10 Songs With Angel in the Title (and Lyrics) You’ll Love

Angels have been added to song lyrics for decades, and doing some brings out various emotions in both the artist and the listener.  So in this article, we’re going to share our absolute favorite songs with angel in the title, which will hopefully allow you to add at least one brand new song to your playlist.

Songs with Angel in the Title You’ll Love

Let’s begin with a Harry Styles song.

Only Angel by Harry Styles

The former One Direction singer adopted a Rock and Roll sound for his first solo album. This song is sort of ironic, as we know angels are traditionally depicted as pure, innocent beings. But Harry knows she may not be the best influence on him, and still sees her angelically. “As I went about my business through the warning signs, end up meeting in the hallway every single time.”

He ignored any red flags he initially noticed in her for some temporary excitement. The second part of that line is almost definitively a reference to another song on this album, Meet Me in the Hallway, which has a much more somber beat. It seems that Only Angel is about the rush of experiencing a honeymoon phase with someone and Meet Me in the Hallway is about him regretting that he put her on a pedestal as he grieves the fact that it only gave him surface-level satisfaction, and nothing emotionally deep. 

Hey Angel by One Direction

This song is about wondering what an angel’s perspective is like, as they look down on humans who look to the sky for answers. It is unknown whether this song is about angels in the literal or metaphorical sense, but could easily be interpreted as both. The band ponders about if angels laugh when we hold onto silly things, or cry when we waste our time on Earth.

While it makes sense that it may be about literal angels, it could also be seen as talking to someone who feels like an angel on earth, someone who is mature beyond their years. When the band says, “I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be more like me?” it could be alluding to the fact that with wisdom comes pain.

Someone who is extremely aware and observant may spend more time overthinking things that do not need to be paid any attention. Having a more carefree mindset may get you hurt, but one could argue that it doesn’t matter if you don’t worry about it.

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Angels by Chance the Rapper

Chance the Rapper grew up in South Chicago, a neighborhood with high rates of dangerous crime and poverty. His childhood was comfortable in a middle-class family, but that didn’t stop him from being exposed to all sorts of injustices. As he began to garner success in his career, he decided he wanted to make a change and stand up for what he believes in.

“The amount of violence, especially gun violence, in Chicago—nobody’s doing anything about it. It’s scary. I want to talk about it,” he said. His song Angels is about himself saving his community and creating power in numbers. He proclaims his alliance with his city many times throughout the song, stating that he still goes to his old church and hasn’t changed his number since middle school. He also says he wants to “pick up the streets so my daughter can have somewhere to play.”

Chance the Rapper uses a lot of Christian imagery in his songs, though this was one of the first. He acknowledges that he’s made mistakes and fallen into rough patches but attributes his success to being surrounded by angels. He grew up idolizing Kanye West, another rapper hailing from Chicago, and wants to make the same lasting impact that Kanye had on him. With Chance’s rising career, he took the opportunity to be philanthropic and give back to his community, particularly within public schools.  

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There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart) by Eurythmics

In this song with a beat perfectly resemblant to the 1980s, our narrator says that she believes no one else has ever felt the way that she does. The euphoria and intense love that she feels makes her say she “must be talking to an angel,” (many times, this line makes up the entire chorus.)

She worries at one point that she’s being deceived by some divine source because everything feels so unreal and unlike anything else she’s felt before. She doesn’t believe that she is capable of being so in love, so she concludes that it must be an angel, or an orchestra of them, intentionally giving her these emotions.

Angel by Brent Faiyaz

Brent Faiyaz is known for his heavenly vocals, but in this song, he feels quite the opposite. He begins the song by talking about how he is insecure and doesn’t understand how he could look at her and not feel inferior. He feels blessed by her presence but doesn’t want her to know how small he feels around her.

He admits that this might be a problem, his feelings of inferiority, but he thinks she can help him. (“Living in hell, then maybe you’ll save me in the end.”) He says that she must be an angel in disguise, and he hopes she never leaves him.

Songs with Angel in the Lyrics

Let’s now showcase some of our favorite songs where the word Angel is not necessarily in the title, but certainly contained in the lyrics.  Let’s begin with a song by Joji.

Sanctuary by Joji

In this ballad, Joji conveys his yearning for someone. He calls her his Sanctuary, and though this is the title of the song, that word is only mentioned one time throughout the track (“more than fun, you’re the sanctuary.”) as if there are so many words to describe her, he can’t limit himself to just one. He expresses that she has made him realize she is all he wants in his life. 

He wants her to know that he’s ready for whatever she wants, as long as she is sincere. He calls her a fallen star and says, “I’ve been aiming for heaven above, but an angel ain’t what I need.” Seeing someone you love in an angelic light is easy but being able to think more realistically by recognizing that they’re just human, and that’s more than enough for you, is somewhat profound. She is not an angel, but that comforts him even more than if she were. 

Creep by Radiohead

This song is about feeling like you’ve been so heavily graced by someone’s presence that you feel inferior to them. The narrator of this song talks about how he couldn’t even look someone he was attracted to in the eyes, because “you’re just like an angel, your skin makes me cry.”

He feels unworthy around her, and she makes him question himself. While Radiohead’s Creep is surely their most popular song, the band has come to dislike it. They have gotten tired of playing it so much, but fans haven’t stopped relating to its raw lyrics.

Halo by Beyonce 

This is a classic 2010s pop song that’s hard not to sing along to. In this song, Beyonce talks about how she is thankful for someone coming into her life and making it so much better. She had her guard up and was a different person before she met them. Everything from her past stops mattering to her as she’s “standing in the light of your halo, I got my angel now.”

She declares that she sees this person in everything now and doesn’t want to lose this newfound perspective. She knows it’s a risk to wear her heart on her sleeve, but in this one case, she feels divinely protected and guided in doing so.

The A Team by Ed Sheeran

This heartbreaking song was Ed Sheeran’s first hit and put him on the map as an artist. It tells a true story of a homeless woman he met while volunteering named Angel. The song narrates what he imagines Angel’s life to be like from what little he knew about her, and is full of cold, dark, imagery.

Angel was a sex worker who was addicted to drugs, and Ed met her when he was only 18. He was performing at a holiday event for homeless people, and after meeting some of the audience, he learned that they would get put back onto the streets right after the show. This would touch many hearts, and Ed likely felt guilty that he couldn’t do anything more for them. 

Angel was one person who particularly stuck with him, it seems. Towards the end of the song he repeats, “it’s too cold outside for angels to fly.” This was likely meant in both a literal and figurative sense, that no one deserves to be homeless, and that he worries about Angel specifically and wishes she had an environment where she could flourish.

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I Miss You by Blink-182

This pop-punk anthem begins with a guitar riff that pulls at your heart and the lyrics “hello there, the angel from my nightmare” which sounds like an oxymoronic phrase. It doesn’t make sense for an angel to be in a nightmare, but when you’re used to living in a dark place, a person changing your perspective and helping you see a light can really feel like that.

The song is pessimistic, and references Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, a couple who was bound to never last. Jack Skellington is infamously toxic, and this allusion is perhaps the narrator reflecting on how he took advantage of a good person’s feelings for him, instead of treating her properly. He talks about his inability to pick up the phone and call her, likely because he knows she deserves better. He knows it’s over but can’t stop missing her.

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Conclusion

When someone, or something, amazingly wonderful comes into your life, the easiest conclusion to come to may be that you have encountered something celestial and other-worldly. Despite how unique this may feel, it is all many can hope and yearn for, especially in hindsight. These artists do an excellent job at describing inexplicable feelings in their songs with angel in the title.

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