Very few relationships in life are permanent, but losing a good friend can hurt as much or more than a romantic partner. You’ll go through a lot of the same stages of grief too, from sadness to anger and denial to acceptance.
In this article, we’ll go over 25 songs about the end of a friendship and the feelings associated with that situation.
1. Bad Blood – Taylor Swift Feat. Kendrick Lamar
Taylor Swift is the unrivaled queen of breakups and songs about exes, but she doesn’t just write songs about her exes. Some of her tracks are about the end of a relationship with a friend too, with Bad Blood being one of them—honestly, it’s one of the best songs she’s ever written. She obviously is holding a grudge against somebody in the track, with most people assuming it’s about the bad blood between her and Katy Perry.
2. I Lost A Friend – FINNEAS
During your school years, you might be someone who feels like you have a lot of friends. The stark reality of it is that after you graduate, most of those relationships are going to end. You’re friends of convenience more than friends of substance, a harsh truth you’ll have to face. I Lost A Friend by FINNEAS is a song that tackles those realizations, as he and a friend inevitably grew apart after leaving school and pursuing different interests.
3. See You Again – Wiz Khalifa Feat. Charlie Puth
![Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RgKAFK5djSk/0.jpg)
Not all friendships end because one of the two parties did something wrong. An unfortunate truth of life is that people are going to pass away, which is the main theme of Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again. In it, a very dear friend has passed away, with the song dealing with knowing they will never see them again. You’ve definitely heard it before, it’s one of the most-viewed YouTube videos of all time and was played in the closing credits of the Fast And Furious movie Furious Seven in tribute to Paul Walker.
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4. All We Are – OneRepublic
In any kind of relationship, communication is important, and the ability to see that things aren’t going well is something you need to have. Not everyone can handle that though, taking things the wrong way when you want to work on your relationship. That’s the basic premise of All We Are by OneRepublic, a song about being afraid of speaking up to a friend because you care too much to risk the relationship.
5. Don’t Speak – No Doubt
Don’t Speak is about the end of a romantic relationship that almost ended the band’s time together. Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal split up, fracturing the band in a way that almost ended their careers. On top of being romantically involved, the two considered each other the best friend they had, with the song dealing with the emotions they both had to work through after splitting and still having to work together.
6. Who Knew – Pink
Who Knew by P!nk is apparently about one of her childhood friends dying of a drug overdose when the two of them were still in their teens. No matter how much effort you put in, you can’t control everything, especially what other people do. Their actions can lead to any kind of relationship you have with them ending when you aren’t ready for it, whether they ruin it with their actions or make choices that lead to them being gone forever.
7. Breathe – Taylor Swift Feat. Colbie Caillat
Breathe is another Taylor Swift breakup song that can be looked at as the end of a friendship. In reality, it’s just about any kind of relationship ending. When it’s time to part after a deeply close and personal relationship, the breakup is never clean. It’s hard no matter how you do it or what the two of you try, but it does eventually get easier. This is the track to listen to if you’re in the heartbreak stage of a friendship ending.
8. Small Talk – Katy Perry
After a friendship ends, you might still wind up running into the person you used to be friends with. Out of courtesy, you’ll stop and talk, but it’ll be awkward and have no real substance behind it. That’s basically the situation described in Kay Perry’s Small Talk, an awkward exchange between ex-friends who wouldn’t even be talking if they didn’t run into each other.
9. Old Friends – Jasmine Thompson
![Jasmine Thompson - Old Friends [Official Video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VtM_QZvCvBc/0.jpg)
Over time, people change. You and your friends will both grow, but you have to understand that you may grow in opposite directions and eventually grow apart no matter how close you are. Old Friends by Jasmine Thompson takes on that kind of end to a friendship. It’s hard and some friendships you won’t be able to replace, especially overnight. In the end, it’s a natural process that she covers beautifully in her Wonderland album.
10. Don’t Let Me Down – Joy Williams
Some friendships end before they even exist. These are people I like to refer to as ‘acquaintances,’ someone that you know but would absolutely never rely on if you needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to give you a lift. Don’t Let Me Down by Joy Wiliams tackles the fear of abandonment that keeps people involved with those unreliable friends and the terror of being hung out to dry when it matters the most.
11. I Don’t Fuck With You – Big Sean
When you get screwed by a friend, sometimes the only thing to do is tell them how you really feel. I Don’t Fuck With You by Big Sean is all about that life, expressing that there isn’t any positivity left in the relationship and the best thing for them would be to stay far away from you. If you’re in that angry stage after the end of a friendship, this is definitely a good pick-me-up song that will resonate somewhere deep in your soul.
12. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) – Green Day
![Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) [Official Music Video] [4K UPGRADE]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CnQ8N1KacJc/0.jpg)
The polar opposite of telling someone to fuck off would be to wish them the best in the future, which is exactly what Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) is all about. While it gets used a lot for parents saying goodbye to kids who’ve grown up, it’s really about friends going their separate ways. In a lot of cases, it is possible to have an amicable relationship, and this bittersweet tune is more about hoping your friend does great things despite no longer being in your life.
