20 Best Songs for Lyrical Dance Solos: Your Ultimate Playlist

1. Collide - 2025

Vocal Melody: Howie Day's distinctive, emotive vocals in "Collide" offer a perfect canvas for lyrical expression, allowing dancers to convey a wide range of emotions through nuanced movement.

Tempo and Rhythm: The song's moderate tempo and subtly shifting rhythms provide a compelling structure for choreography, allowing for both fluid transitions and moments of impactful stillness.

Emotional Depth: The melancholic yet hopeful tone of "Collide" lends itself beautifully to introspective choreography, creating a powerful narrative through dance.

2. Where The Wild Roses Grow (Kylie Minogue ft Nick Cave - 1995)

Haunting Melody: The song's haunting melody and minor key create a dramatic atmosphere perfect for conveying a range of emotions through movement.

Dynamic Vocals: Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave's contrasting vocal styles offer exciting opportunities for dynamic choreography, shifting between delicate and powerful expressions.

Narrative Potential: The evocative lyrics and tragic narrative of "Where the Wild Roses Grow" provide a rich foundation for storytelling through dance, allowing for deeply expressive solo work.

3. Heartless

Emotional Depth: Heartless by The Fray offers a potent blend of vulnerability and heartbreak, ideal for conveying a range of complex emotions through lyrical dance.

Dynamic Tempo: The song's tempo shifts subtly, allowing for variations in movement and energy throughout a dance routine, from moments of quiet introspection to powerful expressions of sorrow.

Vocal Nuances: Isaac Slade's emotive vocals provide ample opportunity for nuanced interpretation and expression, matching the subtleties of lyrical dance movements.

4. Tee Shirt - (i would have followed you)

Song Title: Tee Shirt

Artist: Birdy

Emotional Impact: Birdy's vocals in "Tee Shirt" are emotionally resonant and vulnerable, creating a perfect canvas for expressing a wide range of feelings through dance. The song's melancholic undertones lend themselves beautifully to conveying introspective or poignant narratives.

Rhythm and Tempo: The moderate tempo and subtle rhythmic shifts provide opportunities for dynamic choreography, allowing dancers to build intensity and showcase expressive movement. The song's structure offers natural moments for pauses and transitions.

Lyrical Content: The relatable lyrics about longing and lost connection offer ample material for creating a compelling and emotionally charged dance solo. Dancers can easily translate the song's themes into powerful physical storytelling.

5. Colorblind

Colorblind - Counting Crows

Emotional Depth: The song's melancholic melody and Adam Duritz's emotive vocals create a powerful emotional landscape perfect for conveying vulnerability and introspection in a lyrical dance solo.

Dynamic Range: "Colorblind" offers a compelling dynamic range, moving from quiet, intimate verses to soaring, powerful choruses, allowing for nuanced choreography and expressive movement.

Narrative Potential: The lyrics tell a compelling story of lost love and regret, providing ample opportunities to develop a strong narrative arc through dance.

6. Breathe Me

Vocal Dynamics: Sia's soaring vocals in "Breathe Me" offer a wide range of emotional expression, perfect for conveying nuanced feelings through movement.

Melodic Flow: The song's gradual build and subtle shifts in rhythm provide a natural ebb and flow, ideal for creating a captivating lyrical dance sequence.

Emotional Resonance: The melancholic yet hopeful tone of "Breathe Me" allows dancers to explore complex emotions with depth and authenticity.

7. Almost Lover (A Fine Frenzy - 2025)

Tempo and Rhythm: Almost Lover's moderate tempo and flowing rhythm provide a perfect canvas for dynamic lyrical movement, allowing for both fluid transitions and powerful, expressive moments.

Vocal Melody: The soaring vocals and emotive melody offer ample opportunity for vocal interpretation and emotional depth within a dance performance, allowing dancers to convey a range of feelings through their movements.

Emotional Nuance: The song's blend of heartbreak and longing creates a rich emotional landscape ideal for conveying complex narratives and subtle emotional shifts through choreography.

8. Come Home (One Republic - 2025)

Come Home - OneRepublic

Emotional Depth: The song's melancholic melody and introspective lyrics provide ample emotional range for nuanced expression in a lyrical dance solo, allowing for exploration of vulnerability and longing.

Dynamic Range: "Come Home" offers a compelling blend of soft, intimate verses and powerful, soaring choruses, creating opportunities for dynamic choreography that builds intensity.

Choreographic Potential: The song's structure lends itself to storytelling through movement, with its shifts in tempo and emotional weight providing natural points for transitions and impactful poses.

9. A Lack of Color - Transatlanticism (10th Anniversary Edition)

Tempo and Rhythm: "A Lack of Color" possesses a deliberate, mid-tempo rhythm ideal for building emotional intensity and nuanced movement in a lyrical dance solo. Its subtle shifts in pace create opportunities for dynamic choreography.

Vocal Melody and Dynamics: Ben Gibbard's vocals are emotionally resonant and lend themselves well to interpretive dance, offering both soaring highs and intimate low notes that dancers can mirror with their movements.

Emotional Resonance: The song's melancholic yet hopeful undertones provide a rich landscape for exploring complex emotional themes through choreography, making it a powerful choice for conveying vulnerability and strength.

10. Where I Stood

Vocal Melody: Missy Higgins' emotive vocals in "Where I Stood" lend themselves beautifully to expressive lyrical dance, offering ample opportunity for dynamic phrasing and emotional nuance.

Tempo and Rhythm: The song's moderate tempo provides a good balance between lyrical storytelling and dynamic movement, allowing for both powerful and delicate choreography.

Emotional Resonance: The introspective lyrics and melancholic yet hopeful tone create a compelling narrative perfect for conveying a range of emotions through dance.