11 Songs That are Tired 🥱 to the nth Degree | Playlist 🎧

11 Songs That are Tired 🥱 to the nth Degree features music courtesy of Al Green, Gorillaz, Jhené Aiko, Kelly Price, and Sufjan Stevens. 

Being TIRED 🥱 typically necessitates rest and most importantly, sleep 🛌 😴 💤. In the case of a playlist, tired songs are best experienced via headphones 🎧, or great speakers 🔊 (us audiophiles know). 🎧 11 Songs That are Tired 🥱 to the nth Degree features 11 songs that may feature tired or associated words in their respective titles but aren’t tired listens in the least if you catch my drift. This musical compendium features musical goodness courtesy of 🎙 Al Green, 🎙 Gorillaz, 🎙 Jhené Aiko, 🎙 Kelly Price, and 🎙 Sufjan Stevens among others. Even if you are dead 😵 tired 🥱, you won’t grow tired 🥱 of these compelling songs! 

1. Sufjan Stevens, “So You Are Tired”  

💿 Javelin • 🏷 Asthmatic Kitty • 📅 2023 

“But I was a man born invisible.” Word. 🎵 “So You Are Tired,” the seventh track from 💿 Javelin, the 10th studio album by 🎙 Sufjan Stevens, continues the excellence of the LP. The 🏆 Academy and Grammy award-nominated musician’s authenticity is at an all-time high here.  He’s honest about the waning state of his relationship: “So you are tired 🥱 of us / So rest your head / Turning back fourteen years / Of what I did and said.” Sufjan later adds, “So, you are tired of even my kiss / So go back to your den” in the fifth verse, and “I was the man still in love with you / When I already knew it was done” in the sixth 😢.  A break-up has occurred, which seems to fall in line with his real-life relationship.  Beyond deep themes and genuine emotions, the music is glorious, particularly when the backdrop grows in scope – becomes more awe-inspired 😇. 

2. Yung Bleu & H.E.R., “Tired of You”  

💿 Moon Boy • 🏷 Moon Boy University / EMPIRE • 📅 2021 

“Yeah, I’m so tired of you, uh / Runnin’ right back when I need someone…” Ooh-wee, 🎙 H.E.R.! The 🏆 Academy and Grammy Award winner delivers lovely vocals on 🎵 “Tired of You”.  She is the first voice heard on the fourth track from 💿 Moon Boy, the 2021 album by 🎙 Yung Bleu. Arguably, H.E.R. steals the show from Bleu with those soulful pipes, including the scrumptious ad-libs. Of course, it doesn’t hurt when tuneful melodies are involved, particularly in the pre-chorus and chorus sections, performed by H.E.R. herself 😝.  The guitar accompaniment within the production (🎛 Bordeaux, Non Native, Ervin Garcia, and Eric Forcen) is marvelous, and idiomatic of contemporary R&B. Even with all the buzz surrounding H.E.R. and the sound of “Tired of You,” Young Bleu brings the heat 🥵 in his own right.  His melodic rap performance is sweet.  He shines in his verse, the bridge (the penultimate section of the song), and part of the final chorus.  One of his best lyrics: “Kissin’ on your stretch marks, ooh girl, turn on the light / Her imperfections, ooh, girl, that’s what I like.” 🔥 🔥 🔥!!! Besides his solo moments, him and H.E.R. (😝) complement each other superbly when performing together 💪.  Ah, musical teamwork!!!

