In today’s culture, there is a lot being said about the importance of your habits. The habits you have will directly influence your quality of life. They are the small things that you do every single day and they add up to create your behaviour patterns. In the modern hustle culture, habits are focused on even more as a means to optimize your health and increase your overall performance.
Building new habits are by no means an easy task. It takes a lot of willpower and consistency. One thing that will help you is music, specifically music that encourages building habits.
Below are my picks for the 10 best songs about habits!
1. New Person, Same Old Mistakes – Tame Impala
Album: Currents
Released: 2015
In my opinion, the best song ever with regards to habits, is “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” by Tame Impala. The track is about how we can feel like we have changed, but there remain unconscious behaviours and habits that are deeply rooted.
The song has a powerful impact that can not be avoided. As soon as you hear it, something begins to stir inside. It has an impactful drop that gives you the feeling of jumping into action to create change in your life.
The track was produced by the Australian singer, songwriter and producer, Kevin Parker. On YouTube the video has more than 37 million views, making it one of the band’s 6 most popular songs.
2. The Chain – Fleetwood Mac
Album: Rumours
Released: 1977
Fleetwood Mac is one of the most legendary rock bands from the late 1960s. They have given us some of the best music of all time with hits like “Gypsy” and Landslide”. They also give us our number two best song about habits with “The Chain”.
“The Chain” is about a relationship that fell apart due to the chain being broken. The chain is referring so a continual streak or repetition of behaviour. With habits, it is all about creating this repetitive behaviour so that it eventually becomes an automatic action.
3. Breaking the Habit – Linkin Park
Album: Meteora
Released: 2003
Next, we have this intense and epic track by Linkin Park. “Breaking the Habit” is one of the legendary rock band’s top 10 most popular songs. On YouTube, it has over 300 million views.
As the song title suggests, the track is all about breaking habits. In particular, it is about breaking negative patterns. Often we do not understand why we behave in certain ways, most likely it is due to experiences from our childhood. When we can identify the habits that no longer serve us, we can make an effort to break them and create more healthy ones.
4. Default – Django Django
Album: Django Django
Released: 2012
Django Django is perhaps not as widely popular as my top three picks, but they are no less talented. The group was formed in 2009 in London and they produce modern art rock music.
“Default” paints a picture where humans or not as free as they would like to think. Instead, they are just going with things in a default mode. This is exactly what our habits do when we are not aware of them.
5. Ghosts – Ibeyi
Album: Ibeyi
Released: 2015
“Ghosts” is all about letting go of the past and creating a new life with new habits and a new perspective. The artist says that she is trying to let go of her ghosts, but they are not disappearing. This tells a very true story of how we try to change ourselves, but how our conditioning and old habits can hold on tightly.
6. Change – NF
Album: The Search
Released: 2019
In the first hip-hop track on this list, NF takes us pretty deep into the darker parts of our hearts. There is a desperation in his words as the talks about needing change. It is one thing to know that we need to change, it is completely another thing to create that change. It all starts with building new habits and replacing old ones.
7. Ready to Start – Arcade Fire
Album: The Suburbs
Released: 2010
“Ready to Start” by Arcade Fire refers to making a fresh start. It talks about how difficult it is to do this, but at the same time how valuable and worthy it is. Anyone who has tried to recreate their habits will understand exactly what they are talking about.
8. Circuital – My Morning Jacket
Album: Circuital
Released: 2011
My Morning Jacket is an American rock band from Kentucky. They give us “Circuital” from their album by the same name. This catchy rock track speaks about how we tend to keep things the way they are without ever putting in the effort to change things. The number one thing that we can change, is our own habits.
9. Woke Up New – The Mountain Goats
Album: Get Lonely
Released: 2006
“Woke Up New” is a very offbeat song by the alternative band The Mountain Goats. The track is a bit sad as it talks about someone waking up and making too much coffee because they are used to having their partner there, but they are no longer there. In this way, our habits can tell the story of our past.
10. Apartment Story – The National
Album: Boxer
Released: 2007
In “Apartment Story” The National show us how easily can numb ourselves and how quickly we accept that state as our normal way of being. This should serve as a lesson and an inspiration to take action that will improve our lives by becoming more awake and choosing better habits.
Alex is a man of many talents. He’s been playing music since he was young, and has been the main content writer at Tone Start for the past few years. Alex loves to play around with different styles of music and enjoys listening to anything from country to classical.