[Melancholy] For when you want to sink all the way. Masterpieces that depict various kinds of gloom.
Sad events and days when nothing goes right can happen to anyone.
At times like that, isn’t it music that saves us?
When you’re feeling down, you might immerse yourself in what you love or just take it slow and rest.
On top of that, listening to music that matches your feelings can bring a deep sense of calm.
It’s great to get energy from bright, upbeat songs, but we’re also drawn to darker, more serious atmospheres and lyrics that seem to speak for us.
Here, we’re featuring songs that stay close to a melancholy mood.
Some of them let you feel a light shining in the darkness.
If it’s tough to listen to cheerful music when you’re low, or if you want to let yourself sink all the way down and then reset your feelings, please use this as a reference.
- Songs that hit home when you're feeling blue: masterpieces of Japanese music
- [Dark Songs] A carefully curated selection of deeply dark tracks and heartbreaking songs that accompany you in tough times
- [Yami Song] A mental breakdown track that sings the true feelings of a melancholic heart
- [Yami Song] Fight darkness with darkness!? Deep tracks that stay close to your pain
- Masterpieces that sing of despair. Recommended popular songs.
- [Songs to Listen to When You Want to Die] I want to disappear... A song to support you who feel that way
- [Tearjerker] Songs that make your heart tremble with tears & moving tracks with lyrics that touch the soul
- Hidden gems of yami songs. Recommended popular tracks.
- [Relatable Lyrics] Emo songs to listen to when you're stuck after a breakup or relationship troubles
- Masterpieces that sing about loneliness: J-pop to listen to when you're alone
- [For when you want to cry or feel sad] Tear-jerking masterpieces that make you cry when you listen
- [Bereavement Song] To you whom I can no longer meet... Tear-jerking songs about death
- [When You're Lonely] A Collection of Songs That Resonate With Those All Alone
[Gloomy Tunes] For when you want to sink all the way. Masterpieces depicting various melancholies (41–50)
EccentricKeyakizaka46
A powerful, emotionally stirring piece that boldly sings of the resolve to live true to oneself.
It’s a song by the idol group Keyakizaka46, included on their first album, “Masshiro na Mono wa Yogoshitakunaru,” released in 2017.
A cool, dance-oriented track with a mature, striking vibe, it deepens the impact of the lyrics’ message.
Give it a listen when you’re struggling with changing your words, actions, or thoughts just to fit in with those around you.
painVaundy
This song is imbued with deep insight into the absurdity of life.
It sincerely confronts the meaning of birth and the burdens humans carry, using weighty lyrics to raise probing questions.
Its mellow sound and arrangements that consciously evoke a subtle sense of dissonance make this message-driven track all the more striking.
Released on YouTube in June 2019, this work is Vaundy’s first original song as an artist.
It was also included on a CD released exclusively at a self-organized live show the same year, and was performed at a no-audience solo concert at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO in August 2020.
It’s a recommended listen when you want to think deeply about how to live and your relationship with society, or when you wish to reexamine the meaning of life.
It gently stays close to the listener’s heart and will evoke profound empathy.
Alkalemiamol-74
It’s a song by mol-74 that portrays a powerful sense of regret—by the time you realize it, it’s already too late.
The layering of the piano’s tone with the mechanically repeating guitar phrase evokes a sadness that settles in the heart.
The vocal melody, with its higher register, overlaps with the calm rhythm to clearly convey emotional instability and pain.
Throughout the piece, it depicts the feeling of “if only I could do it over,” and the atmosphere—like a heartbreaking cry from the soul—stirs the listener’s sense of unease.
coelacanthMr.Children
This is a song that reflects on the coelacanth, a fish often called a living fossil.
It’s a work by Mr.Children, a rock band that has been at the forefront of the Japanese music scene for many years, and it’s included on their fifth album, Deep Sea, released in 1996.
The feelings vocalist Sakurai had at the time of composing are embedded in it, giving it a very dark impression.
The coelacanth is something you would never encounter in ordinary life, leaving you only to imagine its way of living.
The song is sung as if wringing out the emotion of asking, “Where on earth is the answer?”
Write it as “regret,” read it as “future.”mafumafu
A rock ballad by Mafumafu that gently resonates with the hearts of those carrying sorrow and despair.
Through delicate lyrics and an emotional melody, it portrays the inner cries of a protagonist tormented by anguish so deep they wish for death, yet lacking even the courage to end their life.
Released in January 2021 and included on the album “Yoaiseki Universe,” the song was written for the smartphone rhythm game “Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! feat.
Hatsune Miku.” It is a track that tenderly embraces those who are exhausted by living or burdened by pain they cannot share with anyone around them.