is a song recorded by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second EP, ''

The Book 2 ''The Book 2'' is the second Japanese-language extended play (EP) and third overall by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released on December 1, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, eleven months after their debut EP '' The Book'' (2021). It c ...

'' (2021). It was released as a stand-alone digital single on May 10, 2021, through

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

. Written by Ayase and based on Chiharu's short story ''Meguru'', the song is a piano 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 Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

for Fuji TV's morning news, '' Mezamashi TV''. Upon its release, the song received acclaim from music critics, who complimented its encouragement lyricism, comfortable, warm and gentle feeling, and friendly and colorful voice. An accompanying music video was premiered on November 22. Commercially, the song debuted atop the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

Digital Singles Chart with 53,000 download units, and number four on both the Oricon Combined Singles Chart and ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

, and also charted on the Global 200 and top 40 of Global Excl. US.

Background and release

On January 18, 2021, Yoasobi announced they will be in charge of singing and writing a new

for '' Mezamashi TV'', Fuji TV's morning news since April 2021. The new theme song would be based on a short story which was chosen from contest held by ''Mezamashi TV'' and a novel website operated by Sony Music Entertainment Japan,

Monogatary.com , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

. The selected short story was announced on March 15, titled , which was written by Chiharu, from a total of 5,605 short stories. It is about a chain of small happiness, starting from a slight happening that occurs in three characters: salaryman, elderly woman, and high school girl, who saw the same fortune-telling in the morning. The title of the song "Mō Sukoshi Dake" was announced on March 29, and used as a theme song for the program for one year since the same day. The full song was aired on May 4 on their radio show ''Yoasobi's All Night Nippon X'' and released officially on May 10 to

digital music Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, samp ...

and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

platforms. The cover artwork was designed by Hmng, an animation director and character creator, showing a world view of the short story and the music from the fortune-telling of the television screen, and the illustration cuts out the moment when the high school girl goes out, which appears in the based short story. Later, "Mō Sukoshi Dake" was included on their second EP ''

'', released on December 1. The English version of the song, titled "Just a Little Steps", was included on the duo's second English-language EP ''

E-Side 2 ''E-Side 2'' is the second English-language extended play (EP) and fourth overall by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released on November 18, 2022, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The EP consists of eight tracks from the duo's songs in the E ...

'', released on November 18, 2022.

Lyrics and composition

"Mō Sukoshi Dake" is a refreshing light melody and light tempo

piano pop Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

song written by Ayase, a member of the group, and composed in the key of G♯ major, 100 beats per minute with a running time of 3 minutes and 40 seconds. The lyrics describe giving the courage to take just a little more at the beginning of each person's day. Yoasobi describes "Mō Sukoshi Dake" as a song make a listener feel like a good day whether it's a refreshing or gloomy morning.

Critical reception

Rockin'On Japan ''Rockin'On Japan'', often stylized in all caps, is a monthly magazine that covers the Japanese music scene and various cultural events in Japan, such as art venues and culinary expos. History The magazine was founded in 1972, and focused on prov ...

'' Miho Takahashi has described "Mō Sukoshi Dake" "matches the timing when you want to take a break", "the song is sung as if walking as usual and saying 'if you can step a little further' and 'may you find a little happiness'", and "Ikura's friendly and colorful voice matches the song and it makes comfortable feeling". '' Utaten'' MarSali wrote that "the song expresses the message contained in ''Meguru'' along with the charm of music", and "the meaning of the lyrics will be deeper and more memorable if listen to the song after reading the short story". ''Salute Project'' stated that "the song made me warm and gentle" and "I want to be kinder and kinder to others by one step than now from tomorrow".

Music video

An accompanying music video of "Mō Sukoshi Dake" was premiered on November 22, 2021, at 8:00 AM ( JST). Directed and made animation by Hmng, who also design the cover artwork, the music video depicts a warm chain of kindness and compassion of people as the based novel.

Commercial performance

In Japan's

weekly chart issue dated May 24, 2021, "Mō Sukoshi Dake" debuted at number one on the Digital Single (Single Track) Chart with 53,131 download units, becoming the fifth song that charted number one on the chart and made Yoasobi becoming the third most number-one song artist on the Oricon Digital Single Chart history (" Yoru ni Kakeru", " Gunjō", "

Kaibutsu is a song recorded by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second EP, ''The Book 2'' (2021). It was released digitally on January 6, 2021, the same date as the duo's debut extended play (EP), '' The Book'', through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. As ...

", "

Yasashii Suisei is a song recorded by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second EP, ''The Book 2'' (2021). It was released as a stand-alone digital single on January 20, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and released as a double A-side CD single togeth ...

" and "Mō Sukoshi Dake"), along with

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

, behind Kenshi Yonezu (7 songs) and

Bump of Chicken is a Japanese alternative rock group from Sakura, Chiba, Japan. The band members are Motoo Fujiwara (Vocalist, vocals, Rhythm guitar, rhythm), Hiroaki Masukawa (guitar), Yoshifumi Naoi (Bass guitar, bass) and Hideo Masu (Drum kit, drums). Since ...

(6 songs). The song also debuted at number four on both the Combined Singles Chart with 43,062 points and the Streaming Chart with 6,542,525 streams. "Mō Sukoshi Dake" also debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 for the chart issue date of May 19, 2021 with 11,097 points, behind Hey! Say! JUMP's " Negative Fighter", HKT48's " Kimi to Dokoka e Ikitai" and Twice's "

Kura Kura is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. It is the group's eighth Japanese maxi single, featuring three other tracks. It was pre-released for Music download, digital download and Streaming media, streaming on April 21, 2021, by Warne ...

", marked the duo's best-debuted number song on the chart. The song also debuted and topped of the Download Songs chart with 45,931 units and number four on the Streaming Songs chart with 7,022,437 streams. On ''Billboard'' Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S charts of May 22, "Mō Sukoshi Dake" debuted at numbers 147 and 57, respectively, and peaked at number 103 and 38, respectively for the chart issue date of May 29.

Live performance and usage in media

Yoasobi performed "Mō Sukoshi Dake" for the first time at the free online concert collaborated with Uniqlo's T-shirt brand UT, Sing Your World via the duo's official YouTube channel on July 4, where the song was the number three. They gave a television debut performance of "Mō Sukoshi Dake" on December 1 at Fuji TV's 2021 '' FNS Music Festival''. Besides featuring ''Mezamashi TV'', "Mō Sukoshi Dake" was also chosen as a theme song for the drama produced by ''Mezamashi TV'' of the same name as the based novel, titled ''Meguru'', broadcast in December 2021.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from ''The Book 2'' liner notes and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. ;Song * Ayase – producer, songwriter * Ikura – vocals * AssH – guitar * Chiharu – based story writer * Takayuki Saitō – vocal recording * Masahiko Fukui – mixing * Hmng – cover artwork design ;Music video * Hmng – director, animation * Bivi – movie * Minori Homura – assistant * Shig – assistant

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

''Meguru''
on

{{Yoasobi 2021 singles 2021 songs Japanese-language songs Sony Music Entertainment Japan singles Television theme songs Yoasobi songs