Few voices in contemporary British indie-folk carry the raw emotional weight of Tom Odell’s. Since emerging from Brighton in the early 2010s, this singer-songwriter has been quietly building one of the most emotionally resonant catalogues in modern music. Whether you first heard him on a late-night playlist or caught him at a festival, chances are one of his songs stopped you in your tracks. This definitive guide to the best Tom Odell songs explores 20 tracks that define his artistry — from the soaring piano balladry that made him famous to the darker, more experimental sounds of his recent work. Grab your headphones (and if you’re shopping for the right pair, this headphone comparison guide will make sure you’re hearing every piano note the way Tom intended), and let’s dive in.
Another Love
If there is one song that defines Tom Odell’s career, it is Another Love. Released in 2013 on his debut EP Songs from Another Love and later featured on his debut album Long Way Down, this track has since amassed billions of streams across platforms — a number that still feels surreal for a sparse piano ballad recorded by a then-unknown 22-year-old. The production, handled by Caran Tini, strips everything back to just piano, vocals, and minimal orchestration, allowing Odell’s trembling baritone to carry every ounce of emotional devastation. Lyrically, the song explores emotional exhaustion after heartbreak — the idea that you’ve already given everything you had in a previous relationship and have nothing left to offer someone new. It’s a uniquely cruel kind of loneliness, and Odell captures it with a specificity that makes listeners feel both seen and gutted. The bridge, where his voice cracks under the weight of the refrain, remains one of the most affecting moments in 21st-century British folk.
Heal
Heal, from the 2013 debut album Long Way Down, is where Tom Odell first showed he was more than a one-trick melodramatic pianist. The song is gentler, almost hymn-like in its construction, with a warm piano melody that feels like sunlight filtering through curtains after a long, dark night. Odell’s vocal performance here is measured rather than explosive — he leans into restraint, and the result is deeply moving. Lyrically, Heal is about the desire to fix someone you love, and the humbling realization that love alone isn’t always enough to do that. It’s emotionally mature writing from a very young artist. The song works beautifully on headphones, where the layered reverb tails and delicate string arrangements reveal themselves with extraordinary detail.
Grow Old with Me
There is something almost painfully earnest about Grow Old with Me, and that earnestness is precisely what makes it so special. Rather than reaching for clever metaphors or oblique imagery, Odell states his devotion plainly and completely — and trusts the melody to carry the weight. The song’s structure is deceptively simple: verses that build with understated piano, leading to a chorus that opens up like a sigh of relief. It’s the kind of song that sounds equally powerful playing through a car stereo on a road trip and echoing through a concert hall. Thematically, it sits alongside the great romantic piano ballads of the past 50 years, evoking shades of Elton John and Randy Newman, while remaining distinctly, unmistakably Tom Odell.
Hold Me
Hold Me occupies an interesting place in Odell’s discography — it’s one of his most direct songs emotionally, yet it contains some of his most sophisticated production choices. The track blends his signature piano-forward sound with subtle electronic textures that hint at the sonic evolution he’d pursue more aggressively in later work. The vocal delivery is warm and aching simultaneously, and the chorus hits with the kind of effortless melodic hook that most songwriters spend careers chasing. Listening to Hold Me in the context of his full catalogue, it feels like a bridge between the raw confessionalism of Long Way Down and the more refined emotional landscape of Wrong Crowd.
Can’t Pretend
Can’t Pretend is one of the tracks that cemented Odell’s reputation as a generational melodist. The song’s central piano motif is immediately recognizable — the kind of figure that embeds itself in your memory after a single listen. Lyrically, it deals with the impossibility of pretending you don’t feel what you feel for someone, even when the relationship has clearly run its course. There’s a theatrical quality to the arrangement that nods toward Odell’s admiration for classic singer-songwriters: the way the dynamics swell and recede mirrors the emotional tug-of-war at the song’s centre. Live, this song takes on an enormous presence, with Odell’s vocal performance gaining intensity with each successive chorus.
Real Love
Real Love is one of those songs that sneaks up on you. It begins quietly, almost conversationally, before revealing an emotional depth that lingers long after the final chord resolves. Odell wrote the track during a period of genuine personal reflection, and that authenticity translates directly into the listening experience. The production is clean and airy, with piano and subtle percussion creating a backdrop that never competes with the vocals. This is a song that rewards close listening — particularly on a good pair of earbuds, where the mix’s careful spatial detail becomes apparent.
