How to Soundtrack Your New Year’s Eve Right

Everyone wants to feel like their life is a movie—from twenty-somethings repeatedly insisting their weekend “is gonna be a movie,” to every active TikTok user developing a chronic case of “main character syndrome,” to the age-old experience of staring out of a rainy bus window all melancholy, pretending there’s a camera artfully shifting focus from your face to the details of the raindrops while the song in your earbuds becomes the scene’s diegetic soundtrack. For many, this phenomenon comes to a head on New Year’s: it’s at once the #1 party night of the year (if any night was “gonna be a movie,” it ought to be this one) and the #1 catalyst for becoming incapacitated with existential dread about the passage of time (perfect for those main character-defining moments where you think your struggles are unique and no one suffers as much as you do). But what is a movie without its score?

Don’t you worry. We here at Paste have decided to generously option some tracks for your own personal New Year’s Eve pseudo-cinematic experience. Who doesn’t love an on-the-nose needle drop (see: Arcane’s soundtrack)? Each entry will be explicitly New Year’s Eve related. (This does mean, however, that this piece will not include New Year’s Day songs, as doing both in one list would make this list inordinately long. So, if you’re wondering why your favorite New Year’s song isn’t on here, it might be a post-midnight-on-January-1st track, and thus would be best served by a different list. Apologies in advance to U2, Death Cab for Cutie, Taylor Swift and Motion City Soundtrack fans). To ensure maximum precision, each song chosen will include the holiday in their title.

We’re so magnanimous, in fact, that we won’t even make you sift through the truly baffling number of New Year’s Eve-titled songs to find the ones that fit your own lived experience. We’ll separate the wheat from the chaff for you. Simply scroll down in search of a specific time, circumstance, and/or emotion that might be experienced on New Year’s, and boom—your perfect needle drop will be right there. Hell, we’ll even offer multiple options for each moment to make sure the emotional heft of your experience is accurately captured. It’ll be like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, except the adventure is your life and we’re just making a flowchart of songs to accompany it. So you know what? Tonight will be a movie, and you will be its main character. You’re welcome. Happy New Year’s Eve, folks.

It’s Mid-Afternoon, and You’re Trying to Make New Year’s Eve Plans…

A. With Your Crush: “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” by Ella Fitzgerald
My first recommendation would, of course, be the Ella Fitzgerald classic—as it’s a classic for a reason and has since been covered by every artist ever and remains obviously relevant, from the title itself to the lyrics (“Maybe it’s much too early in the game / Ah, but I thought I’d ask you just the same / What are you doing New Year’s, New Year’s Eve?”). Do note that it is addressed to a romantic interest of the speaker’s (see, for instance, “When… the couples we know are fondly kissing / Will I be with you or will I be among the missing?”), so maybe don’t use this song if you’re just trying to make plans with your parents or something.

B. With Your Spouse, Whom You Have Children With: “New Year’s Eve 1999” by Alabama
Alabama’s 1996 song about New Year’s 1999 is more or less a variant on the same theme as Fitzgerald’s (“Now I know it sounds a bit premature / But I’m askin’ you now ‘cause I want to be sure / Do you have anything else in mind / New Year’s Eve, 1999?”). This one is also about a romantic interest (see: “I’ll be your sweetheart if you’ll be mine,” etc), so even that warning still applies. The only real difference—aside from the fact that this one, obviously, is about 1999—is that Fitzgerald’s seems to be about someone who is not yet her partner, while the Alabama track imagines going out on the town on New Year’s, then “go[ing] home to our warm winter bed / And tuck[ing] in the kids with a kiss on the head.” So, if you value accuracy very highly and have a spouse and children, this song might win out.

It’s Early Evening, You’re Driving Home, and…

A. Snow is Falling, You’re Thinking About Your Loved Ones, and You’re Feeling Ambiguously Triumphant: “In the New Year” by The Walkmen
This beloved 2008 track from the Walkmen starts out sounding a little melancholic, but soon flourishes into a bright organ line that can best be described as “bashy,” to quote frontman Hamilton Leithauser himself. If this song applies to your circumstances and you’re looking for that perfectly aligned needle-drop, head to around 3:40; you’ll hear Leithauser sing-screaming “Snow is still falling / I’m almost home / I’ll see you in the new year.”

