The song received positive reviews from
music critics for a "perfect" representation of Ai Hoshino and was a massive commercial success by topping the
Oricon Combined Singles Chart and
Billboard Japan Hot 100, the second song after "
Yoru ni Kakeru", which the latter for 22 non-consecutive weeks, making it the longest-running number-one song in the chart history, and the 2023 year-end number-one song. It broke the record for the fastest song to earn 500 million streams in Japan within 39 weeks, and achieve diamond streaming certification by the
Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in about only ten months. As Yoasobi's most successful song worldwide to date, "Idol" was marked as the highest position by Japanese act, peaking at number seven, on the
Billboard Global 200, and the first Japanese-language song to top the
Global Excl. US, as well as the 2023 nineteenth best-selling global song, according to the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
Naoya Nakayama directed the accompanying animated music video for the song, which premiered on April 13, 2023, and exceeded 100 million views in around one month, the fastest among Japanese acts. "Idol" won several awards, including Best Animation Video and Song of the Year at the
2023 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Best Anime Song at the
8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Song of the Year by both download and streaming at the 38th
Japan Gold Disc Award, and Gold Prize at the 2024
JASRAC Awards. After numerous domestic and overseas performances, the first Japanese televised performance of "Idol" took place at the 74th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, featuring Japanese and Korean idol groups, among others.
Background and release
An anime adaptation of
manga series Oshi no Ko was announced in June 2022.[1] During a
livestream on its official
YouTube channel on February 19, 2023, the
anime series revealed the opening theme which would be performed by
Yoasobi, titled "Idol".[2] As a "super huge" fan of the manga,
Ayase had personally read Oshi no Ko before and written a
demo about it around 2022. It was initially titled "Kyūkyoku no Ōgi",[B] portraying a girl who is the strongest and unbeatable fighter, showing some dark side, reminiscing about Street Fighter character
Chun-Li.[3] The demo was originally expected to be released as a
Vocaloid song,[4] but the plan was changed after the duo received the offer to perform the opening theme for Oshi no Ko; Ayase interwove the demo and the new composition to be the final version.[5]
"Idol" first featured in the anime's trailer, and the full-length version played for the first time in an extended 90-minute first episode, "
Mother and Children", which premiered on March 17 at selected movie theaters in Japan.[6] After the debut show of their
Denkōsekka Arena Tour on April 5 at
Nippon Gaishi Hall,
Nagoya, where they first performed the song, Yoasobi announced that "Idol" would be available on
digital music and
streaming platforms on April 12, the same date as the anime's televised premiere.[7] A month later, the duo teased a snippet of the English version as a video clip uploaded via
Twitter, showing
Ikura recording the song in the studio,[8] which the full-length was released digitally on May 26.[9] The limited
CD and
7-inch vinyl formats of the single were released on June 21 and July 26, respectively, which both contain the Japanese, English, anime edit, and instrumental versions.[10][11] Subsequently, "Idol" was included in the duo's third EP The Book 3, released on October 4,[12] and the English version on their third English-language EP E-Side 3, released on April 12, 2024.[13]
45510
The source of "Idol" is 45510, a short story by Oshi no Ko's writer
Aka Akasaka. The title refers to the initials of the manga's fictional
idolgirl group B-Komachi founding members—Takamine, Nino,
Ai, and Watanabe—when typing on a
telephone keypad. Each number corresponds when feeding
kana inputs: "ta" (た) as "4", "ni" (に) as "55", "a" (あ) as "1", and "wa" (わ) as "0".[14] The story was first published via Weekly Young Jump's website on April 13, shortly after the anime's first episode televised premiere,[15] before being included as a poster booklet on the single physical releases.[10][11]
The story depicts the
points of view of an unidentified one of B-Komachi's former founding members, who found former groupmate and face of the group Ai Hoshino's livestream 16 years after her death. The video showed Hoshino talking to her fans, making her reminisce and her jealousy of Hoshino. After the video stopped and could not find more, the former member tried to log in to B-Komachi's blog, operated by four founding members, whose password is "45510", and found Hoshino's unpublished posts written about her bad feelings, wanting to be like the past. The former member decided to delete the posts because she did not want to show Hoshino's weak side to everyone. Even though she disliked Hoshino, the protagonist also respected Hoshino as a "perfect and ultimate idol".[14]
