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Yoasobi

Yoasobi is a Japanese pop duo formed in 2019 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It is composed of Vocaloid producer Ayase and singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta, under the moniker Ikura. Represented by the slogan "novel into music", the duo originally released songs based on selected short stories posted on Monogatary.com, a social media website for creative writing operated by the label. Sources later also come from various media like stories written by professional authors, books, letters, plays, etc.

Rising to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, Yoasobi's debut single, "Yoru ni Kakeru", gave the duo the breakthrough by spending six non-consecutive weeks atop Billboard Japan Hot 100 and topping its 2020 year-end chart without CD release, as well as receiving the first ever diamond certification for streaming from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Besides "Yoru ni Kakeru", three other songs were certified diamonds: Blue Period-inspired "Gunjō", Beastars opening theme "Kaibutsu", and Oshi no Ko opening theme "Idol"; the latter set the record for the longest-running number one in the Japan Hot 100 history for 22 non-consecutive weeks, and the first Japanese act to top the Billboard Global Excl. US, as well as the 2023 nineteenth best-selling global song, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

Yoasobi released three Japanese-language EPs: The Book, The Book 2 (2021), and The Book 3 (2023), which all peaked at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart; and three English-language E-Side (2021), E-Side 2 (2022), and E-Side 3 (2024). Beyond their discography, the duo collaborated with four Naoki Prize-winning novelists—Rio Shimamoto, Mizuki Tsujimura, Miyuki Miyabe, and Eto Mori—to publish short story collection Hajimete no in 2022, and performed the songs based on each story. Yoasobi has earned several accolades, including ten Japan Gold Disc Awards, five CD Shop Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards Japan, two Japan Record Awards, one Noma Publishing Culture Award, and one Crunchyroll Anime Award, among others.

History

2019–2021: Formation, "Yoru ni Kakeru" and The Book

Both members of Yoasobi had active music careers before the duo formation. Ayase, a singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and then-vocalist of rock band Davinci (2012–2020), began using Vocaloid software Hatsune Miku to produce music and uploaded his first song, "Sentensei Assault Girl", on the video-sharing website Niconico in 2018 and gained popularity with "Last Resort" a year later. Then, he released his debut extended play Ghost City Tokyo in December 2019. Lilas Ikuta (later performing under the stage name Ikura in Yoasobi) is a singer-songwriter and a then member of the cover group Plusonica (2017–2021). In 2016, she participated in the new artist training course, called the Lesson, which was sponsored by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and released her demo CD 15 no Omoi. Later, Ikuta also released her first two EPs: Rerise (2018) and Jukebox (2019) through independent record label After School.

In mid 2019, Ayase received an offer from Yohei Yashiro and Shuya Yamamoto from Sony Music Entertainment Japan to work for a project to produce songs inspired by short story submissions published on Monogatary.com, a social media website for creative writing owned by SMEJ. During the discussion about vocalists, Ayase found Ikura on Instagram, where she uploaded her cover of Aimyon's "Kimi wa Rock o Kikanai". He later checked her YouTube channel, where she uploaded some of her music and covers, and contacted her directly to persuade her to form the duo. The duo's name Yoasobi originates from the Japanese word yoasobi (夜遊び), which means "nightlife". Ayase, who came up with the name, explained that is a wish that the two could take on various playful challenges by comparing their individual career to daytime and Yoasobi's career to nighttime. The duo uses the slogan "novel into music" (小説を音楽にする, shōsetsu o ongaku ni suru) to represent themselves. They announced their debut via teaser video on October 1.

The first song released by Yoasobi, "Yoru ni Kakeru", was based on the short story Thanatos no Yūwaku written by Mayo Hoshino, which won the novel contest Monocon 2019. Its accompanying music video was initially uploaded via Ayase's YouTube and Niconico channels on November 16, 2019, before subsequently commercially released the next month on December 15. During the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, "Yoru ni Kakeru" went viral on social media, including the song's The Home Take solo performance by Ikura, bringing it to top several music streaming service charts in Japan. Five months after its release, the song ascended to number one on both the Oricon Combined Singles Chart and Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the first time. The latter spent a total of six weeks atop the chart of which three weeks were consecutive. "Yoru ni Kakeru" finished 2020 as the year's top Japan Hot 100 song, making it the first-ever non-CD single to top the year-end chart, and was certified diamond for streaming by Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for exceeding 500 million streams in Japan, becoming the first song in history to do so. The song won the Song of the Year at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards Japan and the 2021 Space Shower Music Awards, and the Silver Prize at the 2023 JASRAC Awards.

