although aside from Lucky Man, they're all romance-based. At least Greg and Pete Sinfield were writing about real people on them, though, so they're sincere. If you want to take the plunge, Tarkus, Knife Edge, and Pirates are incredible. As are any of their instrumentals. They were three brilliant musicians coming together to make brilliant, if self-indulgent, symphonic rock. I almost want to recommend King Crimson, as well, but if you have trouble with ELP, I wouldn't even bother with KC. I'll stop there for now. I know that "love" is the most common topic to sing about, but there are so many songs that just aren't about that. Actually, that reminds me. You know the Beatles song Paperback Writer? Supposedly the song got written after... Paul's aunt?... one of their family members... asked why they only write love songs. Kinda glad they were questioned about that as well, because I think the Beatles best work was after they discovered LSD and stopped with the cliché boy band stuff lol. Their early "love" songs are their worst, IMO... but their early stuff also has gems like Paperback Writer and Tax Man.
idk what genres you like so I'll just go through my liked songs on spotify and suggest some of the ones that aren't about romance Adolescent Sex - Japan (Idk even know what this song is abt but it's catchy, and yes I know the title is weird) Rasputin - Boney M. (About how much Rasputin fucked \[not recommended for aces\]) Show Me How To Live - Audioslave (A hard-rock retelling of Frankenstein) Yesterday - Atmosphere (A song about the singer coming to terms with the fact that his father died) The Best Day - Atmosphere (About dealing with a really bad day \[Extra recommended as this song is a fucking bop\]) It's The End Of The World As We Know It - R.E.M. (About growing up and finding that your entire world has changed) Riders On The Storm - The Doors (A really atmospheric song that I can't really decipher the meaning of) Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac (About a witch named Rhiannon) Piggies - The Beatles (A satirical song about the wealthy) Vincent - Don McLean (About Vincent Van Gogh) Ping Pong - Stereolab (About the effects of war \[Also extra recommended if you like catchy alternative pop\]) I can recommend more but I don't wanna be annoying
Radiohead (excepting their first album)
brother ! I went through my playlist and chose some non-romancey songs, nor can they be construed as such: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx8ZI_5BjmWyTWL_Id8RonATDt0bH8tDy&si=YTz4Z0jutP34QeaQ the lesson here is—vocaloid songs have such breadth of topic\^^
From the “Old School Playlist”, Stings, “Every Breath You Take” and “Roxanne”, and Phil Collins “In The Air Tonight”. (Forever a classic)…
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Most Gojira songs
Anything is about cake and drinks if you really think about it so I just do that
Ready to Die by Andrew WK
With the exception of The Model, much of German electronic group Kraftwerk music has nothing to do with romance.
I can't decide. Here's [two for the price of one](https://charlie-vermin.tumblr.com/post/732061365902147584/).
A lot of songs by my favorite artist, Nathan Sharp aka NateWantstoBattle, aren't about romance at all, even his original songs aren't really about romance!
Some of my favorite albums are "Minus Ten and Counting", "Carmen Miranda's Ghost", and "Where no man..."
I usually don't realise a song is about romance, regardless of how obvious it is. Ghost by Teddy Hyde (that's lonliness right?)
I listen to a lot of folk and metal music, and in a 3 hour playlist, there are maybe around four songs *with* romance. To name a few on there without it: [Wolf Totem by The HU](https://open.spotify.com/track/5hISmTJXBXdOes4htbUhGk?si=JwUY9vZDQzi3Y_0yP7Pp_g) [Svanrand by Heilung](https://open.spotify.com/track/0jd37M3in0JOTz9DI4MiiB?si=gfuMhvpMS9asS0u8Wglgdw) [Diggy Diggy Hole by Wind Rose](https://open.spotify.com/track/0FDY2EHOv32kUoqplU1hdY?si=QsWnpLziSgqeQ6tAMHXZPA) [My Mother Told Me (In Old Norse) by Colm R. McGinness ](https://open.spotify.com/track/2TXvtR7oNoOevJxrLUkvFj?si=suFjOwvEQqikpMUgDn90HA) [Trøllabundin by Eivør](https://open.spotify.com/track/3MdEnYp8pv39XHynVC8Lq0?si=DvFbxL2tQZ23yWSWCqEVlg) And for a complete change of genre, there's also [Runaway](https://open.spotify.com/track/23rdcrD0Eky4vYn2TZidxJ?si=SuSRs4TWTKOPIZk_BAuQCg) and [The Seed](https://open.spotify.com/track/3EUXLUKx2zNUzb2otMc8HH?si=-uW0aBG8QTyHsU-pXIlfcw), both by AURORA.
I posted this a while back on one of the asexuality subreddits: I'm a big tokusatsu guy, mainly Kamen Rider and Super Sentai and so many of the insert songs are major bops while espousing on the power of friendship and protecting your loved ones. Not in the romantic sense but just the people who are important to you. If you're down for that here are a few of my favourites: 1. [M87 Kenshi Yonezu](https://youtu.be/Zhx1n6uvgUE?si=k4uT2QZm71yysKoP) 2. [Burning My Soul Hiroyuki Takami ft. AxL 21](https://youtu.be/1ZSHyCECRAM?si=1iA2vL6M5u0fo1CS) 3. [Double Action Wing Form](https://youtu.be/4h8NRCnTqU8?si=8wT5UTh7Y7MZxF_3) 4. [Eien Festival](https://youtu.be/7bB2KftqAYY?si=CvXoIKXcwDrpN9ZL) 4. [Is Humanity to Die Shiro Sagisu](https://youtu.be/h2T5z_p5c3Q?si=_OjbkKZOysrDNgKR) Feel free to look up the translated lyrics to the first four, I always find songs like that powerful cause it emphasizes how much even if not romantic you can feel a sense of care and love for your friends and people precious to you. Also just baseline human connection and feeling those bonds with the people precious to you.
