Everything you need to know about the Next To Normal songs
Posted on 7 November 2024
Did you miss the electrifying Next To Normal? The incredibly heartfelt and hard-hitting musical features a family dealing with grief, generational trauma and mental health. With a plot that’s guaranteed to make you cry and music that’ll make you sing, it’s a beautiful show you’ll want to revisit time and time again.
Sadly, the show is no longer on in the West End, but you can listen to the music. So get familiar with the familial drama as we go through the Next To Normal songs in order.
All the Next To Normal songs in order
Next To Normal Act One Songs
Just Another Day
Opening the show, mum Diana gives us an insight into her daily life and introduces us to the other family members. We get a brief look at the family dynamics and tensions
Everything Else
Overachieving Natalie - the only daughter - practices for her upcoming recital, and we hear her wish for order and a way out of her current life.
Who’s Crazy / My Psychopharmacologist And I
When Diana’s diagnosis is shared, we hear about Dan’s hidden struggles. We then transition into a doctor’s appointment where Diana is prescribed various medications to manage her symptoms. It becomes a dreamlike sequence with nods to The Sound of Music’s These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things. It’s one of the more fun Next To Normal songs, despite its subject matter.
Perfect For You
When Natalie meets the stoner, Henry, he offers her a supportive shoulder to lean on. Though the world is messed up, he knows he could be perfect for her and her needs. It’s a realistic yet optimistic love song that offers Natalie hope to find the love she desperately craves.
I Miss The Mountains
Providing a turning point in the show, I Miss The Mountains is a beautiful tune that depicts Diana’s trepidation about losing herself and her individuality to medication. By the end of the song, Diana takes her mental health into her own hands, and her treatment takes a hard turn.
It’s Going To Be Good
Leaning into optimism, Dan exclaims that things are going to be good. It has a Western musical feel with an up-tempo rhythm and fiddles. But like most Next To Normal songs, the following scene obliterates the joyous pretence.
He’s Not Here
We learn that Diana's interactions with her son are hallucinations, and he died many years ago. Dan gently reminds her of his death, showing this isn't the first time the family has been through this.
You Don’t Know
After Dan tries to comfort her, Diana gets angry and declares that he’ll never understand the pain she’s experiencing. It’s a hard rock number that allows the actor playing Diana to let all the pent-up emotion out in one powerful performance.
I Am The One
When Diana clings to her projection of her son rather than accept Dan’s offer of comfort, Dan proclaims that he’s always been there and cares about her more than anyone else. Allowing his frustration and suffering to come to light, is one of the most foreshadowing of the Next To Normal songs.
Superboy And The Invisible Girl
After an explosive episode with her parents, Natalie vents to her now-boyfriend Henry. The heartbreaking song sees the daughter confess her feelings of inferiority and jealousy toward her dead brother. But, the ghost of said brother can’t let her have her moment and sings along with her.
I’m Alive
When Diana visits a new doctor who proposes a new treatment plan, the apparition of her son appears to assert his dominance. Possibly the biggest and most well-known of the Next To Normal songs, it's a powerful number that demonstrates how relenting grief and suffering can be
Make Up Your Mind / Catch Me I’m Falling
As Diana’s new doctor tries to hypnotise her, we find out more about Diana and Dan’s relationship and how they’ve reached this point.
I Dreamed A Dance
After Diana is sent home and encouraged to spend time with Natalie and find closure by clearing her son’s belongings, she becomes nostalgic and sees her son again.
There’s A World
With Diana left vulnerable, her son convinces her to join him so they can be together. One of the most shocking yet still moments of the show, it’s both beautiful and harrowing.
I’ve Been
After Diana’s suicide attempt, Dan is struggling. Close to his own breakdown, he reflects on the past with Diana. Desperate to get those good times back, he consents to ECT.
Didn’t I See This Movie?
When the concept of ECT is presented to Diana, she likens her life to the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Disgusted by the idea of the treatment, she refuses to consent.