Following their debut single, Yoasobi released "Ano Yume o Nazotte" on January 18, 2020. Like "Yoru ni Kakeru", the song is based on another Monocon 2019-winning short story by Sōta Ishiki, Yume no Shizuku to Hoshi no Hana. The next single, "Halzion", sourced from Shunki Hashizume's Soredemo, Happy End, was released on May 11 as part of Suntory's "Immersive Song Project" to advertise energy drink Zone. It was the duo's first collaboration with a professional novelist, whereas the first two were amateur writers. In the second half of the year, they continually released three more singles. The first, "Tabun", was released on July 20 and based on the short story of the same name by Shinano, which won Yoasobi Contest Vol. 1. Inspired by the manga series Blue Period and sourced from the short story written by the brand's creative team Ao o Mikata ni, "Gunjō", featuring uncredited chorus of Plusonica, was released on September 1. It was used for Bourbon's Alfort Mini Chocolate commercial. It is the duo's second song to be certified diamond for streaming by the RIAJ. On December 18, the duo released the song "Haruka", a collaboration with screenwriter Osamu Suzuki's short story Tsuki Ōji.

On December 31, Yoasobi concluded 2020 at the year-end television special 71st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen with the debut live performance of "Yoru ni Kakeru" as a duo, along with band members, filmed at Bookshelf Theater, Kadokawa Culture Center in Tokorozawa. It made the duo the first-ever artist to perform at the TV special without any album release. All previously released singles were featured on the duo's debut EP The Book, released on January 6, 2021. It expresses a theme of "reading CD" with binder package, and additionally included "Encore", based on Yoasobi Contest Vol. 1-winning Sekai no Owari to, Sayonara no Uta by Kanami Minakami, and was used for a Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) advertisement. The EP debuted at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart and the Billboard Japan Hot Albums. As of 2021, The Book has sold 150,000 CD and 100,000 digital sales, the latter making the EP the only album to reach the milestone that year, and was certified gold for the both by the RIAJ, and won Special Award at the CD Shop Awards.

2021: The Book 2

First announced in late 2020, Yoasobi recorded both the opening and ending themes for the second season of the Japanese anime series Beastars. Its opening theme, "Kaibutsu", was released on January 6, 2021, the same date as the duo's EP The Book, while its ending theme, "Yasashii Suisei", came on the 20th. Both songs were based on Jibun no Mune ni Jibun no Mimi o Oshi Atete and Shishiza Ryūseigun no Mama ni, respectively, written by the anime's writer Paru Itagaki. Later, the double A-side CD single of the themes was released on March 24, debuting at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, making "Kaibutsu" peaking at number two on the Japan Hot 100. "Kaibutsu" won four awards for Song of the Year (Japan) in both download and streaming categories at the 36th Japan Gold Disc Award, and later received the duo's third diamond streaming certification from the RIAJ. The song ranked number five in Time's 10 Best Songs of 2021, the only Japanese act to appear on the list. In support of their debut EP, the duo held their first livestream concert, Keep Out Theater, on February 14 at Shinjuku Milano-za construction site for 40,000 online audiences. The duo were radio hosts for All Night Nippon X every Tuesday from March 2021 to 2022.

