A song of forbidden love. A heartrending, sorrowful love song.

Bad personsenritsu kannano

Kano Kanaru “Bad Person” M/V

A gem of a love song that beautifully captures the complex emotions of a woman torn by a forbidden love, with a heartrending vocal and delicate lyrics.

Kayayu from Young Skinny—a favorite among Gen Z—wrote the song, and Kanano Senritsu delivers a fragile, poignant performance.

Since its release in September 2024, it has resonated on social media, delicately depicting the turmoil of a woman who forgives even as she recognizes her partner’s lies, and the ache of memories that resurface with the changing seasons.

Its universal lyrics invite anyone struggling in love to see themselves in the story.

It’s a song that gently stays by the side of those overwhelmed by complicated feelings for someone who can’t exactly be called a good person.

distress (at sea/in the mountains); being lost; stranded; a disaster situationToukyou Jihen

Tokyo Incidents – Distress

When it comes to Tokyo Jihen songs that depict forbidden love, “Sounan” (Distress) comes to mind.

It’s also popular for the unique world Shinji Ringo creates, but if you look at the lyrics, they convey feelings of utter helplessness—as if the lovers had committed double suicide.

Even so, you can’t stop how you feel, and in the sense of staying true to love, perhaps that really is what it means.

It’s hard to treat meeting the one you love as a true love story without sugarcoating it or lamenting it too much, but when you listen to this song, don’t you feel, “I don’t want to regret meeting my destined person”?

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sasashina

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LOVE (I want to hold you)sawada kenji

Sawada Kenji Love Dakishimetai

Julie’s bittersweet, grown-up love song.

From the very beginning, you can tell he’s dying to hold his lover tight.

A cheating song told from a man’s perspective is unusual.

It seems the woman has a family, while the man is single.

Even though she loves him, there’s someone who loves her even more, and that makes him incredibly lonely.

Since it would be bad if her affair were exposed, the man ultimately decides to step back.

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en

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Dear…Nishino Kana

Kana Nishino 'Dear...(short ver.)'

This is a song by Kana Nishino that conveys the pain of bittersweet affection and unrequited love.

The melancholic piano sound evokes the feeling of softly murmuring one’s sorrow, and the expansive development of the music strikingly expresses emotions overflowing.

The lyrics, which capture the inner movements of the heart when burdened with feelings that won’t reach their destination or love that cannot be fulfilled, further emphasize the poignancy.

By also depicting the ideal of “what if these feelings had reached you,” the song renders the suffering even more vividly.

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kappamaki

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DearNishino Kana

Kana Nishino 'Dear...(short ver.)'

Kana Nishino, who enjoys immense support from young women, seems to be winning over a slightly older audience with this song as well.

In the lyrics, you can vividly imagine the bittersweet scene of two people spending time in a love that cannot come true, within the limits of the time they have.