A Light In The Dark
At a loss for other options, Dan gently convinces Diana to agree to treatment. One of the quieter Next To Normal songs, it’s a moment of desperation and forced hope.
Next To Normal Act Two Songs
Wish I Was Here
During the Act II opener, we see Natalie spiral and experiment with drugs. Hitting the clubs, she’s the quintessential good-girl-goes-bad. Henry tries to bring her to her senses, but Natalie is so preoccupied with the parallels she has with her mother, she’s fearful of the future.
Song of Forgetting
After her ECT, Diana struggles to remember anything from her life. Dan brings her home and tries to remind her of their home - with one big component missing
Hey #1
Still concerned with her drug use and partying, Henry approaches Natalie to check in on her. Natalie dismisses Henry’s olive branch and breaks up with him.
Seconds and Years
Dan and Natalie go to the doctor to discuss Natalie’s memory loss. The doctor gives him some exercises to help her restore her memories.
Better Than Before
Dan and Diana go through a box of old photos, but all pictures and reminders of their son have been removed due to Dan's concerns.
Aftershocks
An echo of her son confronts her to remind her that she’s forgotten something huge, and though she doesn’t know what, she feels something is wrong.
Hey #2
Undeterred by her rejection, Henry tries to convince her to go to the school dance again.
You Don’t Know (Reprise)
During a visit to her doctor, Diana confesses that she feels something is missing. Her doctor lets it slip that she had a son who died - something Dan has been trying to hide.
How Could I Ever Forget?
Diana suddenly remembers her son and the circumstances of his death, and we hear of the night he passed. Dan still tries to rationalise his grief and loss, both of his son and the wife he knew.
It’s Gonna Be Good (Reprise)
Like other Next To Normal songs, this reprise has similar themes and lyrics to its first appearance, but it has been twisted and changed into its own thing. When Diana realises she’s hallucinated a teen version of her son, Dan frantically tries to convince her to go back to the doctor to receive some more treatment.
Why Stay? / A Promise
Dan’s desperation to get her back to the doctor and possibly have another round of ECT causes a massive argument between the couple that Natalie witnesses. Diana asks Dan why he stayed, and Henry appears to take Natalie to the dance - both men declare that they made a promise they’ll keep no matter how much they’re pushed away.
I’m Alive (Reprise)
Despite the arguments, Diana sees her son once again and is drawn away from Dan.
The Break
Diana goes to her doctor and says she’s fed up with being medicated as it’s never helped remedy her grief.
Make Up Your Mind / Catch Me I’m Falling (Reprise)
Diana’s doctor suggests further ECT. Diana declines and leaves, deciding to face her grief.
Maybe (Next To Normal)
When Diana returns home, she finds Natalie and connects with her in the most sincere and genuine way she ever has. They note their similarities and that they’ll never have a normal relationship or life, but will strive to have something close to it.
Hey #3
Diana takes Natalie to the dance where she confesses to Henry that she worries she’ll have the same issues as her mother. Henry promises to stand by her side no matter what.
So Anyway
After her revelations, Diana decides to leave. Despite the love she has for Dan, both of them need time alone to deal with their grief.
I Am the One (Reprise)
Devastated and betrayed, Dan reflects on the years he was faithful and dedicated to Diana. But with Diana gone, he acknowledges his grief and the constant presence of his son, Gabe. Now he’s left on his own, he can’t deny him any longer.
Light
As everyone gets used to their new lives, Dan accepts help, Gabe serves a message of hope instead of threat, Natalie faces the hurts she’s felt, and Diana is optimistic for the future. It’s a beautiful uplifting song that leaves the show on a high.
Don’t miss out on amazing shows
It may be too late to hear the Next To Normal songs live, but there are whispers of a proshot coming to cinemas in the future. For now, why not book tickets to one of the West End’s best musicals or plays to quench your theatrical thirst?
