[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] Heartbreaking Love Songs | A Comprehensive Introduction to Tear-Jerking Crush and Breakup Songs (191–200)
Unfit to be a loverKoresawa
As an answer song to “Tobacco,” Koresawa herself covered a track she had originally written for the singer Miyuhan.
It tells of a lover who’s moved out, capturing the loneliness and sadness of her absence.
Right after she’s gone, memories of her cute quirks from when they were dating—and the way she used to ask for cigarettes—come flooding back one after another.
Even after the breakup, the lingering feelings for her come through strongly.
Love SpiritsChatto Monchī
Chatmonchy’s second single, Love Spirit.
It’s a bittersweet love song marked by a striking solo vocal at the start, with an emotional sound that tugs at your heart.
When you’re in love, there are moments when you think you catch a glimpse of someone else in your partner.
This is the song I want you to listen to at times like that.
You can keenly feel the anxiety that this affection might not be directed at you, but at “that person” mentioned in the lyrics.
Even so, it’s a track that makes you want to cherish and nurture your feelings of love.
bad womanHiguchi Ai
Do you prefer Ai Higuchi at the piano singing and playing, or belting it out with a full band? Her bluesy track “Warui Onna” (Bad Woman) showcases another side of her.
It was also the ending theme for TV Tokyo’s drama “Snow Woman and the Crab,” so if you watched the show you might think, “Oh, that song.” The lyrics paint a heartbreakingly poignant world where she takes all the blame—“We broke up because it was all my fault”—to honor the person she loved.
Her outstanding, intimate vocal delivery is beyond doubt, as if she’s speaking directly to you.
A perfect pick for anyone who wants to fully immerse themselves in the sea of heartbreak.
C.O.S.M.O.S. ~Cosmos (Autumn Cherry Blossoms)~Sandaime Jē Sōru Burazāzu fromu Eguzairu Toraibu
The lyrics express the sorrow and pain of a woman and a man who, despite being in love, cannot be together, as the woman can’t stop the impulse of falling for someone she shouldn’t love.
It’s a profoundly heartrending song that captures the complex emotions of both as they struggle between their feelings and an inescapable reality.
[Unrequited Love] Heartbreaking Love Songs | A roundup of tear-jerking crush and breakup tracks (201–210)
someone I likeUeno Yūka
Released in 2018, this is a song about unrequited love, with lyrics and music by Hanako Oku crafted to match Yuuka Ueno’s image.
It expresses the bittersweet feelings of a woman who has fallen for the same person her friend likes.
While cheering on her friend’s romance, she realizes that she herself truly loves that person.
Many listeners may feel the sweet-and-sour essence of youth when they hear this track.
ShipwreckNakamori Akina
This song likens a woman, who knows her love is hopeless yet cannot give it up, to a wrecked ship drifting at sea.
Originally released in 1984 as a song by singer-songwriter Tokiko Kato, the version sung by Akina Nakamori is a later cover.
With Nakamori’s richly expressive voice, the lyrics poignantly recount lingering feelings for a former lover, resonating deeply in listeners’ hearts.
It may make your chest tighten as you listen, yet it became known as a track people somehow want to hear after a breakup.
red scarfInoue Sonoko
Inoue Sonoko’s “Red Scarf” is a song about a woman who decides to give up on her feelings without ever putting them into words, as the person she likes becomes drawn to someone else.
The protagonist is likely friends with both the guy and the girl he likes.
Holding back her tears, she tells herself she has to support the two of them… she has to wish for their happiness.
It’s a heartbreakingly poignant song that anyone with an unrequited love should hear.