A song of forbidden love. A heartrending, sorrowful love song.
A forbidden love you can’t tell anyone about.
If you’re reading this article, perhaps you’re experiencing a similar kind of love.
If so, there are probably many painful moments.
I’ve gathered some songs I want you to hear.
They capture the pain of falling for someone who already has a lover or partner and feeling lost, or knowing it won’t come true yet being unable to give up.
When things are tough, try finding one song that stays close to your feelings.
Like when someone listens to you, it might make your heart feel just a little lighter.
- [An Adulterous Love] A love song about a secret affair you can't tell anyone about
- [Adultery Song] A forbidden song about an affair that sings of an impossible love
- A classic song about a forbidden love
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- [Unattainable Love] A love song about two people who feel the same way but can’t be together
- [Cheating Song] A forbidden love that crossed the line — infidelity song
- "A Love Song I Can't Tell Anyone" — a love song you can relate to when times are tough
- [Empathetic & Tear-Jerking] A love song about an unrequited romance
- A tear-jerking love song. A love song that stays close to a hurting heart.
- “I Want to See You”: A love song that makes you cry when you listen to it while you can’t meet
- [Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
- Masterpieces of bittersweet unrequited love songs. Recommended popular tracks.
- [2026] Japanese love ballads of tragic romance: classic masterpieces of sad love songs
Songs of forbidden love. A heartrending, sad love song (1–10)
Shitsuren feat. MatsuriTakase Tōya
A duet song by Toya Takase and Matsuri that delicately portrays the emotions of two people consumed by a forbidden love.
Within a relationship so dependent that they can’t even bring themselves to part, the contradictions and inner conflicts born from caring too much for each other are expressed with aching tenderness.
Released in June 2024, the song has resonated especially with Gen Z.
It’s a moving track that offers solace to those experiencing a bittersweet love—longing for someone while suffering under the weight of those very feelings.
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.
A person I mustn’t fall in love withCHIHIRO
CHIHIIRO’s clear, transparent voice matches the wistful lyrics and really tugs at the heart.
In the chorus, she keeps repeating “I mustn’t fall in love,” as if she’s telling herself, making it a poignant song.
If you’re in a love that can’t come true, you’ll probably relate to it a lot.
Songs of forbidden love. Heartrending, sad love songs (11–20)
A little more, just a bit moreZARD
A song by ZARD about a love that cannot come true.
Even while knowing it’s a forbidden relationship, the protagonist finds herself wishing to be loved “just a little longer.” The song captures her emotions, and because the love is taboo, her earnest feelings resonate with a striking purity.
There’s an anecdote that Izumi Sakai, who also wrote the lyrics, felt saddened while singing it—an episode that speaks to the song’s poignancy.
Released in September 1993, this work compels deep reflection on the weight of unrequited love and the intensity of loving someone.
even ifHirai Ken
It’s a song by Ken Hirai that conjures up the image of a man at a bar counter, tilting his glass and hiding his true feelings as he sits beside someone gazing at their lover’s ring.
You can almost feel the protagonist’s painful frustration as he wishes they’d miss the last train, yet swallows the words instead.
Released in December 2000, the track reached No.
3 on the Oricon weekly chart and is also included on the classic album “gaining through losing.” For those entangled in a forbidden love—knowing it won’t come true yet unable to stop their growing feelings—this song may quietly keep you company.
Run through the nightsupittsu
A Spitz song that portrays an elopement born from a forbidden love.
Knowing theirs is a relationship no one will bless, it depicts a poignant night as the couple runs off into a world for just the two of them.
Aware that they’re connected not by a destined red thread, but by something far more fragile, they still try to believe in that bond alone—an attitude that leaves you with a sense of helpless sorrow.
The track was included on the classic album Mikazuki Rock, released in September 2002, and was later used as an insert song in an anime.
It’s a work that confronts you with the purity and peril of a love you’d uphold even while turning your back on the world, prompting deep reflection.
A love I can tell no one abouterica
This love song is said to have been made for a fan with an unrequited crush.
Because it was based on real feelings, it has a super realistic vibe.
They fell in love, but the other person already has a partner, and there’s no one they can talk to.
The protagonist regrets having a forbidden love and sinks into terrible self-loathing.
Still, keeping quiet forever is too painful, so they decide to take a step forward.
No matter what kind of love it is, holding it all inside is hard, isn’t it?
