YOASOBI -- Butai ni Tatte（舞台に立って）

 

I did something unusual yesterday in that I actually ended up watching all 4 1/2 hours of Opening Ceremonies coverage of the Paris Olympics. Things did diverge from the norm with the Athletes' Parade taking place on the Seine rather than on an arena track. Plus, there was the entertainment including Lady Gaga putting on her usual flamboyant show with "Mon Truc en Plumes". Later in the broadcast, there was a whole lot of techno club music pumping away which cut into our dinner time; I don't think I've ever eaten hamburgers to hard dance music...digestion was interesting to say the least. But I have to admit that the showstopper was seeing Celine Dion, despite all of her medical troubles recently, sing "Hymne A L'Amour"; I actually got a bit verklempt.

The Games are now under way. I've seen a few of the events including judo and beach volleyball and hope to catch some of the swimming competition later on today. No problems with the Canadian broadcast but unfortunately Jme informed us subscribers that due to the usual broadcasting rights and zones, we won't be getting any Olympic coverage from NHK, although my family might get lucky with some YouTube footage.

NHK has been featuring this for the past few weeks but their "sports theme song" for these Games is YOASOBI's latest single "Butai ni Tatte" (Standing on Stage) which was released yesterday. I think for the last number of years, Japan's national broadcaster has been using "sports theme song" instead of "official Olympics theme song". I'm only speculating here but perhaps NHK got in trouble with the IOC regarding Japanese pop songs being recognized as official Olympics tunes or the network didn't want to pay any hefty fees for recognition.

Well, regardless of what "Butai ni Tatte" is labeled, we've been hearing the song alongside what news on the Olympics on NHK is provided. With its jangly high-tempo pop/rock arrangement, this could easily have been used as a theme song for any anime and maybe somewhere out there...for example, on a side of a government building...there is some anime footage with a whole bunch of characters possessing their gumption to get at sports. I've also got a feeling that YOASOBI will be making their way onto the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of the year to showcase the song.

YOASOBI -- Adventure（アドベンチャー）

 

Well, the news on NHK over the past day or so has been on the official state visit of PM Fumio Kishida to the United States to have talks with President Joe Biden. There has been usual exchange of gifts including the Prime Minister receiving a two-volume LP set autographed by the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel. Plus, I never thought this would ever happen but the state dinner will have veteran singer-songwriter Paul Simon and popular Japanese duo YOASOBI on the guest list. I know that Simon will be performing but I'm not sure whether Ayase and ikura will do the same or whether they'll have some gastronomic fun tucking into that rib-eye steak. Whatever the situation, the duo is having one heck of an adventure.

Ham-fisted segue alert! Well, what do you know? Even before YOASOBI released their world-spanning "Idol" single last year, they put out a February 2023 single titled "Adventure". A very light-hearted and cheerful number concocted by Ayase, "Adventure" was created as a promotional song for Universal Studios Japan and that music video is downright Disney-esque (sorry about bringing the rival in here) with the young anime lady running gleefully through USJ, conveniently showing off all that can be visited and seen in the amusement park.

ikura performs an English version of "Adventure" which was the first version I heard. The single reached No. 2 on the Oricon Digital Singles list, and it is also a track on YOASOBI's 4th EP, "The Book 3" which came out in October 2023 and went Gold.

YOASOBI -- Idol（アイドル）

No, this isn't Ai Hoshino but it is 
KKP AI representative Kayo Grace Kyoku!

 

Yup, I realize that I missed the trend-and-meme boat when it came to the popular anime "Oshi no Ko"（【推しの子】） in 2023. However, reading about the premise of the Aka Akasaka（赤坂アカ）story and knowing about how cutthroat the aidoru industry can be, I opted not to watch Season 1 just so that I wouldn't end up depressed and that's considering that I actually like my film noir and I had a lot of fun with Akasaka's other epic story "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai"（かぐや様は告らせたい...Kaguya-sama: Love is War） which happens to take place in the same universe, albeit years earlier than "Oshi no Ko".

