YOASOBI

Introduction: YOASOBI is a Japanese music duo consisting of vocaloid music producer Ayase and vocalist Ikura. The group have released four music videos, all of which are based on short stories posted on Monogatary, a website operated by Sony Music Japan.

Biography: Both members of Yoasobi had active music careers prior to forming the group. Ayase gained a following on the video hosting site Niconico since his first upload on December 24, 2018, a song titled Sentensei Assault Girl. On November 23, 2019, he released an EP, Yuurei Tokyo, which reached third on iTunes' album chart. Rira Ikuta, performing under the name Ikura, had already released two EPs: Rerise in 2017 and Jukebox in 2019.

The first song released by the duo was "Yoru ni Kakeru", based on Mayo Hoshino's short story "Thanatos no Yuuwaku" hosted on Monogatary. The music video was released first on November 16, 2019, where it broke 10 million views in five months on YouTube as well as being popular on TikTok. It was subsequently released as a single on December 15, 2019, where it topped the popularity charts on both Spotify and Line Music. More than five months after its release, the single would top the Billboard Japan Hot 100 on June 1, 2020.

Following the success of their first release, on January 18, 2020, Yoasobi released their second single, "Ano Yume wo Nazotte", this time based on Souta Ishiki's "Yume no Shizuku to Hoshi no Hana". On April 20, 2020, Yoasobi released a teaser for their third single, "Halzion", which is based on Shunki Hashizume's "Soredemo, Happy End". "Halzion" marked the first time that Yoasobi collaborated with a professional novelist, whereas the first two were amateur writers. The single was released as a promotional project by Suntory to advertise their new energy drink named Zone. The single was official released on May 11, 2020.

Members: - Ayase (あやせ) – composer and arranger - Lilas Ikuta (幾田りら), better known as Ikura – vocalist and lyricist