Busybee's Playlist

A countdown to Valentine’s day and the many moods it sets us in: Heartbroken, lonely, and hopeless.

Unrequited love. Or a love that’s run its course. The kind of love that consumed you once upon a time, and now you are looking for the pieces of you they didn’t touch, but alas. It’s picking yourself up after a long time of them chipping you away. It’s wondering whether you will ever truly get over them. It’s those dark thoughts that creep up at night, that you don’t disclose with anyone — where you wonder whether clinging onto their memory, no matter how painful it may be, is the only way to keep them in your life. It’s the kind of love you wonder if you will ever find again, and are a bit scared to know. It’s coming to the sad revelation that, no matter how far away they may be, you will always carry them in your heart.

Peak a little close, and you will spot the acoustic version of Sweaty Lamarr’s beautiful ballad, I Have Always Loved You, because I truly felt the simple string of guitars, coupled with Lamarr’s vocals fit with this particular mood.

BONUS: Let’s get cultural.

To honour my Lebanese heritage, and offer you a new spin on heartache, I thought I would share an additional playlist to go with the theme: a collection of my favourite Arabic nostalgic love songs.

Title translation + Brief Explanation of What the songs are about : (WARNING: they sound better in Arabic.)
– Ishtaktellak: I miss you. {A love letter to Fairuz’s, the singer’s, lover telling him how much she misses him, although knowing he will never say it back.}
– Ana Le Habiby: I am my beloved’s. {Pretty self-explanatory.}
– Inni Mnih: I am okay. {A heart-rendering ballad where the singer is expressing his apathy towards everything. A song filled with hopelessness, and sadness — a songwriter’s lament.}
– Bala wala Chi: Without anything. {I may not be rich, but I love you all the same, with everything I do possess — even though it ain’t much.}
– Kifak enta: How are you? {Former lovers meet, and catch up on all the time that has passed.)
– Behebak Ma Ba’Ref: I love you, I don’t know (why).
– Saalouny El Nas: People asked me about you.
– Bali Ma’ak: My mind is with you.
– Baadak Ala Baly: You are still on my mind.
– La Chou Terjae Bhal Leil: Why did you come back in the night?
– Ya Ashikat El Ward: Oh, lover of the roses!
– Bnadilak Ya Habibi: I will call on you, oh my love.
– Falyakon: Let it Be. {Not an Arabic cover of the Beatles’ song, but rather a beautiful ballad expressing the feelings following a painful break-up)
– Ahwak (x2 – one is by Fairuz, the other is by Abdel Halim Hafez): I worship you (or I love you, depending on your interpretation.)
– Shim el Yasmine: Smell the Jasmine. {Smell the Jasmine, and remember to remember me. A story of a love gone wrong, a love that has ended too soon. It is also known to be a very important song for the Lebanese LGBTQ+ youth.}
– Hal Asmar El-Lon: This brown-colour {Lena Chamamyan, the singer, is lamenting about a brown-skinned person.}
– Wean Msafer: Where are you travelling? {A plea to a lover to stay.}
– Asmr Ya Asmarany: Oh, you brunette.
– Etazalt El Gharam: I have given up on love. {This one’s pretty fun, and can resonate with any person who has gone through terrible lows with one or several individuals, and doesn’t want anything to do with love anymore.}