15 Epic Songs Worth Dying For | Playlist 🎧

5. Justin Bieber, “Die For You” (Ft. Dominic Fike)

💿 Justice • 🏷 Island • 🗓 2021

On 🎵 “Die for You”, 🏆 Grammy-winner 🎙 Justin Bieber exhibits willingness to do any and everything for his wife, including sacrificing his own life 😮. In the chorus, he sings, “I would walk through burning fire / Even if your kiss could kill me / You know I would die for you.” In the context of 💿 Justice (2021), “Die for You” picks up the pace.  🎙 Dominic Fike (😍) joins Bieber for the ride, singing in the second verse (“And I know this ain’t rocket science / And I never leave the house / Without checkin’ on you first / And begin to wonder”).  Besides the increase in tempo, there’s plenty to heart about “Die for You.”  The groove and the production (🎛️ Louis Bell and watt) are definitely at the top of the list.  The sounds hearken back to the 80s, which is a great selling point too.  The listeners are treated to an exceptional chorus, sure to get stuck in one’s head.

“I would walk through burning fire

Even if your kiss could kill me

You know I would die for you

Yeah, I would die for you.”

6. Fousheé, “die”

💿 softCORE • 🏷 Trackmasters Entertainment, Inc. / RCA • 🗓 2022 

“I looked so good he died / Nigga just shut up and drive!” Holy shiitake mushrooms, 🎙 Fousheé! Just wrap your brain around those lyrics from 🎵 “die”, an outlandish highlight from her 2022 LP, 💿 softCORE.  The big takeaway from this sassy, unapologetic joint is how confident and self-assured Fousheé is.  Basically, she’s the sugar honey iced tea, PERIOD! “I said it, I want it and he buy it / In Saint Laurent throwing riots.” #SLAY, girl!

In the first verse, Fousheé asserts, “Walk in that bitch and watch all the groupies flock / This hoe too close I wanna fight.” Wow! Given the level of confidence, there is no way if Fousheé did fight with said hoe, she’d win – #FACTS! Also, in reference to the guy who’s died because she looks so good, she asserts, “You want this pussy, nigga, put it on your life.” Gah-day-um! Backed by harsh, ear-catching production courtesy of 🎛️ Ben10k, Danes Blood, and Dirty Dave, 🎵 “die” is a bold, semi-empowering, anthem that I’m totally here for!

Appears in 🔻:

• Fousheé, “die”: FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 12 (2023)

7. HARDY, “KILL SH!T TILL I DIE”

💿 the mockingbird & THE CROW • 🏷 Big Loud / Big Loud Rock • 🗓 2023

🎵 “KILL SH!T TILL I DIE” arrives as the penultimate record from 💿 the mockingbird & THE CROW, the 2023 album by country musician, 🎙 HARDY.  It is safe to say that, in the context of the album, HARDY maintains an unapologetic, gives no Fs side. The redneck is who he is, and he, indeed, intends to 🎵 “KILL SH!T TILL I DIE”! There is rock influence, particularly in the chorus, which falls in line with the rock-leaning THE CROW side of the album.  In the pre-chorus, HARDY unveils a philosophy that is redneck to the core involving guns, a bloodhound (shout out Trumpet), hunting, and totally NOT “Crying at that crashing Nasdaq.” #KILLING SH!T TILL WE DIE!!!

8. Nessa Barrett, “I hope ur miserable until ur dead”

💿 pretty poison (EP) • 🏷 Warner • 📅 2021

“I hope you never fall in love again / I hope you be yourself and lose your friends / I hope they call you out for shit you said / I hope you’re miserable until you’re dead.” Woo! Well, it’s safe to say that 🎙 Nessa Barrett isn’t happy on 🎵 “I hope ur miserable until ur dead.” She’s bitter AF on the stand out from her debut EP, 💿 pretty poison.  Basically, she wants this person to suffer until they’re no longer living! Calling this pop/rock song aggressive would be an understatement.  From the jump, Nessa is angry, which she admits as she sings, “But you drag me through mud, here I come, now I’m petty as fuck.” In the second verse, she asserts, “Been keeping your shit to myself / If I said it out loud, you’d be burning in hell.” Geez! She closes out the verse with the observation “One day it’ll come around but fuck you for now.” Clearly, whatever this nameless person did to Nessa, they totally pissed her TF off! Her bitterness and pain is our listening pleasure! 

