YOASOBI UNVEIL NEW SONG “BIRI-BIRI”

Story: Ralph Greco, Jr.

J-Pop duo YOASOBI unveil a new song “Biri-Biri” celebrating the one-year anniversary of Nintendo’s hit games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Watch video HERE.

Known for transforming novels into music, the duo took inspiration for the song from a special commemorative novel written by Ayano Takedo.

Inspiration also came from the game and the feeling of starting an adventure in the land of Paldea. “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” features a vast, open-world setting geared towards children and adults alike as well as exciting new Pokémon to be found in the sky, ocean, forest and in the streets.

The track follows a banner year for YOASOBI, who recently opened for Coldplay on back-to-back nights of their acclaimed Music of the Spheres World Tour at the Tokyo Dome.

Their global smash hit song “Idol” continues to break the record for most consecutive weeks at #1 (currently at 21 weeks and counting) on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, becoming one of the most successful Japanese songs of all time. The song has taken the charts by storm since its release, also breaking the record for the fastest single to reach 200 million streams on the Billboard Japan chart and surging to #1 on the Billboard Global Excel U.S. chart, which made it the first song originally performed in Japanese to top this chart. The cumulative number of streaming views has exceeded 300 million and counting, making it the fastest single in history to reach that mark as well.

Comprised of composer Ayase and vocalist ikura, YOASOBI are record breaking, international superstars in the making. Their first song, “Into The Night (Yoru ni Kakeru),” was released in November 2019, immediately attracting attention by achieving #1 on numerous streaming charts in Japan and appearing on viral charts in several countries. It was #1 on the 2020 Billboard JAPAN Combined Song Chart and Streaming Song Chart, and in January 2023 the total plays surpassed 900 million streams—making this a first in Japan. YOASOBI started gaining international attention and reached #1 on the Spotify charts for the Japanese Artist Most Played Internationally in 2021. Their song “Monster (Kaibutsu)” was named one of the 10 Best Songs of 2021 by TIME.

In April of this year, YOASOBI’s TikTok LIVE performance achieved the highest ever viewership for a Japanese artist on the platform when it was streamed by more than 630k fans with simultaneous viewers surpassing 120k. Their first arena tour “YOASOBI ARENA TOUR 2023 ‘Denkosekka’” consisted of fourteen shows in seven cities with a total of 130k attendees as the duo continues to attract attention in all directions of their career. Earlier this year, the duo made their U.S. debut at the Head in the Clouds Festival in Los Angeles.

December 1—Hong Kong—Clockenflap (SOLD OUT)

December 3—Taiwan—Simple Life (SOLD OUT)

Asia Tour 2023-2024—South Korea, Singapore, and more

ZEPP TOUR 2024—POP OUT—Tokyo, Sapporo, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya

Ralph Greco, Jr. is the devilishly clever nom de plume of professional writer/musician Ralph Greco who lives in the wilds of suburban New Jersey. He is also a podcast co-host, but as everyone has a podcast these days, this fact is of very little consequence.Ralph can be reached by writing [email protected]