[Songs of Infidelity] A collection of forbidden love songs about unattainable romance

you are my cursenyamura

you are my curse / nyamura

A work by nyamura that captures the moment deep love turns into hatred.

Overwhelming, maddening feelings of love are conveyed through an understated melody and delicate sound design.

The desire to know everything about the other gradually becomes obsession, ultimately sublimating into emotions so intense they verge on hatred—an impression that lingers.

Released in June 2023, it went viral primarily on TikTok and topped Billboard JAPAN’s TikTok Weekly Top 20 for four consecutive weeks.

Depicting the boundary between pure love and madness, this piece will resonate deeply with anyone struggling with a love they cannot confess.

wanderingAKASAKI

[AKASAKI] Wandering / HAIKAI (Lyric Video)

A bittersweet love story portrayed as if wandering through the city at night.

With the purity of youth and a delicate sensibility, AKASAKI sings of a heart swayed by love.

Together with a chorus that soars in the hook, it becomes a gem of a ballad that beautifully conveys guilt and yearning.

Released in April 2025, this work, though arranged simply with piano and guitar, resonates with young listeners thanks to its richly expressive vocals.

Not every love story is pure and straightforward.

This song accompanies those who wrestle with the feelings smoldering deep in their hearts and those who hesitate to find the courage to take a step forward.

CountdownCocco

Cocco “Countdown” Music Video

This is Cocco’s shocking debut work, depicting the end of a forbidden love driven by sheer passion.

The provocative, self-destructive words that corner the other person may be a reflection of frustration and despair at a relationship with no way out.

Released in March 1997, the song is also included on the album Bougainvillea.

Because you love someone so much, you feel a twisted impulse to destroy the relationship with your own hands—knowing it’s selfish, yet unable to stop.

Perhaps such overwhelming passion comes from being consumed by a love that should never be.

PuzzleBAND-MAID

BAND-MAID / Puzzle (Official Live Video)

A connection that felt like destiny, yet a relationship that could never be.

This BAND-MAID song portrays the struggle of a forbidden love.

The way the narrator tells themselves it’s okay not to be someone special to the other person may resonate painfully with anyone in an unrequited love.

These helpless emotions are sung with delicacy over powerful beats and a passionate sound.

The track is included on the album “Just Bring It,” released in January 2017.

Even knowing it won’t be reciprocated, the feelings won’t stop—this is a work that stays close to that complex state of mind.

I love you, liar.Onda Masanori

I Like You, a Liar / Masanori Onda

A song marked by a poignant melody and a quietly stirring vocal performance.

Created by Masanori Onda in July 2022, this piece gently portrays, in tender words, the painful emotions of a woman who continues to love even after realizing her partner’s heart has been stolen by another woman.

The minimal acoustic sound lends a subtly mournful atmosphere, carefully depicting her descent into a love that is destined to go unreturned.

It’s a track that gently stays close to those who cannot confide in anyone, as they waver between unwavering feelings for their partner and the fact that they are being lied to.

You are a cigarette; I am a soap bubble.Lovely Summer Chan

You are a cigarette; I am a soap bubble.

A melancholic guitar-pop song by Lovely Summer Chan that delicately depicts the end of a bittersweet love.

Featured on her major-label debut album “LSC,” released in November 2016, the track expresses the faint feelings for someone out of reach and the fragility of having no choice but to accept it.

Through the contrast between “cigarettes,” a symbol of adulthood, and “soap bubbles,” which vanish in an instant, it strikingly portrays the distance between two people who can never truly meet.

It’s a highly relatable song that offers comfort to those who strive to move forward even while suffering from an unrequited love.

worst; minimum; the lowest; awfulren

Ren – The Worst (Music Video)

Carried by a piano melody where poignancy and fragility melt together, Ren’s translucent voice resonates throughout.

Portraying the anguish and heartache of a protagonist who can’t forget their feelings even while their lover keeps secrets, this work lays bare the inability to say anything to someone who’s crying, as well as the anxieties and frustrations lodged in both hearts.

Released in October 2022, it sparked major buzz, with a short video set against Tokyo’s night skyline—posted on social media—surpassing one million views.

With lyrics and a melody that speak to Gen Z, this song gently embraces listeners struggling with impossible love, such as affairs or unrequited feelings.