[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
- [Songs of Infidelity] A collection of forbidden love songs about unattainable romance
- [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] Heartbreaking Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Jerking Crush & Breakup Tracks (101–110)
Sleepless nights are because of you.MISIA
It’s a pure and straightforward song about the wish to meet a loved one, if only in a dream.
Perhaps it’s a relationship where they can’t greet the morning together.
Waiting while believing in words that won’t be kept must be very hard.
The way someone longs for another can be this strong, and so fleetingly beautiful.
Hare and Sea TurtleDAZBEE
The talented Korean-born female music creator DAZBEE released her single “Wild Hare and Sea Turtle” on February 21, 2024.
Written and composed by Wanuka, the song features a gentle production that highlights her distinctive vocals and was selected as the theme song for the drama “Suppin Hero.” Using the metaphors of a “wild hare” and a “sea turtle,” which possess different traits, the lyrics depict unrequited feelings and the effort to bridge that emotional distance.
Its frustration and pure sentiment are sure to resonate deeply with listeners.
MissingKubota Toshinobu
Toshinobu Kubota, who helped popularize R&B and Black music in Japan and continues to lead the country’s music scene, is known for his signature song “Missing.” It’s included on his first album, “SHAKE IT PARADISE,” released in 1986, and has been covered by many Japanese artists.
Beloved as a classic song about unrequited love, many people have probably heard it at karaoke and elsewhere.
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.
HYSong for…
A song by HY that sings of the ache of not being able to have that simple, obvious kind of love—falling for each other, liking each other, and being together.
It’s a heartbreak anthem cherished by many fans, who say it “tightens the chest” and is “impossible not to relate to.” The honest feeling of just wanting to see the person you love ends up hurting someone, making it a forbidden love.
Even though you were supposed to have met by fate, you can’t be together—the true pain of that might be something only those who’ve been through it can really understand.
[Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Comprehensive Introduction to Tear-Jerking Crush and Breakup Songs (111–120)
Dear…Nishino Kana
Kana Nishino, whose love songs capturing real feelings are popular among women.
Her song “Dear…” is her eighth single, released in 2009.
From the lyrics, you can sense a bit of a “complicated situation”: it’s a number that suggests two people who want to meet but can’t, who can’t freely be together.
The desire to always be with the one you love is natural, but it doesn’t come true—and only the painful feelings keep growing.
You can almost feel that heartbreak in your hands, can’t you?
Absolute relationshipakai kouen
A truly legendary band that disbanded following the passing of Yoneko Tsuno.
Their active period lasted 11 years, yet they’re still known for having a deeply devoted fanbase.
This song, “Zettaiteki na Kankei” (“An Absolute Relationship”), is a mysterious piece that reveals different colors depending on who’s listening: office workers will hear it one way, long-married couples another, and those nursing a broken heart yet another.
You’ll be overwhelmed by its multilayered lyrics, which feel prefaced by the thought, “I know it probably won’t come true, but…” For those in love, it might sound especially bittersweet.
With its heavy, weighty sound, sudden shifts in time signature, and a sorrowful pull that makes you want to hit repeat again and again, it’s a heartbreakingly memorable track.