To many individuals, change may signify a variety of things. Change might imply societal revolution, but it can also mean evolving to be a better person at the rate things are happening in the world today now.
However, songs about change aren’t necessarily about necessary changes. Changes in our life might seem to appear out of nowhere at times. You may have developed strong feelings for someone or relationships may have changed in some manner.
It might also represent breaking out from life’s patterns that we felt were beneficial, or just growing up and becoming an adult
This is where music works its magic, as there are a plethora of songs about every sort of transition. With that in mind, here are some of the most well-known and well-loved inspiring or introspective songs about change.
1. MAN IN THE MIRROR ( MICHAEL JACKSON)
Mega pop star Michael Jackson encourages listeners to alter their bad habits by first evaluating themselves for defects, which he symbolically defines as gazing “in the mirror’ in this musical plea to the entire race.
The song’s basic premise is that change is required in the world, but it must begin on a personal level with each individual.
The phrase “a widow terribly terrified, the shattered heart of someone” also illustrates how society is failing to operate in a cohesive and rational manner that was formerly considered proper by society. Clearly, such actions were intended to demonstrate how people fail to live up to societal norms.
2. CASTLE ON THE HILL ( ED SHEERAN)
It’s a coming-of-age song in which the narrator has become a big celebrity and is returning for the first time to pay respect to the town that gave him his dreams, as well as to just spend time in nostalgia and reflect on how friends grew up together yet apart In general.
“Castle on the Hill” is a nostalgic trip down memory lane and probably one of the songs about change. Ed Sheeran is returning to Framlingham, Suffolk, where he grew up.
The song touches on a variety of memories, both good and bad, but it leaves us wanting to go back to our childhoods and reminisce about the ’good ol’ days.”
3. CHANGE THE WORLD (ERIC CLAPTON)
Eric Clapton’s Rhythm and blues acoustic pop song is about a man who wants to alter the world in order to demonstrate his love interest how enamored he is with her. While the song is primarily a love ballad, it also has a secondary topic about how individuals frequently feel helpless while trying to make larger changes on a global scale.
As the song begins, he expresses his desire to pull down a star and shine it on his heart, allowing his love interest to see how much he adores her. Clapton goes on to say in the chorus that if he had the power to change the world, he would be like sunshine to her. providing her with light, hope, and good love.
With the same power, the writer wishes he could make his woman queen if he were a king. His main point is that if he had unlimited power, he would hold this lady in such high regard and make her feel so loved.
4. REDEMPTION SONG ( BOB MARLEY)
Throughout the years, this song has remained a constant in the list of empowerment songs. It advocates for emancipation via history, knowledge, and opposition to authority and colonization’s enslaving pull.
The Jamaican singer got the motivation he needed to write a tune about independence. But not only physical freedom: abstract, mental freedom that may be attained and can change it and shared with others with the appropriate understanding.
The lines allude to a deplorable state of mental enslavement that affects the whole human race: we are the only ones who can liberate ourselves from our anxieties and face the future. Do whatever it takes to get out of this situation.
5. WIND OF CHANGE (SCORPIONS)
Fewer songs about change are as closely linked to a certain era as this Scorpion’s hard rock ballad. Wind of Change was composed in response to the conclusion of the Cold War and the widespread belief that it would usher in positive developments throughout the world.
“I follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park listening to the wind of change.” says the song, referring to the Moskva River and Gorky Park in Russia. The song “Wind of Change’ is about a country’s ‘changing’ the political atmosphere.
And. for obvious reasons, the majority of the fanbase has deduced that the country in question is Germany. In fact, many people informally adopted this song as an anthem celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
6. EVERYBODY’S CHANGING (KEANE)
This is about returning home after a long time and seeing how friends, family, and places have altered, and you are the only one who remembers how things used to be. forcing you to accept that you must change as well since everyone else is changing.
The song is peppy in contrast to the sad and depressing lyrics because the music depicts a bright, energetic period, yet listening to it gives you a nostalgic sensation like something from the past, like a recollection of being in school and having fun but knowing you could never go back.
