[For High School Students] Melancholy Songs That Stay Close to Your Feelings [Tough Times]
School isn’t all fun and games, is it?
It’s sad, but some people might even say, “Most of it isn’t fun at all!”
Still, no matter how tough it gets, those memories and feelings will become the strength that supports you.
In this piece, we’ll introduce some “dark” songs that will stay close to your tired heart.
There are plenty to choose from, so if you go through the songs listed, you’re sure to find something you can relate to.
Let’s borrow the power of music and get through the present together.
- [Yami Song] Fight darkness with darkness!? Deep tracks that stay close to your pain
- [Songs to Listen to When You Want to Die] I want to disappear... A song to support you who feel that way
- [Dark Songs] A carefully curated selection of deeply dark tracks and heartbreaking songs that accompany you in tough times
- Songs to listen to when you’re feeling down! Tracks that boost your self-confidence
- [Recommended for Teens] Songs to Listen to When Your Heart Is Tired / Songs You Want to Hear
- Emo songs recommended for junior high school students: A roundup of classic and popular Japanese tracks!
- Uplifting songs recommended for high school students
- [Relatable Lyrics] Emo songs to listen to when you're stuck after a breakup or relationship troubles
- [Melancholy] For when you want to sink all the way. Masterpieces that depict various kinds of gloom.
- [For those doing their best] A comforting song to listen to when you're tired of life
- Songs that hit home when you're feeling blue: masterpieces of Japanese music
- [Tearjerker] Songs that make your heart tremble with tears & moving tracks with lyrics that touch the soul
- Yami songs recommended for college students: melancholic tracks to listen to when you're feeling down
[For High School Students] Emo Songs That Stay Close to Your Feelings [Tough Times] (1–10)
Cinderella BoySaucy Dog
Cinderella Boy, with its rock performance by a three-piece band and lyrics that poignantly capture the ups and downs of a man–woman relationship, is a song I want people to hear when they’re heartbroken or too weighed down to go to school.
Released in 2021 by Saucy Dog—also known for Itsuka—the song’s lyrics, which depict raw emotional shifts, strike a deep chord.
It’s hard to put into words or give shape to how you feel when you part ways with someone important, isn’t it? The lyrics, which stay close to the loneliness and solitude you can’t tell anyone about, gently resonate even on nights that feel impossible to get through.
Dried flowersYuuri
Dry Flower, with lyrics that realistically portray the feelings of heartbreak and resonate with many, is a song we hope you’ll listen to when you don’t feel like going to school, while thinking of someone important to you.
Since singer-songwriter Yuuri released it in 2020, it has quickly become a hit.
If you’ve ever stumbled in love even once, some of its words will likely speak to you.
The feeling that school isn’t fun doesn’t just disappear easily, but there will surely be moments when those days begin to change color.
Give this song a listen—it’s one that makes you want to believe in that.
studio (apartment)Novelbright
With its beautiful piano performance and grand sound that gently envelops a aching heart, “One Room” is a song you’ll want to listen to on lonely nights alone.
Released by Novelbright in 2021, its lyrics, which candidly sing of bittersweet love, pierce the heart.
In school life, there are times when you become separated from someone you were romantically involved with, or a loved one graduates and moves on.
Rather than leaving that sadness as it is, letting the song stay close to you can give you the courage to move forward, little by little.
[For High School Students] Depression Songs That Stay Close to Your Feelings [Tough] (11–20)
carnationShiina Ringo
This is Shiina Ringo’s 11th single.
It was also used as the theme song for a morning drama of the same title.
It begins with a dreamlike intro, and the vocals continue as if reading a story aloud.
It’s a piece with a gentle atmosphere that conjures images like a starry sky and, with its relaxed rhythm, quietly gives you courage.
powder snowRemioromen
Remioromen is a well-known three-piece rock band.
This song was released in November 2005 and became a massive hit after being featured as an insert song in the Fuji TV drama “1 Litre of Tears,” selling over 850,000 copies in total.
It was also performed when the band made their first appearance at the 60th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen in 2009.
The gentle, fragile sound of the keyboard and the distorted guitar tones tighten the heart.
In the season when powdery snow falls, I want to listen to this song, hoping my feelings reach that special someone.
For me to be myselfOzaki Yutaka
This is a song included on Yutaka Ozaki’s first album.
It wasn’t released as a single, but it’s very popular.
Beyond the strong message conveyed by the lyrics and the title, the intense dynamics of his singing—and the song’s development itself—really pierce the heart.
A Bouquet for YouUtada Hikaru
A single released in 2016 as part of Hikaru Utada’s comeback project after pausing her music career.
It’s a song dedicated to her mother, the singer Keiko Fuji, who died suddenly by suicide, and it’s truly impossible to listen to without tears.
Even when there’s so much you want to say, there’s a loneliness in not being able to say it all—something everyone may experience.
And yet, when you close your eyes, a smiling face appears.
This song tells us that that alone is enough—an expansive hymn of love to a mother.
