Lovely love song

A classic song about a forbidden love

Keyboard playerSAKI
I play Electone, piano, and piano with vocals, and I upload performance videos to social media like YouTube! I’ve loved Disney music since I was little and have played many pieces on the Electone. I’ve been a fan of GLAY since junior high, and from there I started listening to all kinds of music, both Japanese and international. In Western music, I like Avril Lavigne♫
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSICSasashina
Deputy Editor of the web media RAG MUSIC. I’m Sasashina, a mom currently raising an elementary schooler and a preschooler. In my student days, I studied broadly at Kyoto College of Science and Technology, covering sound, lighting, and video technology, and acquired skills from comprehensive stage production to the fundamentals of creative expression. After graduation, I joined a music production company, where I still work, and have consistently built my career on the production side, taking on diverse tasks centered around music. Currently, I mainly handle articles for children, drawing on what I’ve learned about parenting in my own way, as well as insights and discoveries from interacting with my kids every day. I hope I can be of help to you, even just a little!

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….

Masterpieces about forbidden love (21–30)

PrologueUru

[Official] Uru “Prologue” YouTube ver. — Theme song for the TBS Tuesday drama “Chugakusei Nikki (Junior High School Diary)”

Prologue Uru

It’s a bittersweet love song about how, even though you shouldn’t fall in love, you can’t help but follow the person with your eyes.

It was released in 2018 as a single by Uru and was used as the theme song for the drama “Chuugaku Seishin Nikki” (Middle School Saint Diary).

The drama portrays a forbidden love between a teacher and a student, and this song matched it perfectly, making it all the more heartrending.

I really want people who are going through a similarly painful love to listen to it.

“Why did we have to meet?”—it’s the kind of helpless feeling that brings you to tears.

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AFFAIRShikao Suga

Suga Shikao / AFFAIR

AFFAIR Suga Shikao

This is a song by Suga Shikao that portrays the deep anguish of a forbidden love—two people drawn to each other despite knowing it’s not allowed.

Released in October 2000, it was used as the theme song for the drama “The Lover’s Code: Wanting to See You.” There’s an anecdote that the track was refined for over three years before completion.

The torment of guilt alongside feelings so deep there’s no turning back makes your chest tighten, doesn’t it? If you listen to it on a night when you’re troubled by a complicated love with no way out in sight, you may find yourself empathizing deeply with its helplessness.

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Masterpieces about forbidden love (31–40)

I want you to tell me you love me.Hanako Oku

Hanako Oku – I Want You to Say You Love Me (Live ’08)

I want to be told “I love you” by Hanako Oku.

A song about a painful love, “Anata ni Suki to Iwaretai” (“I Want You to Tell Me You Love Me”).

It was released in 2008 as a single by Hanako Oku.

In this song, she portrays the bittersweet mix of happiness and aching sorrow that comes from being treated kindly by a man who already has a girlfriend.

For anyone experiencing a similar love, it’s a song that will surely bring you to tears.

You’re seen as a friend, but in truth you’re in love… such a painful romance.

The phrase used as the title is the unspoken wish held deep in her heart.

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A little more, just a bit moreZARD

Just a little more… a bit more…

Just a little more, just a bit more — ZARD

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.

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Article 709 of the Civil CodeMio Yamazaki

Mio Yamazaki debut single “Civil Code Article 709” lyric video

Civil Code Article 709 Miyoyamazaki

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.

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nightMaaya Sakamoto

MAAYA SAKAMOTO – Night (yoru)

Night Sakamoto Maaya

This is a song by Maaya Sakamoto that evokes the protagonist’s aching emotions in a room after their lover has gone home.

Even as they desperately try to grasp the lingering fragrance of those happy moments, the memories slip through their fingers and vanish.

That elusive, fleeting quality seems to symbolize the poignancy of a forbidden love, making a deep impression.

The track is included on the acclaimed 2003 December release “Shōnen Alice.” Created during a period when Maaya Sakamoto was honing her expressive power as a stage actor, her vocals here exquisitely portray delicate emotions.

If you’re troubled by a relationship you can’t tell anyone about and find yourself savoring the loneliness of a solitary night, you’ll surely resonate with the protagonist’s solitary heart.

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PuzzleBAND-MAID

BAND-MAID / Puzzle (Official Live Video)

PuzzleBAND-MAID

A connection that felt like destiny, yet a relationship that could never be.

This BAND-MAID song portrays the struggle of a forbidden love.

The way the narrator tells themselves it’s okay not to be someone special to the other person may resonate painfully with anyone in an unrequited love.

These helpless emotions are sung with delicacy over powerful beats and a passionate sound.

The track is included on the album “Just Bring It,” released in January 2017.

Even knowing it won’t be reciprocated, the feelings won’t stop—this is a work that stays close to that complex state of mind.

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