We had the opportunity to interview Japanese musical duo YOASOBI, made up of composer Ayase and vocalist ikura. The group is special for their slogan “novel into music,” which leads them to create songs by transforming stories from all kinds of media, including short stories, novels, plays, and posts on social media. The group first began rising in popularity roughly six years ago, with their debut single “Yoru ni Kakeru”, topping the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for six non-consecutive weeks. For anime fans though, YOASOBI absolutely smashed their way onto the scene with “Idol,” the opening for Oshi no Ko, which ended up being one of the best selling songs in the world in 2023, anime or otherwise.
On the heels of the release of the fourth album in their “THE BOOK” series, The Book For,, YOASOBI sat down with us to discuss the album, their musical process, and what brings in fans to the musical world they create. Read on for a transcript of the interview or check it out in video form below.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity. This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.
Q: You’ve just recently released the album “THE BOOK for,” which marks the conclusion of the “THE BOOK” series that has carried on since the group’s formation. Can you tell us about the background to the album and how it feels to conclude the “THE BOOK” series?
ikura: This time, with “THE BOOK for,” it’s in the form of the albums we’ve continued releasing up until now. THE BOOK 1, 2, 3, and now releasing it as 4. It contains about two and a half years of YOASOBI’s journey. And because we’re bringing THE BOOK series together into one volume, we connected the “for” with the numbering, the number four, and made it “for,” as in “for you.” YOASOBI’s feeling of continuing to turn novels into sound and to depict stories will not change, and the story will continue. But I hope that through the form of “THE BOOK for,” everyone can once again feel that this is your story, and also our story.
Q: Can you talk about how the Overwatch collaboration came about and the creative process behind the new original track “Orion” inspired by the game?
Ayase: Overwatch was implementing a new map, a map inspired by Tokyo, and it seems they thought it would be great if they could collaborate with a Japanese artist for that. And within that, very honorably, they reached out to us, and that’s how this came about. For the song, we made sure to properly follow the world of Overwatch. I wanted the game experience of the people actually playing Overwatch to become even more interesting, and through our music, if I may say so, I also hoped that more people might come to know Overwatch even further. So, with love, we made the song “Orion.”
Q: Over the last two years, you’ve written from creator-written fiction, fan-submitted game memories, and worlds with strong existing characters. How does the source change where you begin: inside the character, inside the scene, or inside yourselves?
Ayase: It varies. It really depends on the work. It depends on the source material. Sometimes the song is born from the protagonist’s emotions in the story as the very first starting point. Sometimes it comes from sound inspiration that comes from the overall atmosphere of the story. It’s different each time, and each time it starts from a completely different place. Within that, what we want to express and the sounds that are born are also different precisely because the stories are different. So every time, in a good way, I think something very different and interesting is born.
Q: All of your songs are based on stories, but the kinds of stories people tend to tell shift over time. Have you found yourself changing as the popular types of stories change?
Ayase: Honestly, we’re now in our seventh year of working as YOASOBI, and in about seven years, things don’t really change that much. There are, of course, broader currents in stories, and also things like social conditions, or real-time topical elements that reflect the feeling of that era. But we haven’t spent enough time as YOASOBI for common sense itself to change in some huge, massive way. So I don’t think we’ve reached the point where our way of engaging with stories changes because stories themselves have changed with the times. But of course, how should I put it — depending on trends of the era, or the flow of the times, what writers want to write about and what they want to challenge themselves with will naturally change. So when we create songs based on those works, I do feel that we ourselves are flexibly changing in terms of the atmosphere, or this “NOW” vibe of the time we’re living in. And I think that in itself might be evolution, so I always want to keep updating.
Q: What goes into translating a story into a song? What does that process look like?
Ayase: I feel like I can’t make the song unless I know the work well enough, unless I’ve taken it into my body enough, to be able to say, “After the original author, I’m the person who understands this work the most.” So it starts with reading and rereading the source material over and over again. From there, as I said earlier, whether it’s the protagonist’s emotions or the overall worldview, I take inspiration from that and keep building the sound and lyrics. That’s the process.
Q: You’ve touched on a wide variety of themes in your music over time, and in general each song can contain a large number of elements. Are there any themes you are especially wanting to explore lately that you haven’t explored as much in the past?