Still, I couldn't escape from one famous scene from the first episode. That adorable bit of wotagei took days to finally leave my head. Kinda too bad that things took a very dark spin some minutes later.

What cracked inside of me to finally post YOASOBI's "Idol", the opening theme for "Oshi no Ko", was frankly the duo's performance on the 74th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen a few nights ago. As I noted in my review of the show yesterday, the participation of pretty much every aidoru group invited onto the New Year's Eve special to dance while "Idol" was going had some "Avengers: Endgame" thrills going up my spine. It also didn't hurt having dance troupe Avantgardey start things off. Up until that point, I had only bothered to hear bits and pieces of the song although I observed that the opening credits sequence did look spectacular.

To be honest, when I read that YOASOBI was going to be responsible for the opening theme, I wasn't surprised since I had heard about Ayase and Ikura's penchant for taking on darker material, and "Idol", written and composed by Ayase, is all about the trials and tribulations within the life of an aidoru superstar. Although I can imagine some of the more dynamic alphabet aidoru groups singing this as well, it's been categorized as an anison and a pop tune. However, there is that intro which sounds like a hip-pop riff that Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）used to tackle and then a chorus which is reminiscent of an anison for an isekai show before listeners get taken on a frenetic roller coaster ride. 

I think having YOASOBI appear on the Kohaku was a foregone conclusion considering that "Idol" not only hit No. 1 on the weeklies but it became the No. 1 song of the year on Oricon and Billboard Japan. It was released in April 2023 and it's also part of the album "The Book 3" which came out later in October, hitting No. 2 and going Gold.

YOASOBI -- Ano Yume wo Nazotte（あの夢をなぞって）

 

Well, with the unusually high temperatures today and the Diwali fireworks shooting off in my neighbourhood last night, I couldn't quite help feeling as if Japanese summer festival season had mysteriously materialized in my neck of the woods. Wouldn't it be nice to have some of that takoyaki and yakisoba while downing it with some Calpis? Even better, it would be nice to enjoy that natsu matsuri food with that significant other in yukata.

That kind of feeling seems to be imbued within the lyrics of popular band YOASOBI's 2nd digital download single "Ano Yume wo Nazotte" (Tracing That Dream) from January 2020. According to the Wikipedia writeup on the song, it "...was based on Monogatary.com's Monocon 2019-winning short story, titled "Yume no Shizuku to Hoshi no Hana" (夢の雫と星の花...lit. "Dream Drops and Star Flowers"), written by Sōta Ishiki".

Now, as all of YOASOBI's fans will know immediately, I am quite late to the party when it comes to YOASOBI since this is the first article that has gone up on KKP. I have been aware that the band has been on the Kohaku Utagassen in 2020 and 2021, and I figure that if composer Ayase and vocalist ikura have made their appearance on NHK's annual New Year's Eve special in consecutive years, I can imagine that their chances of a third appearance is pretty darn good. We shall find out in a few weeks when the announcement of the teams for the 2022 edition is made.

But in any case, I wanted to start off the YOASOBI file with their summer festival-themed tune "Ano Yume wo Nazotte". Written and composed by Ayase, I had figured because of that official music video done up as an anime featuring a young couple, it was a theme song for an actual animated feature.

Uh...no, such wasn't the case but my compliments on the animators for the video. Also, according to the aforementioned Wikipedia article, there was a well-sung English version of "Ano Yume wo Nazotte" by ikura that was a track on YOASOBI's first English-language EP, "E-Side", which was released in November 2021. That album hit No. 1 on Oricon's digital albums list and as for the original single, it was recognized by the Recording Industry Association of Japan as having gone Gold in the downloads category and Platinum in streaming.

A slower version of the song known as the Ballade Version came out in March 2022 as a digital download. It was not only used for a Calorie Mate commercial, but also as an accompanying song for the live-action cinematic adaptation of that novel that was mentioned above, "Yume no Shizuku to Hoshi no Hana".