Unattainable Love: A Heartbreaking Love Song About Falling for a Married Person
Even when you know the other person is married, you can’t help falling for them—and even if you’re married, you might find yourself falling for someone else.
You know in your head that it’s wrong, but you can’t stop it—maybe that’s what it means to be in love.
In this article, we’ve gathered songs that sing about those unspoken feelings and loves that don’t go the way we want.
Why not listen to tracks from people in similar situations and try to sort out your feelings? A song that resonates with your heart might show you the way to end a painful love.
- [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
- [An Adulterous Love] A love song about a secret affair you can't tell anyone about
- [Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
- [Cheating Song] A forbidden love that crossed the line — infidelity song
- A classic song about a forbidden love
- [Empathetic & Tear-Jerking] A love song about an unrequited romance
- A song of forbidden love. A love song about feelings that can't be stopped.
- Bittersweet love songs to listen to when the person you like already has a girlfriend or boyfriend
- “I Want to See You”: A love song that makes you cry when you listen to it while you can’t meet
- An empathy song to listen to when you’re hurting and feel like a 'convenient woman'
- A heart-wrenching story that tightens the chest! A Showa-era unrequited love song
- [Today's Unrequited Love Song] Guaranteed to Make Your Heart Flutter! A Sweet and Bittersweet Love Song
[Unrequited Love] A Heartbreaking Love Song About Falling for a Married Person (31–40)
LOVE AFFAIR ~Secret DateSazan Ōrusutāzu
“LOVE AFFAIR ~Secret Date~” is the Southern All Stars’ 41st single, released in 1998.
“Love affair” is a term that means things like “affair” or “romance,” and, as the title suggests, this song is about an extramarital relationship.
It’s a song that conveys complex feelings—loving someone yet unable to give up various things—and the frailty of a man.
First LoveFukuyama Masaharu
A song by Masaharu Fukuyama that portrays the ache of unfulfilled love.
Chosen for Toshiba’s LCD TV commercial, it was released as a single in December 2009.
It was his first single to use minor chords, incorporating new experiments such as reversed piano and guitar parts.
The track expresses deep feelings toward a love that cannot be, and the bittersweet nostalgia for a lost romance, making it a piece that resonates with many listeners.
The lyrics, imbued with a wish to cherish the memory of a first love, will speak to those who cannot forget their first love even though both they and their former sweetheart now have families to protect.
A little more, just a bit moreZARD
A song by ZARD about a love that cannot come true.
Even while knowing it’s a forbidden relationship, the protagonist finds herself wishing to be loved “just a little longer.” The song captures her emotions, and because the love is taboo, her earnest feelings resonate with a striking purity.
There’s an anecdote that Izumi Sakai, who also wrote the lyrics, felt saddened while singing it—an episode that speaks to the song’s poignancy.
Released in September 1993, this work compels deep reflection on the weight of unrequited love and the intensity of loving someone.
I want to be loved.Mioyamazaki
A song that tightens your chest with Mio Yamazaki’s faint, heartrending vocals.
Even knowing it’s almost impossible to stay together, it delicately portrays a woman’s feelings as she still wishes for the future she envisions to come true.
The reason she can’t honestly say she wants to be together is a sign of her awareness that she’s hurting someone and that the relationship shouldn’t continue any further.
It’s a track that makes you think deeply about whether happiness awaits a love that comes together after hurting many people.
Other people’s relationshipsHitoto Yo
Yo Hitoto’s rendition of “Tanin no Kankei” feels a bit different from the usual songs about affairs.
It stays dry: when they meet, the relationship turns hot, and when it’s over, they coolly return to being two strangers and go their separate ways… Yet you can feel a tenacious determination that they will never let go.
Kanai Katsuko’s version is sultry too, but Hitoto’s delivery is so intensely sensual it gives me chills.
[Unrequited Love] A bittersweet love song about falling for a married person (41–50)
DropletMarushii
“Shizuku,” released in 2020 by the rock band Marcy.
Even knowing the other person is married, if they invite you, you can’t turn them down because you love them; if they call, you end up going to see them.
This song captures that painful feeling.
When you’re only contacted when it’s convenient for them, you might think you’re being played… but when someone you love treats you gently, you’re so happy you can’t push them away.
This track pierces you with its vivid scenes and raw emotions.
I hope both men and women—everyone caught in a painful love—will give it a listen.
Don’t Stop LoveKōda Kumi
A medium-tempo ballad by Kumi Koda portraying the forbidden love of an affair.
It beautifully expresses the conflict and sorrow of a man and woman who, despite their pure affection, live a love that cannot be allowed.
Released in September 2011, the song drew attention as the theme for the film “Second Virgin” and was also performed at that year’s NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen.
Included on the albums “JAPONESQUE” and “WINTER of LOVE,” it has become one of Koda’s signature songs.
It is sure to resonate deeply with anyone who relates to the loneliness of not being able to be with the one you love and the earnest desire to go on loving despite the gaze of society.