10 Songs About Not Being Good Enough

Sometimes, there is nothing that you can do to be good enough. Some people have impossibly high standards. In other cases, what they want from you is something that you cannot give without completely changing who you are and your goals in life. Whether your date wants you to be a different person or you cannot live up to your parents standards, these songs about not being good enough can help you feel better. You are not the only person to go through this. At some point, you have to realize that the problem is really with the other person and not yourself.

1. Black by Pearl Jam

If you feel like you are not good enough for the person you are dating, then this song might be the right choice. It is all about unrequited, lost love. The singer remembers all the time they spent together and thinks about how the person will move on to have a beautiful life without him.

Best Lyrics:

“I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life
I know you’ll be a star
In somebody else’s sky
But why
Why
Why can’t it be
Why can’t it be mine?”

2. Good Enough by Lifehouse

When you love a family member, friend or lover, you want to live up to their expectations. You want them to admire you and be proud of you. This song is all about how the protagonist wants to do everything he can to make someone love and respect him. Unfortunately, nothing that he does ends up working and all of his plans fall apart.

Best Lyrics:

“It seems the more we talk
The less I have to say
Let’s put our differences aside
I wanted to make you proud
But I just got in your way
I found a place that I can hide.”

3. Not Pretty Enough by Kasey Chambers

This song is all about heartbreak, so it works if you need songs about not being good enough for a crush or a lover. In the song, the woman is starting to have self-esteem problems. She feels like she is not funny or pretty enough. Interestingly, the song was written about the radio stations and not a friend or lover. Kasey Chambers’ songs were not getting played on the radio stations, and she wondered if it was because she did not seem like a typical pop star. Luckily for her, this song became a major hit, so she ironically had her songs played on the radio like she wanted them to.

Best Lyrics:

“Am I not pretty enough
Is my heart too broken
Do I cry too much
Am I too outspoken?”

4. Creep by Radiohead

Thom Yorke wrote this song because he did not fit in as a manly man in the 1990s. He did not want to have lyrics that were too brutal, but he also did not want to sound effeminate. The final result of his song was about how a man can feel intimidated by the person that they love. They want to be with that person, but they feel like they are not good enough and can never be good enough for them.

Best Lyrics:

“I want you to notice
When I’m not around
You’re so f***in’ special
I wish I was special
But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo.
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here.”

5. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing by Jack Johnson

This song was not actually about Jack Johnson. It was about a friend of his who was deeply in love with a girl, but she did not love him back. While he kept trying to date her, she kept turning him down. Instead of getting to be with her, he was just sitting, waiting and wishing for her to return his love and feel the same way that he did.

Best Lyrics:

“Keep building it up
But then you’re shooting me down
But I’m already down
Just wait a minute
Just sitting, waiting.”

6. Every Little Thing by Dishwalla

Sometimes, the problem isn’t that you were actually turned down. The problem is that your crush is just so out of reach. Even when they are physically close to you, their goals, life and friends keep them so out of reach. The protagonist in this song wants to become everything that his crush wants him to be and catch her when she falls. While he wants to be her everything, she only wants a superficial relationship and nothing more.

Best Lyrics:

“But I get the strangest feeling that you’ve gone away
Will you find out who you are too late to change
I wish I could be
Every little thing you wanted
All the time.”

7. Why Don’t You Love Me by Beyonce

You have done everything you can to make someone love you, but you still struggle with not being good enough. No matter what you do and how you improve yourself, you never seem to be good enough. In this song, Beyonce sings about a man she loves. She lists all of her good characteristics and the things she does to make her happy, but he still does not love her back. In the end, she gets sick of this and has to move on.

Best Lyrics:

“Why don’t you love me?
Tell me, baby, why don’t you love me
When I make me so damn easy to love?
And why don’t you need me?
Tell me, baby, why don’t you need me
When I make me so damn easy to need?”

8. I Can’t Make You Love Me by Bonnie Rait

No matter how much you try, you cannot make someone love you. This song is about unrequited love. The guy shoots up his girlfriend’s car, and she sings about how he doesn’t love her back. Despite it all, she wants to stay with him. She knows that he is using her, but she still loves him.

Best Lyrics :

“’Cause I can’t make you love me if you don’t
You can’t make your heart feel something it won’t
Here in the dark, in these final hours
I will lay down my heart and I’ll feel the power
But you won’t, no you won’t
‘Cause I can’t make you love me, if you don’t.”

9. A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More Touch Me by Fall Out Boy

This song was named after the Sixteen Candles movie. In the song, the protagonist loves a girl who does not feel the same way. He tries sleeping on the porch to show his love, but she tells him to drop dead. If you have ever worried about not being good enough and getting rejected, this song will really resonate with you.

Best Lyrics:

“And you’re just the girl all the boys want to dance with
And I’m just the boy who’s had too many chances
I’m sleeping on your folk’s porch again, dreaming
She said, she said, she said, “Why don’t you just drop dead?”

10. Chasing Pavements by Adele

This soulful tune is one of the top songs about not being good enough. After a relationship ends, you are broken and desolate. Even though you know that you were hurt badly, you still miss being with the person. This is all about how it feels to finally get out of a toxic relationship and still want to be with your ex.

Best Lyrics:

“Should I give up
Or should I just keep chasing pavements?
Even if it leads nowhere
Or would it be a waste?
Even If I knew my place should I leave it there?”