Lyrics and composition
"Idol" combines
pop,
hip-hop,
rock, and
video game music genres[16] with a
church choir-like
gothic rendition.[17]The Japan Times's Patrick St. Michel described the song as "a mix of varied influences that draws from
Akihabaralivehouses and
Atlanta hip-hop," that is "connected by a piano dash that has come to define Ayase's production."[18] It is driven by the "bright and poppy", "idol-like
bubblegum",[17] and "
reign of the king" atmosphere-like sounds,[19] and includes "dizzying" transitions and "complicated" structure, such as "gritty"
sub-bass,
orchestral and
electronic-sounded
chorus, and
trap beat-styled
rapping, etc.[20][21] The song's production was inspired by American musician
Ghostemane's strong lows and bass guitar played at Indonesia rapper
Rich Brian's performance at the 2022
Head in the Clouds Festival.[22] Music critic Hwang Sun-up noted that "Idol" "reflects a lot of
K-pop elements" in terms of sound and composition, citing
Blackpink's "
How You Like That" for grand intro, and
Nmixx's "
O.O" for mixed structure.[23] Ikura's vocals in the song are described as alternating between "cutest idol in the world"-like "sweet and clear" voice and "frenzy" and "introspection" with "deep sarcastic" snarls and "K-pop-esque" "rapid-fire" raps.[21][16]
"Idol" features uncredited background cheering shouts by Akihabara-based
B-boy group and
YouTuberReal Akiba Boyz, and
gospel-styled background vocals sung in English for praise idol.[24] Told only until the end of Oshi no Ko's first episode,[22] the lyrics express the
two-faced nature of people in the entertainment industry, specifically Japanese idols,[25] including their perfection, ultimate, culture,
fans' psychology, and
idolatry.[19] The song shows the three perspectives on Ai Hoshino. The first part expresses the eyes of fans and media about her perfection and making herself look mysterious, by answering fans' questions, and herself about not knowing how to love someone and no longer distinguishing between truths and lies. The second part tells B-Komachi's members' jealousy but respect and gratitude for Hoshino. The last depicts Hoshino's point of view of her secret about lies, greed, and imperfection, as well as her motherhood of twin children,
Ruby and
Aqua, that she hopes someday her lies become true.[26]
["Idol"] only depicts the story up to the end of [Oshi no Ko's] first episode. I thought that if the opening theme song was always one about what Ai was thinking when she was alive, what happened to her, and her love for Aqua and Ruby, that people would never forget about Ai, and she would become a legend.
Upon its release, "Idol" generally received positive reviews. Danny Guan from Game Rant praises "Idol" as a "perfect" representation of Ai Hoshino, and "jumping from brooding rap verses to energetic
J-pop melodies with ease, flipping moods at the drop of a hat."[25] Writing for
Yahoo! News Japan,
Suzie Suzuki compared the song as a parody of
Kyoko Koizumi's 1985 single "
Nantettatte Idol" and 2010s female idols, and commented, "It is too well done and has reached a metastructure of 'more idol song-like than a normal idol song.' "[27]Real Sound's Mio Komachi dubbed the song "standing out" among
Yoasobi's discography, feeling "the essence of a Vocaloid song", and the "perfect" portrayal of Hoshino with an "almost inorganic" voice,[28] while Tsuki no Hito described the song "having this chaotic sense of balance that incorporates K-pop homage […], and explodes with a clear chorus that is typical of J-pop."[29] Noriko Ashizawa from
Spotify Japan described that "Idol" "has a composition in which the scene changes rapidly in a different sense from K-pop," and "the Vocaloid-like irregular melody progression is not similar to any overseas song."[30]
Rockin'On Japan's Miho Takahashi called the song "a perfect work that could not be better,"[31] while Mikiki's S.H.I. "a song representing 2023", stated about "emphasiz[ing] the impression of the performer's presence rather than the musicality."[32] Patrick St. Michel from The Japan Times wrote that the song is "disorienting […] but it's certainly catchy."[18] For the English version, ComicBook.com's Nick Valdez praised that it "captur[ing] the spirit of the original version perfectly."[33] Gumi from Cinemas+ commended the song for retaining most of the message conveyed by the Japanese original lyrics.[34] Writing for Screen Rant, Joshua Fox gave a mixed review, commenting that the song, "while still great to listen to, falls short of the Japanese version"; "the lyrics are largely exact translations with little to no alterations," so "the flow of the English version ends up feeling off in some parts." Fox compared the song to the complete re-writing in English of
