And now for something completely different…
YOASOBI is a duo of two Japanese artists: Ayase, a Vocaloid creator (according to his Twitter) and Ikuta Lilas, a singer-songwriter who goes by the stage name Ikura in YOASOBI. The two came together under the name YOASOBI (夜遊び) meaning “nightlife,” to mark the difference between their daytime solo careers and nighttime career as YOASOBI. (Disclaimer: most of my information is coming from their Wikipedia article because I can’t read Japanese and it seems to be the only English-language source!)
I first came across YOASOBI through Twitter and a delightful video timed to the song. I can’t find the original tweet now, but it became a meme:
Today’s Music Monday song is the first song ever released by the duo, “Yoru ni Kakeru,” which was based on a short story by Hoshino Mayo (Wikipedia). The story and resulting music video are quite dark, and yet the song itself is so upbeat and catchy! The contrast between the subject matter and the music is striking. Luckily I do not understand Japanese at all, so I can conveniently ignore that part and enjoy the song. (But if you are curious, the official music video for the song is available on YouTube behind an age restriction wall and there are some helpful commenters who translate/explain the full story.)
YOASOBI’s debut song became immensely popular, topping the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks and finishing out 2020 at the top of the list. Incredibly, it was the first non-CD single ever to top the year-end chart. (Wikipedia)
After finding them through Twitter, I listened to the entire album and subsequent EP release as well, and do so almost every single day. There are no songs on either album that I ever skip–each one is a banger! The albums are so energetic that I actually listen to them during my commute and/or while working, to keep my own spirits high (despite the bleak subject matter of this particular song!).
Usually I don’t feel that the single a group chooses for release are ever the best on an album, but in this case I do think this is the standout track. Hope you all enjoy an energetic start to the week!
Riffs on the Reg 