Music

YOASOBI, the musical unit that produces music inspired by novels, shows no signs of stopping. Their song “Idol” — written as the opening theme song of the TV anime【OSHI NO KO】— has taken top positions in five year-end Billboard Japan charts since it began streaming in April. Their next single, “The Brave,” is the opening theme of the popular TV anime Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and continues to hold a high position in the charts. This year, they also completed a Japanese arena tour and performed overseas, in Los Angeles, in August. As one of the most iconic artists of the J-pop scene, they’ve demonstrated tremendous presence the whole year long.

On Nov. 18, YOASOBI released its newest single, “Biri-Biri.” The song was inspired by Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, which celebrated its one-year anniversary on the same day. Composer Ayase has always been a big fan of Pokémon, and the song has little touches that will bring a smile to any fan of the game. “Biri-Biri” is already generating tremendous buzz.

Billboard Japan invited Ayano Takeda, who wrote the novel the song is based on, After the Rain With You, to talk with YOASOBI about their shared love of Pokémon and the making of “Biri-Biri.” After their discussion, there was a “Trade of Pokémon” ceremony and a special commemorative photo shoot. Famitsu.com is also running an article with a greater focus on Pokémon.

Ayase, you’ve played almost every game in the Pokémon series, but how about you, Ayano?

Ayano: I was biggest into Pokémon when I was in elementary school, so I was playing Pokémon Gold and Silver and Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. I have a brother who is six years younger than me, so we’d play together.

How about you, ikura?

ikura: The first one I’ve really properly played is Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. When I was a little kid, though, I did watch family members play Pokémon Red and Green. I also played a lot of Pokémon Ranger on the Nintendo DS.

Which are your favorite Pokémon?

Ayano: My favorite is Vaporeon. When I was playing Pokémon Silver, my friend’s older brother gave me a level 96 Vaporeon, so was able to just lay waste to everything before me. Ever since then, it’s been my favorite Pokémon.

ikura: For me, it’s Eevee. But if I were to become a Pokémon, I’d want to be Charizard.

Ayase: For me, Mew. It’s cute, and I like its almost mythical nature.

Ayano, what was your first impression when you heard “Biri-Biri?”

Ayano: My first impression that it was like a cool, cute Pokémon. The first time I heard it, I was moved to tears. I saw how all these different people worked together to turn a novel into a song. Also, I’d researched a lot about Nemona in order to write the novel, so there was a strong emotional connection. When I saw the music video, I was like, “yes, that expression right there!”

There’s a lot of great Pokémon music, like game soundtracks and anime theme songs. Did you get any inspiration from them?

Ayase: There are background music videos and playlists on the official Pokémon YouTube channel, and last year, by chance, I was listening to them a lot. When they approached me about writing the song, I decided that I wanted to draw on some motifs. What I did wasn’t exactly sampling, but instead kind of creating new arrangements. This was the first time we’d tried that kind of homage-style approach, so I wanted to give it a shot.

The intro is really an homage to battle music.

Ayase: I was playing Pokémon Violet, so I had this futuristic, mechanical image. I realized I wanted to make a kind of electric [in Japanese, “biri-biri” is used to describe the feeling of electrical shock], techno-like feel, and I realized that battle music would be a good fit for that.

Past Pokémon titles are sprinkled through the lyrics. There, as well, there’s this sense of playful homage.

Ayase: At first, I wasn’t planning on putting the names of other works in the lyrics, but the phrases came to mind because how the parts of the song fit in together. I thought I worked in some of the titles in really subtle ways, and they’d be hard to find, but looking at social media and YouTube comments, people found them all really quickly. You really get a sense of how much love people have for Pokémon.

I think this song has also shown a new side of YOASOBI. Were there any artists or songs that inspired you with respect to the vocals?

ikura: For the high-pitched parts, instead of straining, I tried to let go and loosen up when I sang. During the chorus, there’s a bit of a cushion zone before launching into a light dance part, and I think that technique for loosening up is going to become part of my repertoire.