Ayase: Well, in terms of musical techniques, for example ikura’s way of singing, or of course challenging rap, or making things more intense — those kinds of musical-method challenges are something we’re really doing every day. The songs I’m making now — they won’t be out for a while at all — but with the songs I’m working on now, I do think that’s true every time. I guess when I put it into words, I’ve had this desire to give ikura a new theme. This time, ikura is this kind of vocalist, or because the protagonist is set in a certain way within the relationship to the original story, this time, is ikura “dark ikura,” or is she “idol ikura”? In each moment, each time, there’s a new theme. Right now, I’m creating something we haven’t done before, “a super dark ikura.”
ikura: YOASOBI works with the concept that every song has an original story, and because of that, each song really has a completely different work written by a completely different person behind it, and there’s that story, and we turn that into a song. So I often sing with all kinds of different types of stories in the background. Within that, Ayase turns them into songs, and we’ve already challenged ourselves a lot with the different expressions of ikura as a vocalist. And I think the songs we’re preparing now will also become songs where you’ll see expressions that we haven’t shown before. I haven’t sung them yet, but I’m really looking forward to that myself. From here on too, I want to keep pursuing singing expressions, or characters, that I didn’t have within myself before. I want YOASOBI to always be the kind of presence where, every time we release a new song, people feel, “They’ve surprised us again.”
Q: Your audience now includes anime fans, game fans, festival crowds, and people who know the English versions first. How do you build a setlist that lets newcomers in while still appealing to longtime listeners?
Ayase: The setlist for live shows is something I really care about. I’m the one who thinks about the structure of the setlist, and I care about it a lot. That’s true for shows overseas, and it’s also true for shows in Japan. Of course, there are people who have been supporting us for a long time and come to see us. But for example, there are also people who are important to those longtime fans — friends, partners — and those people might not know YOASOBI, and the live show might be their first time encountering our music. There are actually a lot of people like that too.And I really don’t want to miss a single person, or leave anyone behind. So I think the setlist is extremely important for that. I really think that in terms of human emotion — how should I put it — the rises and falls of emotion, and as entertainment, the setlist of one live show absolutely needs to function properly as a story, with a clear beginning, development, turn, and conclusion. And as long as that connects properly as a drama, as a story, then even if there are songs someone doesn’t know, or even if they don’t immediately understand the meaning of the lyrics in that moment, I believe we can absolutely move them through the sound and the visual presentation. So I don’t think of it song by song, or only in blocks. I really place importance on the story of the whole setlist as one big framework. If we can do that, I believe both longtime fans and people who have newly discovered us will enjoy it.
Q: For fans of yours who only know your music through anime, what song or album would you say is a good entry point for them into the rest of your music? What would you recommend to someone who has only heard “Idol?”
ikura: If they’re someone who really likes anime, we’ve also had the opportunity to make songs for so many anime tie-ins up until now. So if there’s another work they like, and there’s something related to it where we did the theme song, then they could listen to a few songs from that kind of place and think, “Oh, YOASOBI is interesting.” And then from there, maybe they might realize, “Oh, actually, there was a novel as the source material,” and that might make it easier for them to enjoy other YOASOBI songs that aren’t in the anime-song category as an entry point. Also, even if the only song they like is “Idol,” just that one song, if they come to a live show just to hear that, I think we can absolutely make them leave liking us. So please come to our live shows.
Ayase: Exactly!
Q: When a song crosses into English, what are you most unwilling to lose? The story, the rhythm, the character’s voice, or the emotions?
Ayase: Rhythm. Rhythm is everything. Rhythm. I think about rhythm with everything I have. So, in the lyrics of the original songs we usually make in Japanese, rhythm is the part I value above all else. Even when it becomes English, for example, if the meaning doesn’t change but the phrasing changes a little because it’s been translated into English, I’m not an English speaker, so I don’t understand that level of detail myself. If the people checking it together with us say it’s okay, then I think it’s fine. But when it comes to rhythm, in the end, it’s the same as changing the song itself. Even if the melody line is the same, if the rhythm is different, the way the melody is heard changes. And to me, that means the melody itself has changed. So rhythm is the most important thing. And there’s someone named Konnie Aoki who always really understands that feeling of mine and translates very strongly for us. He takes great care of the sense of rhythm that YOASOBI’s originals have when translating them into English.
Q: Across the English-language albums you’ve created, did you find yourself having to modify phrasing, breathing, or arrangement to prevent losing that rhythm?
ikura: As Ayase just mentioned, Konnie Aoki is the person who translates them for us, and Konnie-san really works with the motto of delivering YOASOBI’s songs in English while maintaining the original feel and rhythm of the Japanese version as much as possible. So when he translates, I think he does it while being very conscious of that YOASOBI-like sound design. When I sing, I also try as much as possible to deliver the song while properly maintaining the feeling of the sound that’s being conveyed in the Japanese version. I always make it so that I can immediately listen to the original Japanese version in my headphones, and every time, line by line, I sing while being conscious of making sure the Japanese nuance can come out in the English version in the same way. I’m also conscious of things like breathing and phrasing when I sing.
