- 6/25/2025
Broadway musicals have a remarkable way of capturing the everyday feelings we all experience. From heartbreak and ambition to anxiety and hope, these show tunes hit home with genuine emotion and humor. Join us as we explore songs that resonate deeply, reflecting moments we've all faced—whether it’s dreaming of a better life or struggling to find our place in the world.
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00:00It sucks to be you. You win. It sucks to be you. I feel better now.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo. And today, we're counting down our picks for the show tunes that make us feel seen.
00:10There's gotta be something better than this. There's gotta be something better to do.
00:18Number 10. Forget About the Boy. Thoroughly Modern Millie.
00:22Millie Dillmount is figuring out how to be a modern woman in a world of expanding opportunities.
00:26No canary in a cage for me. This canary's ready to fly free.
00:36The irony is that she's dealing with the same everyday detritus in her personal life that everyone can relate to.
00:43As Millie vows to forget the guy she's fallen for, her fellow stenographers do the same.
00:48And hallelujah. Now me and Mr. Long are true. I'll find myself another foe who I know is no wrong.
00:56But if you have to sing about them, you're definitely not over them.
01:02Forget About the Boy rings true to anyone who's ever spent heart-sick days trying to get over a breakup or even an unrequited crush.
01:09You just spend more time thinking about the person in the process.
01:12Forget About the Boy. Forget About the Boy.
01:18Number 9. She Used To Be Mine. Waitress.
01:27The stifling but comforting ordinariness of opening up feels familiar to anyone who's just going through the motions of life.
01:34But Waitress goes pretty deep on the danger of just getting through life instead of living it.
01:48She Used To Be Mine is the emotional climax of a story about an expectant mother who's given up on so many of her dreams that she barely knows who she is anymore.
01:57You don't have to go through what Jenna's gone through to relate to her heartstring-tugging ballad.
02:14In fact, you don't even really need context.
02:17There's something about the way she speaks of her past self that's terrifying, devastating, and shockingly recognizable to anyone who fears their best days might be behind them.
02:27To bring back the fire and light is beyond the used to be mine.
02:44Number 8. If I Were a Rich Man. Fiddler on the Roof.
02:48Well, the relatability's right there in the title.
02:50So what would have been so terrible if I had the small fortune?
02:58Who hasn't daydreamed of massive amounts of wealth?
03:01Bonus points if you've done it while you were supposed to be working.
03:04It wouldn't have to work hard.
03:06Yabby-dibby-dibby-dibby-dibby-dibby-dibby-dibby-dibby-dibby-dum.
03:10Tevye, the humble milkman of a Ukrainian shtetl, isn't asking for much.
03:14In fact, he doesn't even seem to be asking for all the money in the world.
03:24He just dances with unbridled glee at the thought of himself as the wealthiest, most important, most benevolent, most leisurely man in his community.
03:32It's the kind of fantasy that runs through your head when you buy a lottery ticket or just can't wait for the end of a soul-draining shift.
03:40Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if I were a wealthy man?
03:56Number 7. Corner of the Sky. Pippin.
04:01Themes of belonging and the search for meaning will never go out of style.
04:05At the start of this twisted fantasy musical featuring a troupe of ominous performers, we meet Prince Pippin.
04:11When eagles belong, they can fly.
04:16I've got to live for my spirit to run the ring.
04:21Disillusioned by royal life, he knows his purpose in life is outside the walls of the castle and his princely duties.
04:27He vows to find his corner of the sky.
04:30So many mad things deathly.
04:32There's never for something to fall.
04:35But I won't rest until I know I'll have it all.
04:40His yearning for freedom outside the unfulfilling life he knows isn't just reserved for medieval royalty.
04:45It's one that many, if not most, people share when the limits of everyday life become too boring, too demanding and too painful.
04:53Gotta find a corner of the sky.
05:05Number 6. Waving through a window.
05:08Dear Evan Hansen.
05:09Love it or hate it, this Tony-winning musical speaks to some sticky emotional territory.
05:14Whether its depiction of anxiety disorders or adolescent ennui gets you, Evan Hansen's introductory song hits at some deep-seated stuff.
05:22I've learned to slam on the brake, before I even turn the key, before I make the mistake, before I lead with the worst of me.
05:35His intense shyness, feelings of inadequacy, and social displacement feel ripped right out of the low self-esteem greatest hits playlist.
05:42It's not just about fitting in, though.
05:44It gets at the fear of being completely invisible to other people.
05:48On the outside, always looking in.
05:50Will I ever be more than I've always been?
05:54Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass.
05:57Waving through a window.
06:01Waving through a window is equal parts sad and charming, but it's also filled with moments of existential panic.
06:07If you can't relate even a little, take it as a sign that things are probably going pretty well for you.
06:12Is anybody waving?
06:15Waving!
06:17Waving!
06:18Woah!
06:19Woah!