What part of the song is your favorite, Ayano?

Ayano: I like the “ABC and to XYZ” part. It feels really good.

Ayase: When it comes to really feeling good, that’s the part of the song I’m most proud of, too.

ikura: Singing that part is really fun.

Recently, you performed at events Hong Kong and Taipei, where you performed “Biri-Biri” live for the first time.

Ayase: Performing “Biri-Biri” is great. The live elements really work well.

ikura: The song has a totally different tone than our other songs, so it completely changes up the mood. Plus, it’s a blast to sing. It makes me feel like dancing, and even though we just released the song, audiences are already singing along.

You’ve also released an English version of “Biri-Biri.” What differences should people keep an eye out for between the English and Japanese version?

ikura: This is also true for all of the past English versions of our songs, but the way the lyrics roll off the tongue, and how they fit in with the music, feels great. But, personally, even among all those songs, I think “Biri-Biri” matches the best. I’ve felt that way since we were recording. The speed and stylishness of English meshes really well into the song.

Ayase: In Hong Kong, “Biri-Biri” climbed high in the charts immediately after its streaming release. Also, and this is a bit of a tangent, but Taiwan opened their first Pokémon Center, and we were able to go there before it opened.

ikura: We had the opportunity because of this collaboration, or, I guess, because of this connection we’ve established.

In closing, do you have any last words for our readers?

Ayano: I feel very proud to have been able to be a part of a big IP like Pokémon. I hope anyone who’s never tried Pokémon before tries it out, and that people enjoy both the novel and our song.

YOASOBI: From the other works in the series to the recent Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, Ayano Takeda’s novel, and “Biri-Biri,” Pokémon has truly created a world of its own, so we hope that everyone savors everything it has to offer. 

Pokémon image: ©2023 Pokémon. ©1995-2023 Nintendo/Creatures Inc. /GAME FREAK inc. TM, ®, and character names are trademarks of Nintendo.

This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan.

In June 2023, comedian Tonikaku Yasumura appeared on the British audition show Britain’s Got Talent and became the first Japanese contestant to make it to the finals. Recently, he released “PANTS,” his first-ever digital single, under the name MC TONY.

The track was produced by Double Clapperz, a grime unit made up of producers UKD and Sinta. The song plays on the juxtaposition of its production and its lyrics. The sound features elements of U.K. drill, a dark, menacing genre from South London, iconic for its ski masks and gun sounds. The lyrics, on the other hand, extol being “naked” — unarmed and non-violent.

Billboard Japan talked to Tonikaku about the making of the song and the story of his overseas success.

How have things changed around you since you appeared on Britain’s Got Talent?

I’ve got more international job offers, and recently I’ve been going overseas for work at least once a month. In October I made it through auditions for the French version of Britain’s Got Talent, and I also appeared on audition shows in Italy and Korea. The other day, I also appeared at the OC JAPAN FAIR in Los Angeles.

Have the audience reactions been different in different countries?

I got the biggest reaction in the U.K., but I got a standing ovation in France, too. I performed in French, and it even turned into a call and response (laughs). The reaction has also been good in Italy, Korea and the U.S. So far, every country I go to, I’ve been warmly received.

What led to you appearing on Britain’s Got Talent in the first place?

I wasn’t originally trying to break out overseas, but my talent agency, Yoshimoto Creative Agency, sends out videos of comedians that overseas audiences might enjoy to audition shows around the world. Britain’s Got Talent just happened to like my material. So at first, it felt like going on an overseas vacation. I was like, “I get to go to the U.K.! How lucky!”

But when I actually got there, the schedule was really tight. I arrived in London at around 11:00 at night, and then the next morning we started with rehearsals, filming, interviews, and the like. And then the day after that I flew back to Japan (laughs). It was really a whirlwind trip, and I wasn’t able to do any sightseeing. I took a brief detour to Buckingham Palace and saw a guard riding a horse. And on that little sightseeing detour, I got pickpocketed.