B. Oh No! Your Car Broke Down and You Can’t Do Anything About It So You’re Just Stuck On the Side of the Road. This Sucks: “New Year’s with Carl Weathers” by The Wonder Years
Yes, there is a New Year’s Eve song about this highly specific situation! It’s especially relevant for anyone who happens to be driving with their bandmates on New Year’s only for the touring van to break down, but should still resonate even if you’re just a normal schmuck in a normal (broken down) car. This pop-punk track—sidebar: for some reason there are a lot of pop-punk songs about New Year’s, like a lot—chronicles a real experience the band had one New Year’s, when “the van just started shaking, coughing out black smoke” and they had to pull “off in a parking lot, cause this might just explode.” So if you’re waylaid on the road “two miles from the hotel, eight hundred from home,” and it’s “New Year’s Eve and four degrees” and you’re feeling “stranded, hopeless,” like you “just want some sleep,” this is the song for you.

It’s Mid-Evening, You’re Brooding at Home…

A. (And Also You’re a Young Girl:) “New Year” by Beach House
Brood in style with this Beach House track, full of the band’s signature, hypnotizingly gauzy style. Victoria Legrand’s vocals are mesmerizing, as she sings “All you ever wanted / Is it getting away?” Worth noting, though, that the song’s refrain centers around a line about “a portrait of a young girl waiting / for the new year,” so if you’re not young and/or a girl and that inaccuracy would bother you, this song might not be your best bet.

B. (Possibly About an Unrequited Crush) and You Really Do Not Want to Go to a New Year’s Party: “new years eve” by American Pleasure Club and Teen Suicide
Pretty straightforward: “I can’t sleep anymore / My knees are weak / I get weak when you call me / Don’t wanna go to a party.” If you’re an insomniac with poor knees, an unrequited crush, and absolutely no desire to party it up on New Year’s Eve, play this track on repeat.

C. (Definitely) About an Ex While Drinking Wine and Sitting at a Fire: “Happy New Year” by Judy Garland and/or Nat King Cole
This classic song—which has been covered many times, but most notably by Garland and Cole—is one of the ultimate “alone and miserable on New Year’s Eve” songs, and possibly the ultimate “alone and miserable about your love life on New Year’s Eve” song. Written by Gordon Jenkins, this track covers all the bases: “The snow makes teardrops on my window / The wind blows memories through my hall / And I am all alone on New Year’s Eve / The time I need you most of all / … / At midnight they will all be singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ / But the sad ones sit alone before the fire and sip a glass of lonely wine.” If you are one of the aforementioned sad ones, at least know you are alone only in the physical sense; emotionally, you’re in great company (Judy Garland and Nat King Cole?!).

D. And You Drunkenly Call Your Ex About It: “Happy New Year” by Future Teens
Look, the song doesn’t say who the speaker calls, but for maximum drama purposes, I’m saying it’s your ex who you maybe just moved away from, or something (although, I suppose the song could be to a long-distance partner too, but that’s less fun): “Come on over, want you to see my room / I’ll have it this whole weekend, about as long as I’ll have you.” This is a great song about being miserable and staying the same shitty person you’ve always been for yet another year (“Happy new year, you get the same old me / I don’t have the resolution to change a thing”), and includes some genuinely heartbreaking lines like “My dog won’t live through this winter / No one’s ever stayed that long.” It’s the perfect fit for getting sad!drunk and calling your ex “to tell you that I am not OK / I’m not OK / I’m not OK.”