I believe the words are referring to other people who had fond memories but are now confronted with change. It may be heartbreaking, and you may do things you’re not proud of, things that aren’t true to your true self, just to “remain in the game.”
You attempt to keep up and “remember your name,” but it’s as if you’re being ripped away from the things you love and the world you live in changes.
7. CHANGE (BLIND MELON)
Shannon Hoon. the late leader of Blind Melon, wrote the song Change about realizing when it’s time to make a change in one’s life. When circumstances are looking bleak and a person’s life is on the line, a critical shift is required. “When your deepest ideas are broken, keep on dreamin’ boy.” Hoon says, encouraging the listener to shift their entire mental process and think optimistically.
This song helps you think that all it takes is a conscious decision to change. The bravery to do so is one thing, but believing in the potential is something else entirely. Every time I hear this song, I am reminded of how important it is to maintain this belief.
I understand that this position may perplex some of my acquaintances, but I truly believe that most obstacles can be surmounted by sheer willpower. And when things become tough. I’ll change.
8. DEFYING GRAVITY (GLEE CAST)
Lea Michele and Chris Colfer’s duet is about breaking free from society’s expectations of what is acceptable for you and what isn’t It’s about breaking free from society’s imposed ceiling or limit, and realizing that we can be the individuals we want to be regardless of what others think.
Defying Gravity is going against the grain of what is expected of you. Doing what you want, what you’ve always wanted to do, and disregarding everyone who tells you that you can’t. There will be those who tell you that things are impossible, but you can guarantee they aren’t.
9. EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED (TAYLOR SWIFT FEAT. ED SHEERAN)
This acoustic-heavy duet is about the realization that one has acquired deep affections for another. “All I know is a simple name,” Swift sings, implying that her new lover is someone she has only recently met.
The reality that the song represents doesn’t know this person well but “everything has changed” indicates how she has changed her perspective on life since meeting him. It’s about the experience of falling in love. It’s about meeting someone and suddenly your entire outlook on life shifts – you’re thinking for two instead of one.
10. I WAS HERE (BEYONCE)
Queen B’s performance of this song at the United Nations in 2011 was already powerful, however, as a song, it is a call to arms to not waste our time on things that will only benefit ourselves, but to walk the walk of the persecuted and to be one with compassion because it’s how we will leave our mark in this world.
Beyonce creates a lot of music that inspires and uplifts people, but this song conveys the need for each of us to constantly remind ourselves that our existence on this earth is vital and should be respected.
Too many individuals are oblivious to their own worth. They walk through life without ambitions or objectives, and this song tells us that we matter to the world and that we owe it to ourselves to keep striving to be the greatest version of ourselves.
11. THE TIMES THEY ARE-A-CHANGIN (BOB DYLAN)
Dylan delivers this famous song on much-needed improvements occurring amid times of turmoil and warfare with only an acoustic guitar and a harmonica as his only instruments. Whereas the civil rights movement was one of Dylan’s main inspirations for creating this song, he made it very clear that it is an anthem for constructive societal improvements that may occur at any time.
It’s impossible to avoid change. Accept that there are certain situations over which you have no control, yet this does not imply you are unable to go forward.
Make a move! You don’t have to stay behind; the choice is yours. An interpretation of Dylan’s first verse message. It’s a simple concept, but it’s also a strong one.
In life, the simplest things are frequently the most powerful and important. On many levels, life is difficult; but. in other respects, it is rather simple. There’s a contrast here Moving on or establishing a new routine might be difficult but it can sometimes be as simple as taking the first step forward and then another…
12. GROW AS WE GO (BEN PLATT)
This is a sorrowful song about pleading with somebody to stay and proposing that they simply allow change to occur and grow without abandoning one other. It’s a gentle plea to a departing lover, followed by aspirations for the future.