3. Lauv & Troye Sivan, “i’m so tired…” 

💿 ~ how I’m feeling ~ • 🏷 Lauv / AWAL Recordings America, Inc. • 📅 2020 

“Party, trying my best to meet somebody / But everybody around me is falling in love to our song.” 🎙 Lauv (Ari Leff) and fellow, 🏆 Grammy-nominated pop artist 🎙 Troye Sivan join forces on 🎵 “I’m So Tired”. “I’m So Tired,” which was released in 2019, appears on Leff’s 2020 debut album, 💿 ~ how I’m feeling ~. The record sounds ‘tried and true’ to the pop sound + identity that Leff has established early on in his career.  The cut is quite rhythmic, keeping it rolling along. Leff delivers chill, commanding, and tasteful vocals in the first verse, adding to the vibes established by the production work (Leff and 🎛 OZGO (Oscar Görres)).  He never pushes, singing with incredible ease 😎.  The same can be said of Sivan 😍, who’s always benefitted from subtlety and poise as opposed to flashy histrionics. He provides sound contrast in the second verse. Expectedly, the best part of the song is the infectious chorus: 

“I’m so tired 🥱 of love songs, tired 🥱 of love songs 

Tired 🥱 of love songs, tired 🥱 of love 

Just wanna go home 🏡, wanna go home 🏡 

Wanna go home 🏡, woah.”   

4. Jhené Aiko, “Born Tired” 

💿 Chilombo • 🏷 Def Jam • 📅 2020

“Three deep breaths 😮‍💨 / Ten steps 🐾 backwards 🔙 / Going backwards 🔙 / Now, I’m switching lanes…” On 🎵 “Born Tired,” 🏆 Grammy-nominated R&B artist 🎙 Jhené Aiko is “tired 🥱 but fired 🔥 up.” On the 12th track from 💿 Chilombo, she appears ready for a new and better chapter. “‘Cause look at how far you have come,” she sings in the second verse, adding, “And look at all that you have going /… Baby, you gotta keep going.” Yes, yes, yes 💪! One of the pros regarding the record is the fact that she digs in more vocally.  Another pro for Jhené? The chorus, where she needs more fi-ya!   

“Baby, I was born tired 🥱 

Getting more tired 🥱 

As time passes me by 

I’m a need more fire 🔥 

Way, way more fire 🔥 

So, pass that thing my way.” 

Oh, and one more pro, for good measure – the cool, calm, and collected, colorful production courtesy of 🎛️ The Fisticuffs. 

5. dvsn, “Tired” 

💿 Working on My Karma • 🏷 OVO Sound • 📅 2022  

“I don’t even know how you do it / You carry it all on your own,” 🎙 Daniel Daley sings in the first verse of the 🎙 dvsn song, 🎵 “Tired.”  In the second verse, in the 11th track from the Canadian R&B duo’s 2022 album, 💿 Working on My Karma, Daley characterizes her as “one of the women that’s so independent / That niggas get intimidated / So you takin’ care of yourself, it must be hard sometimes.” Hmm, Damn, Daniel, what are you getting at on this 🎛 Nineteen85 / Joe Reeves production? See the chorus:  

“When you’re tired 

Of everything that’s always bein’ thrown at you 

And all the problems that you find a way around 

I will be the one to come and lay you down.”

Ooh-wee! Daniel is going to hold her down! It’s also worth noting that as he acknowledges what she’s been through and his proposal to hold her down, he sounds stellar 🤩. For good measure, per the post-chorus, he will make her say, “ooh.” 😈 Oh, and per the outro, he gets even more assertive: “You got everything you need except / Somebody to fuck you right (Love you right) / Touch you right, fuck you right…” Ooh-wee – it’s getting hot 🥵 in here!!!

6. Passion Pit, “Sleepyhead” 

💿 Chunk of Change (EP) • 🏷 frenchkiss • 🗓 2008

🎵 “Sleepyhead” is a fascinating song by indie pop act, 🎙 Passion Pit, the brainchild of 🎙️ Michael Angelakos. Even though “Sleepyhead” never charted on the pop charts, it has been certified double platinum by the RIAA 💪. This unique record was written by Angelakos and 🎼 ✍ Mary O’Hara. So, how does Irish soprano and harpist Mary O’Hara come into the picture, exactly? Her song, 🎵 “Oro Mo Bahidin” is sampled. In the intro of “Sleepyhead”, O’Hara sings: “Oíche Fheíl / Oíche Fhéil Eoin / Ní thiochfaidh mé aniar.” The Gaelic lyrics reference St. John’s Eve, a midsummer festivity, while O’Hara famously asserts, “I will not come back.” Prior to O’Hara’s contributions, lyrically and musically, novelist and poet, ✍️ Jack Kerouac also appears in the intro of this gem from 💿 Chunk of Change (EP): “And everything is going to the beat.” Enigmatic, isn’t it?  

