A classic song about a forbidden love
Adultery dramas we often see in dramas, movies, and TV talk shows—the love that can never come true.
We’ve gathered songs about these “forbidden loves.” There are many beautifully portrayed dramas that make your heart race, but what if you yourself were to fall into a love that isn’t allowed…? Here, we’ll introduce plenty of songs that capture the bittersweet feelings of such forbidden love.
From songs told from a woman’s perspective to those from a man’s point of view, there are more tracks about forbidden love than you might think.
Perhaps that’s because many people are secretly suffering over a love that shouldn’t be….
- [Adultery Song] A forbidden song about an affair that sings of an impossible love
- [Cheating Song] A forbidden love that crossed the line — infidelity song
- A song of forbidden love. A love song about feelings that can't be stopped.
- [Unattainable Love] A love song about two people who feel the same way but can’t be together
- Unattainable Love: A Heartbreaking Love Song About Falling for a Married Person
- [Empathetic & Tear-Jerking] A love song about an unrequited romance
- [An Adulterous Love] A love song about a secret affair you can't tell anyone about
- A song of forbidden love. A heartrending, sorrowful love song.
- [Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
- Favorite Songs for Women in Their 50s: A Curated Selection of Sweet and Bittersweet Love Ballads!
- [Jealousy & Possessiveness Songs] A curated selection of popular tracks to listen to when possessiveness feels overwhelming!
- A roundup of love songs themed around homosexuality and LGBTQ+
- “I Want to See You”: A love song that makes you cry when you listen to it while you can’t meet
Masterpieces about forbidden love (31–40)
Love songnatori
This is an emotional song by Natori that delicately portrays the heartache and pain of drowning in misguided love.
The protagonist’s feelings, tossed about by love, are depicted as blurring the line between dreams and reality.
Included on the album “Gekijō” (Theater), the track’s music video reached 3.16 million views in February 2024.
For those who carry an unending pain of love deep within, it will likely feel like a song that speaks your heart for you.
In the quiet, why not lend your ear to this piece?
just a littleIgarashi Haru
A song whose heartrending, soul-stirring vocals move every listener.
With delicate wording, it weaves a poignant love swayed by the whims of fate—encounters that come at the wrong time.
Haru Igarashi is a singer-songwriter with the unusual background of being a former police officer.
Released in March 2024, this work has drawn major attention, topping the Billboard JAPAN Heatseekers Songs chart for two consecutive weeks.
The line about pretending to like what the other person likes just to stay by their side is so earnest it tightens the chest.
CountdownCocco
This is Cocco’s shocking debut work, depicting the end of a forbidden love driven by sheer passion.
The provocative, self-destructive words that corner the other person may be a reflection of frustration and despair at a relationship with no way out.
Released in March 1997, the song is also included on the album Bougainvillea.
Because you love someone so much, you feel a twisted impulse to destroy the relationship with your own hands—knowing it’s selfish, yet unable to stop.
Perhaps such overwhelming passion comes from being consumed by a love that should never be.
Stray HeartsInaba Hiroshi
Koshi Inaba, also known as the vocalist of B’z, is a singer-songwriter whose powerful voice captivates many listeners.
His seventh digital-only single, “Stray Hearts,” was written as the theme song for the TV drama “Even If You Don’t Do It.” The lyrics, which portray the feelings of being unable to part despite knowing it’s a forbidden love, tighten the chest with anxiety about an ending that may come someday.
It’s a passionate rock tune distinguished by a rock sound that puts piano and strings at the forefront.
Crime and PunishmentShiina Ringo
A song by Sheena Ringo whose heartrending cry—wanting nothing more than to hear her own name—pierces the chest.
The figure who seeks only the certain “now,” even at the cost of abandoning the future, seems to portray the agony of a heart falling into a love it knows is forbidden.
This work was released as a single in January 2000 and was also included on the classic album Shōso Strip.
It apparently wasn’t originally slated to be a single, but there’s an anecdote that its release was decided due to strong demand from fans.
When you listen to it at times when your heart feels like it’s about to break between the pure desire to be with someone and the reality that such desire is a “sin,” you may feel as if the song affirms your pain along with everything else.
Masterpieces about forbidden love (41–50)
Play ball!YU-KI
To mark the milestone of her 10th anniversary as a solo artist, YUKI delivered a song that evokes the beginning of a forbidden love.
Contrary to its bright, cheerleader-like sound, the worldview seems to portray a woman’s strong will as she plunges into the game of love without thinking of the consequences—“even if it’s a strikeout.” Her desperate plea for divine help conveys the pain of being unable to stop her feelings, even while knowing the relationship is forbidden.
This monumental single was released in May 2012.
Even though you know it’s wrong, this is a song that confronts your heart with a certain resolve to stake everything on this love.
Article 709 of the Civil CodeMioyamazaki
An unflinchingly vivid major-label debut themed around the text of the law.
It tells the story of a woman who has become a party to a forbidden love, singing of her complex emotions where brazen defiance and a guilty conscience intertwine.
Released in December 2014, the song was later included on the album “anti-these.” The cover featuring Junichi Ishida also drew attention.
If it doesn’t get found out, we’re happy—but what lies beyond that? It’s a track that makes you think deeply about the harsh reality of such a precarious romance and the fragility of the human heart.