[J-Pop] A Collection of Unrequited Love Songs That Stay Close to Your Heart

lensNEW!Kobayashi Tōya

Shuya Kobayashi “Lens” Music Video

This work portrays the feelings of a protagonist carrying the pain of heartbreak, whose world gradually becomes vividly colored through a new encounter.

Shuuya Kobayashi’s warm, husky vocals gently embrace the heart’s quickening at the moment of falling in love and the bittersweetness unique to unrequited feelings.

Released digitally in January 2022, it was chosen as the theme song for the social media drama “Soredemo Yappari Suki Dakara” (“Because I Still Love You”).

It’s also a love song that preceded the EP released the same year, “Ano Koro no Jibun ni Aeru nara” (“If I Could Meet My Past Self”).

Even while lingering on a previous love, the awkward way the feelings for someone new slowly deepen is something many men struggling with one-sided love will surely relate to.

It’s a gentle ballad that softly stays by your side when you want to take a step forward but feel too timid to do so.

Thinking of youNEW!Matsushita Kohei

Kohei Matsushita – Thinking of You (Music Video)

While appearing in a variety of works as an actor, Kohei Matsushita also flourishes as a singer-songwriter.

This song, which portrays the frustrating emotions of a relationship teetering between friends and lovers, is a love ballad whose beautiful blend of piano and strings and gentle vocals strikes straight to the heart.

Its bittersweet story—wanting to confess your feelings but not wanting to break the current relationship—is something many men nursing a one-sided love will find deeply relatable.

Released in advance in November 2023, the track opens the album “R&ME.” The music video depicts an awkward romance between a man and a woman, further enriching the world of the song.

It’s a piece you’ll want to listen to quietly on nights when unspoken feelings make your chest ache.

Your colorNEW!Da-iCE

Da-iCE – 12th single “Kimiiro” Music Video [Full ver.]

Have you ever felt the frustration of a distance that feels so close yet just out of reach, even though you’re in love? This unrequited love song perfectly captures bright yet bittersweet emotions for the end of summer.

Created by Da-iCE, it was released as a single in August 2017 and selected as the official tie-in song for Takara Tomy Arts’ “Bunch O Balloons.” It was later included on the album “BET,” reaching as high as No.

4 on the Oricon Weekly Chart.

Despite its comfortable mid-up tempo sound, the warm, wistful melody resonates deeply and naturally paints vivid scenes as you listen.

It’s a must-hear for men experiencing the frustration of unrequited love who can’t quite take the step to confess.

YOU… feat. Izumi Nakasone (HY)Kato Miria

Miliyah Kato “YOU… feat. Izumi Nakasone (HY)”

Speaking of collaborations between powerhouse female singers, we can’t forget this song by Miliyah Kato and Izumi Nakasone of HY.

Based on real unrequited-love stories sent in by radio listeners, the two artists co-created this gem of a ballad.

Released in September 2014 as their 30th single, it was also included on the milestone 10th-anniversary album “MUSE.” The frustration of not being able to put your feelings into words, and the emotional wavering as you move toward confessing your love, come through poignantly in the harmony between Kato’s delicate vocals and Nakasone’s warm voice.

Chosen as the theme song for a radio drama, this track just might gently give you the push you need if you’re struggling with a one-sided love.

Unrequited loveGENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE

GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE / Unrequited Love

A coupling track to the debut single “BRAVE IT OUT,” released in November 2012, and also included on the classic album “GENERATIONS.” When you like someone, even the smallest reactions can weigh on your mind, right? This song beautifully captures the heart caught in a frustrating struggle—so wrapped up in the other person that you can’t take that first step.

The fresh vocals from GENERATIONS at the time of their debut also invite empathy, and their pure resonance is truly moving.

If you’re in the midst of a love you can’t confess, this track will stay close to your heart.

The words penned by their senior, EXILE ATSUSHI, gently permeate with the ache of a bittersweet love.

I only know your profileHanbaato Hanbaato

Humbert Humbert – Yokogao Shika Shiranai [Official Music Video]

Set to an acoustic timbre, this unadorned, steadily woven lyric seeps into the heart—a one-sided love song.

Just watching the person you like from afar, knowing only a small part of them… That frustrating, bittersweet sense of distance is delicately portrayed through warm male–female twin vocals.

There are no grand words, yet the protagonist’s awkward feelings come through, and many listeners may find themselves overlaying their own experiences onto it.

This track is included on the folk duo Humbert Humbert’s 15th anniversary album “FOLK,” released in June 2016.

If you listen while harboring a love you can’t bring yourself to declare, you may feel the gentle melody and voices quietly stay by your side.

The town where you liveShimizu Shota

Shota Shimizu “The Town Where You Live” MV

This is a ballad that paints the feelings of someone who, in unguarded moments, finds themselves searching for traces of a lover who should no longer be there.

It’s a song by singer-songwriter Shota Shimizu, released in October 2010 as his eighth single.

The track is also included on the album COLORS.

You can almost picture the protagonist overlaying the face of the one they can no longer meet onto a lookalike spotted on a station platform or onto familiar cityscapes.

Imagining the city where that person lives and simply wishing to see them—those one-sided feelings are, in a way, the very essence of a lingering “unrequited love” that follows a finished romance.

The melody, like an autumn dusk—lonely yet warm—soaks into the heart.

If there’s someone you can’t forget, listening to this will surely resonate deeply.