Providing background on “Sleepyhead”, Michael Angelakos asserts:

Honestly, the samples usually tell the story. Was really into Mary O’Hara, listening to lots of Irish folk music. But I had been making a lot [of] Passion Pit material. I hadn’t sampled anything that heavily before. But I realized I had a song that was kind of doing what that song was doing already (melodically). In the end, I finished it in less than 2 hours… And the sound in the beginning was an accident — had some plugin turned on accidentally that reversed the whole song and this one drum loop. 

Cool 😎 stuff! 🎛 Chris Zane produced the record, characterized by its thrilling samples, ultra-colorful backdrop, and distinct vocals and lyrics from Michael Angelakos.  Honestly, there are few songs that sound like it. Following the intro, Angelakos gives us two verses. At the end of the first, he sings, “Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes / You were one inch from the edge of this bed / I drag you back a sleepyhead, sleepyhead.” Intriguing. In the second verse, he sings, about lions “Crowd your bedrooms like some thoughts wearing thin,” and, later adds, “My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors / And of your eyes, begonia skies like a sleepyhead, sleepyhead.” Wow. The poetic lyrics make “Sleepyhead” the aughts classic that it is.  Depending on who you ask, people have varying interpretations of the song – lots of them.  🔗 Songfacts notes (via The Sun), Angelakos states, “Originally it [Chunk of Change (EP)] was a Valentine’s gift for my girlfriend that was never supposed to go beyond her ears. She put up with a lot of my shit and was a saint for it and that is the theme of a lot of the EP.” The sleepiness of 🎵 “Sleepyhead” seems negative, despite the exuberant sounds of the instrumental. Furthermore, the context of Angelakos being an imperfect boyfriend also suggests this record is not-so-happy.    

Appears in 🔻:  

• Passion Pit, Sleepyhead: Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 No. 8 (2023) 

7. Gorillaz, “The Tired Influencer”  

💿 Cracker Island • 🏷 Parlophone • 📅 2023 

“It’s cracked screen world / Where white blooms above the city,” 🎙 2D (Damon Albarn) sings in the first verse of the 🏆 Grammy-winning, alternative, virtual band 🎙 Gorillaz highlight, 🎵 “The Tired Influencer” 😢.  When you think about those lyrics, appearing early on in the third track of 💿 Cracker Island, it’s a mic 🎤 drop 💧 moment.  Adding to the allure and thought-provoking nature of those lines, as well as the song in its entirety, Siri, described as ‘the most private digital assistant,’ is sampled, expressing apologies (😏), and searching for information (Here’s what I found). Purportedly, Siri’s feature was by accident 🤯 🤯 🤯.  “The Tired Influencer” features no shortage of intriguing lyrics, which are sung beautifully but have a negative connotation (“Just trying to keep my head up (My head up) / Nothing real anymore”).  

Of course, the centerpiece of “The Tired Influencer” is the chorus:   

“Every day, the tired influencer 

You’re sleeping deep, waiting for an answer 

Gotta press on brown eyes 

I always keep you close beside me 

Million dreams 

‘Cause that’s the way it’s meant to be.”

This reflective record is utterly stupendous, even beyond theme and lyrics. Musically, it’s brilliant thanks to the groove and rhythmic nature of the track.  The production (Gorillaz and 🎛 Greg Kurstin) features its fair share of fabulous touches – guitars 🎸, keys and synths 🎹.  Also, the melodic lines are ear catching, brough out by Albarn’s vocals. There is nothing tired about the musical goodness of 🎵 “The Tired Influencer”.

