![[Relatable Lyrics] Emo songs to listen to when you're stuck after a breakup or relationship troubles](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-EKxzId_Sj4/sddefault.jpg)
Heartbreak, relationships, work, school—sad and painful things can happen in so many parts of life.
You might find yourself hating someone, lamenting your bad luck, or even feeling self-destructive at times.
Here are some “dark” songs to listen to in those moments.
Because these lyrics are written and sung by artists who have been through a lot, they’re raw and real enough to sit with your feelings—and I’m sure you’ll relate.
I’d be happy if listening to the songs I’m about to introduce helps lift your spirits, even just a little.
- [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
- [Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
- [Yami Song] A mental breakdown track that sings the true feelings of a melancholic heart
- [For High School Students] Melancholy Songs That Stay Close to Your Feelings [Tough Times]
- [Dark Songs] A carefully curated selection of deeply dark tracks and heartbreaking songs that accompany you in tough times
- [Tearjerker] Songs that make your heart tremble with tears & moving tracks with lyrics that touch the soul
- [Trash Songs] A carefully curated selection of tracks about the lowest, worst kind of loser—and hidden gems!
- My heart aches with bittersweet pain! Breakup songs I’d recommend to Gen Z
- [Female Heartbreak Song] A soul-stirring song dedicated to you, who loved with all your heart.
- A breakup song with great lyrics. A beautiful message that lingers in the heart.
- For When You Need a Good Cry: Soul-Soothing Tearjerker Classics — Life, Love, and Work
- Gently staying close to a wounded heart… A Reiwa-era heartbreak song
[Relatable Lyrics] Emo Songs to Listen to When You're Stuck in a Breakup or Relationship (1–10)
Eine KleineYonezu Kenshi
A song by Kenshi Yonezu, a singer-songwriter who also works as a filmmaker and illustrator.
While feeling happiness at having finally found the place he’s always longed for, he grows anxious about the misfortune that might await beyond it, yet keeps walking on unchanged.
This contradictory, irreconcilable stance evokes the very essence of the human heart.
It’s a number that gently sings of a complex state of mind where positive and negative emotions swirl together.
NonfictionHirai Ken
This song, which begins with a heavy, pressurized string intro, is a track in which Ken Hirai sings about life and death.
Many of you may already know this, but it was actually written for a friend of his who died by suicide.
The lyrics acknowledge how hard and painful life can be—“when you’re alive, there are so many difficult and trying things”—yet even so, the words “I want you to live, in whatever form, I want to see you” are deeply moving.
It makes you realize again that there are people around you who care about you this much, and I think it can bring a gentle sense of relief, as if a weight has been lifted from your heart.
dissonanceKeyakizaka46
The fourth single by the idol group Keyakizaka46, produced by Yasushi Akimoto.
It’s a track whose powerful message pierces the heart, challenging the common assumption that majority rule equals democracy—and that it is inherently right.
The song conveys a strong will to never stop being oneself, without denying individuality, even if it means making enemies.
lipstickKato Miria
Singer Miliyah Kato rose to popularity with lyrics that resonate particularly with women.
Her 2015 release “Lipstick” serves as something of an answer song to one of her signature tracks, “Dear Lonely Girl,” depicting events ten years later.
The lyrics, centered on a woman devastated by a breakup, radiate an intense, almost obsessive determination.
a May flyRADWIMPS
Among RADWIMPS’ songs, this one features particularly extreme expressions in its lyrics and is likely to divide opinion.
The depictions are so cruel that it’s often discussed as a song about mad love.
At first glance, the lyrics seem filled with words that convey intense hatred.
But I’d like you to imagine yourself in the protagonist’s position: for such cruel hatred to be born, there must have originally been a deep, profound love that, at some point, flipped into hatred.
They say love and hate are two sides of the same coin.
If you’re ever betrayed by someone important to you, listening to this song might help you feel a bit more relieved.
Reason(s) I can’t ask/listenMioyamazaki
The song’s protagonist remains in an ambiguous relationship where she can’t even ask when they’ll meet next.
There are so many things she wants to ask the person she loves, but she’s overwhelmed by negative feelings—the fear that asking might make them dislike her, that the answers won’t match her hopes, or that the relationship might end—so she can’t ask anything at all.
Mio Yamazaki’s heartrending voice, singing of the anxieties a woman feels, resonates deeply in the heart.
Your Anatomical Pure Love Song ~Die~aimyon
By the end of 2018, Aimyon had even performed on the NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen, making her in both name and reality one of Japan’s most popular artists.
Many fans are said to be captivated by the lyrics she writes.
“Anata Kaibou Jun Ai Uta ~Shine~” was included on a single she released during her indie days, and its madness-tinged lyrics instantly became a hot topic.