Hikaru Utada's "
Hikari", "Simple & Clean".[35] Economist and entrepreneur
Yūsuke Narita dubbed both the Japanese and English versions as
Matsuo Bashō's 1686 hokku "
furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto" and its
English translations in the 21st century.[36] Music critics Tássia Assis called "Idol" "their magnum opus so far".[37]
According to
Oricon and Billboard Japan, "Idol" became the fastest song to reach 100 million streams in Japan within five weeks, surpassing six weeks of
Official Hige Dandism's "
Subtitle" and
BTS' "
Butter".[47][48] It later broke a string of records for the fastest song to earn 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700 million streams.[C][D] As of April 2024, the
Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) certified the song double platinum for digital sales, exceeding 500,000 units;[52] and diamond for streaming with 500 million on-demand streams.[53] The latter marked "Idol" as the fastest song to achieve diamond certification in RIAJ history within 295 days after the song's release.[54]
Oricon
For the issue dated April 24, 2023, "Idol" entered the Oricon Digital Singles Chart at number two, earning 33,867 downloads, behind
Man with a Mission and
Milet's "
Kizuna no Kiseki",[55] and rose to the top the next week with 34,070 downloads, making it as Yoasobi's record for the most number-one song on the chart with 12 songs, tying with
Kenshi Yonezu at that time.[56][E] It spent ten non-consecutive weeks atop the Digital Singles Chart, the fifth song to reach it in history.[F] The song debuted atop the Streaming Chart with 10,328,178 streams, the duo's third number-one song on the chart after "Yoru ni Kakeru", and "Kaibutsu",[59] and topped for 22 consecutive weeks, the second most weeks at number one,[60] behind Official Hige Dandism's "
Pretender" (34),[61] and the fifth song to reach number one on the chart for more than ten weeks.[G] With 29,975,897 streams in the week of June 26, it became the duo's and 2023 biggest, and the second most accumulated streams in a single week in Oricon history, blocked from "Butter" (31 million streams),[56][62] as well as the song with the most weeks exceeding 20 million streams (12),[63] besting "Subtitle" (4).[47]
Moreover, "Idol" is the second song in 2023 since
Be:First's "
Boom Boom Back", and by the duo to reach number one on both the Oricon Digital Single and Streaming charts in the same week[56] and topped for ten non-consecutive weeks, tying with "Subtitle".[58] "Idol" first opened at number five on the Oricon Combined Singles Chart dated April 24,[64] and peaked at number one in the week of May 29, as the duo's second song since "Yoru ni Kakeru", after staying in the top five for five weeks.[65] The song returned to number one on the week dated January 22, 2024, eight months after the first top.[66] The CD single debuted at number two on the
Oricon Singles Chart for the week of July 3, selling 49,385 copies, behind
King & Prince's "
Nanimono",[67] while the English version peaked at number eight on the Digital Singles Chart with 6,080 units.[68] "Idol" finished at number one on three Oricon 2023 year-end charts: Combined Singles, Digital Singles, and Streaming, earning 557,295 downloads and 570,368,238 streams.[69]
Billboard Japan
"Idol" debuted at number one on the
Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the week of April 19, 2023. It earned 29,327 digital sales, 8,868,810 streams, and 4,334,923 video views in its first week, scoring Yoasobi's second number-one song in the country since "Yoru ni Kakeru" in 2020.[70] The song stayed at the number-one position for 21 consecutive weeks, beating "Subtitle" as the song with the most both consecutive and total weeks at number one in the chart history,[71] which previously was eight consecutive weeks and 13 overall weeks, respectively.[72][73] On the week of September 13, the song was finally unseated in the top position by
Snow Man's "
Dangerholic",
King Gnu's "
Specialz", and
Enhypen's "Bite Me", descending to number four.[74] Four months later, the song re-peaked at number one on the week of January 17, 2024, expanding the longest number-one song to 22 total weeks.[75] "Idol" also peaked at number one on the specific-genre
Hot Animation, the third song following "Kaibutsu" and "
Shukufuku",[76] for 21 consecutive weeks, tying with Kenshi Yonezu's "
Kick Back";[77] and 37 total weeks, the second longest after 39 weeks of
Lisa's "
Gurenge".[78] During that time, it was succeeded by "Specialz" for two weeks,[79][80] and the duo's own "
Yūsha" for one week,[81] and finally dethroned by
Creepy Nuts' "
Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" on the week of January 31, 2024.[82]
For component charts, "Idol" opened at number two on the
Download Songs, blocked from "Kizuna no Kiseki",[83] and surged up to the top the next week and spent ten non-consecutive weeks on it.[84][85] The song topped the