Appears in 🔻:  

• Gorillaz, The Tired Influencer: Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 No. 9 (2023) 

8. Kelly Price, “Tired”  

💿 Kelly • 🏷 2011 • 📅 My Block

“There’s a hole 🕳️ in my heart ❤️ / My soul is bleeding 🩸 / I need to free my mind / And say what I’m feeling…” Ooh-wee! 🏆 Grammy-nominated R&B/gospel artist 🎙 Kelly Price has some things to say on her 2011 song, 🎵 “Tired,” which graces her album, 💿 Kelly.  It begins with the dramatic intro, which superbly sets the tone. All of the things Price has to say encompass being – wait for it – TIRED 🥱.  Written and produced by Price and 🎼 ✍ 🎛 Anthony “Shep” Crawford, the tiredness 🥱 is all-consuming.  Examples of the tiredness 🥱 includes “Tired of the way he treats me,” “Tired of in and out the courts,” “Tired of praying that it works, I’m / Even tired of going to church,” and “I’m tired of being wronged and doing right.” WOO, that’s tiring 🥱! Price delivers powerful vocal performance – the expectation given the robustness of her instrument 💪.  The backdrop is also powerful, successfully delivering a gospel and R&B aesthetic.   

9. Weezer, “Tired of Sex” 

💿 Pinkerton • 🏷 Geffen • 📅 1996

“I’m tired 🥱, so tired 🥱/ I’m tired 🥱 of having sex.” Say what, 🎙 Rivers Cuomo?! The 🎙 Weezer front man continues singing in the first verse of 🎵 “Tired of Sex,” “I’m spread so thin / I don’t know who I am.” Whoa! The opening track from the band’s 1996 album, 💿 Pinkerton is captivating.  Cuomo isn’t anti-sex per se, but he desires more meaningful connections. In the chorus, each day of the week (save for Sunday 🙏) finds him makin’ a different lady 😈 (“Monday night, I’m makin’ Jen / Tuesday night, I’m makin’ Lyn”). Speaking of Sunday, or at least sinfulness, in the second verse, Rivers admits, “I know I’m a sinner, but I can’t say no.” Woo! Yield not to temptation, Rivers 👏 👏 👏! Also, jumping back to the closing lyric of the chorus, he asks, “Why can’t I be makin’ love come true?” Sometimes, makin’ love and sex are treated synonymously.  In this case, Cuomo, to reiterate, desires a more meaningful, emotional connection that transcends temporary pleasure.  Besides the songwriting, and the distinct, assertive vocal performance of Rivers, the musical backdrop of “Tired of Sex” is ear-catching.  The raucous guitars 🎸 and pummeling drums 🥁 rock 🤘 TF out, nearly three decades later.  

10. Mariah Carey, “Heavenly (No Ways Tired / Can’t Give Up Now)” 

💿 Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse • 🏷 Mariah Carey • 📅 2014

🏆 Grammy-winning pop/R&B superstar 🎙 Mariah Carey ‘lets loose’ on 🎵 “Heavenly (No Ways Tired / Can’t Give Up Now)”, the 14th track from her 2014 studio album, 💿 Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse.  Notably, she covers a gem by contemporary gospel powerhouse, 🎙 Mary Mary: 🎵 “Can’t Give Up Now” from the duo’s 2000 LP, 💿 Thankful.  Even so, “No Ways Tired” itself long predates Mary Mary. With the original song composed by 🎼 ✍ Curtis Burrell, the late, great 🎙 Rev. James Cleveland popularized it with his own arrangement and recording in 1976. Furthermore, legendary gospel collective 🎙 Mighty Clouds of Joy released their own influential version on their 1980 album, 💿 Cloudburst.  Basically, a long, long time before Mimi unleashed “Heavenly,” this song had history.  