Yoasobi released "Mō Sukoshi Dake", a 2021 theme for the Fuji TV's morning show Mezamashi TV, on May 10. It was based on the Yoasobi Contest Vol.3 with Mezamashi TV-winning story Meguru by Chiharu. A song for NTT Docomo's mobile network operator Ahamo commercial, "Sangenshoku", based on scriptwriter Yūichirō Komikado's RGB, was released on July 2. In June, Uniqlo's T-shirt brand UT partnered with Yoasobi to produce T-shirts with patterns inspired by the duo's visuals. To promote the collaboration, they held Sing Your World, a free livestream concert held at Uniqlo City Tokyo and broadcast via the duo's official YouTube channel on July 4. It received 280,000 online viewers around the world. On August 9, Yoasobi released the song "Loveletter" based on Hatsune's letter Ongaku-san e, which won the Letter Song Project, a contest held in 2020 by Tokyo FM's radio show owned by Japan Post Service, Sunday's Post. Between September 9 and 13, the duo and Sony Park Exhibition held Semiconductors Create New Realities exhibition at Ginza Sony Park, where they first previewed the song "Taishō Roman", based on Natsumi's short story Taishō Romance, which won the Yoasobi Contest Vol.2. The song was released next two days after the exhibition had finished. That same month, the duo was chosen as a mascot for the 59th Sendenkaigi Award, an advertising award by Sendenkaigi.

The duo was in charge of a theme for SDGs children's television series Hirogare! Irotoridori, titled "Tsubame", featuring children group Midories. The song was based on Nana Ototsuki's short story Chiisana Tsubame no Ōkina Yume and released on October 25. Yoasobi released their second EP, The Book 2, on December 1, 2021, including all singles they released in 2021 alongside "Moshi mo Inochi ga Egaketara", a theme for and based on Suzuki's 2021 stage of the same name, performed in August–September 2021. The EP debuted at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart, and topped the Billboard Japan Hot Albums. It was certified gold for physical release by the RIAJ, selling over 100,000 copies, and won Special Award at the CD Shop Awards. In support of The Book 2, Yoasobi held their first face-to-face one-off concert called Nice to Meet You at Nippon Budokan on December 4–5, receiving 14,000 offline attendees, and starred on an episode of documentary program Jōnetsu Tairiku on December 12. The duo participated in the 72nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen on December 31, which they performed "Gunjō" for the main show featuring an orchestra, and "Tsubame" as part of "Colorful Special Segment" with Midories and mascots from Hirogare! Irotoridori.

Furthermore, in 2021, Yoasobi began exploring English-language songs by translating from the original Japanese. The first song, "Into the Night", was released on July 2, translated from "Yoru ni Kakeru". They subsequently released three other singles: "RGB" and "Monster" in July, and "Blue" in October. All singles were included in the duo's first English-language EP E-Side, released digitally on November 12. The EP peaked at number 19 on the Oricon Combined Albums Chart, and number nine on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums. Yoasobi won Artist of the Year at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards Japan and the 2022 Space Shower Music Awards, as well as the Special Achievement Award at the 63rd Japan Record Awards. According to Oricon, the duo was the seventh best-selling artist in Japan in 2021, grossing ¥6.07 billion.

2022–2023: Hajimete no, "Idol" and The Book 3

Yoasobi collaborated with four Naoki Prize-winning novelists to perform four songs based on their short stories under the theme of "a story to read when you do [something] for the first time". It contains Rio Shimamoto's Watashi Dake no Shoyūsha, Mizuki Tsujimura's Yūrei, Miyuki Miyabe's Iro Chigai no Trump, and Eto Mori's Hikari no Tane. All stories were published as a tankōbon book, titled Hajimete no, on February 16, 2022, by Suirinsha. The first single of the project based on Shimamoto's story, "Mr.", was released on the same date as the book publication. It was followed by "Suki da", based on Mori's story, on May 30, and "Umi no Manimani", based on Tsujimura's story, on November 18. The final song based on Miyabe's story, "Seventeen", was released on March 27, 2023. All songs featured on the book's companion EP, issued on May 10, 2023, peaking at number nine on the Oricon Singles Chart. The sequel project Hajimete no Bungei-bu was announced in September 2022.

