5 songs to soundtrack your Cancer season

When I think of Cancers, I think of a warm hug. The kind of transformative hug that feels like it can heal all ailments, physical or otherwise. 

Cancers really do pour all of themselves into the people they love. Regardless of gender, people born under this sun sign come imbued with a maternal and giving nature, to care for and tend to is their natural state. 

They share traits with the other water signs (Scorpio, Pisces) like deep intuition, a penchant for emotionality and an innate artistic spirit, but they're a touch more understated in their demeanour. Their presence is always felt, but they're rarely the loudest in the room. 

Cancers are typically homebodies who see their home as a sanctuary, a reprieve when the outside world gets to be too much. But, just because they sometimes shy away from that world doesn't mean they're not acutely attuned to it. They're tapped in on an almost cosmic level to what makes other people tick, which makes them really powerful songwriters. 

CBC Life astrologer Bryanna Collier says that Cancer season can help us to become more intuitive and discover new pleasures at home. "When the sun enters this cardinal water sign, we're encouraged to take pride in our ability to connect with others emotionally," she says.

Dive deep into your emotional side with these five songs by Cancer songwriters. 

'Loyal,' PartyNextDoor feat. Drake

PartyNextDoor hooked up with fellow water sign Drake (a.k.a. the king of the Scorpios) for this slow jam about finding the one. Cancers love to be committed, they're looking for their forever person. They want someone who feels like home, like their best friend, as PartyNextDoor sings in the pre-chorus.

'Don't be Sad,' Tate McRae

Cancers don't like being told to look on the bright side when they're opening up about emotional struggles. It's best to keep that variety of toxic optimism far away from them. Cancers want space to lean into the melancholy, not to pretend that it's not there. 

Tate McRae wrote "Don't be Sad" about someone who never really understood her and minimized what she was feeling, mocking her for "being dramatic, or too sad or too depressed." You can hear the frustration as she sings the refrain: "Don't be sad, the sun is shining/ Just be happy, why you whining?"

'Here,' Alessia Cara

You know that moment when your social battery runs out and all of sudden there's nowhere you'd rather be than in your own space? Cancers feel that more often than most. Alessia Cara's breakout hit, "Here," is the ultimate anthem for people who know when the party is over and it's time to go home.

'I Won't Give Up,' Deborah Cox

Like many Cancers, R&B legend Deborah Cox has a firm grasp on sentimentality. Her pen is unmatched when it comes to hitting you directly in the feels — and before you know it, you're weeping! "I Won't Give Up" and most of the other tracks on her 1998 album One Wish do this expertly. 

'Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time),' Elisapie

Elisapie's touching cover of "Time After Time" from her upcoming album, Inuktitut, is a stirring rendition of a song all about devotion. Cyndi Lauper, the star behind the original hit, is a Cancer herself, which may be why the lyrics are overloaded with the heart-wrenching sensitivity that water signs tap into so well.