YOASOBI

Before forming YOASOBI in 2019, Ayase had already spent years producing Vocaloid tracks with Hatsune Miku, work he began while recovering from hospital treatment for a peptic ulcer, and had previously fronted the rock band Davinci. Ikura, performing under her civilian name Lilas Ikuta, had sung and played guitar on the street and in small venues from the age of fourteen.

The duo's own description of their work, "novel into music," points to the method: songs are built from short fiction, first drawn from stories posted on the site Monogatary.com and later from professional authors, letters and social posts. The name Yoasobi means "nightlife," chosen by Ayase as a nod to music as the pair's after-hours pursuit alongside their separate daytime careers.

Their debut single, 'Yoru ni Kakeru', topped the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for six non-consecutive weeks and became the first non-CD single to lead the year-end chart. 'Idol', written for the anime Oshi no Ko, went further still, holding the number-one spot for 22 non-consecutive weeks and becoming the first Japanese song to top the Billboard Global Excl. US chart.

Ayase's writing favours rapid tempo shifts, dense chord movement and vocal lines that sit high in Ikura's range. On stage the duo performs with a full backing band, which gives the studio arrangements a harder rock edge than the recordings suggest.

Their EPs, released under the shared title The Book, follow a "reading CD" concept and have each landed near the top of Japan's albums chart. To reach listeners outside Japan, the duo also re-recorded songs in English for a companion E-Side EP series.