[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
- [Adultery Song] A forbidden song about an affair that sings of an impossible love
[Setsuna-kei] Tearjerking! Classic Heart-wrenching J-POP Songs (11–20)
If tomorrow comesJUJU with JAY’ED
Known as the theme song for the film One Month to Live, which is based on a true story, Ashita ga Kuru Nara is one of singer-songwriter JUJU’s signature songs.
It’s a duet featuring the male vocalist JAY’ED, whose overwhelmingly beautiful voice is captivating.
We tend to live as if tomorrow’s arrival is a given, but this song reminds us just how irreplaceable that is.
It’s a track that makes you want to cherish not only your own “tomorrow,” but also the tomorrows of the people beside you and your friends.
Until This Dream Wakes feat. Yoshida BrothersKato Miria
A collaborative number by Miliyah Kato and Tsugaru-shamisen duo Yoshida Brothers, “Kono Yume ga Sameru made feat.
Yoshida Brothers.” Released in 2021, the song was used as the ending theme for the anime “Those Snow White Notes.” It sings of a bittersweet feeling—uncertain whether it will reach its destination—toward the person who made one realize the meaning of living and who they truly are.
Miliyah Kato’s poignant vocals, known for heartfelt love songs and candid voices of women of her generation, and the resonant tones of the Tsugaru shamisen that seem to respond to her voice, strike straight to the heart.
KanadeSukima Suichi
Sukima Switch’s second single, released in 2004.
Set on a train platform, this song portrays a farewell to someone precious, interweaving the joy of how meeting that person changed the way the world looks with the heartache of letting them go.
Many listeners have been moved to tears by the protagonist, who tries to deliver the belief that hearts remain connected even when apart through song.
Featured as an insert song in the film “Rough” and as the ending theme for “Netto Koshien,” it has accompanied countless scenes of graduation and parting.
It’s a gentle, compassionate piece that softly encourages you as you carry memories of someone dear and step forward onto a new path.
Answer of the Autumn WindFlower
Flower’s “Akikaze no Answer” portrays a heartrending relationship that seems happy on the surface yet can’t truly stay close.
Chosen as the theme song for the drama “Binta! — Benrishi Jimuin Minowa ga Ai de Kaiketsu Shimasu —,” it was released in 2014 and also serves as an answer song to Sandaime J Soul Brothers’ “C.O.S.M.O.S.
~Akizakura~.” You want them by your side forever, but it’s an unattainable wish… The painful, forbidden love pierces the heart and squeezes it tight.
It’s a song where a bittersweet romance and the melancholic season of autumn overlap beautifully.
it’s not that (…); it doesn’t mean (that …)maruri to ryūga
The title “Wake Janai” (“It’s Not That”) frankly expresses the feelings that have nowhere to go after parting with someone you love.
This song by the popular music duo Maruri to Ryuga—known for highly relatable love songs—is included on their 2019 album “Omishirioki o.” It’s sad and lonely, but there’s no choice but to accept the breakup, and there are reasons it has to be that way.
Still, you don’t know what to do with the lingering, hazy feelings… Rather than simply crying out, “I’m lonely!” this track gives voice to that inexpressible, aching haze in the heart.
20-CRY-Kato Miria
When you’re around 20, shifting from childhood to adulthood, your heart can get weighed down by vague anxieties and everyday struggles.
Miliyah Kato’s song “20 -CRY-” gives voice to the feelings of a 20-year-old woman.
Released in 2009, it was used as the theme song for the drama DOR@MO, which was created based on the track.
The song portrays worries like “What’s going to happen to me from here?” and “Will I really be able to find happiness?” as she faces a version of herself at 20 that’s different from what she imagined.
Deep down, she wants someone to help her, and to have someone to walk beside her.
Maybe listen to this song and let the unique sorrows and pains of this time in life wash away with your tears.
[Setsuna-kei] So Heartbreaking It’ll Make You Cry! Classic Bittersweet J-POP Songs (21–30)
ifNishino Kana
Kana Nishino’s “if” is a passionate, heartrending song about the desire to “always be together” with the one you love.
Released in 2010, it was chosen as the theme song for the film Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower.
Even couples who are very close may carry a vague anxiety about whether they can truly walk through life together from here on.
At times like that, what comes to mind is a simple wish like the one in this song: to stay together forever as two.
When you’re feeling a little uneasy, why not listen to this song and fill it with your hopes?