Shame can spawn from all manner of experiences. From feeling guilty about how you ended a friendship, to the shame that follows a romantic break-up and leaves you feeling like you’ve wasted your heart on someone that didn’t deserve it – shame manifests itself in everybody’s life eventually.
Our playlist of songs about shame draws on every tragedy of being that leaves you feeling clouded with strange, impassable emotion.
Songs About Shame
1. PJ Harvey – Shame
PJ Harvey’s incredible track Shame is riddled with a moody forest ambiance, as she uses her voice authentically and captivatingly to detail her sorrow.
This is a song about wholeheartedly giving your love and energy to someone only to be crushed beyond repair, leaving you crippled with the shame of loving them, shame for trusting them and letting them close, whilst also putting shame on them for spawning such disaster in what could have been a good relationship.
PJ’s track is for anyone decimated by regret over their own ‘stupid’ decisions when the blame should fall overwhelmingly on the other person’s shoulders. Within the song’s lyrics is an absolute jewel of a line: “Shame is the shadow of love.”
2. Matchbox 20 – Shame
Matchbox 20’s 1996 track, Shame looks back on the unfortunate ending of a past relationship and the shame its memory covers you in.
While this is a song for anyone who still feels guilty about a break up, Shame’s lyrics relate perfectly to friendships too.
Matchbox 20 throw in lines like “We never thought we’d get so troubled… it should never get this bad,” to give an open-ended approach to the track which lets you place your own people problems within the lyrics’ meaning.
Against Matchbox 20’s indie rock track are woven painful elements of truth to show the true pessimism that overcasts your outlook during moments of shame;
“Funny in a certain light, how we all look the same, and there’s no one in life you can ever remember stood for you.”
3. Robbie Williams & Gary Barlow – Shame
This unprecedented 2010 collaboration between Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow is a personal insight into the burdensome shame that simmers between band members after the band breaks up.
For those of you too young to remember the drama between these two; Robbie and Gary were heart-throb members of one of the UK’s biggest boy bands, Take That, who achieved outstanding success during the 1990s.
Robbie eventually split from the band and confounded all expectations with his solo career, leaving Take That to fizzle into obscurity without him, sparking the infamous feud.
In 2005, Take That made the shady decision to reform without Robbie, unleashing another wave of drama and ill-feelings. Undoubtedly, nearly two decades of strife provoked some putrid feelings of shame which beckoned to be spilt.
Robbie and Gary come together for the first time in 15 years to have this honest conversation – the resentfully guilty talk we’ll all be faced with at some point.
4. P!nk – Walk Of Shame
P!nk captures the hazy early-mornings which no one wants to remember, in her track, Walk Of Shame.
With true rockstar energy, her audacious track is a humourously frank insight into the dreaded morning-after stumble home.
Her shame is blatant and intense as someone still wrecked from the night before, “I’m wearing last night’s dress and I look like a hot ass mess, athough my hair looks good ‘cause I haven’t slept yet.”
Walk Of Shame is an anthem for anyone who keeps waking up in this situation with little memory of how they got there, “Make the elevator come a little faster.. please God don’t let anybody see me.. I promise no more walks of shame.”
5. Talk Talk – Such A Shame
Talk Talk’s 80’s classic, Such A Shame is one of the most famous on our list, but it’s inspiration comes from quite an inconspicuous place.
Talk Talk draw reference to Luke Rhineheart’s The Dice Man; a strange novel about a psychiatrist who replaces his free will by rolling a dice to determine his every movement.
Such A Shame captures the disappointment that brews as the story progresses, “Such a shame to believe in escape, a life on every face … The dice decided my fate, and that’s a shame,” as he becomes eager to change.
But Talk Talk’s hit transfers to the common man just as well. Their track is flooded with the descision to change yourself out of shame, a sentiment conveyed in a manner that alludes to any relationship;
“Tell me to relax, I just stare, maybe I don’t know if I should change, a feeling that we share, it’s a shame.”
6. First Aid Kit – It’s a shame
It’s A Shame admits that there’s no point in wasting sorrow over things that happened in the past.
The song’s character tries to embrace the light and find a fresh start in life after a breakup, but guiltily returns to seek permission from her ex as if they’re still together, “Tell me it’s okay, to live life this way, sometimes I want you to stay, I know it’s a shame.”
This is a song about moving forward while knowing that your shame is holding you back from recovering from the sting of heartbreak.
First Aid Kit is a compellingly unique band with an insatiable folksy sound that blends beautifully with modern essences.
t’s A Shame is laced with harmonies that flicker with the sound of ABBA’s inspiration, crafting a song that settles perfectly into both hot & upcoming and retro playlists alike.
7. Leyla Blue – What a shame
Leyla Blue’s What A Shame is a feisty song with a fearless, catty attitude. What sets this song apart from others on this list is that Leyla isn’t the one tangled with guilt.
It’s her ex. What A Shame calls out savagely to the man who switched Leyla for someone she thinks is a lesser woman, while exhibiting her ex as a cheater and a man-whore;
“I don’t understand how you got your hands all up on that new mistake, wait, which one was she again? Could be dating all her friends.”
Her self-empowering message treads into the realms of narcissism, her chorus tying down her message with the energy of a catfight;
“What a shame, baby what a shame, could’ve been with me instead of what’s-her-f*****g-name… Had a winning hand but you threw away the game.”