13 Songs Where the FEEL is Real

Reading Time: 13 min read

13 Songs Where the FEEL is Real features tunes courtesy of Ice Spice, Labrinth, Lucky Daye, Måneskin & The Weeknd.

Are you ready to unleash your FEELINGS??? If not, no worries, because we have musicians prompted and ready to deliver their own feelings via song! 🎧 13 Songs Where the FEEL is Real is far from the first time we’ve looked to song for expression of emotions. See previous music compendiums 🎧 14 Songs Where Musicians Are ‘In Their Feelings’ (2018) and 🎧 Emotional Songs Where It’s All About the Feel, Vol. 1 (2019) for exemplary examples where those musicians unleashed those F-E-E-L-S! We seek to do the same on this musical compendium.  🎧 13 Songs Where the FEEL is Real features tunes courtesy of 🎙 Ice Spice, 🎙 Labrinth, 🎙 Lucky Daye, 🎙 Måneskin, and 🎙 The Weeknd among others. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in as these talented artists share their feelings! 

1. Labrinth, “The Feels”

💿 Ends & Begins • 🏷 Columbia • 🗓 2023

“I got hit by a truck, I got hit by a truck.” Initially, one might question if 🎵 “The Feels” truly feels like it is affiliated with love or sex in any regard.  Clearly, 🎙 Labrinth is experiencing something that has greatly affected him on this highlight from his 2023 album, 💿 Ends & Begins.  Has he literally been left for dead after being run over – a true hit and run? Naturally, on this ballad, he is in his feels for that reason alone.  By the pre-chorus, which recurs later, in the hands of 🎙 Zendaya, Labrinth asserts: “I got touched by God and it fucked me up / Like an electrical current coursin’ through my veins / Lightning came and hit me again.” Hmm 🤔, this is where the feels begin to feel like something different.  In the epic chorus, the euphoria is something else:  

“Now I’m in my feels 

Way up in the clouds somewhere now 

Don’t know what’s real, real  

I’m ghost, gone missin’ 

I don’t even know if I’m here now 

But I’m in my feels, feels.”  

Zendaya confirms these feels as being romantic in the second verse.  She sings, “Now you got me intoxicated with your drug,” later adding, “The truth of it is I’m in love with you.” Her and Labrinth then collaborate in the pre-chorus and that epic chorus, with superb vocal chemistry.  The melody of “The Feels” is incredible. So is the picturesque production, with Labrinth handling the work behind the boards.  Furthermore, he wrote the song alongside 🎼 ✍ Muz. The result is a steamy song that is perfect for the bedroom.  

via GIPHY

Appears in 🔻:  

Labrinth, “The Feels”: Midnight Heat 🕛 🔥 No. 38 (2023)

2. Ice Spice, “Munch (Feelin’ U)”

💿 Like..? (EP) • 🏷 Dolo Entertainment, Inc. / UMG Recordings, Inc. • 🗓 2023

Ascending rapper 🎙️ Ice Spice concludes her 2023, debut EP, 💿 Like..?, with her ace-in-the-hole: 🎵 “Munch (Feelin’ U).” “Munch (Feelin’ U)” is the shortest song on the project but also the reason why Ice Spice is, well, ascending ⬆️.  The Bronx rapper is unapologetic – blunt and straightforward: “You thought I was feelin’ you? (Nah) / That nigga a munch.” WOO! What a way to emasculate him, which, to some extent, is the brilliance of this number!  Also, munch is sexual, as in cunnilingus, so, there is no shortage of NSFW references 😈. What is clear about “Munch,” however, is, if you want to be with Ice Spice, you’ve got to live up to her demands, which seem rigorous! 

3. Måneskin, “FEEL”

💿 RUSH! • 🏷 Epic • 📅 2023

“Don’t tell your mother, she doesn’t wanna know / ‘Bout the things we’re gonna do tonight.” Oh, sheee-it! “Blue jeans and leather (And leather!) even better on the floor / Light it up and let me lose your mind.” Umm…K… If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! CONTEXT, puh-lease! Well, in the context of 💿 RUSH!, the third album, and international debut album by Italian rock band, 🎙 Måneskin, the formula continues to flourish on the song, 🎵 “Feel.” “Feel” is aggressive, dirty, and full of spunk – WOO! The sexy (😍) 🎙 Damiano David comes off as horny, like an animal, not to mention the fact he exemplifies the rock star life 🤘.  Peep the lyric video for the song – there’s some Italian eye candy 😈 😈 😈! Among the most memorable lines from “FEEL” is a drug reference – are you shocked? “Cocaine is on the table / Don’t care we’re rebel rebels.” Ugh… Kids, please, please, puh-lease remember, SAY NO 🚫 TO DRUGS!!!