Beyond their musical discography, Yoasobi released their first video album, The Film, on March 23, containing videos of the duo's three concerts held in 2021 and unreleased footage from their episode on the documentary program Jōnetsu Tairiku. The duo partnered with Book Truck to launch a pop-up bookstore and café Tabi Suru Honya-san Yoasobi-gō: Books & Café, which was first launched at the Curry & Music Japan 2022 festival in July. The duo participated in an outdoor music festival for the first time in August at the Rock in Japan Festival. Yoasobi performed the first opening theme of the mecha anime series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, titled "Shukufuku", based on the short story Yurikago no Hoshi by the anime's writer Ichirō Ōkouchi. The song was released on October 1 and peaked at number two on the Japan Hot 100. The duo released the second English-language EP E-Side 2 on November 18, preceded by "The Swallow" and "The Blessing". The EP debuted at number ten on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums. Yoasobi performed overseas for the first time in December 2022 at the Head in the Clouds Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Manila, the Philippines. The duo collaborated with Universal Studios Japan to perform a theme for the student support campaign Unibaru, based on the story that won the campaign's contest, under the theme "unforgettable memories in school age at the [USJ] park". The winning story was Lens Goshi no Kirameki o by Nagi, and the song "Adventure" was released on February 15, 2023.

In 2023, Yoasobi was in charge of the opening theme of the anime series Oshi no Ko, titled "Idol", based on manga artist Aka Akasaka's short story 45510, released on April 12. It peaked at number one on both the Oricon Combined Singles and Billboard Japan Hot 100 charts, which the latter stayed for 22 non-consecutive weeks, surpassing the previous longest record of 13 weeks of Official Hige Dandism's "Subtitle". The song broke the record for the fastest song to earn 500 million streams in Japan in 28 weeks and became the fastest song to be certified diamond for streaming by the RIAJ within 295 days since its release. Globally, "Idol" peaked at number seven on the Billboard Global 200, the highest position by Japanese act, and topped the Global Excl. US, the first song with Japanese lyrics to do so. The song's music video also set a new record as the fastest music video by Japanese singer to reach 100 million views within 35 days. "Idol" won many industry awards, including Best Animation Video and Song of the Year at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Best Anime Song at the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Song of the Year in both download and streaming categories at the 38th Japan Gold Disc Award, and Gold Prize at the 2024 JASRAC Awards. Both Oricon and Billboard Japan named "Idol" as the 2023 best-performing song in Japan, while the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) ranked the song as the 19th best-selling global song in 2023, earning 1.01 billion subscription streams equivalents.

The duo embarked on their first concert tour in 2023, titled Denkōsekka Arena Tour, in seven cities with fourteen shows throughout Japan, starting in Nagoya on April 5 and concluding in Yokohama on June 24. The tour amassed 130,000 attendees. Additionally, they held the livestream concert via TikTok on April 24 at Theater Milano-za, the same venue as Keep Out Theater when it was under construction. In June, instant noodles brand Super Cup 1.5x partnered with the duo to produce two special flavors. The duo had their first performance in the Western Hemisphere at the Head in the Clouds Festival at Pasadena, the United States, in August. Yoasobi released their third EP, The Book 3, on October 4, comprising all singles from 2022 to the then-recent first opening theme for anime series Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, titled "Yūsha", based on Jirō Kiso's short story Fanfare for Frieren. The song was released ahead on the EP on September 27 and peaked at number two on the Japan Hot 100. The Book 3 debuted at number two on both the Oricon Albums Chart and Billboard Japan Hot Albums, and received gold certification for 100,000 shipments from the RIAJ. The duo concluded 2023 by topping the Billboard Japan's 2023 year-end Artist 100, and, according to Oricon, becoming the eighth best-selling artist of 2023, grossing ¥5,749.3 million, and the tenth of Reiwa era (2019–2023), grossing ¥17.06 billion. They also received the Person of the Year award from the Public Relations Society of Japan.

2023–present: Overseas expansion

In November 2023, Yoasobi was an opening act for two Tokyo shows of British rock band Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour, and released the single "Biri-Biri", inspired by the short story written by Ayano Takeda Kimi to Ameagari o, to commemorate the first anniversary of role-playing video games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet releases. The next month, the duo featured on Yumi Matsutoya's 50th anniversary greatest hit album Yuming Kanpai!!, for the remake of "Chūō Freeway" (1976), adding new materials sourced from Matsutoya's biographical novel Subete no Koto wa Message Shōsetsu Yuming (2022) by Mariko Yamauchi. They also participated in the seventh iteration of television special 18Fes, singing one-time-only "Heart Beat" with 1,000 teenagers between 17 and 20 years old, broadcast on December 25 and the song was released the next day. From December 2023 to January 2024, the duo launched a radio show Yoasobi's Otsumami Radio with Apple Music and Podcasts for four episodes, and collaborated with Suntory Draft Beer for a pop-up store at Shinagawa Station, and limited screened beer can.