Streaming Songs and peaked for 24 non-consecutive weeks.[86][87] It received 25,860,696 streams in the week of May 17, giving the song the second most streams overall in a single week, behind "Butter" (30 million streams).[88] The CD single sold 53,589 copies on its release week, landing at number two on the Top Singles Sales dated June 26, behind "Nanimono".[89] Following the 7-inch vinyl release, the single jumped from number 84 to 12 in the week of August 2 with 3,884 copies.[90] "Idol" was named the best-performing song of 2023 on the Japan Hot 100.[91][92] It became the most-streamed, most-downloaded, and most-heard-on-the-radio song in the country that year, receiving 527,143,965 streams, 148,838,759 video views, and 509,751 digital sales, which topped both the year-end Streaming Songs and Download Songs.[93][94]
Worldwide
Two weeks after its release, Yoasobi's distributor
The Orchard reported that "Idol" had been streamed and viewed over 100 million times.[95] The song first entered the
Billboard Global Excl. US at number 135 for the issue dated April 22, 2023, within two days of tracking and then surged up 130 spots to number five the next week.[96] Following the English version release and spent the first six of seven weeks in the top ten, the song rose atop the Global Excl. US—collecting 24,000 digital sales and 45.7 million streams in that week—becoming the first Japanese-language song to top the chart,[97] and stayed on it for three non-consecutive weeks.[98] On the
Billboard Global 200, "Idol" debuted at number 14 dated April 29,[99] and peaked at number seven nine weeks later,[100] setting a new record as the highest position by Japanese act on the chart, surpassing Lisa's "
Homura" (8).[101][102] The song was charted at number 42 and 19 on the 2023 year-end Global 200 and Global Excl. US, respectively, the highest-ranking J-pop song in history.[103]
Music critic Motohiko Tokuriki compared the success of "Idol" to
Fujii Kaze's "
Shinunoga E-Wa", which was a hit overseas in 2022, and commented that it "has the potential to be a big step for the
Japanese music industry in that it has clearly seen the world from the beginning and has been successful."[104] During the inaugural week of September 14, 2023, "Idol" debuted at number one on the Billboard Japan's Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan, which tracks the most streamed and digitally sold songs outside Japan in over 200 territories,[105] and topped for 12 non-consecutive weeks.[106] For music streaming services, the song also reached number one on the global charts of
Apple Music and
YouTube Music,[107][108] and was the eighth most streamed song globally, the best-performing Japanese act, on Apple Music in 2023.[109] The
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported that "Idol" was the nineteenth best-selling song in 2023, earning 1.01 billion subscription streams equivalents globally.[110]
Music video
An accompanying music video for "Idol" premiered on Yoasobi's YouTube and Ayase's
Niconico channels on April 13, 2023, at 0:30
JST, shortly after Oshi no Ko televised premiere. Directed by Naoya Nakayama, and produced by
Doga Kobo, who also was in charge of anime production,[111] the visual features the same animated visuals as the anime, depicting the "bright and dark"
symbolism of Ai Hoshino, and her twin children, Aqua and Ruby.[112] In the end, the music video shows Aqua and Ruby as high school students watching her mother Ai performing on television, which does not appear in the anime. The director described the scene as "the world that Ai wanted to see".[113]
The "Idol" music video became the duo's fourth music video to accrue 100 million views, after "
Yoru ni Kakeru", "
Kaibutsu", and "
Gunjō", as well as the fastest music video to reach this mark by any Japanese act within 35 days,[114] surpassing the 62 days of
NiziU's "
Make You Happy".[115] It became the 2023 most-viewed music-related video on YouTube in Japan,[116] and has gained over 470 million views as of April 2024.[117] The music video for the English version was released later in conjunction with the song on May 26.[118]
Yoasobi performed "Idol" live on Japanese television for the first time at the
2023 edition of New Year's Eve television special NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen on December 31.[131] The show was choreographed and staged by Sota Kawashima of Ganmi.[132] Alongside the duo and the band, the show featured numerous guests, beginning with dance group
Avantgardey and B-boy group Real Akiba Boyz. Then, the participating Japanese and Korean idol groups—
Seventeen,
Nogizaka46, NiziU, Be:First,
NewJeans,
JO1,
Stray Kids,
Sakurazaka46,
Le Sserafim, and
MiSaMo—performed one after another.[133][H] Next, singer
Ano and actress and the program's host
Kanna Hashimoto—two former idols of
