The Playlist That's Been Living in My Head Rent-Free
I keep a running note on my phone titled "songs that made me ugly-cry at convention." It's longer than it should be. Every lyrical dancer has one — that mental catalog of tracks that hit somewhere between your ribs and your spine, the ones that make you stop mid-combination because the music just got you.
Here's what's been on rotation for me lately, and honestly, what I keep hearing in studios and on competition floors heading into 2025.
When You Need to Fall Apart Beautifully
"The Night We Met" by Lord Huron still gets me every single time. That opening guitar line is a gut punch. I've seen dancers use it for pieces about grief, about lost friendships, about the version of yourself you can't get back to. The tempo is slow enough to really milk every extension, but there's enough rhythm in the percussion to give your movement somewhere to land. If you haven't choreographed to this yet, what are you waiting for?
"Jealous" by Labrinth is another one that just aches. The vocal runs give you so much to play with dynamically — you can ride the quieter verses with floorwork and then explode when that chorus swells. I watched a senior solo to this at NUVO two years ago and the entire audience went dead silent. That's the power of picking the right song.
"Skinny Love" by Bon Iver — the Birdy cover works too, depending on the tone you want. The original has this raw, cracking quality to Justin Vernon's voice that makes you want to dance like nobody's watching. The Birdy version is cleaner, more polished. Both are devastating in their own way.
For the Pieces That Build and Build
"Experience" by Ludovico Einaudi is basically a rite of passage for lyrical dancers at this point, and there's a reason for that. The piano builds so gradually that you can structure an entire piece around escalation — starting with barely-there gestures and ending with full-out leaps across the stage. Is it overused? Maybe. Does it still work every single time? Absolutely.
"Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone came out of nowhere and immediately started showing up in every lyrical class I took last year. The way his voice cracks on "please stay" is choreography waiting to happen. It's got that modern pop structure but with enough emotional weight to support serious storytelling.
"Turning Page" by Sleeping at Last is my secret weapon for wedding-inspired choreography, but it works for anything about surrender — giving in to love, to change, to a new chapter. The strings in the second half are gorgeous for sweeping port de bras and traveling sequences.
When You Want Something a Little Darker
"Birds of a Feather" by Billie Eilish surprised me as a lyrical choice. It's not the obvious pick from her catalog, but that dreamy production and the way she sings "I want to be yours" with this quiet desperation — there's something really haunting there. Works especially well for duets about codependency or obsessive love.
"Unsteady" by X Ambassadors tackles family dynamics in a way that hits hard if you've ever been through it. The chorus is big enough for group pieces, and I've seen incredible choreography where three or four dancers represent different members of a fractured family. The emotional specificity of the lyrics does half the work for you.
"Youth" by Daughter has been around for a while now, but I keep coming back to it. Elena Tonra's voice sounds like someone whispering a secret they're afraid to say out loud. It's perfect for introspective solos — the kind where the dancer barely leaves a five-foot radius but takes the audience on an entire journey.
The Ones That Make You Rise
"Rise Up" by Andra Day is an obvious choice and I don't care. Sometimes the obvious choice is obvious because it works. I dare you to listen to that chorus and not imagine a dancer pulling themselves up from the floor. It's empowerment distilled into four minutes of music.
"Lose Control" by Teddy Swims is the 2025 wildcard I didn't see coming. His voice has this incredible soulful grit that translates beautifully to lyrical movement. The song builds from intimate to explosive, and that arc is exactly what judges want to see in a competition piece.
"Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell — specifically the 2022 re-recording where her older, weathered voice sings the same lyrics she wrote at 23. That contrast is shattering. A mature dancer performing to this version, reflecting on decades of experience in their movement? I've seen it once and I still think about it.
One Last Thing
The song doesn't do the work for you. I've watched dancers pick incredible music and deliver mediocre performances because they thought the track would carry the emotion. It doesn't work that way. You have to live inside the music, find the moments that mirror something real in your own body, and build from there.
Pick a song that makes you feel something when you're just sitting in your car. If it doesn't move you while you're standing still, it won't move an audience when you're dancing.
Now go rehearse.
