The stars: they’re just like us. By which we mean they are all on lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, but unlike our newfound bread-baking and viral video-making hobbies, a lot of them are spending time in their home studios cooking up songs about this strange, isolating time in human history.
With no tours or appearances and plenty of hours to kill, everyone from Twenty One Pilots to Pitbull, Randy Newman, Bon Jovi, and Luke Combs have reacted to the coronavirus with songs about hope, trust, fear, anxiety and solitude. Some, like the Rolling Stones‘ eerily prescient “Living In a Ghost Town,” Haim‘s “I Know Alone,” Yungblud‘s “WEIRD!” and Jewel‘s “Grateful” were not written during this stay-at-home era, but feature lyrics that are kind of bang-on what we’re feeling.
Others, like Turbo, Gunna and Young Thug‘s “Quarantine Clean” really hit at some of our feelings about self-quarantining.
Check out 21 coronavirus anthems below.
Twenty One Pilots, “Level of Concern”
Key lyrics: “Panic on the brain, world has gone insane/ Things are starting to get heavy/ I can’t help but think I haven’t felt this way/ Since I asked you to go steady/ Wonderin’, would you be my little quarantine?/ Or is this the way it ends?”
Bon Jovi, “Do What You Can”
Key lyrics: “Tonight they’re shutting down the borders, and they boarded up the schools/ Small towns are rolling up their sidewalks, one last paycheck coming through”
Luke Combs, “Six Feet Apart”
Key lyrics: “When the dogwoods start to bloom/ And the crickets hum their tune/ That’s usually about the time that I feel most alive/ But the news has all been bad/ And the whole world seems so sad/ I ain’t had much else going on/ So I sat down and wrote this song”
Turbo, Gunna and Young Thug, “Quarantine Clean”
Key lyrics: “Yeah, I’m quarantine clean, so relaxed.”
One Republic, “Better Days”
Key lyrics: “Oh I know there’ll be better days/ Oh that sunshine ’bout to come my way/ May we never ever shed another tear for today/ ‘Cause oh I know that there’ll be better days”
Bono, “Let Your Love Be Known”
Key lyrics: “Yes there was silence Yes there was no people here/ Yes I walk through the streets of Dublin/ And no one was near/ Yes I don’t know you/ No I didn’t think I didn’t care/ You live so very far away from/ Just across the square/ And I can’t reach/ But I can ring/ You can’t touch/ But you can, you can/ Sing across rooftops/ Sing down the phone/ Sing and promise me you won’t stop”
Randy Newman, “Stay Away”
Key Lyric: “Stay away from me Baby, keep your distance, please/ Stay away from me/ Words of love in times like theseI’m gonna be with you 24 hours a day/ Lot of people couldn’t stand that, but you can/ You’ll be with me 24 hours a day/ What a lucky man I am”
Mike Love with John Stamos, “This Too Shall Pass”
Key lyrics: “We all remember when school is out was a cause for celebrations/ Nobody ever even thought about closing down entire nations/ Washing hands and wearing masks and it’s not even Halloween/ Shaking hands is a thing of the past due to social distancing”
Pitbull, “I Believe That We Will Win (World Anthem)”
Key lyrics: “You know what spreads faster than any virus is fear/ When it comes to fear you can either forget everything and run I said/ Or you can face everything and rise I believe (I believe)/ And let me tell you what I believe/ I believe that (I believe that)/ I believe we gonna face everything and rise/ I believe that we will win (I believe that we will win)”
Gmac Cash, “Coronavirus”
Key lyrics: “I ain’t shakin’ no hands/ I don’t want a hug/ Make sure you wash your hands with a lot of love/ So if you got that CV, they gon’ find you/ If you coughin’, I ain’t tryna be around you.”
Abraham Mateo, “Esta Cuarentena”
Key lyrics: “No, no, no, no, no, no/ I’m having a hard time not seeing you/ I do it to protect you/ We have to be strong/ This quarantine/ I’m being sentenced/ Not having you poisons me, na na/ When all this happens/ I’ll go kiss you under the full moon”
Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), “Life in Quarantine”
Key lyrics: “The sidewalks are empty The bars and cafes too/ The streetlights only changing/ ‘Cause they ain’t got nothing better to do/ You say it’s like Christmas when nobody’s around/ When our city was still a secret/ Before those carpetbaggers came to town/ And the airports and train stations/ Are full of desperate people/ Trying to convince the gate agents/ That not all emergencies are equal/ But no one is going anywhere soon”
Lady Leshurr, “Quarantine Speech”
Key lyrics: “There’s a war going on outside we ain’t safe from/ And I hope it don’t stay long/ Came from a bat and a snake don?/ Coronavirus is a paigon/ Gotta stay safe, cus I ain’t dumb/ Got the lysol with me I get my spray on/ Can’t leave your house for your day job/ And some people now are getting laid off/ It’s MAD!! Everything MAD!!/ Everywhere I go everybody’s in a mask”
New Kids on the Block, “House Party”
Key lyrics: “Its nine o-clock Ain’t got nothing else but time/ I think I’m gonna lose my mind/ Gonna leave it all behind/ When will it stop?/ I can’t take this s–t no more/ Wanna go back to before/ Think I’mma bust on out the door”
Michael Bublé, Barenaked Ladies and Sofía Reyes, “Gotta Be Patient”
Key lyrics: “I just wanna see my friends/ I wanna talk the streets again/ But I gotta be patient/ So let’s enjoy this confination/ I just wanna feel your love/ ‘Cause this Instagram is not enough for me”
Mike Campbell, “Lockdown”
Key Lyrics: “I’m in a lockdown/ I’m in a lockdown/ Ain’t nobody else around/ I’m in a lockdown/ Lockdown/ Got no fever/ Got no shakes/ Gotta watch my back/ Whatever it takes/ Got a face mask/ And some rubber gloves/ I’m washing my clothes In an old bathtub”
Snow Tha Product, “Nowhere to Go”
Key lyrics: “‘Cause I been here since Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday/ Got nowhere to go, yeah/ I’mma put it down on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Got nowhere to go, yeah/ I’mma put it down on”
Drive-By Truckers, “Quarantine Together”
Key lyrics: “We might as well quarantine together/ As be miserable alone/ So if you come on over to my place I promise you/ I will stay six feet away/ What if we acclimate/ And call this isolation a date/ Maybe enough time could go by/ We could be each other’s mistake/ While we’re waiting around to go under/ And I ain’t getting no younger/ We might as well quarantine together/ And ride out the lighting and thunder”
Reignwolf, “Cabin Fever”
Key lyrics: “Cabin Fever Gonna need ya/ Keep it on the down low/ Close your eyes/ Stay inside/ Try and picture a rainbow/ Uncertain time/ Uncertain mind/ Been living behind your shadow”
Adriana Rios, “Esta EnTi (It’s In You)”
Key lyrics: (translated) “Something invisible that does not distinguish, social position or race tested everyone/ Together in the same cause/ Little by little less is missing/ And with the sum of efforts/ In the last count we will all be, aguanta/ No World Cup planted in the people/ So much desire to win/ To return to being as before, to embrace again/ If everyone fights from their trenches, while doctors and nurses fight this war with claws/ It’s in you, it’s in you, it’s in you/ It’s not time to judge ourselves, it’s time to support.”
Adam Sandler, “Quarantine Song”
Key lyrics: “Doctors and nurses will save us from this mess if we gave them the supplies that they need/ And I hope they save us soon because I’m feeling really sick of my family… I’m teaching math to my kids and that can’t be good for America.”