Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group in Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. The software was ultimately developed into the commercial product "Vocaloid" that was released in 2004.
Hatsune Miku, officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virtual idol, and has performed at live virtual concerts onstage as an animated projection.
Livetune is a Japanese electro band which formed in 2007 as a dōjin music circle signed to Toy's Factory. The band originally consisted of two members, Kz and Kajuki P, but Kajuki P left the band in March 2009. Livetune started out by making use of the Hatsune Miku singing synthesizer to produce vocals for songs submitted to the Nico Nico Douga video sharing website. The popularity of the songs led the band to release the independent album Re:package at Comiket 73 in December 2007. Livetune made its major debut with Victor Entertainment with the professional release of their Re:package album in August 2008, which was updated with more songs. Livetune began collaborating with other artists in 2009, and has since composed music for such artists as Kotoko, ClariS, Maon Kurosaki, and fellow dōjin musician Ryo of Supercell.
Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and illustrator who began releasing Vocaloid music under the stage name Hachi (ハチ) in 2009. In 2012, he debuted under his real name, releasing music with his own voice. However, in his 2010 album Official Orange, the final track Yūen Shigai is sung with his own voice. He has sold at least 4.2 million physical copies and more than 7 million digital copies in Japan.
Yoasobi is a Japanese superduo formed in 2019 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It composed of Vocaloid producer Ayase and singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta, under the moniker Ikura. Represented by the slogan "novel into music", the duo originally released songs based on selected short stories posted on Monogatary.com, a social media website for creative writing operated by the label. Sources were later also come from various media like stories written by professional authors, books, letters, and plays, etc.
"Yoru ni Kakeru" is the debut single by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their debut extended play, The Book (2021). It was released on December 15, 2019, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The song was based on Thanatos no Yūwaku, a short story by Mayo Hoshino, which was published on the creative writing social media Monogatary.com, and won the Sony Music Award, and the Grand Prize from Monocon 2019.
The Book is the debut extended play (EP) by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released on January 6, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, the same date with their single "Kaibutsu", accompanied the second season of Beastars. A concept of "reading CD" with binder package, the EP consists of all singles released from 2019 to 2020, including other track "Encore". The track-by-track cover EP by Ayase with Vocaloid voicebank Hatsune Miku, Mikunoyoasobi, was also released on the same day exclusively at Tower Records Japan.
"Mō Sukoshi Dake" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi, taken from their second extended play, The Book 2 (2021). It was released on May 10, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Written by Ayase and based on Chiharu's short story Meguru, the song is a pop song, telling about giving the courage to take a little more at the beginning of a day. The song featured as a theme song for Fuji TV's morning news, Mezamashi TV.
"Sangenshoku" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi, from their second extended play, The Book 2 (2021). It was released on July 2, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The song featured as a background music for mobile service Ahamo advertisement, and based on the novel RGB written by Yūichirō Komikado. The lyrics depict relationships between childhood friends that are still connected even though they live in different places.
Lilas Ikuta is a Japanese singer and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist of the duo Yoasobi with producer Ayase, under the stage name Ikura, and a former member of the cover group Plusonica. After numerous singles and extended plays releases, Ikuta released her debut studio album Sketch in March 2023 and peaked at number four on the Oricon Albums Chart.
"Loveletter" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second extended play, The Book 2 (2021). It was released on August 9, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The song was written by Ayase and based on Hatsune's letter Ongaku-san e, which won the Letter Song Project, a collaboration with radio show Sunday's Post. "Loveletter" peaked at number three on the Oricon Combined Singles Chart, and number four on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.
"Moshi mo Inochi ga Egaketara" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second extended play, The Book 2, released on December 1, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The song was later released as a standalone promotional single on August 12, 2022. Written by Ayase, the song featured as a theme song of the stage of the same name, Moshi mo Inochi ga Egaketara, written by screenwriter Osamu Suzuki, and based on it.
E-Side is the debut English-language extended play (EP) by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released digitally on November 12, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It consists of eight tracks from the duo's songs in the English language, including their previous-release singles "Into the Night", "RGB", "Monster", and "Blue". Konnie Aoki is in charge of translating all tracks into English. Commercially, E-Side debuted at number 19 on the Oricon Combined Albums Chart and number nine on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums.
The year 2022 in Japanese music.
"Idol" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their third extended play, The Book 3 (2023). It was released on April 12, 2023, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, served as the opening theme of the Japanese anime series Oshi no Ko. Written by Ayase and based on Aka Akasaka's short story 45510, "Idol" is a pop track with hip-hop elements, depicting the two-faced nature of a star in the Japanese idol industry, as well as perspectives on the anime's character Ai Hoshino from her fans, her B-Komachi's bandmates, and herself.
Ayase is a Japanese musician and record producer. He is best known as a Vocaloid producer and composer for Yoasobi, a musical duo composed of himself and vocalist Ikura. He was also a vocalist of the rock band Davinci from 2012 until its disbandment in 2020.
Orangestar is a Japanese Vocaloid music producer and composer. He began uploading songs to Niconico in 2013. In 2015, he released his first album Unfinished Eight Beats at the age of 17, and the album topped at rank 45 in Japan according to Oricon's weekly charts. Orangestar stopped his musical activities for about two years starting from 2017 due to his missionary responsibilities as a mormon and became active again in 2020. Later that year, he married illustrator Kase.
The Book 3 is the third Japanese-language extended play by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released on October 4, 2023, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, one year and ten months after their second EP The Book 2 (2021). The EP consists of ten tracks, including top-five singles "Shukufuku", "Idol", and "Yūsha". Commercially, The Book 3 peaked at number two on both the Oricon Albums Chart and Billboard Japan Hot Albums, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of over 100,000 units.
"Heart Beat" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released as a standalone single on December 26, 2023, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, as a theme for the seventh iteration of annual television special 18Fes. A theme of "heartbeat", the song was written by Ayase and based on messages, essays, and performance videos submissions from the program's 1,000 teenage participants.
