For music fans, there’s nothing more exciting than discovering your favorite artist has a new album coming out. For some big releases, you might even say the anticipation is palpable. What will it sound like? Will I love it as much as their last album? Will I love it more, if that’s even possible? Many questions are usually left unanswered until we get the album into our hot little hands (or our hot little digital service provider) and press play. But there’s a key exception: the concept album. A concept album is an album featuring “a cycle of songs expressing a particular theme or idea” — and one of the best examples with recent additions to the genre is the divorce album or breakup album.
The divorce or breakup album is perhaps the most personal form of a concept album. There’s something about a divorce or breakup album from a superstar that makes you pay immediate attention — hence the furor around Adele’s long-awaited 30, out today. These albums that you know are about a breakup come bearing more weight. They may even feel like an instant classic. Is it the raw nature of the subject matter? Is it the peek into the darkest parts of a celebrity’s private life? Is it the empathy for a shared melancholic experience since we’ve all gone through heartbreaks? We guess that it’s all of the above and more.
Listen, divorce sucks, there are no two bones about it, but it sure does provide substantial source material for some greatest albums of all time. See below for our list of the top divorce or breakup albums as proof.
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’30’ by Adele
Listen, none of us here want Adele to be miserable. We genuinely want to see her happy and thriving, but man oh man, the music and lyrics she creates when she’s going through it are…are…are on another level. Really. Her heartbreaks, her sorrows, her doubts — they lead to a place we are all too familiar with but few (if any) can articulate and emote as clearly as she can through the power of that voice. That voice! The treasure of Tottenham taught us how to move through heartbreak with her first three albums 19, 21, and 25, and now with the release of her 4th album, 30, she’s sharing the lessons she’s learned from life, love, divorce, motherhood, and self-care — and yes, we’re including it on this list of best albums before we’ve even had the chance to hear it. Can you blame us?
‘Star-crossed’ by Kacey Musgraves
Coming off of her 2018 genre-bending Grammy, ACM, and CMA award-winning 4th album Golden Hour, expectations were high for what Kacey Musgraves would do next. What she delivered with star-crossed is both incredible and incredibly surprising, and shows how considerably her life has changed in three short years. Yup, you guessed it. This is her divorce album. Whereas Golden Hour was upbeat (it’s been referred to as her honeymoon album) star-crossed is filled with mellow pop-dance-country ballads about the dissolution of her 2 ½ year marriage to fellow country singer Ruston Kelly. Highlights include “Breadwinner,” “Justified,” and “star-crossed.”
‘Body Talk’ by Robyn
Opening with what is surely the best dance-it-out breakup anthem since “I Will Survive,” the synth-pop perfection that is “Dancing On My Own,” Robyn’s 2010 album Body Talk is a career-defining masterwork. Originally released as three mini-albums and then as a full length, it’s filled with techno-disco-pop bangers like “Call Your Girlfriend,” “Get Myself Together,” and “Fembot.” And you can hear her influence on songs by Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepson, and Lorde.
‘The Weight of These Wings’ by Miranda Lambert
Released in the wake of her divorce from Blake Shelton, this double album is more about moving on and deep introspection than it is about burning it all down. Its 24 songs are filled with an unmistakable sense of sadness and regret. Yet while they are distinctly sad songs, there’s a kind of serene beauty in that special Miranda Lambert country-twang vocal. Best listened to on a long drive with the windows down as the wind blows through your hair, we recommend “Runnin Just In Case,” “Vice,” “Tin Man,” and “Things That Break.”
‘Gaslighter’ by The Chicks
Never ones to shy away from the power of their words, the newly renamed country trio The Chicks tackled the agony of lead singer Natalie Maines’ contemptuous divorce from actor Adrian Pasdar with Gaslighter. It’s clear from the opening title track that Natalie Maines is not interested in a reconciliation. There’s no wistful longing for days of yore when they were young and in love. Oh, hell no. This is an album that chronicles in meticulous detail feelings of betrayal, disappointment, and disgust. (It was reported that Pasdar fought their prenuptial agreement and tried to bar his ex-wife from releasing new songs.) If you’ve ever been burned by a partner, let us assure you that singing along to this album at full volume is an incredible release.
‘Rumours’ by Fleetwood Mac
Released in 1977, this is a classic in every sense of the word. Whether you know it as a breakup album or not, we’re 100% sure you know the songs as it has long been considered one of the greatest albums of all time. It’s an all-killer-no-filler album with Top 10 charting singles “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop,” “You Make Loving Fun,” and “Dreams.” Within a month of its release, it sold 10 million copies. Within a month! And it won the Grammy for Album of the Year. But don’t be fooled by the catchy pop-ness of this album, it was written during and about the demise of two relationships, those of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham and the marriage of Christine and John McVie. Not to be left out, drummer Mick Fleetwood was also going through his divorce from wife Jenny at this time. Rumours is one of the best examples of great art coming from pain.
‘Here, My Dear’ by Marvin Gaye
Written and recorded at a time of deep personal crisis, Marvin Gaye’s 15th album is about his divorce from Anna Gordy (the sister of Motown head Berry Gordy). Here, My Dear is a very specific kind of divorce album. The songs express the heartbreaking anguish felt at the end of Marvin and Anna’s marriage and the album was a stipulation of their divorce agreement — Anna would receive half of the royalties from it as alimony. It plays like an open letter to Anna with songs like the title track “Here, My Dear,” “When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You,” and “Is That Enough.” While divorce can often be bitter and hateful (for good reason), this album, due to the soothing nature of Gaye’s vocals, sounds gentle and soothing.
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