The Cure's new song 'Alone' has launched YouTube's most emotionally powerful comment section
The comments are more inspiring than the song itself.
Internet comment sections can be Wild Wests of rage-bait trolling, deadpan hilarity, even flat-out cruelty. But if you find the right YouTube music video, you click away feeling deeply moved—and maybe less alone in the universe.
Ironically, a perfect example is The Cure’s lyric video for, well, "Alone." The song was released on September 26, 2024, previewing the iconic goth-rock band’s first album in 16 years, Songs of a Lost World. And, needless to say, some diehard fans were in a vulnerable place—as of this writing, there are nearly 8,200 comments, and many of them are heavy and profound, touching on love and grief and the communal power of art.
Likely inspired by the long delay for new Cure music and "Alone"’s melancholy themes of passing time, many viewers note their ages—some are late teenagers, while others are pushing their 80s. Most of them seem swept up in both nostalgia and "live for today" resilience.
"My father was a huge Cure fan," one sure wrote. "He took me to see them in concert in the summer of 2012 for our first gig together when I was 15 in a French festival called Eurockéennes. He passed away on June 27, 2024 at 53. Hope he can hear this song from where he is."
"I’m 76 (EEEK)," added another. "I have lived alone for most of my life (my choice) but so many of the people I cared about are dead. I have always loved sad songs. The Cure are one of my all-time favorite bands."
One commenter, 52, remembered falling in love with The Cure at age 14, after finding a cassette in a parking lot while walking home from school. "It was worn out, no case, no words on it," she wrote. "I picked it up, took it home, curious to listen to it. To see why someone had loved it so much…" That album, the 1986 greatest-hits package Standing on a Beach, "completely changed [her] entire existence" and "awakened something in [her] soul."
In one of the most heartbreaking comments, someone wrote about processing "Alone" in their car, sitting in front of their house at night—not long after separating from their spouse. "It’s absurd to see how much the lyrics are talking about me," they noted. "My wife left me two months ago and there was nothing I could do about that. I'm focused on myself and reacting well because I have to, but all the emotions related to the sadness of loss after many years together must get out of me somehow and this song came just on time. I love the Cure, but I have to manage all that sadness, so I know I will not get addicted to this song. I don't want to stay alone most of my life because I want to share and give the love I feel I have inside."
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Numerous people wrote that "Alone"—maybe the song itself, perhaps the very fact that it exists, maybe the emotions it stirred up—made them cry. "Unbelievable," one user wrote. "I’m 56 and cried. I needed this proof that I'm alive." Someone else: "I’m 56 and cried like a baby. It feels like going home."
Not all comment sections are created equal. (Almost every classic rock song in history will bring filler posts like "Who’s still listening in 2025?") It's all about finding the right song in the right space. One Redditor, for example, wrote, "YouTube comment section makes me connect to a song more deeply."
We just have to keep seeking those poignant moments. In the meantime, we recommend you visit YouTube, bask in the post-rock grandeur of The Cure’s "Alone," and have a good cry of your own.