YOASOBI: A New Trend of Literary Adaptation

Jack Liu

While literary adaptation is ubiquitous to a certain point that has already permeated our living and hobbies, ranging from film, stage play to video game. Have anyone imagined literary adaptation is already brought to pop music?

Music has played a well-documented role throughout the history of the field of

adaptation. Conventionally, adaptations related to music are usually associated with changes made to the score, rhythms and music, but also involve translating lyrics from foreign song and adapting text from another song. One of the most popular adapted and translated French songs is ‟Comme d’habitude”, which became mega hit ‟My way” in English.

Recently a two-member Japanese unit “YOASOBI”, comprised of composer Ayase and vocalist ikura, have gone beyond thought, getting rid of the old to bring in the new concept of literary adaptation, “turning fiction into music”. They have made their debut in 2019 with the song "Yoru ni Kakeru" (Running at night), and has accumulated more than 300 million views on streaming sites until now.

Yoru ni Kakeru is a super sad track, with a very happy beat, beginning with an intricate melody and a voice that has a touch of sadness. Against the backdrop of the fast rhythm, the animated music video shows a dress-clad young woman is seen falling headfirst through space. The song is based on "Thanatos no Yuwaku" (The temptation of Thanatos), a short story by Mayo Hoshino about a girl trying to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a building and "I," the male protagonist, who becomes fascinated with her. "I emphasized the link between the story's development and its atmosphere in relation to the song and tried to express the novel's spine-chilling moment through sound," said Ayase. The story itself is short enough that it can be read in just a few minutes. Listening to the music, you may get a mysterious sense that the story is pushing its world's boundaries and is more deeply immersing you in its narrative.

In my opinion, it is obvious why the old diehard fans are stoked when their beloved literature being adapted to another genre or medium, probably because of the chance of going through the literacy works again by a refreshing form of sensory experience. On the other hand, the success of adaptation can attract a new and broader following, leading them to trace back to the original sources. It can be said the literary source and new adapted creation are mutually beneficial to each other.

I believe the book-to-music adaptation is lead to a new upcoming trend in pop culture. YOASOBI has demonstrated book-to-music adaptation can perfectly deal with this idea. For example, reading the story of Yoru ni Kakeru after listening to the song gives you a better overall understanding, as though you've been given all the pieces to a puzzle. You can also experience new emotions and clues in various parts of both the story and the song such as hidden meanings between the lines and foreshadowing in the lyrics, rhythm and key transpositions.