When you experience a break-up, your whole world may seem to cave in and crumble. Cheesy lines you typically hear in Korean dramas, such as, "My heart hurts," and, "My heart is crying," make sense to you now, as you spend your days regretting, hoping, wishing, wanting, and crying into your already much abused pillow. Maybe you did something wrong. Maybe you're the victim here. Or maybe, this relationship was simply doomed to fail. Whatever the reason, healing after the break up is a slow process, but it must be endured, and it can be done.

This summer, don't simply isolate yourself in your depression. Music, if not other people in general, is one great source available to help you with your recovery. In this edition of 'Music Therapy', we bring you a list of songs will hopefully do just that, as you slowly wander back into the sunshine, and finally out of the rain.

==

Music Therapy: Summer Lovin'
Stage 1 -- The Crush
Stage 2 -- The Honeymoon
Stage 3 -- The Comfort Zone
Stage 4 -- The Heartbreak

==

-- Part 1: The Rant and Rave --

TVXQ's "Keep Your Head Down": As soon as you hear the fateful words, "Let's break up," your heart stops. A flashback reel carries you through all the happy moments you had shared with your now-ex-partner. The absurd disparity between how it was back then and how it is now strikes you. And as you slowly digest this sudden change in your life, you may encounter a whole flood of emotions--from sadness, to bitterness, to anger--as you and TVXQ ask yourselves, "Why?":

(Why) did you leave me so easily?
(Why) Was it because you think I look easy?
(Why?) My heart is tearing up.
(Why?) If it was was just a dream.
(Why?) If I had time to fix it.
(Why?) I would wish that you would be happy.

[recommended by forsakenwinter on tumblr]

"Keep Your Head Down" is a song fueled with fury, from the fiery visuals, aggressive choreography, bitter lyrics, to the snappy yet sometimes desperate tone. If you're currently experiencing a brutal break up, then it's understandable and definitely okay to break out into a rant as TVXQ has done in the song. Better to let it out than to bottle up!

Additional Recommendation:

B2ST - "Soom (Breathe)"


G.NA - "I'll Back Off so You Can Live Better"


 

-- Part 2: The Mourning Period --

Epik High's "Love Love Love" ft. Lee Yoong Jin: Perhaps you find that it's still hard to move on from a relationship. You enter into what seems to be like a mourning period, as your days feel just so sad and gray and you cry over the end of something special. Fortunately, this difficult period is not an experience you have to trudge through alone, as Tablo particularly reminds us in the second verse:

Of course there have been times [when you had to say] farewell,
hated them as much as you loved them,
torn a letter you couldn't read,
erased a number you couldn't forget,
celebrated an anniversary on your own,
burnt all the pictures,
[and] thought that all the break up songs in the world were about you.

Although the tune sounds bouncy and cheerful, the lyrics of "Love Love Love" remind us that being heartbroken is a common experience, and that there are many people all over the world who we can turn to for understanding, whether they're our personal friends, or artists who produce artwork with which we can relate.

Additional Recommendations:

FT Island - "Severely"



Baek Ji Young - "Like Being Shot by a bullet"


 

-- Part 3: Moving On --

8eight's "Forget about Love and Sing": During the moment of the break up, you may feel as if your world has officially collapsed. Thankfully, it's only a feeling. The real world continues to move on, and soon, it will take you along with it, as the 8eight members themselves have figured out:

Tired from crying, I fall down
and fall asleep on my wet pillow,
and even when we wake up I feel like living isn't living;
but I will laugh and love again and sing and dance.
Someday a day like that will come again.

As you listen to the calm strumming of the guitar, the chill beat, accompanied by the beautiful vocals of 8eight swelling with a sense of content, realize that just because one connection that you had breaks, doesn't mean that you have to be sad forever. The sun will eventually rise, a fresh new morning will start, and new roads to happiness will continue to appear.

Additional Recommendation:

2PM - "Without You"

[recommended by paperpeoples & a-million-farewells on tumblr]

Lim Jeong Hee - "Golden Lady" ft. HyunA


==

This concludes our last stage of Music Therapy: Summer Lovin' ! Let us know what you thought of our choices in the comments below, and leave suggestions for next time, when we create another playlist for the summer!