Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness stuck in your head? You're not alone. On Spotify this summer, sad songs are getting us in our feels, thanks to our listeners who are unapologetically expressing their emotions. Sad is the most-searched term for Gen Z listeners on Spotify globally, and they're tuning into our sad playlists-including pop-infused sad hour, R&B-inspired All The Feels, rap-heavy tear drop, sad sierre o, sad girl country, and sad girl starter pack-more than any other age group.
To match the vibe in the U.S. and Canada, we launched bummer summer, the ultimate lineup of moody jams and soul-filling songs. Complete with tracks from d4vd, Frank Ocean, Phoebe Bridgers, Lana Del Rey, Big Thief, and Billie Eilish, the playlist echoes the honesty and transparency that Gen Zs emulate in their lives and listening-and harnesses the ability of emotive, lyrical music to enhance any mood.
There's something really unique about this generation, says Krista Scozzari, Spotify North American Marketing Lead. They embrace their feelings so much. They're really flipping the stigma of vulnerability. Gen Z has brought a raw, authentic new reality to expressing their emotions, and we're seeing that in how they listen. We wanted to celebrate this powerful thing they're doing.
Gen Z listeners are seeking tracks that evoke feelings of nostalgia, wistfulness, and wanting-songs that feel like a warm embrace. It's important to note that not everything sounds like Billie Eilish's What Was I made For?' says Lizzy Szabo, Spotify Senior Editor for Indie Music. Though that was one of the breakout sad songs of the summer-probably the biggest-and was given a lot of extra context from being in the Barbie movie. It really took this feeling of nostalgia and met it with current issues and feelings.
Lizzy notes that subgenres like indie pop, sad rap, and sad sierre o have all boomed in the past year, with standout artists including Phoebe Bridgers (bonus points for her work with boygenius), Joji, Alex G, Haley Heynderickx, Ivan Cornejo, and Junior H. She's also seeing a rise in catalog listening for the broody sounds of Cigarettes After Sex, TV Girl, Lana Del Rey, Mitski, and Radiohead. Artists have a way of putting things better than we ever could, so it's a way for people to lean in and just fully embrace their emotions and the experiences they're going through, she says.
Sad music can help us to release, express, channel, or purge our emotions, says Dr. Michael Bonshor, PhD, music psychology expert. It often has slower speeds, which slows down our breathing and heart rate when we listen so that we feel more relaxed and tranquil. In addition to hearing slower speeds, hearing music with sad lyrics creates a sense of personal connection with the artists who wrote them-it validates that our human experiences are shared.
NEXT
Bringing bummer summer to life We're also bringing the bummer summer playlist to life through social media and IRL experiences. With this campaign, we really wanted to celebrate how sharing sad music helps us feel more connected, says Krista. Our listeners want to feel seen and heard, and to help normalize their feelings and humanity, hopefully helps them feel all that.
The team paid special attention to the look of the campaign, trying to capture the messiness of that feeling after you've had a good cry. They landed on a scrapbook-looking approach that puts a sad twist on iconic summer visuals-think tears filling the kiddie pool, or a scoop of ice cream falling off your cone and onto the pavement.
In Houston, Texas, we created a fountain of tears shaped like d4vd, the artist behind some of Gen Z's favorite angsty music. Starting August 21, fans can visit Buffalo Bayou Park in the singer-songwriter's hometown for the ultimate homage to sad songs that have the power to make us feel good.
When I'm making music, I try to keep in mind that our current generation is often misunderstood and that people don't always know where they fit in, says singer-songwriter David Burke, the voice behind d4vd. I don't think music is just about changing the listener's mood anymore, I think it's a way to share a mood or feelings with the artist. I try to give my listeners the most intimate feelings that I'm going through and see who else is feeling the same way. I want to make sure that people are feeling less alone in the world, because they have me and my music to relate to. That's what we're hoping that all of the songs on the playlist will do.
d4vd is one of the most notable artists of the year, says Lizzy. From his breakout hit late last year to here with me,' he has melodic, very downtempo lo-fi pop songs. They have mega-relatable lyrics.
Relatability is a key element across not only our bummer summer campaign, but Spotify's year-round brand identity as a whole. Krista notes that for bummer summer, the tongue-in-cheek tone and low-key vibe help emphasize the impact behind sad songs to fans and prospective users.
When I think about bummer summer, I recognize that it's not just about listening to sad music when you're sad, but listening to sad music when you're feeling any sort of emotion, says Krista. Sad music is something that feels better than anything else sometimes. There's this really powerful way that the lyrics and the tempo of the music just allow you to really reflect, to feel your feelings. It's powerful for people no matter what mood they're in.
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
27/10/2025
Reid Davenport attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Life After at The Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marsha...
27/10/2025
As the days grow shorter and the nights get darker, there's nothing like getting swept up in a story that sends shivers down your spine. In honor of spooky ...
27/10/2025
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a new carriage agreement....
27/10/2025
LONDON As Hollywood jumps into the production of mini-dramas, a new study from Ampere Analysis finds that more than one in 10 internet users have watched drama ...
27/10/2025
LONDON Yealink, a provider of unified communication and collaboration solutions, has joined the NDI ecosystem with the availability of its SmartVision 80 premiu...
27/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outl...
27/10/2025
ESPOO, Finland European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive ...
27/10/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast has expanded NOW TV Latino, its Spanish-language live TV and streaming offering, adding five more channels from Univision, ViX Premium with...
27/10/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present its latest products and solutions at InterBEE 2025 (Hall 5, Booth 5218) Makuhari Messe in Chiba, ...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the New Netflix Thriller Arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness stuck in your head? You're not alone. On Spotify this summer, sad songs are getting us in our feels, thanks to our listeners who are unapologetically expressing their emotions. Sad is the most-searched term for Gen Z listeners on Spotify globally, and they're tuning into our sad playlists-including pop-infused sad hour, R&B-inspired All The Feels, rap-heavy tear drop, sad sierre o, sad girl country, and sad girl starter pack-more than any other age group. 
