Sass is the Solution to the Holiday Blues this Season

Holidays are not for everybody. Not everybody has somebody (or likes to be around their family or other people in love this time of year). So for those of you not feeling the love this season Rockin Rox Promo has a few rockin tracks that will make you forget all about that. These songs will empower you, make you feel it’s okay to be alone this holiday season instead of with the wrong people bringing you down or pining over them or wishing they were with you. Lets begin before you focus too much on the reasons you need this exact playlist shall we?

First up is the ever so sarcastic Jillian Jacqueline with a favorite Holier Than Thou. Especially around the holidays there is no need for these type of people in your life, the kind that think they are in such a better place than you in all regards and you should be lucky enough to breath the same air as them. We all know the kind, and if you don’t than I am sorry to say you are that kind. The chorus says it all:

You're holier than thou That crown fits you so good, you never should take it off Hey you, how'd you get better than the whole damn room? You're so high and mighty, mighty I'm blessed to be next to you I'd say you're just like me, like me But you're holier than thou

Holier Than Thou is off of Jillian’s Side A EP. Both her Side A and Side B can be ordered on Vinyl. Next year you can catch Jillian on the road with Devin Dawson on the Straying off Course Tour. January 31st at Bowery Ballroom in NYC, for tickets → https://www.jillianjacqueline.com/

Who you don’t have to wait to see until next year is Kate Voegele. Actually you can catch her this week at Rockwood Music Hall Dec 21st for her annual Holiday Show. Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean Kate leaves the attitude behind. Her latest single Shoot this Arrow is a warning to an individual who has done somebody very wrong. Forgiveness isn’t the name of the game in this song, its revenge. “I hope you’re shaking in your boots wondering when I’m gonna shoot this arrow. ‘Cuz after all you put me through Gotta set the record straight and narrow. I got you where I want you I’m coming back to haunt you.” She is sure to perform this song this Friday at Rockwood!

If you are in a loving committed relationship this playlist isn’t for you. Yes, the songs are still worth listening to, but we are focusing on the songs that will resonate with those scorned. You know the culprits that deserve coal under the tree on Christmas. Halsey had a few words for her ex G Easy in her newest single Without Me. Not necessarily as vengeful as Voegele’s message, but a definite notion of you are all that you are because of me and now how does it feel without me “Tell me how’s it feel sittin’ up there feeling so high but too far away to hold me you know I’m the one who put you up there. Does it ever get lonely? Thinking you could live without me.” There’s no room for these toxic and draining relationships this season, but there is definitely a need to hear this song and feel better knowing they aren’t better off without you.

Kelly Clarkson sings with all the Texas sass on her song Medicine off the album The Meaning of Life, a tune penned to the same sentiment as Halsey’s Without Me, that a man’s love is not like a medicine anymore or better yet never was; ‘I ain’t even thinkin’ ‘bout you/ you can’t get me high never got me lit never bring me up always drag me down I’m through with it You ain’t my medicine.’ Definitely an icon who knows her way around single empowerment songs even since her Since You Been Gone days you are not going to want to miss the Meaning of Life Tour next spring.

You will be lucky enough to see live, if you grab your ticket to Kelly’s Meaning of Life Tour, the sass cutie herself Kelsea Ballerini. Her latest single Miss Me More is just the icing on the cake when it comes to the sass we can expect from KB’s next project. Miss Me More focuses on what happens when you change for somebody else and lose sight of who you are. Post breakup and getting back to doing the things that originally made you who you are is where Miss Me More comes into play. ‘I thought I’d miss you (when it ended) I thought it hurt me (but it didn’t) I thought I’d miss you but I miss me more. Take a lesson from this song never forget you have dreams, forget you have wings, don’t forget the girl you were before you kissed him. It is the time of year to remember and hold on to who you are. For inspiration watch the live performance of Miss Me More performed during Keith Urban’s Graffiti U Tour.

Sometimes we give people more control over our emotions and personality then we realize. Sometimes we are completely blind to it the entire time you are in it. Just like Miss Me More ‘I retired my red lipstick ‘cause you said you didn’t like it or I didn’t wear my high heel shoes ‘cause I couldn’t be taller than you’. Well this holiday season to hell with that; buy yourself the reddest lipstick and the tallest heels! Up and coming songwriter and singer Lacey Cavalier released a new single Get Away With It that also reflects on a relationship with the only person that could make her act a certain way and along the way her true self was unwavering. In her instagram post about the song she explains “Now looking back it felt sneaky, like he got away w making me fall in love w him, making me who he wanted me to be, then leaving like nothing had ever happened.” I think this is a common trap to get sucked into. The song not overtly sassy, but definitely is a moment of self actualization saying that somebody’s love was actually an illusion ‘you get away with making me fawn, making me trip again and again, everyday you get away with it’ and now one can move on and reclaim who they are without that person that alters their being. Leave those blues in the past, unwrap yourself again this holiday season, and give the gift of you back to yourself. Difficult and vulnerable yes, but empowering to own yourself. The lyrics alone resonate with me personally, but if you need more check out the fantastic music video for the song (shout out to NYC shooting location!)

