For me it’s “Reflection” from Mulan.
Oh my god, I’m a late-diagnosed autistic and this song has always hurt differently. No one really understood why it made me so emotional and I didn’t understand why it didn’t do the same for them.
Honestly I think this is a great answer!
Iris go for a lot of mental disorders tbh. I always resonated deeply with the "when you bleed just to know you're alive" lyric. Described my experience with anxiety and SH perfectly
Yup
Free by Florence & the Machine. Saw them live last year. Great show!
Smile Like You Mean It by the Killers
I have even more that relate to me, I made a 2 hr playlist. And yes, it’s my go to every time I go for a drive.
edit: a couple more from my list -
Trapped in a Box by No Doubt
Weigh on my Mind by Transplants
Free was my most listened to sing of 2023. It beautiful
I'm so jealous! Florence & the Machine was the soundtrack of my high school life lol.
"Cars" by Gary Numan is written about his experience with autism, and how he feels safer in cars versus being out and about with the general public.
"Are 'Friends' Electric?" is a futuristic take on misreading cues and fumbling with romance on the spectrum, and the regret of loving someone who probably didn't love him back - but he's unsure. The narrator has hired a robot prostitute since it's programmed to love without complication.
Yoooooo Gary Numan is a revalation to me. How come I never listened to him? Must've confused him w Randy Newman ffs. Boppin tunes, thx guys.
The Pleasure Principle is one of my favourite albums of all time. His artistic take on what some might consider mundane is something I've always resonated with.
What I like might seem lame, but I could write songs, talk endlessly, expressively paint my feelings about it, and get lost in it forever.
Walking the Cow by Daniel Johnston. Practically the whole of Daniel Johnston's discography tbh.
This^
this is so true. i always identified so much with him and this song especially
How soon is now by the smiths. And a lot of the smiths tbh. I know morrissey is a weirdo but that might be because of autism.
🎶 There's a club if you want to go, you could meet somebody who really loves you - so you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry and you want to die 🎶 💃
I know it’s not cool to diagnose celebs, and what not, but I would be floored if Morrissey wasn’t autistic. The music/lyrics, his relationships with gender and sexuality, even his current terrible views are a really good example of black and white thinking gone wrong. Not to mention his inability to show up to work consistently, I know no one who cancels more concerts.
its funny, ive never thought of morrissey as autistic, but I can maybe see it actually. ngl I kinda think Ian Curtis from joy division had autism, he just gives those vibes to me
I’m epileptic and autistic and holy shit does Disorder sum up both
I def get where the use vibes come from. His wife actually wrote a book, touching from a distance. It was honestly a really hard read, cos I am a fan, and he was a very troubled person. His most visible struggle came from his epilepsy, and his attempt to control it (epileptic meds in the 70’s were not great). I obviously don’t know anything for certain, but I think a lot of the characteristics that could read as autistic, could be explained by this. But other things in the book did leave me questioning. Especially cos it was Deborah’s interpretation; and not him telling, so much was left unexplored. It’s an interesting, but intense read, if you haven’t read it. I also highly recommend the movie Control. It’s by Anton Corjbin (he does the visual for Depeche Mode, amongst many others), and is pretty good.
And personally, I also think many, if not most, musical geniuses are autistic. I’m joking….kind of.
I was OBSESSED with Moz as a teenager and only found out recently that I'm autistic and that's probably why I relate to his lyrics so much. I don't idolize him as a person any more, but his music will always resonate deeply for me.
So many of the musicians I deeply connected with growing up have since spoken about their autism. Like at this point, if I do really connect with an artist, it’s a pretty good indicator they are autistic.
Bigmouth Strikes Again hits close to home for me
I definitely connected a lot with a lot of Moz’s lyrics in his work with The Smiths. Especially the ones about shyness and longing for love
Shyness is nice and shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you’d like to !
the smiths are elite, and one of the bands i relate to most
My Mother says "Heaven knows I'm miserable now" by The Smiths was written for me lol.
Paranoid Android- Radiohead-OK computer album
I was hoping I'd see Paranoid Android here
Yeah! It’s just a mess of music, pop, rock and random lyrics that barley make sense the first time you listen to it
*Here in my car,
I feel safest of all
I can only receive
It's the only way to live
In cars*
Gary Numan’s my favourite music artist (and a fellow Autist) I appreciate the reference :)
Wait, this song is that deep!? Omg.
Gary Numan is also Autistic and he mentioned that he feels safer in a car sometimes.
