The Pandemic Influence s YOASOBI’s Popularity.-When you first started YOASOBI , did you have a plan to expand globally?Yashiro: Not at all (laughs). In the beginning, YOASOBI itself was only intended to be a trial production of two songs, and neither we nor any of the members imagined that it would turn out like this today. We had no idea that we would go overseas.
-How much influence did the COVID-19 pandemic have on the YOASOBI project?
Yashiro: To be honest, there are parts of our music that spread fast and wide because of the p andemic. At the beginning of 2020, “Into the Night” became #1 on the Viral C harts on Spotify.
At that time, we didn’t know much about Viral Charts, and of course, the average listeners didn’t know who they were. Gradually, the media began to think that YOASOBI was interesting and started sharing our information.
However, at that time, there was a universal notion that it was wrong to say anything entertaining, wasn't there?
-Yeah, there was that feeling .Yashiro: At a time when everything was being canceled and people weren’t doing anything, and happy stories were almost disappearing from the news, the context of a "mysterious artist who makes music from novels" suddenly appeared on the i nternet. First, the media showed a sudden interest in us.
I think there were other artists like that at the time, but YOASOBI was willing to show their faces and even made remote appearances on variety shows, which was appreciated by the media. The fact that they were doing something interesting and new and that Ayase and Ikura were both unique, were very much appreciated as interesting content .
Because many people suddenly listened to "Into the Night," it appeared on the Billboard Japan charts. It was a time when not a lot of new songs were recorded and released, so people listened to us for a much longer time. To be honest, there was definitely a part of the p andemic that pushed us up there.
-How do you feel about the live performances?
Yashiro: From the perspective of an artist who has done live performances, I think that live streaming is a substitute for a regular live performance. But from the audience's point of view, it is not enough. Artists have to be more creative to live stream.
But YOASOBI had never done a live performance before, so we were able to think about things from the ground up by doing a live performance without an audience from the very beginning. I appreciated the fact that we were able to perform live with the idea of "What is the most interesting and catchy thing to do right now?”
-I think there were a lot of things you did during the period when the influence of the p andemic was still strong.
Yashiro: The live performance at a construction site (YOASOBI 1st LIVE "KEEP OUT THEATER'' on February 14, 2021 at the former site of the Milano-za building in Shinjuku, Tokyo) was the most impressive one.
The idea of sneaking into a construction site at night and having a night out felt like a great fit for us, and two years later, the construction site was completed (Tokyu Kabukicho Tower), and we held a live performance at its opening. Looking back on it now, I think it was a massive turning point for us.
-Did you feel anything different from Japan when you performed overseas?
Yashiro: When our fans could take off their masks and shout live performances, I felt that the energy of expression by fans was much greater overseas. S imply because of the straightforwardness of emotional expression and the joy of being fully exposed to the music.
Indonesia, in particular, is what is called a "booster country," for us and the power of the young generation to spread music is very strong. I was struck by the speed at which the music spread.
One female fan was crying while singing a song called "Ano Yume Wo Naz otte (Tracing A Dream)," and a video of her singing was filmed on a local live stream , and the video generated a lot of buzz.
The song itself got a lot of views. This happened in about a week. Of course, such rising popularity is possible to some extent in Japan as well, but I had the impression that the steady spread of videos from everyday fans was unique to overseas.
-What is your perspective on the current entertainment industry in Japan, as a person that hasn’t been tied to a traditional record label ?Yashiro: I think that everyone is passionately doing what they want to do, no matter how big or small. On the other hand, the business model itself is firmly established, and things like "how much should I license this track for?” , or “how much does this cost?” and so on are always there.
It’s something I’ve wrestled with from the start , sometimes going along with it and sometimes not. I thought that with a project like YOASOBI, I might be able to break through, but things have not changed very much.
It’s a really tough barrier and there’s not a lot of flexibility available in dealing with it. . The willingness to step into something new, to face it even if it disrupts the balance, becomes less of a priority when someone reaches a certain level of popularity.
Personally, I think that there are many opportunities to lose in the process of creating entertainment.
-Oh I see.
Yashiro: For example, if a young staff member finds a new talent that only he or she thinks is good, and then tries to sell it to the company by saying, "This is what I want to do," the company often says, "We can't do this.”
I sometimes think it is a waste and this can discourage enthusiastic young staff and artists. W hich in turn can lead to the entertainment industry tapering off 10 to 20 years down the road failing to nurture a generation of people who should be active in the future.
-I have the impression that you can break through that kind of thing because you are a person who has achieved proper results with YOASOBI.
Yashiro: I thought I could do it, too (laughs). Even so, there are moments when I think the barriers are much higher and harder. However, I have to keep going.
Photo by Mitsuru Nishimura 
