[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 Selection of Tear-jerking Crush & Breakup Tracks (171–180)
On nights when I’m too lonely to sleepAimer
Many people probably find themselves moved to tears by Aimer’s voice alone.
This song, included on her second single released in 2011, “Re:pray/For a Night When I Can’t Sleep Because I’m Lonely,” perfectly fits themes like unrequited love and feelings that won’t reach their destination.
It’s a song sung in remembrance of someone precious you can no longer meet.
Even if you’re not in love right now, it’s a number that stirs a deep, aching sadness that loosens your tear ducts before you know it.
Give me a gentle kiss.DREAMS COME TRUE
Among DREAMS COME TRUE’s songs, this one has relatively short lyrics, but even within that brevity, the pain of an unfulfilled love comes through vividly.
Listening to it, you can sense a range of emotions poured into the music—sadness, anger at things that can’t be, and tenderness toward the person they care about.
Since the vocalist is a woman, you might assume it’s sung from a female perspective, but I believe that even for men, the feelings toward a woman are the same.
Pain, painE-girls
E-girls’ “Pain, pain” is a song about being unable to stop loving someone, even when all that’s left is pain.
Released in 2018, it was used as the theme song for the drama “You’re Living in My Heart.” Even if only a sad ending awaits, even if your days are filled with tears, that’s what love is—loving someone anyway.
The lyrics convey an overpowering love, expressing a willingness to accept any pain or sorrow as long as they can be together.
It’s a song for those who can’t stop themselves from loving.
MELROSE ~A Promise Not to Love~EXILE ATSUSHI
Even after announcing his solo career, ATSUSHI hasn’t slowed down one bit.
He’s also been showing a playful side on variety shows that he usually doesn’t reveal.
The song “MELROSE ~Aisawanai Yakusoku~” is a standout love song released before he went solo.
The lyrics, which candidly depict the world of “having to part ways despite being in love,” are especially noteworthy in ATSUSHI’s own words.
It might bring listeners to tears if they’ve gone through a breakup.
The use of the second-person “kimi,” rather than the more formal “anata,” makes it an achingly bittersweet track.
I just had a love sadder than anyone else’s.Flower
This is a song by Flower, a female dance-vocal group that unfortunately disbanded in 2019.
From the title, “I Just Had a Sadder Love Than Someone Else,” you can keenly feel the heartache of an unfulfilled love.
The melody is a ballad characteristic of the LDH groups, and the clear, soaring female vocals not only add beauty but also highlight the sorrow of a love that cannot come true.
In the lyrics, the female protagonist seems to have fallen for a man who has feelings for another woman, and the way she struggles to shake off her lingering attachment while bearing the pain brings tears to your eyes.
[Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Comprehensive Introduction to Tear-jerking Crush and Breakup Songs (181–190)
Love SongGO!GO!7188
Koi no Uta by GO!GO!7188 is a song that gently expresses the heartache of being in love and the loneliness you can’t do anything about, all in polite, careful words.
Many people have resonated with it and been moved to tears.
Its relaxed melody slips easily into your heart.
It’s a song I want people to hear when they feel they’ll never be able to love anyone more than this.
If you know it won’t come true but still can’t bring yourself to stop loving them, it will mirror your own conflicted heart.
At times like that, Koi no Uta will quietly, tenderly wrap around you and make you feel like it’s okay to keep warming these feelings just as they are.
DistanceJUJU
JUJU, who sings about the real feelings of women and is especially popular among women, released this single “Distance” in 2013, and it was used as the ending theme for the anime Space Battleship Yamato 2199.
When you read the lyrics, it feels like a mature song that makes you think there must be circumstances: the two are clearly drawn to each other, in love, yet they can’t be together.
It’s a bittersweet track where she tucks her feelings and desires quietly into her heart, even as the emotions overflow.