This was my answer too! 💜
Creep radiohead
That song always brings me to the edge of tears
Bruh. Same 🥺 and idk why but the “I want you to notice when I’m not around” is the part that usually gets me.
"I wish I was special" - No, not that kind of special... 😩
Same! Listening to it makes me feel like someone understands, but it also manages to touch a deep kind of pain.
Funny, this felt like my theme song for 20 years before I found out I had autism.
Exactly the same for me, women didn’t have things like this when I was at school in the 80s and because I’m inattentive and good at science I.e. quiet and clever they dgaf. The bullying was a bit excessive and my tutor explained in my school report it was all my fault because I “made no attempt to get on with my peers”.
Best comment for sure
this
100%.
Here by Alessia Cara
Edit: also Bad Reputation by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts & What was I made for? by Billie Eilish from the Barbie movie
This is one of my favorite songs and definitely describes me in my early 20s
What Was I Made For makes me cry (in a good/relief way) every time I hear it. In addition to the lyrics, the melody is perfect - a consistent simple major to minor and back again, Iike being rocked. I feel seen and safe with that song.
Waving through a window - Dear Evan Hansen
This song sums up my experiences in life to an insanely accurate degree.
That movie makes me cry at places every time I watch it.
The Fool on the Hill - The Beatles
I'm Still Here from Treasure Planet. Because I am who I am & people can't change that.
I love that song a lot.
Rewatched that movie recently. I adore treasure Island and space is a special interest of mine so I particularly love that version of the story
I was thinking this and I’m so glad someone also relates to it like I do. That song helped me accept who I was at 17 years old. Treasure Planet will forever be one of my favorites
Human Behaviour - Björk
ballad of a homeschooled girl - Olivia Rodrigo
I’ve long suspected Bjork of being Autistic.
She has openly stated she believes she is, just has no formal diagnosis.
I never found 'my' music growing up. Options were very limited, living quite rural on a farm. I only had access to music other kids at school were willing to share with me.
When I finally stumbled upon Björk, I immediately understood and fully felt her music. It all made sense. I tried to share with others, but everyone deemed it 'too weird'.
She's a treasure.
Every Bjork song... ever pm.
I like happy idiot by tv on the radio, the juxtaposition of the lyrics depicting loneliness and melancholy with the manic very high energy beat feel very relatable to me. Lots of feelings of not belonging, insecurity, being stuck in mundane routines, all the while anxious about it, wanting to change everything at once, wanting to explain myself to everyone etc etc
Animal by Mike Snow
I LOVED this song when I was in junior high (long before being diagnosed). I’d never related more to a song and looking at the lyrics now… makes so much sense
The Cure, pretty much their entire collection.
No way Robert Smith ain't on the spectrum
Am I Dreaming - Metro Boomin
Fireflies - Owl City
Nobody - Mitski
Body - Mother Mother
Running Up That Hill - Meg Meyers Cover
Hunters - Birdmask
Coppertank Island - Fair To Midland
Doubt - Birdmask
Am I The Antichrist To You - Kishi Bashi
Brutus - The Buttress
"While my guitar gently weeps" by the Beatles is my soul
basic answer, but i feel very psycho killer - talking heads
I read in the talking heads sub that talking heads is the most autistic band ever(by someone on the spectrum) And tbh yeah.
I was going to say once in a lifetime.
David Byrne has mentioned he’s Autistic.
Do you mean David Byrne? :)
Qu'est que'ce est?
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa better
Run run run run run run run awaaaaaaaaaay
As a parent of a nonspeaking little guy, this is really cool! Thanks guys!
Human, For a Minute - Shame & This Thing - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
"I watch my bones dry and shatter For what purpose do they serve? I don't feel that I can keep them I don't feel that I deserve To feel human for an hour Or even for a minute While I'm crying with the saints And I'm laughing with the sinners So Just for today Just for today Why don't you stay Just for today? And I never felt human I never felt human before I never felt human I never felt human before" - Human, For a Minute
"Well, I fake a lot of symptoms to be a different person I try to listen I try to be primed for a reason to go back to sleep That's not to say there's no relief I like it when it happens, you don't You're happy? When you show it, I won't The cycle keeps repeating, I can't escape the rip There's no stopping what this is" - This Thing
The Mute by Radical Face
my autism doesn't have lyrics in it
And Then There Was Nothing - Shurk
Edge - Rezz
Ghost Choir - Louie Zhong
i threw away my n64 - AGM
depends on the day
Skeksis by Strapping Young Lad
ETA lyrics:
“I control an awkward soul
And my lines
Are automatic, automatically drawn
Realizing a multiverse in just one thing
And then I'm automatic, automatically gone
Writing down my infinity
Writing for all eternity
Colors relate to numbers relate to sound
Relates to form relate to war relate to sex
Relates to healing
Relates to all god vibration
Formula
I'd like to take it easy
I'd like to think I try
I'd like to think forever
I would not question why!