Jumping to future songs with this same sassy, but also owning who you are theme Kelsea teased a clip of a song most likely for the next album. I was super excited about this line that was leaked in one of her Instagram stories on Dec 12th ‘ I see why you assume you can get me back you must be confusing me with the girl that I used to be’. BAM! Now that is how you let someone know its over and you are totally okay with it. Nothing to be sad about here when you can come back with confidence and sass like KB delivers.

‘Whoever said the grass is always greener on the other side never left someone like you’. Might not be the line exactly because I only heard the song live once, but this sentiment is the gist of an Abby Anderson original for her upcoming full length album, a follow up to her EP I’m Good (which was also filled with sassy classics). Based on what I snuck a peak at on her setlist from Mercury Lounge back in October the new track is called Greener. The title track of the EP I’m Good is a great song about being so over a situation even when the guy wants to hang around you literally can say nah, I’m good and really mean it. “No more racking my brain wondering what I did wrong no more hoping you’ll call/ No more Friday night lipstick wasted spending my dimes and my kisses on you, babe/ if you’re thinking that I’m on the fence thinking I want you back, nah Baby, I’m good.’ Catch the front row video of the song at Mercury Lounge in NYC courtesy of Rockin Rox Promo.

Another EP that has all the sass and attitude of a girl who isn’t about to go backwards just to be with somebody is singer and actress Lennon Stella from the hit TV show Nashville. Her EP titled Love Me is only five songs, but each song is a cathartic pop ode to old relationships that need to stay in the past. The third track Feelings questions a guy trying to share his feelings, but a little too late: ‘Didn’t someone teach you when you leave what you have, you can’t take it back? Oh no, it doesn’t work like that/ I don’t wanna talk about your feelings.’ A great way to say are you serious, this is not how this works and you missed your chance.

My favorite one that actually really grew on me is the fourth track La Di Da warning someone to not even try to waste your time ‘Your empty words made for hurting me so just before you take it too far, I’ll hold my ears say “la da da di da”. Similar to that idea of not letting someone’s empty words affecting you the final track Fortress paints the picture of building a fortress to keep needed distance from someone ‘You don’t get in my brain you don’t fill up the spaces/ I’m not letting you in Now that I’ve built a fortress When you call, I ignore it I built a fortress”. You can catch Lennon perform all these sassy songs and more on her Love Me Tour at Irving Plaza on March 26th.

A lot of the ability to be sassy when it comes to heartbreaks only comes afterwards with an outside looking in reflection, which is a perspective all of these songs offer. Another song that fits this category is off of Alessia Cara’s newest album The Pains of Growing. Trust My Lonely is about acknowledging a relationship was bad for you in the moment, but now the loneliness is the best thing for you because you can clearly see you’re better off as an individual. My favorite verse is “Go get your praise from someone else You did a number on my health. My world is brighter by itself And I can do better, do better alone” into the chorus ‘Don’t you know that you’re bad for me? I gotta trust my lonely.’ I believe this is such a great message because there are so many people out there that are afraid to be alone, they rather stay in a relationship or entertain somebody than be alone on a holiday or ever for that matter.

That fear of being alone and not having love leads me into my last piece of advice. Learn to be okay, happy even, with being alone. Learn to have the best relationship with yourself first and foremost. Which also leaves me with one of the biggest hits of the year that has this same meaning- Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next. Everybody knows that Ariana has been publically looking for love in many relationships (if you don’t you must be living under a rock). Her ex Mac Miller died and she broke off her engagement to Pete Davidson. Ariana took the high road with her single Thank U, Next she really just wanted to give gratitude to each of the relationships that made her who she is today. My favorite verse is ‘one taught me love one taught me patience and one taught me pain/ I’ve loved and I’ve lost but that’s not what I see look what I got look what you taught me.’ Where the empowering attitude comes into play is in my other favorite line ‘Plus, I met someone else We havin better discussions I know they say I move on too fast but this one gonna last cause her name is Ari And I’m so good with that’. Ariana isn’t moving onto a new man (or a new girl name Aubrey as some people including myself thought the lyric said) she is learning to love herself. Ariana has tweeted that this song is about acceptance, accepting the past, being grateful for it, but loving yourself and being okay with being alone because once you truly are okay with that the best is yet to come.

So there you have it a list of sassy songs that give you solutions, reflection, and perspective rather than let you fixate on the problems and hurt of the past. My holiday wish for all my readers is the gift of music. Whether these songs related to you this season or not there are countless more out there that will resonate to whatever you have going on. Let music heal this holiday season, and if nothing else let it empower you to jam out like nobody's watching. Happy Holidays!