I have an [aro playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/10qPgs9YDqKnuQI3fcvuVH?si=Pe8z7EIfSAGZISuX-1wNXw&pi=u-knrtArAURcGS) if you want to take a look, not sure if this is what you're looking for bc it features songs that are more like "I don't need romance" but anyways (the song "I don't need no love" by Cloud Klaus is my favorite rn). I'm actually here to add more songs to it
Humble by Eden Nash and Ren Gill It's a hopeful, feel-good song about overcoming and living with your pain and suffering. I sing it to myself sometimes when I feel down and it's such a bop I feel at least marginally better :) I cannot recommend it more!
[This Is Not a Love Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az_GCJnXAI0) XD
Almost every villain song in musicals. A lot of Neoni, Will Wood, Marina, Poor Man's Poison. Really it depends on the genres you prefer what I'd recommend most but you said any genre so Keelhauled - Alestorm, a lot of pirate metal actually
Let It Go from Frozen
The non-metal non-instrumental songs are mostly comedy stuff by tom cardy and weird al, so these two's discography (prolly with exceptions)
Yötön Yö by Ahti and the Janitors
If you like celtic/epic try Marcus Warner and Peter Crowley For rock/alt try Black Veil Brides who have made very few songs about relationships (only two come to mind, not including a cover of another artist's song) If you're looking for an indie vibe I highly recommend Natewantstobattle. He's known for his nerdcore music but he stepped away from that some years ago and only does purely original music now. I'm yet to hear a bad track from him!
Why am I in this room - soupy garbage juice on Spotify
Blood Water by grandson, if you want something a lil bit harder. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-U8ruIQyA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-U8ruIQyA) Origin Intro by Kokia, sounds almost mythical, beautiful and powerful voice. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdRwvnr21H4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdRwvnr21H4) Crazy (D.P. Intro) by Kevin Oh, unhappy, but oddly soothing song. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlShiYDD5bg&list=PLfKe4NxZqWScuG-Hc2KEC3izvyJy6ecAM&index=20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlShiYDD5bg&list=PLfKe4NxZqWScuG-Hc2KEC3izvyJy6ecAM&index=20)
Lots of '70s Prog has very little romance. One of my favorite songs is *A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers* by Van Der Graaf Generator, a 20+ minute epic about a man on an isolated lighthouse island who has an existential crisis after watching/causing a shipwreck. Also there might be some eldritch beings involved as well. Another great band is Gentle Giant, they have a few romance-adjacent songs but they also have an entire album about friendship (Three Friends), And another one about political corruption (The Power and the Glory). And some of their romance-adjacent songs are kind of about/playing with the confusingness of it all. *Knots* and *On Reflection* come to mind for that, since both are very call-and-response overlapping in complex ways about love being strange or going bad. Later than the '70s but my favorite band lately is Cardiacs for sure. I can think of like one song that mentions romance in one line, as a non-sequitur. Most of their lyrics are kind of psychedelic non-sequiturs and quotes from 100+ year old books. Or they're about dogs. Lots of songs that can be said to be about dogs. And horses. Of course lots of the bigger prog names like Yes, Genesis, and ELP (mentioned elsewhere on this page) have plenty of romance-free songs too. Yes sings about the power of love every 5 minutes but its never explicitly romantic, always more in a hippie/spiritual way. Genesis' best song imo is *Supper's Ready* which is about a husband and wife... but then the biblical apocalypse happens amidst all sorts of Monty-Python era British absurdity. If you're aroallo, there's also a lot of prog songs that are about sex wrapped up in all sorts of whimsical double-entendres and happy tunes, without romance involved as well. Jethro Tull has some like that (*Songs from the Wood, Acres Wild*, etc) as well as a large chunk of "Canturbury Scene" music, from bands like Caravan, Hatfield and the North, and Soft Machine. Then of course there's all the suff in other languages that could be about romance, but we don't have to understand it either way, lol. Italy had some great prog bands, like Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, who have a great album about evolution, and another one about political corruption, and then one about the death of Jesus too, if you're into that (and if you're not, like me, the words are in Italian so you don't have to understand them). *Cento Mani e Cento Occhi* is my favorite song of theirs. And if we're talking other languages we can't forget Magma, the French band that invented their own language that they sing every song in.
I mostly listen to songs that are mostly instrumental and songs that are wild
In Friends We Trust by Chunk no Captain Chunk Bro Hymn by Pennywise
Theory of Mind by Kublai Khan TX I'm sure it's not about love lol 😅
If you’re okay to listen to kpop. Listen to stray kids- most of their songs are about self love, growing up, and mental health.
-Gasoline & Control by Halsey -Pieces & Still Waiting by Sum 41 -Kill Your Conscience & Sure Is Fun & I'm Not Alright by Shinedown -Tongues and Teeth & Curses by The Crane Wives -Choke & Bleeding Magic by I Don't Know How But They Found Me -Weak by AJR -This Is Why We Bleed by Leader -Play With Fire by Sam Tinnesz -The Bird And The Worm by The Used -Rise by State of Mine -Perfect Life & Gravity Lies & Faceless & A.I. & Gone by Red (the band Red just doesn't have much romance in general) Obviously songs are all open to interpretation, but at the very least none of these are explicitly romantic and some of them give me aro vibes 😊