13. Lose Somebody (One Night In Malibu) – OneRepublic
It’s not always the other person’s fault when a friendship ends. Sometimes, it’s your own fault that someone left you, only realizing how important they are to you after they’ve decided to leave. Lose Somebody by OneRepublic is full of regret and sadness as the narrator tries to fix the problems they have caused.
14. This is Why – Paramore
![Paramore: This Is Why [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xIYJ7VaSxYY/0.jpg)
Paramore has had a long history of internal problems. The band members were all friends, but some ended up leaving and feelings were definitely hurt. This Is Why mostly deals with how Hayley Williams felt about all the problems and was directed at the members who left the band. Their problems still aren’t over, despite seemingly having made up and working together again, but the friendship that was once there has definitely ended.
15. Someone You Loved – Lewis Capaldi
No matter how much time you put into a relationship, some people will still take you for granted. While Someone You Loved comes off as more of a lament over a romantic relationship than a friendship, the same concepts still apply in this emotional song about the end of a relationship.
16. Complicated – Avril Lavigne
Complicated is one of the most emotionally evocative songs Avril Lavigne has produced in her very successful career. It’s all about the other party making things difficult for them when she was totally prepared to make things work, which is something that can be related to both a romantic relationship and a friendship. It’s got all of the angry vibes that can come when someone ruins your friendship, asking exactly the question we all want answers to when it ends.
17. Dead To Me – Kali Uchis
Dead To Me is another one of those songs you should be playing when you’re pissed off after ending a friendship. It’s a major fuck you to the person you got rid of, making fun of the things they’ve said like ‘you’re not my enemy’ after screwing you over.
18. Bad Friend – Rina Sawayama
Some songs about friends aren’t talking about someone else and are blatant statements about the artist or narrator themselves. Bad Friend by Rina Sawayama is one of those, with her telling the world she knows how bad a friend she actually is, with the ability to be your closest ally one minute and disappear from your life completely the next minute.
19. Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds
Here’s another one of those all-time tracks that you could see being about the end of a friendship. Don’t You (Forget About Me) was the theme song for the movie The Breakfast Club back in 1985 with a very simple message for friends parting ways. Don’t forget about each other or the closeness they once had and try to call when you can. While they’re both sad about the situation, it’s a fitting farewell for some very close friends who are going in different directions in life.
20. I Have Questions – Camila Cabello
Even people you consider to be close friends can wind up fooling you into believing they are someone that they aren’t. I Have Questions by Camila Cabello is about the end of a relationship and works for either a friendship or a romantic relationship ending. Once it’s over, she’s left with questions about their motivations, who they actually are, and the pain of having been abandoned by someone she thought she could trust. In the end, it’s something a lot of people have had to go through and is a very unpleasant experience.
21. People You Know – Selena Gomez
Sometimes, the people you know now turn into people you used to know. Maybe your life takes a different path or you don’t talk for a while, but it happens. That’s the kind of transition talked about in Selena Gomez’s People You Know. It’s hard to guess who will stick around and who won’t, which can cause a lot of pain for people who have gone through massive life transitions the way she has.
22. Ready Yet – Sasha Alex Sloan
Most of the time, friendships can be repaired. You can move past the slights or problems you had before and work to be friends again. Sasha Alex Sloan is having none of it in Ready Yet. She wants to repair the relationship and go back to the way things were, but she just can’t get over the pain they caused her and isn’t ready to truly forgive them yet.
23. Backstabber – Kesha
Have you ever had a friend that you thought was someone close to you but was talking smack behind your back? That’s the type of friend Kesha is going after in Backstabber, a song where she outlines how sick of dealing with her friends lying about her and it getting back to her somehow. This one is about the end of a friendship, but it’s ending because she wants to cut off someone who has become a toxic part of her life.
24. Liability – Lorde
One thing you’ll find out in life is that not all of your friends can be trusted. That sort of loneliness is incredibly painful, especially when you feel like people are only around because of the ways they can use you. That’s what Lorde is talking about in Liability, where her friends are just there till they get bored and she can’t put any real faith in them.
25. High Horse – Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Musgraves nails the feeling of wanting to end a friendship because someone always has to one-up everyone around them. High Horse talks about those kinds of people, the ones who bring the party down every time they talk because they think they’re so much better than everyone else. This would be a time when ending a friendship is the right thing to do.
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As a contributing writer for Music Grotto, Dakotah writes and produces professional music/media content. He works closely with editorial staff to meet editorial standards and create
quality content for the Music Grotto website. Dakotah is passionate about music in a wide variety of genres, from hip-hop to country and lo-fi to metal, and he enjoys creating music pieces for Music Grotto.