06:21Woah!
06:23Number 5.
06:24I Can Do Better Than That.
06:26The Last Five Years.
06:27The opening number Still Hurting packs a punch, but we give an edge to this other song.
06:32What about what I wanted?
06:35It wasn't like that at all.
06:38A Carol and a cute baby sweater thinking I can do better than that.
06:44Many can relate to wanting to get away from their hometown and people who are settling for a life we don't want.
06:50Yeah, it's judgmental, but in the way it's easy to be when you're freshly an adult, and there's so much you want to do and see.
06:57When we get to my house, take a look at that town, take a look at how far I've gone.
07:03I will never go back, never look back anymore.
07:09As judgmental of other people's lives as it comes across, I Can Do Better Than That is more about the person singing it than it is about the people whose lives they don't envy.
07:17It's about how easy it becomes to attach dreams to new and exciting opportunities, whether it's a new job, a new home, or a new romance.
07:26We can do better than that.
07:35Number four.
07:36What do you do with a BA in English, It Sucks To Be Me?
07:39Avenue Q.
07:40Buckling under the disappointments of life?
07:42When I was little, I thought I would be a big comedian on late night TV.
07:51But now I'm 32, and as you can see, I'm not.
07:56Nope.
07:57The stuffed denizens of Avenue Q are right there with you.
08:00There are few things that signify the millennial experience more than realizing a bachelor's degree is not exactly the investment it was supposed to be.
08:08I can't pay the bills yet, cause I have no skills yet. The world is a big scary place.
08:19Luckily, this early 2000s musical captured that realization exactly. This isn't just about a useless English degree.
08:26There's all sorts of disappointments and crushing reality contained in its painfully funny lyrics.
08:31It sucks to be me.
08:33Me too.
08:34It sucks to be me.
08:35It sucks to be me.
08:36It sucks to be Brian.
08:37And Kate.
08:38To not on the job.
08:39To not on the feet.
08:40To not on the feet.
08:41There are layoffs, resentments, professional drudgery, and the fading feelings of hope about what your future would hold.
08:47And we can all relate to that feeling that, at the moment at least, our life just sucks.
08:52We live on Avenue Q.
08:55Our friends you too.
08:57Till our dreams of truth.
09:00We live on Avenue Q.
09:02Number 3.
09:039 to 5.
09:049 to 5.
09:059 to 5.
09:06Dolly Parton managed to create the ultimate anthem to how soul-crushing a job can be.
09:109 to 5 follows three employees who live out every worker's fantasy.
09:22They kidnap their boss and make sweeping changes to their workplace that make everyone's lives much easier.
09:27The title song is a toe-tapping ode to the raises we didn't get, the promotions we were passed up for,
09:42and the employers who seem to enjoy making our lives harder.
09:45This one might be cheating a little bit, considering the song and the original movie have been around for much longer than the stage musical.
09:52But it's a certified bop.
09:54It's a rich man's game.
09:56No matter what they call it.
09:58Then you spend your life putting money in your wallet.
10:039 to 5.
10:05Number 2.
10:08Maybe This Time.
10:09Cabaret.
10:10Although it didn't actually appear in the original Broadway production,
10:14this track is probably as well known as Cabaret's title song.
10:18Not a loser anymore.
10:23Like the last time and the time before.
10:29Maybe This Time hit so hard with audiences that it was integrated into the show's score after its appearance in the 1972 film.
10:36The song sees Sally Bowles summing up her losses in love and life,
10:40but still hoping that things can turn out differently.
10:43Everybody, oh, they love a winner.
10:48So nobody love me.
10:53Her optimism in this moment verges on delusional.
10:56But who hasn't had to fool themselves into seeing the bright side when things have fallen apart?
11:00There's a reason this one is covered so much.
11:03Everyone knows what it's like to feel like a loser at one point or another.
11:06Maybe this time I'll fall.
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11:42Number one, Being Alive, Company.
11:46Stephen Sondheim's concept musical about marriage follows 30-something bachelor Bobby hemming and hawing over settling down.
11:52His first act closer, Marry Me A Little, feels like a deeply relatable halfway point.
11:57Want me first and foremost. Keep me company. That's the way it ought to be. I'm ready.
12:10Yes, he wants to fall in love, but he also doesn't want to commit to anyone.
12:14Someone you have to let in. Someone whose feelings you spare. Someone who, like it or not, will want you to share.
12:27But it doesn't work that way.
12:29Bobby's long-buried hopes and dreams for a life partner come tumbling out of him in the show's climax, Being Alive.
12:35It's a statement of purpose. Ultimately, he wants what most of us want in a relationship. The good stuff and the irritating stuff.
12:55What Broadway song makes you feel seen? Give us some recommendations in the comments.
12:59All my life, I've always been poor. I keep asking God what I'm for. And he tells me, gee, I'm not sure. Sweep that floor, kid.
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