Songs to Listen to in September: Popular J-POP Tracks That Capture the End of Summer and Early Autumn

Love Sky and the Sound of RainAAA

AAA / “Love Sound and Rainy Sky” Music Video

When it comes to love songs for autumn, those slightly melancholic, bittersweet tunes are the classics, aren’t they? This piece is a gem of a love song packed with the frustrating push-and-pull of romance and those hard-to-express feelings.

You want to say “I love you,” but the fear of what might come keeps the words in your throat.

That delicate feeling of first love overlaps with the gentle scene of autumn rain, and it really tugs at the heart.

This track is a single released by AAA in September 2013 and was also featured in an H.I.S.

commercial, so many of you may find it familiar.

The album it’s included on, Eighth Wonder, became the group’s first to top the weekly charts and won an Excellence Award at the 55th Japan Record Awards.

It’s a song that quietly stays by your side in autumn, when the fun of summer has passed and you start to long for someone.

Liar MoonYorushika

Liar

This ballad by Yorushika is perfect for autumn, when the hustle and bustle of summer settles down and a certain loneliness sets in.

Delicate piano melodies intertwine with vocalist suis’s clear, translucent voice, seeping deeply into the listener’s heart.

It portrays the loneliness of a protagonist who continues to wait, even as memories of a loved one fade away.

That feeling overlaps with the bittersweetness of summer coming to an end, making it all the more moving.

This beautiful song was produced as the ending theme for the anime film A Whisker Away, released in June 2020, further deepening the story’s emotional afterglow.

On those long autumn nights when you want to reflect on seasons past, it’s a piece to savor alone, slowly and fully.

Nagisasupittsu

Spitz / Nagisa

When the summer heat subsides and a hint of autumn rides on the breeze, it makes you feel a bit sentimental, doesn’t it? Gentle and resonant against that late-summer melancholy is a number by Spitz.

Contrary to its sparkling, refreshing sound, it depicts a profoundly layered world where reality and fantasy intertwine.

The ache of clutching warped memories and yearning for someone you can only meet in a mirage overlaps with the loneliness of the passing season, sinking deep into your heart.

Released in September 1996, this song is also included on the album “Indigo Chiheisen.” It became well-loved as the CM song for Ezaki Glico’s “Pocky Love Story.” It’s a track you’ll want to savor alone, lost in your summer memories.

The world is quietly beautiful.creeps

The world is quietly beautiful, creeps.

It’s a beautiful song that draws you in, starting with a quietly flowing intro.

There’s something irresistible about how it slips into your heart just as the air begins to feel like autumn.

The high-tone voice of the vocalist, Akira Takeuchi, lingers in your ears.

It’s a perfect track for autumn, a season that makes you reflective—pay attention to the lyrics that encourage you to look at yourself and feel yourself changing.

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to take a moment for self-reflection!

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Yoshizaki Keiko

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September Blue MoonMatsutōya Yumi

September Blue Moon Yumi Matsutoya [cover]

A classic from Yumi Matsutoya’s electro era, this track stands out with its dazzling, rapid-fire sound arrangement that hits your ears in quick succession.

Yet once Yuming’s signature vocals come in, it instantly becomes a full-on Yuming world—fun and familiar.

Set to a Latin rhythm with Japanese lyrics on top, it’s a rhythmically danceable, slightly quirky, and highly addictive number.

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Murakami Shinpei

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scale (as of a fish or reptile)Hata Motohiro

Motohiro Hata – “Uroko (Scales)” Music Video

Singer-songwriter Motohiro Hata, who has won fans across a wide range of listeners with a voice described as “made of steel and glass,” combining gentle clarity with inner strength.

Released in June 2007, this song portrays a protagonist who had been shut inside their shell mustering the courage to convey their feelings to someone important.

Its worldview—singing of the restless anxiety at summer’s end and the resolve to take a step forward—will add an emotional touch to any karaoke gathering.

Chosen as the image song for a Nippon TV documentary program, its music video also won an award at the SPACE SHOWER Music Video Awards 08.

The high notes in the chorus aren’t easy, but if you sing them openly, as though expressing the story’s climax, they’re sure to resonate with listeners.

OrangeSMAP

Orange/SMAP

It’s one of those classic ballads you want to hear in autumn, with a poignant yet warm piano melody that brings twilight scenery vividly to mind and gently soaks into the heart.

SMAP has many great songs, but this is one that many people might single out as especially special.

It depicts a breakup scene with a lover, yet its appeal lies in the fact that it’s not merely sad.

Concluding the farewell by deliberately replacing parting words with words of gratitude conveys a deep affection for the days they spent together and makes your heart swell.

There’s also a well-known story that the lyrics were changed at Takuya Kimura’s suggestion during the August 2000 recording.

Although it was a B-side to the single “Lion Heart,” its popularity earned it a place on their best-of album—a true gem of a ballad.