Q: Recent coverage of your live shows often highlights the visuals as much as the songs. When do visuals help tell the story, and when do they risk getting in the way of it?
Ayase: Basically, I think our style in the first place — both our musical style and our mindset — has very good compatibility with LED visual direction. In terms of visually expressing the story that each song has, I think visual direction is extremely effective. So I don’t think visual direction gets in the way of the live show to begin with. But as I said earlier, when I think about the setlist for a live show, I really want to carefully think through the beginning, development, turn, and conclusion. If everything is bright the whole time, then the bright moments actually become less interesting. So when we go dark, we go properly dark. We might create a situation where only ikura is lit by a spotlight, and then create a moment where everything opens up in a big way, like a flower blooming. To create that kind of dynamic flow in the live show, there are times when we intentionally don’t use visual direction. And on the other hand, there are moments where, at exactly the right timing, we put out an incredible visual at maximum output. So it really depends on how you use it, and I think it will continue to be a tool we keep relying on.
Q: The WANDARA Hall Tour was built around smaller rooms and cities, and now NEVER ENDING STORIES moves back toward much larger North American venues. What did the hall tour teach you that you want to protect even when the scale gets bigger?
ikura: When I stand on stage and sing, something I always keep in mind is that no matter where we are, or what size the venue is, it should always remain one-on-one between me and each person in the audience who came to see us. If it’s a large venue with many people, then I think of it as there being many one-on-one connections. If it’s a closer distance, then the number of those one-on-one connections changes again. That’s how I try to understand it. So whether someone is seated far away in the venue, or right at the very front, I deliver the song with the same amount of passion and energy. That’s something I really value as a mindset. And with YOASOBI, we’ve done hall tours, dome tours, arena tours, Zepp tours, and live house tours up until now. We turn stories into music, and in terms of our live show formats too, we’ve challenged ourselves with many different kinds of direction and ways of showing our world. I also think we’re a unit that can do many different things. So I don’t think there are really any particular limits between what we can do in a large venue and what we can do in a small venue. Since there are no limitations, we are exploring creative ways to collaborate with our team at each specific venue. Just as there were unique elements we achieved during our hall tour, there will be exciting new challenges we can take on here during the North America tour. We are fully committed to maximizing this opportunity at these arena venues to showcase our absolute best.
Q: What has it been like performing in the US and bringing J-pop to a more global audience?
ikura: It’s definitely fun. For the people who come already knowing us and really loving us, we approach it with the feeling that we want to give back with what we want to express and the feelings we carry, even more than the feelings they already have for us. And for people who are discovering us for the first time, or people we meet at festivals and things like that, we’re always performing overseas with the J-Pop that we ourselves genuinely think is the coolest at that moment. So we go out there with a lot of confidence, like, “The music we’re making is interesting, right? It’s good, right?” We feel no fear because we have complete confidence in what we do. We’ve learned from experience that when we bring that energy to the stage, even those who are seeing us for the first time connect with us. This shared experience has become our greatest strength. We are excited to bring this same mindset to our North America tour, take on new challenges, and have an amazing time!
Q: If you had to choose one song from the last two years that best explains where YOASOBI is right now, which would it be? What does that choice reveal about the version of YOASOBI you want to be in the future?
Ayase: That would be “Orion.” The newest song is always what we most want to express right now, But really, especially in this album, it contains all the songs from our activities over the past two and a half years or so and “Orion” is placed at the top as the newest song. So as you’ll understand if you listen to it, there really isn’t a fixed genre. We’ve truly been doing all kinds of songs with a lot of variety. So I don’t think there is any single genre that defines “this is YOASOBI’s music,” and I don’t think there are any limits in terms of sound design either. I think the album itself really shows that. And within that, “Orion” exists as the newest song, as something we want to express right now. So from here on too, I want us to keep challenging ourselves more and more toward whatever we want to do now, without being trapped by the image people around us have of us, or even the image we have of ourselves. I think people will be able to feel that from “Orion,” and also from the album as a whole.
We’d like to thank YOASOBI for taking the time to speak with us. 『THE BOOK for,』is available to stream now on major streaming platforms. A full track trailer video has also been released.
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