As many of my articles reflect, I am a huge fan of the musical genre. Musicals have the power to convey a collective intensity of emotion that, when written with care, can be very powerfully moving. There is absolutely a place for upbeat, happy-go-lucky musicals in today's musical landscape, but I also find myself frequently listening to musicals that make me tear up and think about my place in the world. Genuinely emotional musicals are beautiful specimens that deserve to be celebrated, and I will celebrate some of my favorites here. This is only a mere sample of the many emotional musicals that writers have created over the years, but it contains a selection of musicals with soundtracks that I find to be continually culturally relevant.

1. Dear Evan Hansen

Ever since the soundtrack to Dear Evan Hansen was released a couple of weeks ago and promptly debuted at #8 on the Billboard Charts, the highest debut for a musical theater album since 1961, this show has taken the internet by storm. It tells the emotional tale of high schooler Evan Hansen, who gets caught in a messy web of lies and must face the consequences of his actions. This beautiful show is also one of the first to take place explicitly in "the digital age," and it focuses heavily on the internet's power to bring people together. Dear Evan Hansen is the "show du jour" for a reason. The music, song after song after song, is uniquely melodic and emotionally grounded. You'll want a box of tissues next to you to dry your tears from laughter and crying while you listen to this.

2. Next To Normal

Dear Evan Hansen in many ways draws musical inspiration from Next To Normal, a Tony-winning show that closed on Broadway (arguably too soon) in 2011. This show tells the story of a mother with bipolar disorder managing her dysfunctional family life. It is filled with many rock-inspired songs, but also many beautiful softer songs sung by characters who are trying their best to figure out each other. Next To Normal has a large following among younger musical theater fans, and its music strikes a poignant chord of frustration and personal growth.

3. Waitress

This beautiful show, written by popular musician Sara Bareilles, details the story of Jenna, a waitress in a pie shop who must navigate an abusive relationship and simultaneous extramarital temptations. It does so in an often amusing, yet truly inspiring way. The show's triumphant musical conclusion is so uplifting and empowering that it left me crying in my theater seat, and subsequently tearing up while listening to the soundtrack. The music of Waitress has many ethereal musical refrains that pop in to songs periodically and remind the audience of the show's genuinely sweet core.

4. Spring Awakening

Spring Awakening has long been one of my favorite "angsty teen musicals," and it has a reason for such angst as it provides a cautionary tale about the dangers of teenagers acting recklessly without valuable advice from their parents. Though it is set in repressive 1890s Germany, its rock score transmits its important messages to modern audiences in a very relatable way. Spring Awakening is my go-to soundtrack when I need to ponder the challenges of the world. It is hard-hitting, but leaves room for emotional reflection and the occasional tear at certain characters' struggles.

5. Rent

Rent was one of the first, if not the first, mainstream rock musicals, and it paved the way for many of the shows I've listed above. Adapted from the opera La Boheme, it describes the downtrodden lives of several New York artists who live paycheck to paycheck and are reconciling themselves with their past actions. Rent was a gamechanger in the world of musicals and remains a classic, with many well-known songs like "Will I?" that are both catchy and emotionally driven.

6. Big Fish

Another musical with a focus on family relationships, Big Fish follows a man named Edward Bloom and his son Will, who tries to piece together the larger-than-life stories of Edward's life while Edward's story is nearing its conclusion. Though not a hugely popular show, Big Fish contains many beautiful musical interactions between Edward, his family, and his lifelong friends. Its conclusion is heartbreaking and emotionally vulnerable, and leaves the listener feeling truly connected to Edward's life story.

7. Cabaret

This classic show about the intersection of many fated lives in Nazi Germany will not just tug at your heartstrings, but wrench at them. Though the first act is largely musically upbeat and spirited, the songs in the second act are much darker in tone and leave the listener feeling emotionally raw from their investment in the characters' tumultuous stories. Cabaret beautifully and artfully brings to life a time period which has become cemented in the minds of many as a purely historical event. Its songs remind the listener that those who perished in Nazi Germany were artists, dancers, writers, business owners, and other professionals whose identity was unfortunately lost, along with their lives.

8. Falsettos

If there's one show soundtrack on this list that will make you both cry and feel extremely grateful for the loving presence of your family in your life, it's Falsettos. It tells the story of Marvin, a man with a fractured home life thanks to his new lover Whizzer. The show takes many emotional turns from there, and like Next To Normal it is entirely sung through. This gives the soundtrack listeners the entire tale of this astoundingly beautiful show. The songs are heartfelt, often funny, and, when necessary, unabashedly melancholy.

9. Merrily We Roll Along

The premise of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, on the surface, does not sound particularly unusual. It focuses on the story of three friends who team up to write a musical and subsequently must face the realities of their friendships growing apart. However, the show's emotional core lies in the fact that it is told backwards. The songs in the beginning take place at the end of the story, after the friends have all gone through emotional turmoil and arrived at a more mature, less chummy place in their lives. This makes the optimistic songs at the show's end, yet chronological beginning, tinged with a sense of loss. Though this show is often swept under the rug of Sondheim's lauded canon, it has an absolutely beautiful score that deserves love and attention.

10. The Last Five Years

As with Merrily, the emotional power of The Last Five Years lies in its unusual depiction of time. It features a boyfriend and girlfriend, one who tells the story of their five-year relationship from start to finish and one who tells the same story from finish to start. Their stories meet in the middle, but by then the listener has already heard both sides of the story. This show's music focuses on solos from each member of the relationship, which allows for uniquely personal musical exploration where the listener can truly get inside each of the characters' heads. Its songs brim with passion and hunger for life, and also illustrate an honest tale of a relationship that is never meant to last forever.

11. La La Land

Unlike the rest of the shows on this list, La La Land has not yet been adapted into a stage musical, but I have no doubt that this will be in its future. A musical nonetheless, it sings the story of two aspiring artists in Los Angeles who meet, fall in love, and must then navigate how to balance their artistic dreams with their personal lives. La La Land features many traditional songs that capture the raw emotions of chasing dreams, and also features many instrumental moments that allow the listener to soar emotionally and consider their own dreams.

La La Land's score is delicate, artistic, and composed with care, as are all the scores on this list. Musicals have the wonderful power to express complicated emotions in song that cannot be captured with plain dialogue.Perfectly executed musicals celebrate songs that take audiences on breathtaking emotional journeys, as well as songs that provide laughs. These are the shows that truly deserve standing ovations.