What?!

I was obviously a tourist, looking around at this and that, so I guess I made an easy target (laughs). It felt like I’d gone through a rite of initiation.

What was the response like when you performed your material for the first time in the U.K.?

They loved me in the auditions. But I wasn’t so sure, and I didn’t really get my hopes up. We filmed in January and the show was broadcast in April, I think, so there was a pretty big gap. So at the time I simply thought, “Well, that was a good experience,” and I pretty much forgot it. I was really surprised when they told me I passed the auditions.

It seems like you carefully tweaked your strategy for foreign audiences, like making your stage name “Tonikaku.”

To be totally honest, I wasn’t really thinking about hitting it big with overseas audiences, I was just hoping the fact that I went to the U.K. would generate some buzz in Japan. So I didn’t think too deeply about my stage name, “Tonikaku,” I just picked it so that when I appeared on shows in Japan, my co-performers would be like, “What’s up with picking that as your stage name?” Actually, I used to be part of a comedy duo, but we broke up and I started performing on my own. Up on stage I’d tell the audience “My name is long and kind of hard to remember [his Japanese stage name is Tonikaku Akarui Yasumura], so just remember ‘Tonikaku.’” “Or you can call me Tony, if you’d like.” I never dreamed that one day in the future, people overseas would be calling me “Tony!”

It was really striking seeing the call and response that happened with the audience on the U.K. show when you said your iconic line, “Don’t worry, I’m wearing pants.” In Japanese, you don’t need an object after “wearing,” but in English you do, so when you say, “Don’t worry, I’m wearing,” other people have to jump in with “pants.” I feel like that’s another reason for your victory.

Right. In Japanese, you wouldn’t spell it all out, “Don’t worry, I’m wearing ‘pants’.” But I translated it literally into English, which turned into this unexpected call and response. I was surprised, too.

I wanted to keep the act simple, with few lines. I didn’t want to practice there in the U.K. (laughs), so I just kept it stuck to simple, easy to remember phrases, and I think that’s another reason people liked it. In that sense, I struggled with French. I’m less familiar with French than English, and it’s harder to pronounce.

Now, you’ve released a digital single, “PANTS,” as MC TONY.

The genre, U.K. drill, is a popular genre that came from a really dangerous part of the U.K. Everyone dresses all in black, wearing ski masks, but there I am, unarmed, wearing just underpants. I thought that gap was pretty funny. I also tried out various ways of delivering the lyrics. At first, I sang it in a brighter, happier voice, but Mitsunaga, the lyricist, said “It’ll sound cooler if you sing it in a lower voice to match the track.” I took his advice, and now it’s got over two million plays (laughs).

What led you to try your hand at music?

It’s because I met Takaya Mitsunaga [HYTEK Inc.], who handled overall production for the song. Mitsunaga said that the wall separating comedy and music is much lower in the U.K. than in other countries. The other day, I went to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe [the world’s largest performing arts festival, spanning three to four weeks each August in Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh], and I was surprised to see several performances in which comedians were doing freestyle rap.

There’s never been that much separation between comedy and music in Japan. For example, the comedy duo Downtown collaborated with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. What kind of things would you like to do going forward?

As I mentioned earlier, at this point last year I had no idea how much would change over the course of this year. That’s how it is every year. There are always unexpected turns of events, and those reveal new possibilities. I want to just go with the flow, without thinking too hard about what lies ahead.

You want to play it by ear.

Exactly. That’s what I’ve done so far. If I think of new material for overseas audiences, the next thing I know things could be taking totally new turns, so I want to take on each challenge as the ideas come to me. For example, the Paris Olympics are coming up, so I might do all-nude poses of the different sporting events (laughs). I still haven’t appeared on America’s Got Talent, so I’d like to take on that challenge in the near future, too.

This interview by Takanori Kuroda first appeared on Billboard Japan.