9. G Herbo, “I Don’t Wanna Die”

💿 25 • 🏷 Machine Entertainment Group / Republic • 🗓 2021

“I don’t wanna die anymore / Lived so many lives in a row / Devil on the right, angel left (It’s cold) / Won’t lack, won’t lack, won’t lack.” Woo – those are chilling lyrics! 🎙 G Herbo truly brings it on 🎵 “I Don’t Wanna Die”, the opener from his sixth studio album, 💿 25. Before he drops a verse that he absolutely slaughters, the tone is set by the intro, which also reappears as the outro.  Aiding the Chicago rapper out is the malicious, minor-key production of 🎛 Southside.

“Wanna see my life’s a movie? Press play / Bitch, the street ain’t checkers / It’s a chess game, now let’s play.” Woo (again)! With the tone set by the sung intro (and reprised on the outro) and Southside stitching up a bad ass beat, G Herbo goes in. He depicts the hardships of his life and the lives of others with rough and tumble, violent experiences.  There are several devastating nuggets he serves up without sugarcoating anything.  Building off the ‘chess game,’ he schools us on guns, escaping being shot himself, and loss (“Kobe took his last breath, I seen him rolling his eyes on the nine”).  Perhaps what’s most amazing about “I Don’t Wanna Die” is that G Herbo is being authentic to the nth degree, yet also delivers an infectious record you can’t stop listening to. “I Don’t Wanna Die” is street to the core, something some can relate to, and others can’t.  Either way, Herbo has turned his hard-nosed tale into an inescapable, one-verse musical gem.

10-11. Role Model, “Death Wish” / “Die 4 My Bitch”

🎵 “Death Wish” 🏷 Interscope • 🗓 2021 / 💿 Rx • 🏷 Interscope • 🗓 2022

“Who is she? She got this way about her / She’s pretty but watch what you say around her.” Woo! 🎙 Role Model (Tucker Pillsbury), has ample swagger.  There’s something about the approach he brings to pop.  His music is expressive; he’s honest, vulnerable, and captivating.  He shines on the brief but potent 🎵 “Death Wish”, a pop song with some R&B touches stylistically. Constructing the dark but ear catching backdrop is 🎛 Spencer Stewart, who also writes alongside Pillsbury.  In a minor key, Tucker’s at his best, allowing his beautiful, distinct voice to shine.  Besides his awe-inspiring vocal, the female character concocted through the songwriting makes “Death Wish.” “She’s evil, that’s all I know about her / She’s lethal, I don’t feel safe around her,” Pillsbury sings in the second verse, continuing, “I heard that she killed a man out in Hollywood / Now we’re holding hands, pray to God she’s good.” Woo! Obviously, his devilish love interest is sketchy, which makes “Death Wish” that more alluring.  My favorite section of the song? The post-chorus, specifically lines like “She wears a cross ‘round town and it upside down,” and, “She got two horns on her head and a tail by her legs.” “Death Wish” is a vibe – a dark yet satisfying pop record.

Pillsbury commences his 2022 full-length debut, 💿 Rx boldly, willing to 🎵 “die for my bitch” – a second DEATH song! On the one hand, Pillsbury is being selfless, asserting in the chorus, “I’m only dyin’ if I die for my bitch.” Later, in the second verse, he states, “And I’d still be unbothered / If her dad wants me dead / He won’t be upset / If I die for his daughter.” Wow! His dedication is admirable though perhaps a wee bit melodramatic.  We know one thing’s for sure, the word choice, bitch, wouldn’t have flown in the past.  That said, times have changed and it’s Gen-Z (Pillsbury was born in 1997). Ultimately, in his easygoing but highly effective voice, he makes it crystal clear he would die for his true love.

Appears in 🔻:

• Awesome Songs: October 2021
• 13 D Songs: No Rhyme or Reason, Vol. 2 (2022)

12. Orville Peck, “Hope to Die”

💿 Pony • 🏷 Sub Pop • 📅 2019

“Take me back to the time / I was yours, and you were mine.” Sounds like the end of a relationship, 🎙 Orville Peck!  By the way, if you’ve never heard Peck’s music, you are totally missing out.  The Canadian-based gay 🌈 alternative/country music musician, who always wears a fringed masked, dives into a complicated romance between two cowboys on 🎵 “Hope to Die”,  which appears on his 2019 debut album, 💿 Pony.  How complicated was it? “I had to whisper / Because you liked it that way,” suggests the relationship was secret aka remaining ‘closeted.’

