15 Songs About Love Triangles

They say that love is never simple; but that statement is made even more complicated when you involve three people in a triangle of attraction. In this list, we’re talking about songs that deal with love triangles and the many scenarios it can lead to. 

Sam Smith – Leave Your Lover

Sam Smith truly is a master when it comes to evoking emotions with the beauty of his voice set against a solitary guitar and the piano. In this song, he is in love with someone who’s already in a relationship. He can no longer hold his emotions in so he begs this person to be with him instead. It’s a sad and achingly haunting song that might just bring you to tears.

Leave your lover lyrics: Pack up and leave everything

Don’t you see what I can bring

Can’t keep this beating heart at bay

Set my midnight sorrow free

I will give you all of me

Just leave your lover, leave him for me

Leave your lover, leave him for me

Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better

This song has become the anthem for NiceGuys, but it’s still a sweet song that shows how much the singer cares for a girl. In this song, Shawn sings to a girl who’s in a relationship with a man who’s not right for her. He tells her that she can do better than this guy she’s seeing, and at the same time, he explicitly states that he’s a better choice than her current beau.

Leave your lover lyrics: I know I can treat you better than he can

And any girl like you deserves a gentleman

Tell me why are we wasting time

On all your wasted crying

When you should be with me instead

I know I can treat you better

Better than he can

Taylor Swift – You Belong with Me

Now here’s a song about the same situation as above, but this time told from the point of view of a high school girl. In this song, Taylor sings as a high school girl who’s in love with a guy. Sadly, the guy is dating one of the popular cheerleaders. Taylor, on the other hand, is your typical girl next door who’s more in tune with what the guy actually likes.

Leave your lover lyrics: Oh, I remember you drivin’ to my house in the middle of the night

I’m the one who makes you laugh

When you know you’re about to cry

And I know your favorite songs

And you tell me about your dreams

I think I know where you belong

I think I know it’s with me

Can’t you see that I’m the one who understands you

Been here all along so why can’t you see

You belong with me

Spin Doctors – Two Princes

Two Princes is one of those popular songs that most people can hum along to without knowing or understanding the lyrics. The song is actually told from the point of view of a poor prince who is trying to convince a girl that she should marry him. His rival is a wealthy prince from another kingdom. However, instead of dazzling the girl with riches, he points out that she truly loves him and that he’s what a prince and lover ought to be.

Leave your prince lyrics: Marry him, or marry me,

I’m the one who loves you baby can’t you see

I ain’t got no future or family tree but

I know what a Prince and lover ought to be

I know what a Prince and lover ought to be

Whitney Houston – Saving All My Love for You

It’s easy to think that this is a sweet song about saving yourself for the man you love. But in reality, this song is about a woman who’s willing to be his last resort as long as she has him for some time. You can interpret this as a woman who’s pining for a man who’s already married. Listen to this song a few more times and you’ll see that this song is told from the point of view of a mistress.

Leave your family lyrics: You used to tell me we’d run away together

Love gives you the right to be free

You said be patient just wait a little longer

But that’s just an old fantasy

WHAM! – Careless Whisper

Did you know that George Michael wrote this song while he was just 17? He came up with the idea while taking the bus to go to his job as an usher at a cinema. Contrary to popular belief, however, Careless Whisper was not based on any events in his life. Instead, he’s just really good at convincing us that at 17, he was already stealing the ladies from his friends

Leave your lover lyrics: I’m never gonna dance again

Guilty feet have got no rhythm

Though it’s easy to pretend

I know you’re not a fool

I should have known better than to cheat a friend

And waste a chance that I’d been given

So I’m never gonna dance again

The way I danced with you

Amy Winehouse – Back to Black

Back to Black may just be one of the most tragic songs on this list, mainly because it’s based on real events in Amy’s life. The song is about her breakup with then-boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil. In this song, she sings about wanting to get back together with an ex who is already with someone new. She pines for him as she drinks the days away.

Leave your lover lyrics: We only said goodbye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

And I go back to black

The Lumineers – Ho Hey

This folksy sing-along song seems like a sweet romantic tune, one that you’d sing to someone you like. But there’s a catch; it’s actually about a guy who likes a girl who’s with someone else. The singer mentions living a lonely life and not knowing where he belongs. Along with this, he’s asking this girl who has a boyfriend to just run away with him and be as lost as he is.