I'd like to say I'm sorry,
I do not know the words
All I can say right now is
Everything happens when no ones around!
Writing down my infinity
Writing for all eternity
Eliminate inner parenthesis,
Now combine like terms remembering to watch negative signs
I'm right here forward
Incriminate, fall down, hide soft; inner terminated.
Om! Om! Om!
Be careful with polynomial colors
Colors
There can never be an answer
We can never factor om
And I know you've found your pain
And it's the last thing you'll ever do
And you've only got you to thank!
Oh I control an awkward soul
In my time
And then I'm automatic, automatically god
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!
Fucking fight!
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!
Fucking fight!”
Happy? by Mudvayne
Hell yes.
Stressed out and car radio by 21 pilots
And legacy by Eminem
Creep by Radiohead
I’m a creep I’m a weirdo What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here
Definitely “Yee” I really resonated when he said yee
"I Am a Rock" by Simon and Garfunkel.
Basically any Talking Heads song
Okay I have one to share that I'm obsessed with. It's more about OCD and the obsessive compulsive nature that run your days but I feel we can relate to it.
Even the repeating of sounds in words to demonstrate the repeating habits just make my heart and brain happy when I hear it. It's just about a minute long as it's an interlude in their discography
"Nobody really cares if you don't go to the party" by Courtney Barnett
Fire Drill by Melanie Martinez
Dumb by Nirvana
Happy Loner by Marina
Alessia cara, here
Dream Theater - Solitary Shell
Any song by Aphex Twin
Fireflies by Owl City
Maybe it’s a little cliché, but these two songs mean so much to me as someone who didn’t realize they were autistic until they were almost 40. They both make me cry almost any time I hear them:
Show Yourself - Frozen 2
Born This Way - Lady Gaga
show yourself brings me literal chills every time i listen to it. biggest upvote in the world for that
Make your own kind of music - cass Eliot. Not sure if it’s describing autism buts it my go to song when I start feeling bad about myself
Message in a bottle - The Police. “Just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh Another lonely day with no one here but me, oh More loneliness than any man could bear Rescue me before I fall into despair, oh”
Seems I'm not alone at being alone
hundred billion castaways
Holy Ship! Yes! I love this song and have ever since it came out. I was just diagnosed last fall (56), and just seeing you say that... boom...brain...
Epitaph by King Crimson.
I look through peoples windows by taylor swift
Hyperballad - Bjork
For me: "After Hours" by The Velvet Underground
Everything in my autism playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4DAbJjH8mBctHrggUMLd2T Always open for suggestions too
who's afraid of little old me? by taylor swift. i feel like it encapsulates the way society will infantilize us yet make fun of us.
I'll add mirrorball into this list! Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me? and mirrorball are like sister songs imo
stoppp the way you're so right!😭 also i can do it with a broken heart
It’s almost certainly not what it’s actually about, but Mirrorball always seemed like a song about masking to me.
These are not song but they bring my mind autism experience :D
Ludovico Einaudi -Experience
Emotional Chamber Trailer on youtube I saw.
my body is a cage - arcade fire and let down - radiohead
People II: The Reckoning -AJJ
YO. i was scrolling this whole thread looking for AJJ
I am not a woman I'm a god - Halsey
the title makes it sound like a weird choice but the lyrics fit. And the title also makes me think of Abed from Community (a canonical autistic character) when he gets told he's a god because he picked up on every characteristic and detail about everyone else in their group lmao
Upside Down Frown by They Might Be Giants
I have trouble expressing emotion and my default facial expression is very neutral and can seem kind of pissed off, so this song's pretty relatable to me and hopefully others who have issues with having their body language misinterpreted
It feels like there should be a ton of TMBG songs that would fit
Everything is Alright - Motion City Soundtrack
Gans Media Retro Games - Hot Mulligan
Alien blues by vundabar for me
I'm autistic and I would bet money that rivers cuomo from weezer is at least neurodivergent if not autistic.
His songs from the blue album and pinkerton feel pretty related to my life, especially pink triangle
Lots of Kero Kero Bonito songs. Check out her song Pocket Crocodile, it’s sick.
