Black Tears

In 2015, Imelda May split with her partner and longtime musical collaborator Darrel Higham, the father of her 4-year-old daughter. That earth-shattering event inspired songs such as this emotionally wrought tune, which reflects the emotions she felt after saying farewell to him. She co-wrote the tune in Nashville with Kings of Leon producer Angelo Petraglia. "I came up with the title first; It was after having a difficult goodbye and I came home and just caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and noticed my face was streaked with my mascara running," the Irish singer-songwriter recalled to Billboard magazine. "I have a book I use for each album where I write ideas, and I just wrote 'Black Tears.' And when I showed it to Angelo he thought that was an interesting idea and we ran with it."

The song features Jeff Beck. May previously sung on the English guitar legend's 2010 album, Emotion & Commotion. "I asked Jeff if he would play on my album, 'cause he's been so good to me," she said. "He said, 'Yes, send me some songs, ' so I sent him a few and he heard 'Black Tears' and said 'I want to play on that.' So I went down to his house and he played a few amazing solos. He was working on his 17th album at the time, so we had a great day having a few drinks and listening to each other's albums."