On December 31, 2023, Yoasobi performed "Idol" at the 74th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, featuring numerous Japanese and Korean idol groups, former idols, now actress Kanna Hashimoto and now singer Ano, dance group Avantgardey, and B-boy group Real Akiba Boyz. The duo embarked on their first Asia tour between December 2023 and January 2024, and continued with the Pop Out Zepp Tour in Japan from January to March 2024, The duo released their second video album The Film 2 on April 10, collecting selected concert performances from 2023 to early 2024, and their third English-language EP E-Side 3 on the 12th. In the same month, they were invited for the US President Joe Biden-hosted state dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House, and signed an agent contract with American Creative Artists Agency. Yoasobi performed two concert tours in 2024—Yoasobi Live in the USA in April and August, and the Dome Live 2024 from October to November to commemorate their fifth-anniversary—and two major music festivals—Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, and Lollapalooza in August. The duo will perform the theme songs for anime series Monogatari Series Off & Monster Season (2024), titled "Undead", and NHK's 2024 coverage of sports events and the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in France.

Artistry

Yoasobi's musical style has been described as a mix of pop, rock, and electronic music; Tomonori Shiba from Cinra classified their genre as monogatari ongaku (物語音楽, lit. "story music"). Ayase was influenced by '80s, '90s music, and K-pop, while Ikura was influenced by Western music like songs from Disney, folk, and country. Ayase named Exile, Sukima Switch, Kobukuro, Radwimps, and Aiko, as well as rock bands—Maximum the Hormone, Coldrain, Crossfaith, SiM, Slipknot and Bring Me the Horizon, and Ikura cites Taylor Swift as each major music influence.

The duo and their music have been compared to other Japanese musical acts such as Yorushika and Zutomayo, which are also known for their Vocaloid roots and animated music videos. These three groups are collectively described by the neologistic genre "Yakōsei" (夜好性, lit. 'night-loving scene'), as all of them have the word "夜" (pronounced ya, yo or yoru), which means "night", in their name. Furthurmore, Yoasobi's songs were usually titled with "straightforward" word, e.g. "Gunjō", "Idol", and "Yūsha", and included Ikura's signature "ah", which both appears in lyrics and not. Music director and producer Konnie Aoki usually translates Yoasobi's songs into English, which uses words similar to the original Japanese lyrics.

Although Yoasobi's songs are based on fictional stories, Ayase interprets and writes their songs reflecting on his feelings and experiences. Described by themselves as having "DIY", "hands-on", and "handmade" styles, when writing music for the duo, Ayase first creates a demo by using a digital audio workstation on his laptop with Vocaloid software, mostly Hatsune Miku, allowing him to avoid any distortion based on a human vocalist's interpretation, then records Ikura's vocals afterwards. Natsume Sogami from Real Sound described Yoasobi's music as "derivative work", which creates style contrasting to other musicians and songwriters. Pen's Hiroaki Nagahata wrote that the duo's songs "reflect modern motifs, including negative things that no one would dare say in public."

Members

Ayase – composition, production, lyrics, keyboards, synthesizer, sampler
Ikura – vocals

Band members

Zacro Misohagi – keyboards, backing vocals
AssH – guitar
Honogumo – drums
Hikaru Yamamoto – bass guitar

Additional band members

Satoru Taguchi – guitar
Tatsuya Amano – drums

Discography

Videography

Video albums

The Film (2022)
The Film 2 (2024)

Tours

Denkōsekka Arena Tour (2023)
Yoasobi Asia Tour (2023–2024)
Pop Out Zepp Tour (2024)
Yoasobi Live in the USA (2024)
Yoasobi Dome Live (2024)

Filmography

Television

Radio shows

Bibliography

Yoasobi Novels: Yoru ni Kakeru (2020)
Yume no Shizuku to Hoshi no Hana (2020)
Haruka to Tsuki no Ōji-sama (2021)
Taishō Roman Yoasobi "Taishō Roman" Original Novel (2021)
Hajimete no (2022)

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

Official website (in Japanese)

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: Yoasobi by Wikipedia (Historical)

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