Pieces of the song "Teen Idle" describe it for my experience
This is a lot sadder than I meant but I lose a lot of friends once my "quirks" lose their novelty and I'm just the weird friend that everyone is too polite to overtly exclude, but Drift Away from Steven Universe.
Live Outside by Enter Shikari
"Every other day I'm wondering What's a human being gotta be like? What's a way to just be competent? These sweet instincts ruin my life Every other day I’m wondering Was it a mistake to try and define What I’m certain’s mad incompetence? These sweet instincts ruin my life"
Imposter Syndrome - Sidney Gish
She has so many songs that resonate with the AuDHD experience.
A symptom of being human by shinedown
Bullet with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins
Nightwish - The Crow, the Owl and the Dove
Don't give me love, don't give me faith
Wisdom nor pride, give innocence instead
Don't give me love, I've had my share
Beauty nor rest, give me truth instead
Basically, don't try to buy or earn your failures back, world. Don't try to make the world quieter or more beautiful. Don't just say you love us or call us beautiful. Just give me the damn facts and let me live. I need nothing but peace and to live in accordance with the truth of my existence.
brass goggles by steam powered giraffe!! at least it always clicked with me :]
"Different Kind if Human" by Aurora.
Speaks to it so well for me that it made me cry the first time I heard it. Really a lot of her music seems very neurodivergent-esq to me.
Probably a Wil Wood song and “hey, doctor doctor”
Oh I forgot about that one! Hey Doctor Doctor really does describe it pretty damn well!
I’m a big music/band nerd and I have a few of these
Mad World- Tears For Fears
The Hardest Button To Button- White Stripes
Chips On My Shoulder- Soft Cell
Tranz- Gorillaz
Something Must Break- Joy Division
Candidate- Joy Division
At Home He’s A Tourist- Gang Of 4
Leave Me Alone- New Order
Disorder- Joy Division
Isolation- Joy Division
Dream Time- The Jam
For Tomorrow- Blur
Rubber Ring- The Smiths
Still Ill- The Smiths
Totally Wired- The Fall
Supersonic- Oasis
Faster- Manic Street Preachers
Suicide Alley- Manic Street Preachers
Song 2- Blur
It’s not perfect but I think that Against the Kitchen Floor is really good. There’s one lyric, “I just haven’t learned how to be human as you are yet,” that resonates with me a lot.
Abnormality Dancing Girl. Idk why, I just feel like that song describes my experience with autism for some reason lol
A Secret Place - Megadeth
"Last of my kind" by Jason Isbell
I make my own. That way they describe it the way I experience it. Or sometimes I will take a storyteller role and use music to describe a different experience than mine but one I know of as I like exploring other experiences.
“War without reason” by heaven pierce her
Seriously that song goes hard, but for my real answer I’d have to say everyone hurts by R.E.M
It isn't the most perfect fit but Dance in the Fire by Machine Girl
" Yep, I'm a freak, but what does that even mean? Everyone is so unique, in their niche little scenes It's not about your team or being undefeated It's about what's underneath, lettin' out your inner freak"
During school I was always taught that everyone was unique and that there differences should be celebrated. We always read stories where the protagonist was made fun of for there niche interest, the clothes they wear, or they're other differences. In the stories they eventually beat the bullies and embraced themselves and their differences.
However in real life I felt like the moral of these stories applied to everyone but me. Everyone else celebrated themselves while I was told to fix myself. The lyrics "It's about what's underneath, lettin' out your inner freak"
Remind me if the time where it felt like my meaning in life was to be myself when in reality it was the opposite and it was all about conformity.
Overkill - Men At Work (overall, the anxiety theme song)
True Faith - New Order
I Have The Touch - Peter Gabriel, it really summarizes me having this fear of crowds but at the same time a desire for intimacy and companionship
Changes - David Bowie
Open Secrets - Rush
The Normal Album, by Will Wood. It's an album and technically cheating but any one of those songs can encompass the experience. "Love Me, Normally" hits particularly hard.
liability by lorde
freaking out - the wrecks
Creep - Radiohead
When you were here before Couldn't look you in the eye You're just like an angel Your skin makes me cry You float like a feather In a beautiful world
I wish I was special You're so fuckin' special
But I'm a creep I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here
I don't care if it hurts I wanna have control I want a perfect body I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice When I'm not around So fuckin' special I wish I was special
But I'm a creep I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here
She's running out the door (run) She's running out She run, run, run, run Run
Whatever makes you happy Whatever you want You're so fuckin' special I wish I was special But I'm a creep I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here
I don't belong here
I took a bunch of these comments and made a playlist!
home from into the spiderverse
Dodie - Rainbow
"The Way I Walk" by the Cramps.