E. But You’re Trying to Convince Yourself To Have a Good New Year’s Anyway: “It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve” by Barry Manilow
Dreading the night ahead? Let Manilow’s smooth tenor ease you out of apprehension and into anticipation, or at the very least, acceptance. “Don’t look so sad,” he croons. “It’s not so bad, you know / It’s just another night.” If you have plans but aren’t sure if you feel up to going through with them, pop this song on the stereo and heed Barry Manilow’s ballad: “Tonight’s another chance to start again / It’s just another New Year’s Eve / Another night like all the rest / It’s just another New Year’s Eve / Let’s make it the best.”

It’s Officially Party Time, and Hooray, You Made it to a New Year’s Eve Party! You Are…

A. Having a Grand Ole Time! Hell Yeah!: “Bringing in a Brand New Year” by B.B. King
Blues icon B.B. King is having a blast on New Year’s, and so are you! This is the perfect track to showcase how much fun you’re having in the early stages of New Year’s Eve—it takes place before midnight (it talks about “the stroke of midnight” in the future tense: “We’re gonna have a ball”) but is still set earlier that night (as evidenced by the speaker’s request for someone to meet them “here”—if they were asking about a future event, they’d have said “there”). You’ve “got [your] resolution made” and feel so good that you could “ride above the stars,” chasing all your “blues away.” The party is all bangers, all the time, so much so that you’re trying to get your friends and partners to come on out and enjoy it with you: “So listen dear, won’t you meet me here?” Congratulations, seriously—so far, you’re winning the New Year’s lottery.

B. A Little Melancholy, but Determined to Have a Good Time and Forget Your Troubles: “New Year’s Eve” by MØ
Look, you’re a little distracted by the existential quandaries that come with the New Year’s territory, but you are trying your damnedest to forget them all and live it up anyways—fake it til you make it, baby! Danish electro-pop star MØ is right there with you. “New Year’s Eve” starts off relatively quiet and pared down, with the singer warbling lines like “Why do some things stay the same, when some don’t? / We say we’ll stay around, oh, we know we won’t.” But it then builds into a more electronically-oriented track that, while not quite a Kesha party anthem, feels perfect for one of those slightly melancholy slow-motion clubbing shots that A24 films seem to love (for the best needle-drop moment, I’d recommend around 2:33-3:10, which sounds made for accompanying a Euphoria-esque, emotional slow-mo party montage). “We’re allowed tonight to pretend we are free,” MØ bites out, high-pitched and clear. “Promise me, on New Years’ Eve / We forget about our problems / We got time to share all of those things in the New Year.” So get with the program already—have some fun and shove all possible issues behind a locked door labeled “To Deal With In 2025.” Grab your pals and say “Oh friend, come get high with me / Hand in hand, it’s New Years’ Eve,” because if there’s any time to live in the moment, it’s now.

C. Actually the Host of the Party, But You’re Feeling a Little Uncomfortable With How Many People From Your High School are Here Because It Forces You to Reckon With How Little Has Actually Changed, Yourself Included: “New Year” by Mk.gee
Let’s be honest, this party blows. And it’s your party, too, which is extra rough, because that means you can’t even leave. I mean, it’s not a bad party, per se, but you’re too caught up in your own head to enjoy any of it. The song begins with sparse instrumentation, dominated by the plucking of strings and the hushed, fuzzy falsetto of Michael Todd Gordon himself. “Many heads in your living room / All from high school who never moved,” Gordon sings, before the song bursts into angelic, gauzy harmonies, the soundscape growing more expansive by the second. “And there you are / Same as last year / It’s so bizarre.” But then it all quiets down into a whisper once again, Gordon breathing out the lines: “You came back the same / Not everybody wants to change / See, your mind is stuck in champagne / You may never cross your lane.” The song just perfectly captures the haziness of the early aughts of a New Year’s party, when you’ve drank enough to feel a bit woozy but not enough to actually throw yourself into the vibe, and you feel yourself just going through the motions, trying (and failing) not to think about how despite time’s passage everything seems to stay the same, nothing growing or improving. Fun times!

