A tear-jerking love song. A love song that stays close to a hurting heart.

No matter how…Nishino Kana

Kana Nishino 'No Matter How Much...' MV Full

It’s a sweeping love ballad that sings of regret for someone precious you’ve lost and the complicated feelings you can’t do anything about.

Kana Nishino, an artist who resonates with many through her love songs, wrote the lyrics infused with her own unvarnished emotions.

The deeper you fall in love, the more you somehow end up missing each other—everyone’s felt that, right? Released in November 2011 as her 15th single, the track was also featured in a SONY WALKMAN commercial.

Its heartrending melody and vocals tighten your chest.

The song is also included on the album “Love Place,” released the following year.

It’s the kind of track that grips your heart—perfect for nights when you want to revisit a past romance and sink into a touch of melancholy.

AitaiKato Miria

Miliyah Kato - “Aitai”

It’s a heartrending love song about longing for someone who’s looking at somebody else.

Included on the acclaimed 2009 album “Ring,” this fan favorite became a hit with over 700,000 downloads despite not being released as a single.

It also adds deep resonance to the film “Villain” as an in-film track.

Even if I’m not your number one, even if I know I’ll get hurt, it has to be you… That desperate cry from the heart tightens the listener’s chest.

When you fall for someone, reason can’t do a thing about it.

If you’re suffering from an unrequited love, this is a song that will surely stay close to your heart.

Sayonara, baby.Kato Miria

Miliyah Kato 'Sayonara Baby'

This is a bittersweet love song about a heart swaying between true feelings and outward appearances.

She wants to believe his words, yet deep down she doubts them, and still can’t bring herself to end things… You can sense her wavering emotions in the chorus’s back-and-forth between the man and woman.

The track is a work by singer-songwriter Miliyah Kato, released in September 2008 as her 13th single.

Its arrangement is striking, unfolding from a wistful piano intro into a danceable four-on-the-floor sound.

The song is also included on the acclaimed album “Ring.” When you’re unsure of the other person’s feelings and don’t know what to do, listening to this might resonate with your complicated state of mind.

Please forget it.Yorushika

Yorushika – Please Forget (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

It’s a heartbreak song by Yorushika that tightens your chest with its bittersweet love—the kind that wishes happiness for an ex while saying “please forget me.” Released in July 2024 as the theme song for the drama “GO HOME: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Unidentified Persons Consultation Office,” the track sets gentle melodies against a narrator who recalls precious memories they shared, even as they wish those memories to be forgotten.

Yet behind those words lies the true feeling of “please don’t actually forget,” a confession that’s sure to loosen your tear ducts.

Vocalist suis’s clear, translucent voice conveys this self-sacrificial and contradictory form of love with painfully delicate nuance.

On nights when you want to face the pain of heartbreak alone, listening to this song will feel as if it speaks for you and quietly stays by your side.

Never again…BENI

BENI – Never Again…

“I just want to hear your voice one more time, but I can’t.” This is BENI’s renowned ballad that sings of a heartbreakingly painful wish.

The lyrics, torn between lingering feelings for an unforgettable lover and the resolve to tell oneself there’s no going back to the past, will squeeze the hearts of anyone bearing the same pain.

There’s even an anecdote that BENI herself unexpectedly shed tears during the music video shoot, which speaks to the depth of emotion poured into this piece.

Released in December 2008 and tied in with a MBS-affiliated TV program, its memorable melody—marked by piano and strings—surely lingers in many listeners’ minds.

Also included on the album “Bitter & Sweet,” this song might be the perfect one to let a few quiet tears fall to.

maybeYOASOBI

YOASOBI “Tabun” Official Music Video

A morning of ending for two, greeted in a room fallen silent.

This is a YOASOBI song that portrays such a matter-of-fact scene of parting.

Released in July 2020, it also served as the theme song for a short film.

True to the duo’s concept of “turning novels into music,” it was created based on a publicly submitted short story.

There’s a painfully real quality in the way they try to accept a relationship that drifted apart—not because either person was at fault—with the word “probably.” Ikura’s clear, translucent vocals delicately capture the subtleties of a heart that can’t neatly move on, and are sure to resonate deeply with those carrying the pain of heartbreak.

While accepting the end, you can’t help but empathize with the sudden longing for the past that slips in.

Like this tonightaimyon

Aimyon – Stay Like This Tonight [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]

This is a song by Aimyon that portrays a helpless night where you dissolve your true feelings into the bubbles in your glass and surrender yourself to an ambiguous relationship.

Wishing for no more than a modest trigger to feel fulfilled evokes emotions akin to the resignation of unrequited love.

Released in November 2018, the song drew attention as the theme for the drama “We Can’t Become Beasts,” and has been streamed over 100 million times.

If you’ve ever been unable to tell someone how you really feel and felt like you might as well just go with the flow, you’ll surely understand the protagonist’s pain.

Doesn’t it feel like this song gently stays close to a heart burdened with feelings that have nowhere to go?