Someone to develop with is something that has been on their mind for a long time, and this little song hit the nail on the head. Growth does not have to be done alone, but it does have to be done at times. Growing, learning, and changing together, on the other hand, may be a wonderful experience.
So here’s to those of you who are developing out there. It’s a hard process that generally entails letting go of things that don’t serve you anymore, but it’s also the only way to accept the gifts that are waiting to be delivered.
13. A CHANGE WOULD DO YOU GOOD (SHERLY CROW)
When things go wrong. Sheryl Crow’s song “A Change” is about shifting your environment. It was based on the true tale of Joe Meek, the notorious record producer who allegedly murdered himself and also another person due to financial difficulties.
Crow talks about making the necessary adjustments to get out of a bad situation before it becomes worse in the song, stating that “a change would do you good.“
14. IMAGINE (JOHN LENNON)
Because of its opening piano melody and grandiose chorus, few people on the planet are unfamiliar with John Lennon’s Imagine. Lennon sings of a fictitious future in which governments, greed, hunger, religion, and possessions have all been abolished.
While it may appear utopian to some, Lennon is well aware of this when he sings, “You may say I’m a dreamer.” He’s putting a concept in the minds of everyone who has been impacted by or lives in a condition of injustice or inequity by repeatedly saying “imagine,” pushing the audience to do something about it.
Imagine a world where there is “no need for greed or hunger.” A world where everyone is accepted and there is harmony.
15. FOUR YEARS (JON MCLAUGHLIN)
It speaks about how people are changing significantly, and the toughest clap-back we’ll ever face is the individuals we met while we were younger, the people we bullied previously and how they changed their lives around.
16. CHANGES (2PAC)
2pac’s song Changes became a huge hit and an anthem for oppressed or disempowered people all over the world, despite the fact that it was released two years after his death.
The lyrics are about a lack of changes in social reform and deal with heavy topics such as oppression, racism, social injustice, poverty, and war, and are set to the piano sequence of Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s ’The Way It Is.”
17. LANDSLIDE (FLEETWOOD MAC)
It’s a coming-of-age song about how people are changing, and while it may be frightening at first, the adjustments we go through will eventually make sense.”Landslide” is a song about growing up and the turmoil and uncertainty that comes with it.
Young adulthood can be a difficult and stressful time in one’s life, and Nicks portrays that dissatisfaction well in this song. Above all, “Landslide” is a story about the passage of time.
The song revolves around the topic of change, whether it’s the fear of letting go of a known past, the loss of young innocence, a sense that time is slipping away, or the desire for a lost sense of childish wonder. The song’s appeal comes from the fact that its topics are subject to interpretation – the words signify various things to different people, yet there are always the recurring themes of time and change.
18. GRADUATION FRIENDS FOREVER (VITAMIN C)
This song is all too familiar to anyone who finished high school in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Graduation is a song about the final days of high school and the subsequent changes in one’s life. It’s about treasuring previous experiences while looking towards the future and understanding how life changes may be both wonderful and negative at the same time.
19. BETTER DAYS (GOO GOO DOLLS)
You may have heard it in the movie New Year’s Eve, and if you really think about it, the song is about faith that if we all work together to overcome our differences and societal constructions, the world can change and we can all start again.
20. REDEMPTION SONG (BOB MARLEY)
“Redemption Song” is one of Bob Marley’s most well-known songs from his collections of socially aware songs, partially because of its beautiful and haunting melody. The song is about people overcoming tyranny and going forward.
The song addressed Marley’s own sentiments about his impending tragic demise, slavery, and its influence on descendants’ brains, religion, and destiny (“We’ve got to fulfill the book”), while also addressing his followers.
The music assured us that we would not be afraid. Your existence is not defined by global powers, destruction, or evil; your purpose is determined by the Almighty, not the Mighty. Your heroes may perish, you may be persecuted, and you may feel powerless to stop bad things from happening, but the cosmos is larger than that.
Participate in this song. You have the ability to liberate your mind and spirit. You have the potential to be redeemed.