The decision to seize the day often comes after a life-changing event, opening your eyes to the passing years and the importance of living wholeheartedly in the present.
We’ve collected some stand-out songs about seizing the day to help set the wheels in motion and give you the affirmation you need, whether you’re struggling to escape your heartbreak, or embracing your youth while it lasts.
Songs About Seizing The Day
1. Avenged Sevenfold – Seize The Day
Avenged Sevenfold’s 2006 metal hit, Seize The Day, uses its slick blend of clarity and lush distortions to mirror the emotional strain of change. In true power ballad style, A7X embed a plethora of velvet melodies and harmonic details, each loaded with an empowering, emotional force.
Whilst this track is centred in making your way through crippling adversity, every hopeful sentiment is woven with painful regression to the past; an aspect reflected equally as well in the track’s harmony as it wavers between fragile heartbreak, optimism and rage;
“Seize the day or die regretting the time you lost, it’s empty and cold without you here, too many people to ache over… I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but I’m too young to worry.”
This track is for anyone who realises it’s time to seize the moment and shift perspectives, despite having to face their inner demons and leave the past behind.
2. Paul McCartney – Seize The Day
Paul McCartney’s 2021 single draws back to the psychedelic 1960s in a number of ways. Seize the Day’s lyrics are magnificently optimistic, bringing carefree, flower-power attitudes brightly into the modern age;
“I don’t care to be bad, I prefer to think twice, all I know is it’s quite a show, but it’s still alright to be nice … I don’t mean to be wrong, I don’t need to be right, I’m okay on a sunny day, when the world deserves to be bright.”
McCartney illustrates the transition of eras to uniquely demonstrate the importance of appreciating what you have during each age you glide through; “When the cold days come and the old ways fade away, there’ll be no more sun, and we’ll wish that we had held on to the day, seize the day.”
3. One Direction – Live While We’re Young
One Direction’s 2012 hit single, Live While We’re Young, is an anthem to seizing the day, making memories and relishing in every moment of your youth.
With lyrics anchored in the concept of wild, young love, Live While We’re Young is detailed with the golden essence of free-spirited summer adventure without missing a single moment;
“Let’s go crazy, crazy, crazy ’til we see the sun, I know we only met but let’s pretend it’s love, and never, never, never stop for anyone, tonight let’s get some and live while we’re young.”
The nostalgia now blanketing this track gives another layer of symbolism to it. Like Paul McCartney’s track above, the rich memory of a bygone era spurs us to appreciate what we have now, before it also disappears.
4. Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten
This iconic pop hit by Natasha Bedingfield is a quintessential song about seizing every day which lies before you.
Unwritten gains its title from its lyrical metaphor of perceiving the future as an unwritten diary, open for endless potential and adventure – all you have to do is embrace the experiences;
“I’m just beginning, the pen’s in my hand, ending unplanned, staring at the blank page before you, open up the dirty window … Reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it.”
Natasha’s track is another hope-inspired anthem of reaching your full potential, opening your heart and delving into life rather than simply moving along with its current;
“Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you, only you can let it in… Drench yourself in words unspoken, live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten.”
5. Bless – Seize The Day
Bless’ hip-hop track, Seize The Day, carries an absolutely addictive energy, his lyrics resonating with anyone struggling to find the motivation to finally achieve their dreams.
From his first lines, Bless’ personality radiates as he embellishes honest dark humour upon a stunningly plush and enlivening soundscape; “Tryna figure out this life, y’all, what the f*** am I tryna live for, man.”
This track is about survival in its purest forms; both fighting to be at the top of your game whilst searching for a reason to care about change, demonstrated eloquently through lines such as; “Tryna make sense of what it is to be alive in a world of my sins.”
6. Jonas & The Massive Attraction – Seize The Day
Jonas & The Massive Attraction’s rock single, Seize The Day, is about persevering through life’s disaster and the unfairness that rains down upon you.
This track’s inherently strong attitude is stylistically undertoned by glimmers of melancholy and emotional weakness to showcase the harsher reality of seizing the day, whilst lyrically crafted around the relentless act of hanging on, even at your worst;
“Sometimes you’re forced to the limit, and you talk to God of a limit, and be grateful of every minute, when it all keeps slipping away, seize the day.”
7. Deluxe – Seize Your Day
This 2016 pop track by Deluxe carries an array of enchanting influences within its electric fusion.
Anchored in a clean and vibrant funk groove, this blue-skied track weaves moments of jazz, R&B, electronica and Latin into its mix, creating a sound that’s addictively refreshing yet undertoned by an absorbing, retro ambience.
Seize Your Day’s chorus is lined with an empowering message of becoming your best self, surmounting all odds and expectation; “Seize your day, get up and slay, whatever may get in your way.”
8. Wax Taylor ft. Charlotte Savary – Seize The Day
Wax Taylor & Charlotte Savary’s track, Seize The Day, overlays its hypnotic jazz harmony with vocals which capture a captivating blend of vintage and modern effects.
Spoken word samples add an oddly enchanting layer to an already quirky track, highlighting its stunningly warm and woody instrumental tones.
Seize The Day’s lyrics cleverly neglect to directly reference the title, instead forming a metaphor to invoke the daredevil energy of seizing every moment regardless of instinctive fear;
“Hold them close, petals of a rose, thorns as well, friends and foes, have no fear, I don’t mind whatever happens.”