Leave your lover lyrics: I don’t think you’re right for him

Think of what it might have been if we

Took a bus to Chinatown

I’d be standin’ on canal and Bowery

She’d be standin’ next to me

Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl

You may know this song from the popular iPod ads released back in the early 2000s. We’re not quite sure why they chose to go with this song, but we admit that it’s pretty catchy. Are You Gonna Be My Girl is a song about a guy who’s love struck with a girl who already has a boyfriend. But that doesn’t stop him from telling her that he wants to make her his.

Leave your lover lyrics: Well I could see

You home with me

But you were with another man, yeah!

I know we ain’t got much to say

Before I let you get away, yeah!

I said, are you gonna be my girl?

Balance and the Traveling Sounds – Something About Us

This song was originally by the French electro band, Daft Punk. However, this cover by Balance and Traveling sounds is in a league of its own. In this version, the title makes a lot more sense because it’s about a guy who feels a connection with a girl who’s already taken. He admits that it might not be the perfect time for them to get together, but there’s no denying the chemistry between them.

Leave your lover lyrics: Lately we’ve been way to close

Guilty grin when you can’t say no

Maybe you need to let things go

When you’re ready baby, let me know

Katy Perry – Thinking of You

Most songs on this list are about love triangles involving three people, one of which is confused about who to choose. In this song, however, the “third party” is the memory of an ex that Katy Perry can’t shake. Katy sings about how she still can’t let go of her ex even though she’s already with someone new.

Leaving my lover lyrics: Cause when I’m with him

I am thinking of you

Thinking of you

What you would do if

You were the one

Who was spending the night

Oh I wish that I

Was looking into your eyes

Mary McGregor – Torn Between Two Lovers

While most songs on this list are about actually being torn between two people (or liking someone who should be torn between two people), this one’s about outright cheating. Torn Between Two Lovers is a song that the protagonist is addressing to the man she’s in a relationship with. She admits to him that there’s another man in her life and that she’s having trouble choosing between the two.

Torn between two lovers lyrics: You mustn’t think you’ve failed me just because there’s someone else

You were the first real love I ever had

And all the things I ever said, I swear they still are true

For no one else can have the part of me I gave to you

I couldn’t really blame you if you turned and walked away

But with everything I feel inside, I’m asking you to stay

England Dan and John Ford Coley – It’s Sad to Belong (To Someone Else)

In this song, the duo sing about a man who finally meets the girl of his dreams. The catch is that he’s already married to someone else. He starts to dream about her and wishes that he could turn back time so that she’d be the one with him.

Torn between dreams and reality lyrics: So I lived my life in a dreamworld

For the rest of my days

Just you and me walkin’ hand in hand

In a wishful memory

Oh, I guess that’s all

That it would ever be

Wish I had a time machine

I could make myself go back

Until the day I was born

And I would live my life again

And rearrange it so that I’ll be

Yours from now on

Olivia Newton-John – I Honestly Love You

When you think about it, there are actually a ton of love songs about love triangles. However, this might be the only song about a love square. I Honestly Love You is a song about meeting the man of your dreams and falling in love with. And since there’s always a catch, the catch here is that you and that guy are both married to other people!

Leave your lover lyrics: If we both were born

In another place and time

This moment might be ending in a kiss

But there you are with yours

And here I am with mine

So I guess we’ll just be leaving it at this

New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle

Oddly enough, the last song on our list isn’t about a love triangle involving three people. It’s one that involves only two – a lover and the one he loves. The triangle lies in the conflicting feelings he has for this girl.

Conflicted feelings lyrics: Every time I think of you

I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue

It’s no problem of mine

But it’s a problem I find

Living a life that I can’t leave behind

But there’s no sense in telling me

The wisdom of the fool won’t set you free

But that’s the way that it goes

And it’s what nobody knows

Well every day my confusion grows

Which of these songs perfectly capture the feeling of being in a love triangle? Share your thoughts with us below!