20 Greatest Empowering Break-Up Songs
13. The Pretender - Foo Fighters
The History: This song is on the Foo Fighters' 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and peaked at number thirty seven on the US Billboard 100, winning a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. The lead singer, Dave Grohl, almost explained the meaning of the song in an interview with XFM but stopped short and saying, "it's nice for people to have their own idea or interpretation of the song."
Why it's Great: Alright, so you got me again. This song isn't about a break up exactly. However in the same interview, Dave said the song has something to do with feeling screwed over and not getting what they were promised (although he used a lot more colorful language than that.).
The song talks about a person who's a great actor and can get people to do what they want: a pretender. After a break up, especially a rough one, we can feel like we've gotten the short end of the stick and that our partner wasn't who we thought they were. This is the song for that person.
Lyrics like "What if I say I will never surrender?" send a message of not backing down and not playing this person's games anymore; that's what makes it powerful. It's also a solid rock song that you can let loose to - just try not to break anything while rocking out.