I Know
I Know finds Odell in a more resigned emotional space than his more explosive ballads. The track is built on a gentle, rolling piano progression and explores the specific sadness of knowing a relationship is ending before it has officially ended — the slow-motion grief of a conclusion you can see coming but cannot stop. His vocal phrasing here is particularly impressive; there’s a conversational quality to the melody that makes the song feel like an overheard confession rather than a composed performance. It’s one of the more understated songs in his catalogue, and all the more powerful for it.
Magnetised
From his second studio album Wrong Crowd (2016), Magnetised represents one of Odell’s most ambitious artistic statements. The production, handled with care by Jim Abbiss and Olof Arnalds, layers orchestral strings over a propulsive piano figure, creating a sense of forward momentum that feels almost cinematic. Lyrically, the song grapples with attraction as a force beyond rational control — the feeling of being pulled toward someone despite every reason not to be. The orchestral crescendo in the final third of the track is genuinely breathtaking, the kind of arrangement that rewards listening at full volume. Magnetised demonstrated that Odell was capable of thinking beyond the intimate piano ballad and constructing something genuinely epic.
Wrong Crowd
The title track from his 2016 album is one of Odell’s most cinematically compelling songs. Wrong Crowd builds with a brooding piano-and-strings arrangement before erupting into a chorus of enormous emotional scale. The lyrical theme — falling in with people and situations that diminish rather than nurture you — resonates with a universal coming-of-age experience, yet Odell frames it with specificity that feels deeply personal. Sonically, the track draws on a lineage of British dramatic pop that includes Scott Walker and Nick Cave, filtered through Odell’s distinctly romantic sensibility. This song belongs on every playlist exploring the best songs of the indie-folk generation.
Somehow
Somehow is a meditation on hope in the face of emotional chaos. The song’s production is warmer and more intimate than some of the grander orchestral pieces in his catalogue, returning to the stripped-back piano-and-voice dynamic that first introduced him to the world. The melody is quietly gorgeous — one of those tunes that feels familiar from the first listen, as though it has always existed and Odell simply discovered it. Lyrically, it captures the fragile optimism of believing that things will work out, despite all evidence to the contrary. It’s a quiet masterpiece.
Concrete
Concrete is one of the more surprising entries in Odell’s catalogue and one of the most rewarding. The track leans into a rawer, less polished sonic aesthetic — the production feels deliberately grittier, with a piano tone that sounds almost distressed. Thematically, the song deals with rigidity and emotional distance, using the central metaphor of concrete (hard, unyielding, grey) to describe both a person and a state of being. It’s a bold choice of imagery for an artist known for more conventionally romantic subject matter, and it signals a genuine maturation in his songwriting craft. The track sits in an interesting space between art-rock and folk-pop.
Here I Am
Here I Am is a declaration rather than a lament, and that shift in emotional posture is what makes it stand out. Where many of Odell’s most beloved songs are about longing or loss, Here I Am is about presence and acceptance — an artist placing himself squarely in the middle of his own story, without apology or equivocation. The arrangement is spare but purposeful, and Odell’s vocal performance is among his most assured. It’s a song that rewards repeated listening, revealing new emotional layers with each encounter.
True Colours
Odell’s reading of True Colours — the Cyndi Lauper classic — is one of the most sensitive covers of the past decade. Rather than trying to compete with the original’s production, he strips the song to its barest emotional essentials: piano, voice, and space. The result is devastating. His interpretation emphasizes the song’s core theme of unconditional acceptance with a vulnerability that feels entirely his own. This is the kind of cover that makes you hear a familiar song in an entirely new way.
Silhouette
Silhouette is built around one of Odell’s most haunting piano melodies. The track creates a genuinely atmospheric listening experience — shadowy and introspective, with production that feels like it was recorded in the small hours of the morning. Lyrically, it explores absence and the way people leave their outlines in your life even after they’re gone. The song is a reminder that Odell’s greatest gift isn’t just melody, but his ability to find the precise image or phrase that makes an abstract emotion suddenly, painfully concrete.
If You Wanna Love Somebody
In contrast to many of his more somber pieces, If You Wanna Love Somebody carries an almost urgent energy. The piano rhythm is more driving, the vocals more insistent, and the emotional register is closer to frustrated desire than resigned sadness. The track demonstrates Odell’s range as a performer — he’s not simply the brooding balladeer; he’s capable of channeling a more immediate, pressured kind of feeling. The chorus is one of his most direct and memorable, a melodic hook that sticks immediately.