You'll Melt More! and
Rev. from DVL, respectively—who both previously gained attention from fan-taken photos comparison of the two, nicknamed "the final battle between angel and devil", appeared and did their viral posture during idol career.[134] The show concluded with all performers performing together.[135] Despite the lowest rating since 1989,[136] Yoasobi's show was considered to be "the most attracted attention" of the event, especially online.[137][138][139] The show recorded viewership rating of 34.2% in
Kantō region, the third highest following
Misia and
Black Biscuits' performances.[140]
Cover versions
"Idol" has been covered by several other musicians and idols, notably including singer and actress
Airi Suzuki, who performed the song at
TV Asahi YouTube program Dōga, Hajimete Mimashita on June 10, 2023,[141] which accumulated ten million views as of September.[142] Later, she included the song on the "Self-Cover Medley" of her performance at the 2023 Rock in Japan Festival in August.[143]Rie Takahashi, who voiced Ai Hoshino for the anime, covered "Idol" on November 26 at Ichigo Production Fan Thanksgiving 2023,[144] and uploaded her cover's music video on February 2, 2024.[145] Others included
Yuya Tegoshi at his Checkmate Live Tour,[146]Ayaka Hirahara and Avantgardey at 2023 FNS Music Festival Spring,[147]Aya Shimazu at Ongakunohi,[148]Toshi at three-hour special Music Station,[149]Jyunretsu at Best Hits Kayosai,[150] and La Diva[I] at 2023 FNS Music Festival, etc.[151]
During the semi-final round of the
12th season of Thai singing competition program The Mask Singer on June 21, 2023, contestant Jorin Khumpiraphan of Thai idol group
4Eve under the
Siberian Husky mask performed "Idol" on the program, which she was eliminated in this round.[152] Japanese dance group Avantgardey performed a routine to the song mashed up with the Japanese and English versions combined at the semi-final round of the
18th season of televised talent show competition America's Got Talent.[153] Japanese YouTuber
Hikakinparodied the music video of "Idol", replaced Hoshino by himself, released on July 22.[154]Dialogue's
Nene Hieda and
Kyōka Moriya,[155]Yucco Miller,[156]Emi Noda,[157] and JBB,[J] etc., released the song's cover commercially.[158]
In popular culture
In late April 2023, Shortly after "Idol" release, a recreated video of the
title sequence of Oshi no Ko connecting to the title sequence of Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo, in which "Idol" was changed in the middle of the chorus to
JAM Project's "
Storm", "Kimi wa kanpeki de kyūkyoku no Gettā",[K] went viral and became an
Internet meme, which both Yoasobi and JAM Project former member
Ichirou Mizuki's official Twitter accounts each responded the video.[159][160] This meme resulted in "Storm" being officially released to the music streaming services on July 3, 2023.[161] The phrase "Kimi wa kanpeki de kyūkyoku no Gettā" won Gold Award at the 2023
Internet Buzzword Award,[162] and Niconico Award and second place of Top 20 Words Award at the 2023
Internet Buzzwords 100.[163]
Fan-made and wotagei choreographies of "Idol" also gained attraction as an
Internet challenge on video sharing service TikTok, covered by Japanese and
Korean idols among others.[164] As of December 2023, the song garnered 7.9 billion views on TikTok.[165] The song was the most-searched and the third most-
humed-to-search song on
Google in 2023.[166][167] "Idol" was the best anime song of the Reiwa era on the survey from 10,000 people by TV Asahi television special 1 Man Nin ga Erabu! Tsui ni Kettei! Reiwa vs Heisei vs Shōwa Anison Ranking,[168] and the second-most voted best anime song on the survey by 1,740 overseas anime fans from the TV Asahi television special Gaikokujin ga Gachi de Tōhyō! Sekai Anison Sōsenkyo, behind only
Yoko Takahashi's "
A Cruel Angel's Thesis".[169]
Accolades
At the 65th Japan Record Awards in 2023, despite the success of the song, "Idol" did not receive the Song of the Year award, which is a nomination for the main Grand Prize. Instead, Ayase won Best Composition Award for composing the song, and Yoasobi won the Special International Music Award. The gesture spawned several media and fans questioning about how the nomination process for the Japan Record Awards works.[170][171][172]
^On Oricon, "Idol" took nine weeks for 200 million, 13 weeks for 300 million, and 19 weeks for 400 million, 28 weeks for 500 million, 39 weeks for 600 million,[49] and 51 weeks for 700 million streams.[50]
^On Billboard Japan, "Idol" took nine weeks for 200 million, 14 weeks for 300 million, 21 weeks for 400 million, 30 weeks for 500 million, 41 weeks for 600 million, and 54 weeks for 700 million streams.[51]
^Yonezu became the artist with the most number-one song on the Oricon Digital Singles Chart again with 13 songs after his single "
Tsuki o Miteita" debuting atop the chart.[57]