Even with the transformations from “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” to “Heavenly (No Ways Tired / Can’t Give Up Now),” Mariah Carey brings the heat! This emotional gospel cut is right up Carey’s alley. She’s renowned for concluding albums with an inspirational cut, and “Heavenly” fits the bill.  Mariah is cool, calm, and collected during the verses, spoiling us with her celestial tone. However, she packs more punch in the centerpiece, the chorus:

“I just can’t give up now 

Come too far from where I started from 

Nobody told me the road would be easy 

And I don’t believe He’s brought me this far to leave me.” 

Eventually, the emotion and intensity of “Heavenly” expands.  This ascent begins with the bridge, which prefaces the final chorus of the song in the original key. The first modulation (in a variety of key changes) follows, paralleling increased spirit.  Besides those key changes, there are stomping drums, and of course, Mariah pour every ounce of her heart and soul into some rad ad-libs.  She’s further amplified by a choir, who help take us to church! And, in true old-school gospel fashion, what about that breakdown during the outro? “I don’t believe, He’s brought me this far / I don’t believe He’s brought me this far…” 🎵 “Heavenly (No Ways Tired / Can’t Give Up Now)” is a cover, but it’s a cover where a once-in-a-lifetime singer makes it her own, PERIOD!!!

Appears in 🔻: 

• Mariah Carey, Heavenly (No Ways Tired / Can’t Give Up Now): Covers No. 45 (2023) 
• Mary Mary vs. Mariah Carey: Head 2 Head 🗣️ No. 46 (2023) 

11. Al Green, “Tired of Being Alone”  

💿 Gets Next to You • 🏷 Hi / Fat Possum • 📅 1971 

“I’m so tired 🥱 of being alone / I’m so tired of on-my-own / Won’t you help me girl / Just as soon as you can.” Ooh-wee! 🎙 Al Green is nothing short of a musical icon.  The Memphis soul standout has plenty of hits including the fabulous 🎵 “Tired of Being Alone”. “Tired of Being Alone” marks the fourth track from Green’s 1971 masterpiece, 💿 Gets Next To You. This love yearning, ‘wanna get back with her’ gem just missed the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, settling for no. 11. It fared better on the R&B charts, peaking at no. 7. Green penned it, while the late 🎛 Willie Mitchell produced it. Green and Mitchell made a dynamic duo 💪.  

“People say that I’ve found a way / To make you say that you love me / Hey baby, you didn’t go for that.” The excellence of “Tired of Being Alone” speaks for itself. Green possesses one of the greatest voices of all time.  He is awesome at delivering balanced performances. He can be poised at times, and gritty at others. Either way, he is potent to the nth degree – he packs a punch 🥊! He brings the lonely lyrics to life sensationally, with tuneful melodies to match. “I guess you know that I, uh, I love you so,” he asserts in the second verse, adding, “Even though you don’t want me no more / Hey, hey, hey, hey, I’m cryin’ tears.” Oh, the plight of love! While Green reveals his deck of cards lyrically/thematically early on, it’s relatable and fitting for a soul song.  Also, shout out his backing vocals who bring the heat 🥵 too. Of course, you can’t talk about 🎵 “Tired of Being Alone” and not mentioning that utterly sublime Memphis soul sound. The horns 🎺 🎷! The organ! The rhythm section 👍 👍 👍!

Appears in 🔻:  

• Al Green, Tired of Being Alone: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 164 (2023) 

11 Songs That are Tired 🥱 to the nth Degree (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Asthmatic Kitty, Def Jam, Fat Possum, Geffen, Hi, Moon Boy University / EMPIRE, Lauv / AWAL Recordings America, Inc., Malaco, Inc., My Block, OVO Sound, Parlophone; Andrea Piacquadio, cottonbro studio, EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA, Kampus Production, Matteo Milan, Monstera Production, PNW Production from Pexels; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Ralf Designs from Pixabay]