4. Tate McRae, “feel like shit”  

💿 I used to think I could fly • 🏷 RCA • 🗓 2022  

“Usually never cry at all /… But it’s been a couple weeks now and I still feel stuck in my lungs.” 🎙 Tate McRae 🤩 🎵 “feel like shit” on her 2021 single which ultimately appears on her 2022 debut album, 💿 I used to think I could fly. Why does she feel like shit?  Well, it’s the lyrics: “Usually go out on nights / And not think of you once / But if they start playin’ that song / I can’t help but to think about us…” As you’d expect, it’s because of a boy! On this heartbroken, ‘s-bomb’ ballad penned by McRae, 🎼✍ Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Russell Chell, and Victoria Zaro, she’s struggling to get over him. In the second verse, she attempts to atone for the breakup – losing him: “So, I kissed somebody else / Just to see how it felt.” Unfortunately, the kiss did nothing to rid of the great memories she had while with him. She simply can’t forget about him, something crystal clear in the chorus, where she hopes eventually to “get used to it.”  Giving her a lift is the warm, modern production work by Chell and 🎛 Jasper Harris.  

Appears in 🔻:  

13 Delightful “Sugar Honey Iced Tea” Songs (2022)

5. Lucky Daye, “Feels Like”  

💿 Candydrip • 🏷 Keep Cool / RCA • 📅 2022 

“Manipulate me, baby / Make me do what you want me to.” Oh, sugar honey iced tea! 🎵 “Feels Like”, a highlight from 💿 Candydrip, the 2022 album by 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B singer, 🎙 Lucky Daye, is a vibe from the start. “Feels Like” commences abruptly sans introduction. Daye enters confidently, delivering sensual, ripe falsetto vocals (“So complicated / This should be plain and simple, yeah”) 😍.  The modus operandi is LOVE: “Don’t have to say shit, hush / ‘Round and ‘round and ‘round we go / At my tempo.” Well, perhaps I should’ve said SEX! During the course of “Feels Like,” Lucky Daye is supported by awesome production work (🎛 D’Mile). There’s a soulful groove and of course, colorful keyboard/synth work. The best section of the song is the simple but potent, catchy chorus:    

“It should feel like love whenever we touch 

But we can’t get stuck in the color of lust 

Don’t it feel like love, love? 

Feels like love, love.” 

Notably, there’s a unique change of pace in the final minute-and-a-half of the song in the third verse. Here, Daye moves away from the lit falsetto to deeper rapped and spoken word vocals. All told, “Feels Like” is a marvelous R&B record.  

Appears in 🔻:  

6. Jazmine Sullivan, “Pick Up Your Feelings” 

💿 ***Heaux* Tales • 🏷 RCA • 📅 2021** 

“Don’t forget to come and pick up your, ooh, feelings / Don’t leave no pieces / You need to hurry and pickup your, ooh-ooh, feelings / While I’m up cleaning.” Among the best records from 💿 Heaux Tales, the 🏆 Grammy-winning album by 🎙 Jazmine Sullivan is 🎵 “Pick Up Your Feelings.” Prior to this standout, we hear the skit 🎵 “Antoinette’s Tale” where Antoinette, the first of many women expressing their love stories throughout the project, speaks of the sexual double standard for women. Bluntly, but accurately, she states, “We’re out here telling them, that the pussy is there’s / When in actuality, it’s ours.”  The skit perfectly prefaces the song at hand. Sullivan absolutely kills it, giving an expressive, soulful vocal performance that lays it out there for the offending dude.  “Oh, I’m tryna find a fuck to give for you,” she bites in the second verse, continuing, “You ran out of chances of forgivin’ ya / Yeah, listen, I ain’t listenin’.” Sound-wise, “Pick Up Your Feelings” is both refreshing and throwback. 🎛 DZL does a fine job behind the boards.  Of course, the chorus serves as the centerpiece (excerpted above), with Sullivan blessing us with those anointed pipes.    

Appears in 🔻:  

Listen UP to These 15 Songs (2021)

7. Chase Atlantic, “Numb to the Feeling”  

🎵 “Numb to the Feeling” • 🏷 Warner • 📅 2018

“My tolerance is going up / And I’m getting numb to the feeling, yeah / And I’ve been abusing drugs / I’m getting numb to the feeling, yeah…” In 2018, Australian collective 🎙 Chase Atlantic – Mitchel Cave, Christian Anthony, and Clinton Cave – were 🎵 “Numb to the Feeling”. In regard to sound and vibe, “Numb to the Feeling” sounds like a hip-hop record.  No, Michel Cave doesn’t drop bars but his rhythmic approach to the lines, coupled with some colorful language, make “Numb to the Feeling” fit perfectly in the 2010s musical landscape. Cave has a boyish tenor, which is both appealing and charming. He quickly erases innocence, singing about drugs and sex.  Essentially, he’s numb to the feeling of drugs after abusing them, and numb to sex as well, requiring “extra” to put it respectably.  The chorus sums up the barrage of numbing issues that are taking down Cave.     

