As much as I enjoy slitting my wrists, slicking layer upon layer of eyeliner, crying, and emo-ing out to Hawthorne Heights’ Ohio Is For Lovers* when life gets shitty and oh-so-unbearable (like when my bangs aren’t as floppy as they were yesterday, causing only a fourth of my face to be covered or when I run out of things to be angry or sad about), sometimes, happy music is just what I need to get through these trying times. Truly, listening to songs about sunshine and rainbows and Hello Kitty and Miley Cyrus is the best way to cope when one is stricken with the *~emo feeling~*. These songs are called ~feel-good songs~ because they inspire us to be happy and not sad and not emo and generally make us want to be better people, better children, better lovers, better students, and better citizens.

CHACARRON MACARRON BY EL MUDO: NOT A FEEL-GOOD SONG.

Now because I am a simple people with a brain capable only of the simplest thoughts and simplest blog entries, I have here a list made up of my five ~feel-good songs~ that inspire me to be happy and not sad and not emo and generally make me want to be a better people, a better children, a better lovers, a better students, and a better citizens.

1. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield

I’ve always regarded Natasha Bedingfield as “that Bedingfield girl? That gay dude’s sister? The one who sang that really gay song? Yeah, him. She’s the sister.” You could say I’m about four years late “loving” this song, and it’s all thanks to The Hills. It’s quite silly, actually, how my heart swells and soars everytime this song comes on. It’s also possible that this sort of reaction is actually brought upon by my love for The Hills and LA (loverrrr) and not the song itself.

Well, not really.

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

2. In This Diary - The Ataris

Some three years ago, Sam called this the defining song of our generation. I felt bad not having the slightest clue who The Ataris were so I immediately downloaded the song and it has since been of my favoritest tracks of all time. It’s just so…defining of our generation! It brings to mind road trips and meadows and chasing after dragonflies and collapsing on the greenest grass and asking the dude next to you to hand you an ice cold beer while you doodle hearts on your Chucks as someone strums a guitar in the not-so-far distance. While you eat KFC chicken.

Not that I’ve ever done that. Except for the KFC part.

Here in this diary,
I write you visions of my summer.
It was the best I ever had.
There were choruses and sing-alongs,
and that unspoken feeling
of knowing that right now is all that matters.

3. Strict Machine - Goldfrapp

When my life is turned into a movie, this will be playing during the opening credits.

Now someone make a movie out of my life, please.

Wonderful electric
Wonderful electric
Wonderful electric
Cover me in you

4. London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do) - Heather Nova

This is a song I’ve loved since high school (along with the whole Dawson’s Creek vol I OST) and I always dreamed of having someone who’d make me feel like this song. But really, it takes me back to when I was a sad and ~deep~ teen with a superiority complex who thought herself above her peers simply because she listened to ~the good stuff~ as opposed to the cheesy prom music that they all went gaga for (Michael Johnson’s I’ll Always Love You is an example of cheesy prom music).

No, not really. But something like that.

I’m coming home to you
I’m alive I’m a mess
I can’t wait to get home to you
To get warm and undressed
…
So keep me in your bed all day
Nothing heals me like you do

5. Ever After - Bonnie Bailey

Oh, shut up. You know you loved and played the heck out of this song three years ago (if you’re Filipino). It was and will always be one of my favorites, even though every Friendster Beauty (you know…those people who are only pretty on their Friendster profiles because they brighten the crap out of their pictures to hide all their ugly) out there probably knows the lyrics by heart and have once called themselves a “real, messy, beautiful, twisted sunshine”.

AN EXAMPLE OF A FRIENDSTER BEAUTY…EXCEPT SHE’S STILL UGLY.
THEREFORE, WE CALL THIS: FRIENDSTER FOTOSHOP FAIL.

Nothing compares to the good times
Feels like we’re floating, when the rest have to climb
You made me believe in love, and not the perfect kind
A real messy beautiful twisted sunshine

I hope these songs bring joy and laughter to your life the way they have brought joy and laughter to mine.

Other ~feel-good songs~ I am not ashamed to admit I love: Wake Up - Hilary Duff, L.O.V.E. - Ashlee Simpson, Stars Are Blind - Paris Hilton, Stickwitu - The Pussycat Dolls, and I Want You - Savage Garden.

“Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst” with generators.

*Yes, I totally googled “most emo songs”. I’ve never really heard of that song until a few minutes ago