[Dark Songs] A carefully curated selection of deeply dark tracks and heartbreaking songs that accompany you in tough times
There are times when something tough or sad happens and you just feel down, right?
In those moments, listening to overly positive songs like “Keep your head up!” or “You can do it!” can actually make things harder for some people, surprisingly.
So in this article, instead of upbeat tracks, we’ll introduce songs with a darker mood that gently sit with your more negative feelings.
By intentionally listening to songs with heavy or heartbreaking lyrics, you might find your feelings become just a little easier to bear.
- [Melancholy] For when you want to sink all the way. Masterpieces that depict various kinds of gloom.
- [Yami Song] Fight darkness with darkness!? Deep tracks that stay close to your pain
- Songs that hit home when you're feeling blue: masterpieces of Japanese music
- Masterpieces that sing of despair. Recommended popular songs.
- [For High School Students] Melancholy Songs That Stay Close to Your Feelings [Tough Times]
- [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
- [Yami Song] A mental breakdown track that sings the true feelings of a melancholic heart
- [So touching it makes you cry] A heartbreakingly wistful and sad song that tightens your chest
- Hidden gems of yami songs. Recommended popular tracks.
- [Songs of Bereavement] Songs about losing someone dear. Tracks to listen to while thinking of a loved one.
- [Bereavement Song] To you whom I can no longer meet... Tear-jerking songs about death
- [Relatable Lyrics] Emo songs to listen to when you're stuck after a breakup or relationship troubles
[Dark Songs] A carefully selected list of deeply dark and heart-wrenching tracks that embrace painful feelings (1–10)
It’s fine for now.MIMI
A ballad whose beautiful, heartrending melody and striking piano sound gently stay by your side.
Wrapped in a warm, tender tune, it sings as if offering a quiet hand to someone weary of putting on a brave face.
There are nights when we can’t sleep, unable to accept our failures, setbacks, or our own frailty.
This song encourages you to keep moving forward at your own pace, embracing even past tears as cherished memories.
Released as a single in December 2022, it is also included on the album “When I Embrace the Night.” out in March 2025.
It’s a song to listen to softly when you’re hurting or feel like you’re trying too hard on your own.
Aufhebung (Hegelian term often rendered as ‘sublation’)Mrs. GREEN APPLE
This song vividly portrays philosophical themes and the feelings of youth.
Featured on the album “ENSEMBLE,” it delicately expresses the process of growing by overcoming conflict and contradiction.
Released in April 2018, it strongly reflects youthful contemplation and inner struggle.
It’s a song that gently stays by your side when life feels difficult or when you’re uncertain about your purpose.
The light of hope woven by Mrs.
GREEN APPLE will surely illuminate your heart, even in the darkness.
There was no meaning to being born.mafumafu
This song is striking for its delicate vocals that surface from the darkness of the heart and its deep lyrics that dwell on nihilism and loss.
While it sings of losing the meaning of life and feeling alienated from society, it also conveys a will to move forward, giving it a philosophical depth.
Released in August 2019 and included on Mafumafu’s album “Kagurairo Artifact,” the piece showcases his finely tuned sensibility and expressive power to the fullest.
The composition is masterful, unfolding from a quiet piano intro into a grand band sound, where elements of emotional rock and balladry fuse in exquisite balance.
It’s a song that lets you feel the presence of someone who shares the same loneliness and sense of emptiness when you’re tormented by them.
[Dark Songs] Carefully selected deeply dark and bittersweet tracks that accompany painful feelings (11–20)
If being alive is painfulMoriyama Naotaro
This is a single released in 2008.
It came about when Naotaro, while helping a friend move, happened to find a sheet of paper with a poem written on it at the home of his friend, the poet Ochanomizu Kado.
It’s a song that earnestly faces life, and it carries particular conviction because it’s by Naotaro Moriyama, who continues to sing about delicate human emotions as well as bright, life-affirming themes.
Although some of its expressions sparked mixed reactions, they don’t come from a place of apathy; rather, they seem to convey a wish for listeners to take a brief, comforting pause.
Precisely because times can be tough, a song that fully stays with your despair or heavy feelings can be a source of solace.
It’s a song that feels like it accepts you just as you are.
viviYonezu Kenshi
Now a national singer and a must-have hitmaker, Kenshi Yonezu’s song “vivi” is included on his first album, “diorama,” released in 2012.
It’s famous as a poignant love song, but it’s the kind of number that feels like it holds nothing but sadness, leaving you with an indescribable feeling.
It’s like a “letter from the heart,” where unspoken emotions are laid out silently within, as if he’s talking himself through them.
Until your night breaks (into dawn)Kasamura Tōta
A song by Tōta Kasamura that begins by questioning a broken or misguided world.
It’s a ballad notable for its gentle, delicate piano melody and its wistful sound arrangement.
The lyrics portray the protagonist’s strong determination to overcome parting from a loved one, lost time, and the pain of that loss.
Included on the February 2021 album How to Become a Wonderful Adult, this track is also known as a counterpart to “Lily of the Endless Night.” Accompanied by a beautiful melody like waiting for dawn, it tenderly weaves a state of mind that seeks a glimmer of hope even amid deep despair—a song that stays close to you in dark times.
a May flyRADWIMPS
For those who got hooked on RADWIMPS through their blockbuster songs like “Zenzenzense” and “Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do?”, this one track has lyrics so extreme it’s almost unimaginable.
“May’s Fly” (Gogatsu no Hae), released in 2013 as RADWIMPS’ 16th single, became a hot topic for its intense lyrics and emotions that verge on terrifying.
It’s a song that conveys such searing hatred you might wonder, “Can someone resent another person this much?” Listen closely, and you may find yourself weighing it against your own worries and stress and almost nodding in agreement.