“…I need you to show me love 
‘Cause I’m getting numb to the feeling, yeah 
I need you to ride me harder when we fuck 
‘Cause I’m getting numb to the feeling, woah.” 

Appears in 🔻:  

Prepare to Be Numbed by These 16 Numbing Songs (2020)

 8. Lil Baby & Lil Durk, “How It Feels”  

💿 The Voice of the Heroes • 🏷 Quality Control Music / Alamo / Motown • 📅 2021  

“I know how it feel when you broke, and them bills past due (Yeah) / Oh, you thought this shit was a joke? We on your ass too!” 🎙 Lil Baby and 🎙 Lil Durk, two of the most popular rappers of the 2020s,  collaborated on the 2021, gold-certified album, 💿 The Voice of the Heroes. One of the best moments is the banger, 🎵 “How It Feels”, which feels pretty damn good! 🎛 Noah Pettigrew, Section 8, and Chi Chi ‘kick ass and take names’ from a production standpoint. If nothing else, those rhythmic 808s runs are the sugar honey iced tea! So are the flows 🔥🔥🔥.   

Baby gets first blood on the best part of the song – the chorus! “I know how it feel to think everybody against you / I know how it feel to watch bullets go through a windshield,” he spits, continuing, “I know how it feel when you try your best to be real / I know how it feel when you think no one understands you.” WOO! He follows the chorus with a lit verse, compelling with that masterful, electrifying flow we’ve come accustomed to. No worries as Durk isn’t overshadowed.  He doesn’t get as much airtime but complements and contrasts Lil Baby well. His melodic approach is always a treat even when he’s being hard-nosed.  Again, how does it feel? Pretty damn good! Also, shout out to the music video! 

via GIPHY

Appears in 🔻:  

 9. Fall Out Boy, “Heartbreak Feels So Good”

💿 So Much (For) Stardust • 🏷 Fueled By Ramen • 🗓 2023

“It was an uphill battle / But they didn’t know, but they didn’t know / We were gonna use the roads as a ramp to take off.” WOO!! Following a terrific opener (🎵 “Love From The Other Side”), So Much (For) Stardust – the eight studio album from 🎙 Fall Out Boy – remains on the up and up with its second track/single, 🎵 “Heartbreak Feels So Good” 👍.  “Heartbreak Feels So Good” benefits from its roaring guitars, enthusiastic keyboards, and, of course, the assertive vocals of 🎙 Patrick Stump 🤩. Like many Fall Out Boy songs, the lyrics are simultaneously EMO-tional and entertaining (“We said we’d never grow up / It’s open season on blue moods / Light from a screen of messages unsent”). The centerpiece is the chorus, which is incredibly tuneful: “We could dance our tears away, emancipate ourselves / We’ll cry later or cry now, but baby / Heartbreak feels so good.” What more needs to be said? Absolutely nothing!

10. Lizzo, “Exactly How I Feel” (Ft. Gucci Mane) 

💿 Cuz I Love You • 🏷 Nice Life / Atlantic • 📅 2019 

“That’s exactly how I feel / That’s exactly how I feel / That’s exactly how I feel.” Woo! 🎙 Lizzo keeps things short and sweet on 🎵 “Exactly How I Feel” (💿 Cuz I Love You, 2019). The 🏆 Grammy-winning pop musician enlists the services of 🎙 Gucci Mane for the assist 🔥. “Exactly How I Feel” is sassy AF.  Lizzo has no shortage of attitude, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Exhibit A: “I woke up this morning (God) / Wrong side of the bed / I don’t have to ‘splain it, oh (How I feel).” Oh, snap 🫰! She continues: I might be a bitch (Bitch) / I might make a friend (Friend) / Ain’t I so amazing? (Uh-huh).” Gah-day-ummm! She goes on to say, “I don’t give a fuck” (as if we couldn’t already tell).  Gucci provides contrast with his chill, flexing verse: “I ain’t with that acting all friendly / Please step away from the Bentley / You’re either not with me or with me / The FYE close by like it’s Whitney.” Regardless, Lizzo’s the clear star, not to be usurped in the least.

11. Portugal. The Man, “Feel It Still” 

💿 Woodstock • 🏷 Atlantic • 📅 2017 

Alternative bands can rarely tout scoring a top-five pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100.  Portland, Oregon standouts 🎙 Portugal. The Man have bragging rights. 🎵 “Feel It Still” (💿 Woodstock) was one of the grooviest, most infectious songs of 2017. Of course, groovy, and infectious also helped contribute to “Feel It Still” earning a spot among the 🎧 100 Best Songs of 2017.  The chorus doesn’t hurt! 