D. Hating the Party, Having a Bit of an Existential Crisis, and Desperately Hoping Things Will Get Better: “New Years Eve” by Five Iron Frenzy
Let’s be honest, this party also blows. The band is too loud, the crowd is full of strangers, and you’re “wishing [you were] never here”—but it’s New Year’s, so “[you] persevere.” You’re still clutching to the hope that “this New Year’s Eve will turn out better than before,” still “holding on, still holding out, until they close the door on [you].” That doesn’t mean you aren’t getting a little maudlin about the whole thing, though. As vocalist Reese Roper sings, “A second passes by, yet nothing changes. / I hate my skin, this grave I’m standing in. / Another change of years, and I wish I wasn’t here.” (Although if you’re looking for a maudlin-sounding track, this might not be your best bet; it sounds a little bit like if Fall Out Boy decided to go full ska-punk, so if that’s not your thing then consider yourself warned. You know that the shift must come from within yourself, but that’s easier said than done; so here you are, holding out for a better, brighter year ahead, despite all the evidence otherwise: “This New Year’s Eve, something must change me inside / I’m crooked and misguided, and tired of being tired / This New Year’s Eve, I’m waiting for tomorrow.”

It’s 11:59! The ball is dropping! The countdown is beginning! In this all-important moment, you are…

A. Looking at Your Partner With Hearts in Your Eyes: “Let’s Start the New Year Right” by Bing Crosby
Originally sung by Crosby in the 1942 holiday classic Holiday Inn (which birthed the song “White Christmas,” as well!), “Let’s Start the New Year Right” is, unsurprisingly, a straightforwardly sweet crooner. “One minute to midnight / One minute to go,” Crosby sings. “Let’s start the new year right / … / Let’s begin / Kissing the old year out / Kissing the new year in.” After all, “How can our love go wrong if / We start the new year right?” And, hey, you know the best way to start your new year right? Following the suggestions on this list. Again, you’re welcome!

B. Looking at Your Partner With Hearts (and R-Rated Fantasies) in Your Eyes: “New Year’s Eve” by Snoop Dogg (ft. Marty James)
I deeply appreciate Mr. Dogg for stating the precise time this song takes place, as that made it very easy to categorize. The first verse begins “11:59, and not a second later,” so if it’s 11:59 PM and you’re listening to this track, you already know you’re in the right ballpark. This song is a bit like the Crosby song, but only if Bing Crosby was really horny about the whole thing and failed to keep it out of the song entirely. It’s pretty much all about how hot Snoop Dogg’s date is, and most of it is actually pretty sweet (“My special lady / You’re one of a kind / And every time I see you shine / It’s like the lights of midnights”) but then Snoop Dogg drops these bars in the middle of a verse about a party dancefloor: “I whisper something bond to you / All up in your ear / I infiltrate your mind / And then I penetrate her,” which, like, woah, 0 to 60 real fast with that one. So, if you’re looking at your girlfriend and trying to keep your thoughts mostly PG-13 (“I must say, girl / You’re looking right / Your hair did, nails did, dress / Fitting tight”) before, boom, sudden graphic penetration fantasy, then here you go.

C. So Drunk, Going So Hard, Having So Much Fun, and Thinking “Man, My Friend’s Mom Looks So Hot”: “Another New Year” by Tim Gerard
Although the folky twang of this country-pop entry makes it a near sonic opposite to Charli XCX’s BRAT, its lyrics are dripping with BRAT energy. “Tough to keep those rules and resolutions / Lying to yourself and say you’re sticking to ‘em,” Gerard sings. “Here comes New Year’s Day / Before it counts pass me the MDMA.” MDMA in a country song?! So BRAT. The song does take a bit of a turn in the countdown section, which finds Gerard literally counting down the seconds until midnight strikes, and subsequently prompts a question within you: “Is it BRAT to kiss your friend’s hot mom on New Year’s Eve?” I mean, maybe? Either way, that’s what the song’s speaker does (because “God, she looks hot!”). When the chorus comes around again—“Here comes another New Year / It’s gonna be fun / It’s gonna be weird / Here’s to never getting old and always staying young”—Gerard tacks on a little something extra: “Sorry I kissed your mom.” It’s the end of the year; go crazy and make out with a MILF.

