[Setsuna-kei] Incredibly tear-jerking! Classic heartbreaking J-pop songs
“Setsuna”-style J-POP.
Those wistful lyrics and melodies really make your chest tighten, don’t they?
Starting with Thelma Aoyama’s “Soba ni Iru ne,” this style was characterized by R&B-like love songs that were especially popular from the late 2000s to the mid-2010s.
If you’re from the “chaku-uta” generation (when people downloaded song snippets as ringtones), this might feel nostalgic.
As social media became widely adopted, the style evolved—lyric videos have become a staple, and it feels like there are now more angles from which people can find relatable points.
Here, I’ll carefully select and introduce some nostalgic hits that were popular back then, as well as modern “setsuna” songs!
There are plenty of tracks that speak the feelings you can’t put into words, songs that stay by your side, and songs you can’t help but get completely absorbed in.
I hope you’ll use this as a list to discover new, heart-piercingly bittersweet masterpieces.
- [Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
- Tear-jerking J-pop from the ’90s. Hit songs and real tearjerkers.
- A classic of poignant, heartwarming songs. Recommended popular tracks.
- [So touching it makes you cry] A heartbreakingly wistful and sad song that tightens your chest
- Tear ducts guaranteed to burst! Heart-wrenching masterpiece songs I’d recommend to Gen Z
- Tears won’t stop with these sentimental lyrics! Heisei-era tearjerker songs
- My heart aches with bittersweet pain! Breakup songs I’d recommend to Gen Z
- [Jealousy & Possessiveness Songs] A curated selection of popular tracks to listen to when possessiveness feels overwhelming!
- [Once More…] A lingering-attachment song: a song about a love you can’t forget
- A tear-jerking love song. A love song that stays close to a hurting heart.
- The nostalgic atmosphere tugs at your heartstrings. Tear-jerker songs from the Showa era.
- Tears for a heartrending story… Tear-jerking songs by women recommended for the Yutori generation
- [Songs of Infidelity] A collection of forbidden love songs about unattainable romance
[Setsuna-kei] So moving it’ll make you cry! Classic melancholic J-POP masterpieces (1–10)
Mikan HeartC&K
A heartrending ballad about an unattainable love, C&K’s “Mikan Heart.” Released in 2013, its music video features Haruma Miura.
CLIEVY’s beautiful high-tone voice amplifies the sorrow of the lyrics and tightens your chest.
Knowing that the person you love has someone else important, you resolve to give up on this love—yet every time you do, your feelings only grow stronger.
Many people have probably felt the same way.
If you’re in a similar kind of love, this song will empathize with your feelings and gently stay by your side.
tobacco / cigarette(s)Koresawa
They say scents and smells are deeply tied to human memory.
“Tabako” (Cigarettes) by singer-songwriter Koresawa is a heartbreak song that lingers on a former lover and the cigarettes he left behind.
After a breakup, the thought “If only I had done this…” almost inevitably wells up.
Catching the smell of the cigarettes he used to smoke makes those feelings surge all at once.
It’s a poignant song that pours out irrepressible regret in down-to-earth words.
summer stormJenīhai
Jenny High is an extraordinary superband born from BS SkyPerfecTV!’s show “BAZOOKA!!!”.
Natsuarashi is a pre-release track included on their second album, Jenny Star, released in 2021—a number packed with the bittersweet sadness and burning passion of summer.
Even while sensing a vague uneasiness, there are things you want to hold onto precisely because it’s summer vacation.
The message that stays close to this fleeting, here-and-now moment becomes deeply relatable.
With a graceful yet refreshing melody that captures the ache of summer slipping away, it feels like a new kind of ‘setsuna-kei’ song—one where impulses brimming with anticipation and hope flare up.
[Setsuna-kei] Tearjerking! Classic Heart-wrenching J-POP Songs (11–20)
Dried flowersYuuri
Dry Flower was a massive hit in 2021.
It’s a song released by the singer-songwriter Yuuri.
Although the two people fell in love and started dating, their hearts began to drift apart as time passed.
The song portrays the subtle emotions they feel after ultimately choosing to break up.
In the first and second verses, the perspective shifts between the woman’s and the man’s viewpoints.
It’s a song that makes you empathize with both sides.
It captures the tangled mix of dislike and lingering love one feels toward an ex after a breakup.
sayonaraMirei Touyama
The song “sayonara” by singer-songwriter Mirei Touyama portrays a bittersweet farewell with someone you love.
It’s included on her 2019 mini-album “PLAYLIST.” The lyrics depict a sad parting brought on by drifting apart, despite believing you’d always be together making memories.
Even though you don’t truly want to say goodbye, your heart aches as you’re forced to accept it.
For anyone carrying similar feelings, this song will gently stay by your side.
Happinessback number
When it comes to talking about bittersweet love songs, back number is indispensable! “Shiawase” was included as the B-side to their major-label debut single “Hanabira,” released in 2011.
It portrays a poignant story: the person you love loves someone else, and instead of trying to make them turn toward you, you step back and wish for their happiness.
Even though you shouldn’t want to hear stories about their feelings for another person, you force yourself to listen because you want to cherish the time you spend together.
The pain and heartache of an unrequited love that won’t come true are expressed so vividly that it makes your chest ache.
Never again…BENI
Even though I loved them so much, my chest aches with the pain of knowing we can’t meet anymore—BENI’s “Mou Nidoto…”.
Released in 2008, this song is an answer track to “Mou Ichido… feat.
BENI,” a collaboration with Dohzi-T.
Listening to both songs, you can tell that both the man and the woman still have feelings for each other.
Yet, after a small misunderstanding leads to their breakup, they decide to walk separate paths, saying, “We won’t see each other again.” It’s a heartbreak that hurts all the more because they still love each other—one that brings tears you can’t hold back.