General Discussion

I'm aro and I'm looking for song suggestions that aren't about romance

Artists I like: NOAHFINNCE, Roe Kapara, the Backseat Lovers, ethan bortnick, Waterparks, Green Day, the Happy Fits, Negative 25, Chase Petra

(also I used to listen to Lovejoy a lot, I don't listen to them anymore but putting that here for genre reference)

but yeah just anything with cool vibes that isn't primarily about romance would be really appreciated

Also aroace and relate so hard! I have a question, just for clarification!

Would songs that can be interpreted as non-romantic be okay? For example, "By Being With You" by Cosmo Sheldrake or "Love Like You" by Rebecca Sugar might be considered romantic songs but their lyrics don't explicitly say it is romantic so it can be seen as any other type of love?

I have no recs. rn but I want to leech off this thread if that is okay! It's stupidly difficult trying to find songs that aren't romantic.

P.S. As a former Lovejoy fan, I hope you are doing okay. They used to be my top artist so it's been...difficult. :(

the bridge city sinners go craaazzzyyyyy all of their songs are about like death and jesus and stuff but not in a religious way in a southern gothic way it's awesome

@EclipticTheFox yeah i think so! as you said, finding non-romantic songs can be rough so i'll take whatever i can get, especially if you can interpret it as queerplatonic or even if it's a romance song but has aromantic undertones(idk if that makes sense)

and same to you about lovejoy, hope you and i can both find some good recs through this thread :]

boutta suggest green day [emoji=skull size=1] i can suggest songs in particular perchance... mayhaps...???

always gotta recommend the crane wives! a lot of their songs could be interpreted as romantic, but they're not like... stereotypical love songs by any means and a lot of them have very very aromantic/asexual undertones to them.

a few of their songs that aren't at all romantic, or at the very least would be a stretch to interpret as such, are: never love an anchor *(i know from the title it sounds romantic haha but i interpret it completely as being about parental love from the actual lyrics), the hand that feeds, icarus, ribs, hollow moon

and some of their songs that could be interpreted as romantic but either are about a more unhealthy relationship and not like. a love song, or that could easily be interpreted as non-romantic: canary in a coalmine, the moon will sing, not the ghost, strangler fig, the glacier house, down the river, metaphor, unraveling, allies or enemies

their songs definitely can have more romance-y vibes, but it's just so very Not Stereotypical that i don't mind it (as a fellow aro person who really dislikes love songs haha, although i think might i mind them less than some people due to not being like... 100% aro/being arospec.) but yeah if you want to avoid any vaguely romance-y songs entirely they may not be ideal because most of their songs have at least a few lyrics that could be interpreted as romantic.

other than them, i also really enjoy the oh hellos: they do have some romantic songs but a lot of their songs are very non-romantic. they do use some more religious themes/imagery in their songs though so it may be better to avoid them if you aren't comfortable with that. if you do check them out though some of my favourite songs by them are grow, dear wormwood, and soldier poet king, but their albums notos, boreas, eurus, and zephyrus all have mostly non-romantic songs iirc so you could check out any of those!

aaand last but not least cosmo sheldrake's music is great, i haven't listened to much of his newer stuff but a lot of his older stuff is very non-romance-y. i recommend his album the much much how how and i: the songs i enjoy from that album are all of them wriggle, linger longer, come along, solar waltz, egg and soldiers, pliocene, and hocking. other songs of his i enjoy are the moss, no. 3, pelicans we, and run rings right wrongs.

that's pretty much all the recommendations i have though, mostly because those are literally the only 3 artists/bands i listen to pft. hope they help a bit though, definitely gonna keep an eye on this thread since i myself am always looking for new music but i don't really enjoy romance songs haha :']

seconding crane wives! im also aro + ace, never love an anchor is my aro angst song LOL. and honestly the others sedge122 suggested are great, too!

i really like will wood - some songs are spooky ~unhinged~ (hand me a shovel, suburbia overture). love me normally is another of my aro angst songs. i love it so much and sing it at the top of my lungs in the car!

lemme just spitball some other artists i like who dont do 90% love songs: laura jane grace/against me! (punk rock/folk, she's also a trans woman and sings about that a lot, esp in transgender dysphoria blues), the front bottoms (folk/indie?), the mountain goats(folk/indie?), garbage (rock), shayfer james

I also like Waterparks!! I would recommend The Front Bottoms, Lemon Demon, and also The Crane Wives. Anything by Fish in a Birdcage or The Family Crest is particular to my tastes, but also just overall good and generally unromantic.

I feel like you can't go wrong with music that has no lyrics. The way I interpret it often just depends on my mood that day, none of it is explicitly romantic which is nice. Unless I use my imagination to create a dramatic music video with romance in it, lol. Classical/orchestral music can be fun, I like Camille Saint-Saens (Particularly "Aquarium" and "Fossils" from "The Carnival of Animals" suite/album) and Mozart (Symphony No. 25 in G minor movement 1 is a BANGER. The whole symphony is epic but the 1st movement is really fun).

Video game or movie OSTs are fun to listen to sometimes as well, there are usually no lyrics. The Hollow Knight soundtrack is awesome and I would recommend it even if you haven't played the game!

If you like rock I highly recommend skillet
They're just really good rock.