“Ooh woo, I’m a rebel just for kicks, now 

I been feeling it since 1966, now 

Might be over now, but I feel it still 

Ooh woo, I’m a rebel just for kicks, now 

Let me kick it like it’s 1986, now 

Might be over now, but I feel it still.” 

The production (🎛 John Hill & Asa Taccone) is crisp and clear.  Front man 🎙 John Gourley delivers sensational, light, airy, and agile high-pitched vocals.  Reminiscing rarely comes off as excellent as it does on “Feel It Still.” Also, worth noting, Portugal. The Man earned a 🏆 Grammy for this one.     

Appears in 🔻:  

100 Best Songs of 2017

12. Chlöe, “How Does It Feel” (Ft. Chris Brown)

💿 In Pieces • 🏷  Parkwood Entertainment LLC / Columbia • 📅 2023 

“I gave you more than you wanted / I gave you more than you needed / So tell me, how does it feel / To lose the one you believe in?” Oh, snap 🫰, 🎙 Chlöe! 🤩 🎵 “How Does It Feel” arrives as the second single from her debut album, 💿 In Pieces, which epically flopped 😬. Certainly not helping matters was her collaboration with controversial 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B artist, 🎙 Chris Brown.  An enjoyable effort, you cannot deny or dismiss the backlash, given Brown’s infamous reputation. Soul fuels “How Does It Feel” with producers 🎛 Cardiak and Hitmaka sampling 🎙 Dionne Warwick classic, 🎵 “You’re Gonna Need Me”. It’s a fitting backdrop, particularly considering the fact that a tumultuous love union is involved (“You’re gonna want me back in your arms” plays in the background). Brown performs the first verse, following the chorus – excerpted above – performed by Chlöe.  He asserts, in great voice, “So many feelings involved, the way you do me / Tell me, you ready or not? This ain’t The Fugees.” Woo! In the second verse, Chlöe, who also sings lovely, provides more context to the rift between them, telling Chris, “See that’s thing about trust / It’s never been about us” and “Gave you the key to my heart beat / You didn’t say it, but you said it / It shouldn’t have hurt me, but I let it.” Clearly, the feelings are bad for both parties, as the ugly side of love has reared its head.  Is the relationship over? It appears to be. Ultimately, 🎵 “How Does It Feel” is a vibe; one of the better songs from In Pieces.  

Appears in 🔻:

Usher vs. Chlöe: Head 2 Head 🗣️ No. 14 (2023)

13. The Weeknd, “I Feel It Coming” (Ft. Daft Punk) 

💿 Starboy • 🏷 Republic • 📅 2016   

“I feel it coming / I feel it coming, baby…” Ooh-la-la, 🎙 The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye).  Those lyrics from the chorus of 🎵 “I Feel It Coming” (💿 Starboy), clearly exhibit double entendre. Even so, “I Feel It Coming” goes deeper (not sexually!).  This record, which features fellow 🏆 Grammy winners, 🎙 Daft Punk, concludes Starboy exquisitely. Daft Punk provides excellent contributions, namely the vocoder during the chorus, contrasting Tesfaye’s ever-distinct pipes.  

“I can see it in your eyes / ‘Cause they never tell me lies / I can feel that body shake / And the heat between your legs.” The heat between your legs? Gah-da-yummm!!! “I Feel It Coming” dons a pop-soul sensibility.  The danceable, R&B groove appeals to pop audiences as well giving it ample crossover ability. The production (Daft Punk, Tesfaye, 🎛 Cirkut, and Doc McKinney) employs a warm sound – pads and rhythmic, soulful guitars.  The Weeknd delivers clear vocals, singing effortlessly, and NEVER breaking a sweat. Furthermore, his subtlety and eschewal of profanity bode well. Don’t get it twisted. “I Feel It Coming” is still sensual, but Abel has done worse. The pre-chorus shows maturity from The Weeknd: “You’ve been scared of love and what it did to you / You don’t have to run; I know what you’ve been through / Just a simple touch and it can set you free / We don’t have to rush when you’re alone with me.” All told, “I Feel It Coming” is a well-produced, superbly performed hit.  Not surprising it peaked at no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017.

via GIPHY

13 Songs Where the FEEL is Real [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Atlantic, Columbia, Davido Music Worldwide Limited, Epic, Interscope, Keep Cool, Motown, Nice Life, Quality Control Music, RCA, Republic, Warner; Daria Ivanenko, lucas souza via Pexels]

13 Songs Where the FEEL is Real | Playlist 🎧

Published by the musical hype on May 19, 2023May 19, 2023