D. Thinking Some (Arguably Excessively) Dark and Edgy Things About How Screwed Up it is that People are Partying Tonight, Considering the World is Going to Shit: “Jet Black New Year” by Thursday
I don’t want to judge either you, the reader or Thursday the band, but even at my most cynical and disillusioned, I don’t know that I’d be standing at a party angrily imagining “draw[ing] diagrams / Of suicide on each other’s wrists / Then trac[ing] them with razorblades”—not even metaphorically. Don’t get me wrong, those feelings of fury toward the state of the world and the people inhabiting it who easily turn a blind eye to the horrors around them in order to selfishly keep on partying—those are not unearned! But there’s angst and then there’s, like, edginess for the sake of edginess, and honestly, I feel like this song kinda falls off that indefinable edge into the chasm of “my favorite color is black, like my soul” performative edginess. At the same time, though, if you’re still in high school and are really angry at everything except for post-hardcore and maybe pop-punk, then this song is probably a good bet for you. You can even count down the final moments of 2024 in tandem with lead vocalist Geoff Rickly: “10 seconds left / Until midnight / Nine chances to drown ourselves / In black hair dye” …and so on. You get the idea.

E. Alone at Home, Watching the Ball Drop by Yourself, But Feeling Some Peace and Gratitude Despite the Crushing Silence and Loneliness of the Scene (And Also You’re a Woman): “New Year” by Regina Spektor
Obviously, you don’t need to be a woman to resonate with the Spektor-typical beauty of this song, but I just wanted to get the fact that the song is very much explicitly about a female character out of the way—so, again, if that inconsistency bothers you, then choose a different song for your life-movie. But if you’re mature enough to a) not care about that and b) find room to be thankful and optimistic even when spending New Year’s Eve cleaning a silent house, then this song has your name on it. It’s just such a gorgeous, bittersweet portrait of its central unnamed character, filled with the small mundane moments that make up the bulk of one’s life: “She sets her alarm / Five minutes to midnight / And wakes just in time / To greet the new year / She shuffles around / Turning the lights on / Goes to the kitchen / Gets the champagne / Opens the window / And wrapped in a blanket / Begins to count and wait.”

I’ll be honest, the subject of the song is way more well-adjusted than I am. Despite the overwhelming loneliness bleeding from the track, the woman at its center just “Thank[s] the old year / For all it has brought her / No mention of the things it took away.” The verse following the ball drop is the inverse of the one preceding it; she’s cleaning up now, silently shuffling around she turns “the lights out / Closes the window,” and so on. It’s so quiet, and so melancholic, but so beautiful at the same time—because, in the end, “She’s just glad she gets to be around / To see another spring come to this town.” In summary: If you’re alone at home on New Year’s and are a far better, more well-adjusted person than I am, play this song to get your incredibly well-deserved main character moment.

F. Alone at Home, Watching the Ball by Yourself, and Feeling Incredibly Depressed About Everything—Especially Your Ex: “New Year’s Eve’s the Loneliest Night of the Year” by Trembling Bells and Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Will Oldham joins Lavinia Blackwall of Trembling Bells in this miserable New Year’s track, their harmonies are the only beautiful part of the depressing picture it paints. If this picture is of you, then I’m sorry. “It’s the 31st of December / ‘Round midnight, I suppose,” Oldham sings atop a sparse piano part before a string line is woven in, “I’ve been drinking since September, / And the time just kind of goes.” The speaker of the song is still absolutely devastated by a now months-old breakup; their partner’s “leaving left a bitter taste” so sour, apparently, that they say “I haven’t smiled since summer / When I mistook the world for OK / Guess I’ll spend another year that day.” So, if you’re equally lonely and unhappy this fine New Year’s Eve, with no resolution for the year to come save for “stagger[ing] through this day,” then, well, at least Blackwell and Oldham—and us at Paste!—are here for you. Here’s hoping next year goes much better for you than this one.