[Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
“Even though I know it won’t be rewarded…” Once you fall in love, it’s not so easy to stop your feelings, is it?
You tell yourself you can’t go on like this, that you have to end it, but when you see them, you just can’t hold back your love.
In this article, we introduce love songs that portray the pain of unrequited love and lay bare those unspoken feelings.
Listen to them when you’re tired of loving.
They’ll gently wrap around you, saying, “It’s tough, I know.”
- Unrequited Love Song: A heartrending love song dedicated to you who are going through a painful romance
- [Adultery Song] A forbidden song about an affair that sings of an impossible love
- [Unattainable Love] A love song about two people who feel the same way but can’t be together
- Bittersweet love songs to listen to when the person you like already has a girlfriend or boyfriend
- Tear-jerking unrequited love songs that will break your heart: timeless classics about unattainable love
- Unattainable Love: A Heartbreaking Love Song About Falling for a Married Person
- “I Want to See You”: A love song that makes you cry when you listen to it while you can’t meet
- Songs that depict a teasing, suggestive attitude | Love songs to listen to when you're in unrequited love or a painful relationship
- [Today's Unrequited Love Song] Guaranteed to Make Your Heart Flutter! A Sweet and Bittersweet Love Song
- A heart-wrenching story that tightens the chest! A Showa-era unrequited love song
- [To Those in Love] Relatable Love Songs to Listen to When You’re Crushing Hard
- A classic song about a forbidden love
- A song of forbidden love. A love song about feelings that can't be stopped.
[Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Comprehensive Introduction to Tear-Jerking Crush & Heartbreak Songs (91–100)
Even if you went and became somebody’s damn girlfriendtensai bando
“Even If You End Up as Someone Else’s Girlfriend,” sung by Tensai Band.
The song was originally released in 2009 by Sunday Kamide under the name Shakariki Columbus, and it has since been covered by various artists.
The title is quite striking, and the phrase “Even if you end up as someone else’s girlfriend” packs all the frustration, loneliness, and sadness of losing her into a straightforward piece.
The simple words “I’ve always loved you” pierce the heart with painful clarity.
The music video is so heartrending it makes your chest ache.
I wish I were the one you liked.Te ga kuriimu pan
Getting the person you like to like you back is really difficult, isn’t it? But wanting them to fall for you is something anyone in love feels.
That bittersweet, painful feeling in the chest is captured in Tegakuri-mupan’s “I Wish I Were the One You Like.” With its simple instrumentation and understated vocal delivery, the song overflows with the sorrow of unrequited love.
You truly want to confess your feelings and become mutual lovers, but the fear of it not going well makes you hesitate to take that first step…
Many people can probably relate to the dread of a future where love doesn’t come true, and to this situation where, despite that, you just can’t suppress your feelings.
usmilet
This song, whose opening lines grasp your heart as if turning an earnest feeling into a voice, is “us” sung by the singer-songwriter milet.
It was also used as the theme song for the drama ‘Gisou Furin’ (Fake Affair).
milet’s clear, steadfast voice feels like it passes straight through your heart.
It’s a poignant track about two people in a precarious relationship that could tip either way, unable to say the words “I love you.” It’s so painful when you can’t bring yourself to say what you want to say.
I can’t help but relate to the frustration of hating to leave things as they are yet being unable to take that first step.
No PromiseChara
A song by Chara that portrays the aching feelings of a woman torn by a relationship without promises.
She longs to hold on to someone who seems about to leave, yet she can’t secure any promise for the future.
That inner conflict is delicately rendered in a whisper-like vocal.
Featured on the album “Soul Kiss,” released in July 1992, the song captures the frustration of being unable to stop loving someone—knowing it won’t be reciprocated, yet unable to let go—which perhaps only those who’ve experienced it can truly understand.
A love in which only one person suffers is something that, at some point, we probably ought to bring to an end.
Cold fireworksKami ga nokoshita yume o kuu.
This song is a heartbreaking breakup ballad that overlays the dazzling burst of fireworks with a love coming to an end.
Though they stand side by side, their hearts no longer connect.
That frustrating relationship is portrayed against the backdrop of a late summer night.
The emotional vocals convey the painfully raw feeling of wanting to cling to memories while knowing there’s no going back.
It resonates deeply with anyone carrying an unforgettable love.
Liar MoonYorushika
It is a ballad marked by the quiet melody of the piano and Suis’s gentle vocals.
Through vivid depictions of scenes in the rain and the symbolic image of drinking down moonlight, it delicately portrays the protagonist’s emotions as they face loss and loneliness.
Produced in June 2020 as the ending song for the Netflix feature-length animated film A Whisker Away, the piece was composed by Yorushika’s n-buna to reflect the film’s worldview while capturing the atmosphere from spring to early summer.
It is a song that will deeply resonate with those who wish to relive a fragile yet beautiful page of youth, as well as those who have experienced parting with someone dear.
GarnetOku Hanako
It’s the song that was used as the theme for the animated film “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.” While mourning the parting with someone precious who is no longer here, it sings as if speaking straight from the heart about feelings that haven’t changed.
The simple vocal-and-instrument performance heightens the sense of poignancy, but the forward-looking lyrics—encouraging you not to regret having met—are uplifting to hear.
