YOASOBI originally formed in 2019, and is made up of two people - Ikura provides the vocals, and Ayase is the producer. Typically, you will see their music credited as Ayase/YOASOBI, reflecting both members of the duo. YOASOBI’s concept is unique from many other bands. They usually write songs based on short stories that appear on a website called Monogatary (https://monogatary.com/ ), which is run by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Beyond these songs, YOASOBI also does music based on novels (and a little anime music, too, but we are getting to that!).

When YOASOBI came together, both Ayase and Ikura already had established musical careers. Ayase got his start on the Japanese video sharing site Niconico Douga, where he had already released successful songs in 2018 and 2019. One of his songs even made it to third place on the iTunes album chart when it was released. Rira Ikura, meanwhile, had released her own music in 2017 and 2019, also relatively successfully. In November 2019, the two came together to release their first song called “Yoru ni Kakeru,” based on the Monogatary short story Thanatos no Yuuwaku. The song gained traction both on YouTube and TikTok, and then later Spotify and Line Music, and eventually reached number 1 on the Billboard Japan Top 100 in June 2020.

Already off to a great start, YOASOBI released “Ano Yume o Nazotte'' in early 2020 based on another short story called Yume no Shizuku to Hoshi no Hana. Shortly after, came “Halzion,” which was inspired by Soredemo, Happy End, the first story written by a professional novelist. “Halzion” was actually used by the major Japanese snack company Suntory to promote the release of its newest energy drink, called Zone, when it came out.

In late 2020, YOASOBI released their first song connected to the otaku world - “Gunjou,” which was a collaboration with the manga Blue Period. Then came “Haruka” in December 2020, inspired by the novel Tsuki Ouji by Osamu Suzuki. On the last day of 2020, less than two years after their establishment, YOASOBI held their first live performance bolstered by all their success thus far. YOASOBI also began to do a lot of VOCALOID collaborations, using Hatsune Miku in many of the new songs hitting their YouTube channel.

In January 2021, YOASOBI took the plunge into the world of anime music. The duo released two songs, “Kaibutsu” and “Yasashii Suisei,” which became the opening and ending themes to the second season of Beastars respectively. In January, they released their album "The Book", and in February, they held their first solo concert “KEEP OUT THEATRE,” which you can read more about here (YOASOBI Solo Concert "YOASOBI 1st LIVE "KEEP OUT THEATER" Streams Online February 14th! Overseas Tickets Available! )!
YOASOBI has a short history, sure, but that’s only because they’re so new! In a few years, we are sure that they will have left an even more interesting legacy, so don’t forget to keep checking back on them to see what new stuff they have created.