Gloom by Djo lmao
Love me normally-Will Wood
The Corner's Dilemma - Free Throw
The opening verse is the autism party experience lol
Oh i totally agree with reflection, I’d never thought of it that way until now - that explains why i loved that song so much as a kid!
Talking Heads - The Big Country
“Anesthetize - Live” by Porcupine Tree. Tell ya what, take 20 mins, uninterrupted, to put on some headphones, listen to the song and read the lyrics. I have never related more to a song.
Freak of Nature by Heart Attack Man.
“I feel like I’m about to get yelled at for something all the time. I’m so deeply sorry, I didn’t know it, but apparently I crashed your party. I kinda like the way they’re staring at me Like I’m somewhere I shouldn’t be.”
HAPPINESS-IAMX, lead singer Chris Corner is also autistic
Manic Monday by the Bangles comes to mind
gifted kid burnout - Tom O'Donovan
Cure for Me by Aurora Time Today by Kero Kero Bonito
Overwhelmed by Royal and the Serpent
Wow I’m also autistic and half Asian 😮
Motion City Soundtracks song "Together We'll Ring In The New Year" always hit really close to home for me, especially when I was growing up
Simon & Garfunkel - I Am A Rock
it's about addiction and not about autism at all but Badfish by Sublime would be my answer. I am not addicted to opioids, but I also somehow resonate with this song??? like the song goes into self blaming and isolation, and I find that relatable to having AuDHD, even though, again, the song's about a completely different issue
Another answer would be that one song by Eminem about being the nerdy kid reading comic books, but I can't remember the name of that one
An autistic adult between jobs because of depression and autistic burnout; “I need a dollar” by Aloe Blacc
None of them describe the experience perfectly, but all these personally relate for me
Beneath the Mask
Fish in a Birdcage
Safe Place
Aishite Aishite Aishite
No Time to Explain
Inertia
Against the Kitchen Floor
I can explain why these ones in depth if anyone actually cares lol
Creature of Habit by Bug Hunter is an absolute autistic anthem
dunno if someone else said it, but human behaviour by björk.
and for an answer in my native language, nel cuore e nell'anima by lucio battisti (i have a suspicion he miht have been autistic as well)
Ballad of a homeschooled girl - Olivia rodrigo
telescope by cavetown - the first time i heard “sittin’ in a telescope / silently with his fingers entwined / he puts his hand to the glass / what’s it like outside?” i cried
As someone, who is currently struggling with unmasking, "Let it go" performed by Idina Menzel from Frozen.
Possibly also "Show yourself" from Frozen 2
I remember rewatching Mulan and getting teary-eyed at that song... very relatable.
Most of Taylor Swift’s album “folklore”. “this is me trying”, “mad woman”, “mirrorball”, and “hoax” are so relatable especially as an autistic girl/woman.
My personal vote would be "Wow, I'm Not Crazy" by AJR. Not the most lyrically complex, but it does feel like being sung in the perspective of an autistic person meeting a fellow autistic who seems more in tune with their being autistic, and learning to understand themself in the process.
A lot of Taylor swift songs are very autistic coded. Songs like The Outside, I Look in Peoples Windows, etc
User deleted comment
1mo
YES! literally why did I get downvoted here wTF
mirrorball really makes me think of masking
The bridge hitting like: " no one wanted to play with me as a little kid, so I've been scheming like a criminal ever since... to make them love me and make it seem effortless." As a woman who grew up masking, this one got me.
Around the world - Daft Punk
How can I call this home - Parade
Freak Out - CG5
"I'm way too overwhelmed but don't ask me the reason whyyyy"
private life and on the outside by oingo boingo
Chosen Last - Sara Kays
Blood Pigs, by Otep
I think the best example of my autism experience that I have found so far is Flash of Rationality by James and the Shame.
I always related to 'Ordinaryish People' from AJR. I don't know how good of an answer that is, though.
I've always felt that the song Canvas by Rezonate always spoke to me on a very personal level.
Dumb by The Heydaze is another great song I relate to as well.
Alone Again, Naturally
Call It What You Want- Foster The People
Honestly I think of Iris from the goo goo dolls but that might be super personal. Don’t know if it describes it for anyone else