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 (1–10)
balladKetsumeishi
A straightforward love ballad about an unattainable romance.
The small props that color the lyrics—glass, night breeze, lingering afterglow—all evoke an adult kind of love.
Even if it’s forbidden, even if it can never come true, the experience of falling in love remains forever in one’s heart.
With a flowing melody that even hints at the classical, the song’s construction is quintessentially Ketsumeishi.
It’s a track that once again showcases the breadth of their range.
Song for…HY
It’s such a popular song that fans even talk about being either in the “366 Days” camp or the “Song for…” camp.
I imagine the word that follows the ellipsis in “Song for…” is probably “you.” It’s a world brimming with heartbreak, where you’re thinking of someone even though it’s not allowed—and precisely because it’s not allowed, your feelings only grow, looping over and over.
It’s a world that only HY could sing about.
Falling in LoveKobayashi Akiko
Akiko Kobayashi’s classic “Koi ni Ochite -Fall in love-,” passed down as a sorrowful love song, carries a mature image in part because it was used as the theme for the TV drama “Friday Wives.” The song conveys the feelings of a woman who has fallen for a man who is already with someone else.
For a woman secretly tormented by a love that overflows despite an irrepressible loneliness, it might be good to entrust her heart to the song and fully immerse herself in it.
Stop this nightJUJU
Is it acceptable to decide to break up because staying together after you’ve fallen out of love would only be unfair to the other person? Opinions are divided on this.
The woman in these lyrics wishes to stay together even so.
It’s as if the title “Kono Yoru wo Tomete yo” (Stop This Night) already sets listeners’ hearts racing from the outset.
It’s a heartfelt love ballad from JUJU!
Can’t Stop Fallin’ in Loveglobe
A forbidden love you can’t tell anyone about.
Even though you know you should stop, you can’t—it’s like a bottomless swamp, isn’t it? Here’s the perfect song for those who’ve sunk deep into it.
It’s “Can’t Stop Fallin’ in Love” by globe, one of the iconic groups from the Komuro Family that colored Japan’s ’90s.
The song portrays how a warped happiness that once belonged to two people eventually becomes something borne alone, leaving you tormented by emotions with nowhere to go.
blue skyaiko
It’s a sad breakup song that can be heard as either a song about an affair or about having a brief relationship with someone you shouldn’t fall for.
Released in 2020 as aiko’s 39th single, it has a relatively bright sound, but the lyrics are heartbreakingly poignant.
For those who are in a love they can’t tell anyone about and are desperately holding themselves back to keep the relationship from ending, it will be painful to listen to—but it will surely stay by your side, too.
Give it a listen when time alone feels lonely or empty.
AitaiKato Miria
People often say that love isn’t something you do, but something you fall into—and this song embodies that metaphor perfectly.
The lyrics express a longing so deep that it’s okay if the person you like already has a girlfriend, it’s okay if you get hurt—you still want to see them.
The aching sadness of a forbidden love is at its peak here.
Combined with Miliyah Kato’s vocals, it creates a world that could only be born from her voice.