is a song by Japanese duo

Yoasobi Yoasobi (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese music superduo formed by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, composed of Vocaloid producer Ayase, and singer-songwriter Ikura. Represented by the slogan "novel into music", the duo has released songs ba ...

from their EPs '' Hajimete no – EP'' and ''

The Book 3 ''The Book 3'' is the third Japanese-language extended play (sixth overall) 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). W ...

'' (2023). It was released on May 30, 2022, 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 ...

, as the second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the short story collection project '' Hajimete no'' following "

Mr. ''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...

" Based on the short story ''Hikari no Tane'' written by 135th

Naoki Prize The Naoki Prize, officially , is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. It was created in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, then editor of the ''Bungeishunjū'' magazine, and named in memory of novelist Naoki Sanjugo. Sponsored by the Society for the ...

-winning

Eto Mori Eto Mori ( ja, 森絵都, translit=Mori Eto, born 1968) is a Japanese novelist focusing on children's and young adult literature. She has been described as "one of the most celebrated female writers of fiction in Japan today". Mori was born in To ...

, the song depicts a high school girl's fourth confession to her crush and efforts to erase her past confessions through

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

. "Suki da" peaked at number 23 on 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 ...

Combined Singles Chart and number eight on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100. The accompanying music video, directed by Kazuaki Seki, was uploaded on November 13.

Background and release

On December 1, 2021, the same date as their 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 ...

'' release, Yoasobi announced the project '' Hajimete no'', a collaboration between the duo and four

-winning novelists:

Rio Shimamoto is a Japanese writer. She has won the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the Noma Literary New Face Prize and the Naoki Prize, and her work has been adapted for film. Biography Shimamoto was born in 1983 in Tokyo, Japan. She made her literary debu ...

Mizuki Tsujimura is a Japanese writer from Fuefuki, Yamanashi. Tsujimura specializes in mystery novels. She writes both for adults and children. She has been writing mystery novels from since she was a high school student, and she decided to go to Chiba Univ ...

Miyuki Miyabe is a Japanese writer of genre fiction. She has won numerous Japanese literary awards, including the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature, the Shiba Ryotaro Prize, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the Na ...

, and

, to produce songs based on the authors' short stories under the theme of "a story to read when you first did". All four novels were published as a book, titled ''Hajimete no'', on February 16, 2022. One of four novels with the theme "a story when you first confess" by Mori, , depicts the story of Yuma, a high school girl who has been in love with her childhood friend Shiita for over ten years. She tries to erase her past confessions by journeying through time and space to confirm her fourth confession for him. On May 22, shortly after the music video of "

" premiered, Yoasobi uploaded the promotional video to announce the second song from ''Hajimete no'' series based on Mori's novel, titled "Suki da". It shows Ikura's voice reading ''Hikari no Tane'' with texts from the story and several photos of ''Hajimete no'' book covers. The song was available on

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 on May 30. Before the release, it was teased at all

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...

branches in Japan from May 23, alongside the duo's comments about it. The cover artwork by Moe Yoshino shows a collage of colorful imaginary flowers. The song was later included on Yoasobi's EPs '' Hajimete no – EP'', released on May 10, 2023, and later ''

'' October 4. The English version, titled "Loving You", appeared on their third English-language EP '' E-Side 3'', released on April 12, 2024.

Composition

"Suki da" is described as a mid-

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

"sensational"

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

pop song, expressing the protagonist's fourth attempt to confess her crush, who is her childhood friend, while struggling across space and time to erase her past love confessions. Mori said that the song depicts the protagonist's misunderstanding, awareness, and determination and reflects "thinking about someone from the bottom of erheart". The song was written by

Ayase Ayase may refer to: Places *Ayase, Kanagawa, Japan *Ayase, an area in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan ** Ayase Station, train station in Adachi, Tokyo People *Ayase (music producer) (born 1994), Japanese vocaloid producer *, Japanese actress *, Japanese foot ...

, a member who handles a production of the duo, composed in the key of

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

at 120 beats per minute with a running time of three minutes and thirty-seven seconds. The keys of the three choruses are all different, reflecting the ups and downs of emotions.

Commercial performance

"Suki da" debuted at number 23 on the

Combined Singles Chart. Additionally, the song landed at number one on the

Digital Singles (Single Track) Chart, selling 14,639 downloads in its first week. It became the ninth number-one song on the Digital Singles Chart and marked Yoasobi as the second most number-one artist on the chart, behind only

Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and illustrator who began releasing Vocaloid music under the stage name in 2009. In 2012, he debuted under his real name, releasing music with his own voice. He has sold at least 4.2 mi ...

, who has 10 songs. "Suki da" entered the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 at number eight, earned 12,558 downloads and charted at number three on the Download Chart; with 2,623,457 streams, it peaked at number 39 on the Streaming Chart on its first week.

Music video

An accompanying music video for "Suki da" was initially scheduled for premiere on November 6, 2022, but was postponed to November 13 due to production reasons. The music video was directed by Kazuaki Seki, portraying the plot of ''Hikari no Tane''s illustration.

Live performances and usage in media

Yoasobi performed "Suki da" live for the first time at the

Rock in Japan Festival The Rock in Japan Festival is an annual three-day rock festival held during early August at the Hitachi Seaside Park, in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, Japan, organized by ''Rockin'on ''Rockin'On Japan'', often stylized in all caps, is a monthly magazin ...

on August 6, 2022, and the

Rising Sun Rock Festival Rising Sun Rock Festival is an annual rock festival held in Ishikari, Hokkaido, Japan. The two-day event is organized by WESS. It chiefly features Japanese rock and indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: ...

on the 12th. On September 7, "Suki da" was chosen to accompany an advertisement for the hair care product Ichikami starring

Mei Nagano is a Japanese actress. Amongst her film and television credits are Rinko in the film '' My Love Story!'', Suzume Yosano in the film '' Daytime Shooting Star'', and Suzume Nireno in the 98th NHK asadora ''Hanbun, Aoi''. Career Nagano was scouted ...

and Yoshiaki Higashi. On the same day, Yoasobi also released the debut performance of the song from the 2022 Rock in Japan Festival to commemorate the collaboration.

Credits and personnel

– songwriter, producer * Ikura – vocals * AssH –

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

– based story writer * Takayuki Saitō – vocal

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

* Masahiko Fukui – mixing * Hidekazu Sakai – mastering * Moe Yoshino – cover artwork design

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Yoasobi 2022 singles 2022 songs Song recordings produced by Ayase (music producer) Songs about time travel Songs in Japanese Songs written by Ayase (music producer) Sony Music Entertainment Japan singles Yoasobi songs