There are other hints of the complicated nature of this union, which seems to parallel gay relationships, particularly depending on where they occur.  “Take me back to the world I know/ You were crying / They don’t cry where we go.” The part of that lyric that stands out most is “They don’t cry where we go” which could reference toxic masculinity and the idea that men don’t cry and aren’t allowed to exhibit emotions or show vulnerability.  Also, it might reference the idea that some gay men are viewed as effeminate, not manly enough, and not respected.  Crying cowboys? They don’t exist, right? Secrecy and, say, ‘being discreet’ is key to “Hope to Die,” evidenced by the titular lyric, “Cross my heart, now I hope to die.”

Appears in 🔻:

• Orville Peck, “Hope to Die”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 16 (2022)
• Incredible LGBTQ Songs, Young & Old, Vol. 3 (2022)

13. Joji, “Die For You”

💿 SMITHEREENS • 🏷  88rising / Warner • 🗓 2022 

🎵 “Die For You” marks one of the better songs from 💿 SMITHEREENS, the 2022 studio album by 🎙 Joji. It is a beautiful record thanks to a sweet vocal performance, dedicated lyrics, and lush production work (🎛 Jacob Ray, Wes Singerman, and Tay Dex). Saddened by a relationship that no longer exists, Joji – or the character he represents within the song – struggles with moving on.  The verses perfectly capture his emotions, while the chorus finds him giving her his blessing (“I heard that you’re happy without me / And I hope it’s true”). Furthermore, he asserts he’d give his life for her. Wow! 

14. Darrell Luster, “I Believe He Died For Me”

💿 We Need a Revival • 🏷 Malaco, Inc. • 📅 2015

“I never saw it, but I believe for me He died.” Those words are incredibly powerful.  Furthermore, those powerful words highlight faith – believing in something that you can’t and didn’t visibly see.  So many inspirational and uplifting songs place emphasis on this blind faith, a concept that isn’t always easy for the most devout, pious believer, let alone someone who considers themselves to be more rational.  Nonetheless, the poetic, powerful lyrics of 🎵 “I Believe He Died for Me”, written by 🎼 ✍ Colbert Croft and Joyce Croft (originally recorded by 🎙 The Hoppers), cannot be written off (“I never saw the cross He carried up to Calvary’s hill, I never saw the precious blood that my Savior spilled”).

Among the best renditions of “I Believe He Died for Me” comes from 🎙 Charles Johnson & The Revivers.  On “I Believe He Died for Me,” 🎙 Darrell Luster sings the lead. Luster recorded the record on his 2015 album, 💿 We Need a Revival. He gives a performance that exhibits control, shows incredible expression, and ultimately makes the soul feel incredibly happy and lifted.  Of course, the music and text are thanks to the Crofts highlighting Jesus’ death and resurrection for the sins of the world.  The best moment is the chorus, which shines even more because it features the highest notes melodically.

“Ev’ry step He too to Calvary,

And ev’ry drop of blood He shed, He shed for me

There’s a lot of things that I cannot see, oh no,

But I believe when Jesus died, he died for me.”

15. Prince and the Revolution, “I Would Die 4 U”

💿 Purple Rain • 🏷 Warner • 🗓 1984

“You, I would die for you.” Oh, the dedication that 🎙 Prince exhibits on the 🎙 Prince and the Revolution gem, 🎵 “I Would Die 4 U”.  He continues in the chorus of this no. 8 hit from 💿 Purple Rain, “Darling, if you want me to / You, I would die for you.” Backed by an exuberant, busy, rhythmic instrumental, “I Would Die 4 U” exemplifies the 1980s aesthetic and stands tall as one of the Purple One’s very, very best numbers.

Yes, Prince is devoting himself to a significant other on “I Would Die 4 U” BUT the track goes deeper.  The verses and the bridge bring in a spiritual element.  “I’m not a woman / I’m not a man / I am something that you’ll never understand” references God, who requires faith to believe in.  Even if we do believe in him, and his ability to “forgive you by and by,” we don’t fully understand God as humans. At the same time, it is sort of hard not to listen to the line and be thinking androgyny, something Prince many rock stars mastered, particularly in the 1970s and 80s. There is a similar sentiment on the second verse, with spiritual references paralleling to Prince’s ability to hold his love down (“I’m your messiah, and you’re the reason why”).  All told, 🎵 “I Would Die 4 U” is nothing short of awesome 🙌.