Jubilee Road
From his third studio album of the same name (2018), Jubilee Road marked an important evolution in Odell’s artistic identity. The album was a concept record inspired by the street in London where he lived, and the title track channels that storytelling ambition into a sweeping, character-driven narrative. The production is richer and more textured than earlier work, incorporating Hammond organ tones and a slightly rootsier arrangement that nods toward classic British songwriting traditions. As an album opener, it sets a tone of ambitious, place-specific storytelling that runs through the entire record.
Half As Good As You (feat. Alice Merton)
The collaboration with German-British indie-pop artist Alice Merton is one of the most joyful entries in Odell’s catalogue — and joy is not always his primary register. The interplay between their two voices is remarkable, their timbres complementary without being identical, and the song’s central lyrical conceit (that the narrator could never be quite good enough for the person they love) gains extra emotional complexity through the duet format. The production is brighter and more overtly pop than Odell’s solo work, and it suits the material perfectly. It’s a song that sounds genuinely uplifting even as it explores the anxiety of romantic inadequacy.
Go Tell Her Now
Go Tell Her Now is an underrated gem in the Odell catalogue — a song that perhaps didn’t receive the commercial attention it deserved but has found a devoted audience among fans who dig deep into his discography. The track has a slightly folk-rock energy, with a more rhythmically engaged arrangement than his piano ballads. The vocal performance is urgent and emotionally precise, and the lyrical narrative — urging someone to act on their feelings before it’s too late — feels genuinely dramatic without tipping into melodrama.
numb
numb (stylized in lowercase) represents one of Odell’s most significant sonic shifts. The track leans into a more contemporary production aesthetic, with electronic elements and a more restrained, almost dissociated vocal performance that mirrors the emotional state described in the lyrics. It’s a song about emotional shutdown — the peculiar numbness that descends after prolonged periods of stress or sadness — and the production choice to strip away much of the warmth that characterizes his earlier work is a genuinely smart creative decision. numb marks Odell as an artist willing to evolve rather than simply repeat his early successes.
monster v.1
Closing this list with monster v.1 feels appropriate, because it is one of the boldest songs Tom Odell has released. The track grapples with self-perception and the darker aspects of one’s own character — the parts of yourself that you’re reluctant to examine too closely. The production is appropriately unsettling: minor-key piano, shadowy atmospheric textures, and a vocal performance that sounds genuinely troubled rather than performatively emotional. It’s the kind of song that demands full attention and rewards the listener who gives it. monster v.1 suggests that Tom Odell’s most interesting creative chapter may still be ahead of him.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tom Odell’s most famous song?
Another Love is by far Tom Odell’s most famous and widely streamed song. Originally released in 2013, it has accumulated billions of streams on Spotify and YouTube combined, becoming one of the most-streamed British piano ballads of the streaming era. The song has also experienced multiple viral moments on social media platforms, introducing new generations of listeners to Odell’s music.
What genre is Tom Odell?
Tom Odell is broadly categorized as indie pop, indie folk, and piano-driven singer-songwriter music. His early work sits firmly in the British indie-folk tradition, while his later albums have incorporated elements of art rock, chamber pop, and more contemporary electronic production. Artists like Elton John, Nick Cave, and Jeff Buckley are frequently cited as influences on his sound.
What album is “Another Love” on?
Another Love originally appeared on Tom Odell’s debut EP Songs from Another Love (2013) and was subsequently included on his debut full-length album Long Way Down, also released in 2013 on Columbia Records. The album was produced by Caran Tini and received strong critical reception in the UK.
Has Tom Odell won any awards?
Yes. Tom Odell won the Critics’ Choice Award at the BRIT Awards in 2013, an award that has historically been a strong predictor of long-term success in British music. Previous winners have included Adele, Florence and the Machine, and Ellie Goulding, placing Odell in distinguished company.
What is Tom Odell’s most recent music?
Tom Odell has continued releasing new music through the 2020s, with tracks like numb, monster v.1, and Black Friday representing his more recent output. These songs reflect a continued evolution in his production aesthetic, incorporating more contemporary sonic elements while maintaining the emotional directness that defines his songwriting.
Is Tom Odell good live?
Tom Odell is widely regarded as an outstanding live performer. His piano-centered performances translate powerfully to concert settings, and his vocal delivery — particularly in emotionally climactic moments — has drawn consistent praise from reviewers and fans alike. He has performed at major festivals including Glastonbury and has undertaken extensive headline tours in the UK and Europe.
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