Recommended songs to listen to when you feel regret: classic and popular Japanese tracks.
Do you have regrets?
Here’s a song list dedicated to you.
I’ve gathered songs you can relate to—ones that speak your feelings for you, songs that lift your spirits and give you a push, and songs that make your regretting self feel a little silly.
- Masterpieces that sing of regret. Recommended popular songs.
- [No Going Back] A Love Song About Regret
- A famous song about setbacks. A song that stays by your side when times are tough or you feel like giving up.
- [Melancholy] For when you want to sink all the way. Masterpieces that depict various kinds of gloom.
- [Dark Songs] A carefully curated selection of deeply dark tracks and heartbreaking songs that accompany you in tough times
- Masterpieces that sing of despair. Recommended popular songs.
- [Yami Song] Fight darkness with darkness!? Deep tracks that stay close to your pain
- [Trash Songs] A carefully curated selection of tracks about the lowest, worst kind of loser—and hidden gems!
- [Must read] Songs with great lyrics. Moving songs you’ll want to listen to while reading the lyrics
- Songs to listen to when you've been betrayed. Classic hits about betrayal.
- [Lingering Feelings and Regrets] A Love Song for You Who Can’t Forget Your Ex-Boyfriend
- Recommended breakup songs for high school students: classic and popular J-pop tracks
- Songs to listen to when you're feeling down. Recommended feel-good, uplifting tracks.
Recommended songs to listen to when you feel regret. Classic and popular Japanese tracks (1–10)
Maplesupittsu
A ballad that sings of the resolve to live on with the pain of parting.
Those warm days when even casual exchanges with a loved one—and the ache in your heart—were all wrapped in their smile.
Yet even as the protagonist accepts a daily life that will never return, the way they move forward as if embracing a voice is deeply moving.
After being included on the album “Fake Fur,” it was released in July 1998 as a double A-side single with “Spica.” It has been used in numerous dramas, including as an insert song for Fuji TV’s “Over Time” and in NTV’s “Zambi.” It’s a song that gently stays by the side of anyone who can’t stop dwelling on a lost love or who can’t forget someone dear.
Masamune Kusano’s clear, translucent vocals deliver a ray of hope within the sorrow.
Promise of SunflowersHata Motohiro
It’s a classic song where warm guitar tones and poignant lyrics resonate.
Just being asked “Why?” at the very beginning feels enough to draw out tears of regret.
It’s a love song that makes you reflect anew on someone precious.
Everyone is different, and that’s okay.Creepy Nuts
It’s technical hip-hop where exaggerated, critical impressions of every kind of MC are tossed around, as if voicing the haze in my own mind.
Creepy Nuts’ slanted, skeptical perspective brings my regretful self into sharp relief, which paradoxically makes me feel at ease.
Recommended songs to listen to when you feel regret: Japanese classics and popular tracks (11–20)
miss youm-flo loves melody. & Ryohei
This song stages a tastefully crafted “regret,” as if it were straight out of a romantic drama.
Sweet vocals, lyrics that tickle the heart as they sing of a breakup born of missed connections, and slick rap.
It’s a bittersweet, moving regret anthem that could only have been created by m-flo, known for their prolific collaborations.
Song of ReflectionSomething ELse
This is Samuel’s 1998 track that was also featured on NHK’s Minna no Uta.
As the title suggests, it’s a song about reflecting on various aspects of life.
No matter how much we think we understand, humans are sadly creatures who repeat mistakes.
But through those mistakes, we learn many things and notice what truly matters.
It’s a song that seems to tell you it’s okay—even if you fail or have regrets.
Obey what adults tell you.emi nakamura
This is a song I want students and young people who think “to hell with what adults say” to listen to.
When you’ve made a frustrating mistake and realize there’s no undoing it, listening with the thought, “So this is what adults mean,” will likely make you feel better.
The straightforward lyrics reveal more depth the more you listen.
SaudadePorunogurafiti
An early masterpiece by Porno Graffitti, where a boundlessly sorrowful melody pierces straight through the heart.
As you soak in its nostalgically kayōkyoku-like vibe and let yourself feel regret to the fullest, you’ll undoubtedly find yourself ready to switch gears and move forward.