Ikimonogakari recently released their 11th full album, Asobi (“Play”). Following the release of their previous album, Maru, their first release since becoming a duo, Kiyoe Yoshioka and Yoshiki Mizuno have had a series of firsts: their first overseas show, their first acoustic show at the Budokan, and their first acoustic concert tour. In addition to previously released singles, the album also contains the new song “Irodori” and collaborations with artists such as Humbert Humbert, fox capture plan, Nao Matsushita, and “Yu Asobi.” Bonus tracks include “Koisuru Otome – From THE FIRST TAKE,” which generated a lot of buzz on social media. The songs on the album are the product of the duo allowing themselves to take on music with a sense of freedom, joy, and playfulness.

Billboard JAPAN talked to the two about this new album, a second “debut” after they began a new chapter as a band.

Let’s start by talking about what you’ve been doing overseas. In June of 2024 you performed at the 35th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan, and then in July you performed at the Tencent Music Entertainment Awards in Macao. How was the response?

Mizuno: I was surprised at the cheering, this tremendous “Whoooooaaaaa!”

Yoshioka: The audience’s tone of voice and the volume of the cheering was totally different than with a Japanese audience. Sometimes my singing was swallowed up by the cheering.

Mizuno: When I’d start a guitar solo, there’d also be that “Whoooooaaaaa!” cheer.

Yoshioka: The audience really put their emotions and reactions into their voices.

What song got the biggest reaction?

Mizuno: “Blue Bird.” People overseas listen to it a lot, and it seems the audiences all knew it.

Yoshioka: When we performed ballads like “SAKURA,” the whole audience was swaying side to side, too. Even despite the language barrier, the emotion of the song came across, which made me really happy.

After your overseas performances, you finished your new album, Asobi. Since the last album, Maru, you’ve been busy with live shows, such as the shows in China, and also releasing new songs. You’ve had quite the packed schedule. Looking back, what do you remember about this period?

Mizuno: After releasing Maru, we did have a time when we were really focused on live shows. We put on a performance hall tour, played at a few festivals, and put on an acoustic show at the Budokan. We had a lot of opportunities to play in front of audiences, and every day was really stimulating for us. This had a positive influence on our song-writing, and I think we also changed a lot deep down inside. I also met all kinds of people through my HIROBA project and put out an album, which was a great experience. I was able to bring that experience back with me to Ikimonogakari. Sho Hasumi from Daw90000 wrote lyrics for me (on “Anohi No Koto meets Sho Hasumi”) and I got the courage to connect with people outside our circle. Yoshioka enjoyed that, too.

Yoshioka: Mizuno, who is Ikimonogakari’s leader, would actively propose new things we’d never tried before, like performing with just the two of us on stage. At first, I was really nervous, but gradually I came to enjoy doing new things. There was a lot of trial and error, of course, and it was really challenging, but the creation process also really stimulated my curiosity.

The album has songs with lyrics written by other creators (“Jigazou meets Yu Asobi” and “Anohi No Koto meets Sho Hasumi”). That was an ambitious choice.

Mizuno: I think it was about seven or eight years ago, we had a meeting with our staff and I said, “What about having someone else write some lyrics for us?” Our director at the time said “Don’t you think you should still keep writing the lyrics yourself?” At the time, that made sense, and I was like, “You’re right,” but years have passed since then and we’ve had all kinds of new experiences. We’ve come to see change as a positive thing, and we’re okay with people from outside the group getting involved. We feel secure now that even with outside involvement, the end result will be proper Ikimonogakari.

Yoshioka: I was really nervous at first, though (laughs). But when Mizuno said “I want to ask someone else to write the lyrics,” it felt really natural, so I took a positive outlook on it, like “I think it’ll work out fine.” Everyone on the team was like “Let’s give it a shot.”

If someone else writes the lyrics, the words will also match up with the music in a different way.

Yoshioka: Right. I’ve always sung Mizuno’s lyrics to Mizuno’s music, so I’ve developed what I guess you could call habits. After recording, I realized I’d had to get rid of those habits when I sang. It felt very natural putting the words to music, which I liked.

Mizuno: You develop habits, or perhaps color, and I hoped that by changing that color we’d produce something new. I’ve been working with Yoshioka since we were in our teens, and we’ve grown together. Yoshioka’s way of singing has become part of me, and my melodies, and the melodies of (Hotaka) Yamashita, have become a part of Yoshioka. So when you’re singing lyrics that aren’t part of that, you find that you can’t sing them the way you normally would (laughs). I was very curious about how my own melodies would sound. It was fun taking on that challenge with Hasumi’s lyrics and Yu Asobi’s lyrics.

What’s behind the title of the album, Asobi?

Mizuno: I feel like the process of creating our last album, Maru, was very stoic. On this album, fortunately, we had a lot of tie-in songs and a lot of variety. The context of each song was also totally different, so we were having a hard time coming up with a concept that would tie them all together. We were thinking about different possibilities when the conversation turned to maybe seeing the rich variety of the album in a positive light instead of trying to put everything in one box. The idea of “play” (in Japanese, “asobi”) came up through that conversation.

Yoshioka: Right.

Mizuno: Since the idea of that title, Asobi, came up, I suggested working with outside artists on the songs. A lot of different artists took part on IKIMONOGAKARI meets (a collaborative album in which 12 artists interpreted Ikimonogakari songs in new ways), and this time I wanted us to “meet” them.

Yoshioka: When the word “play” came up, everyone got really excited. The whole room lit up. It felt like if we went in that direction, we’d come up with something good. Like Mizuno said, the creation of Maru was a very stoic process, and it felt like with this album, we could go in a totally different direction. We had this fun concept in mind as we created the new album.

This has been called a second “debut” after you began your new chapter as a band, and it really is packed with songs that go in new artistic directions. Do you feel like the creation of Asobi will be influencing your future work?

Mizuno: Over the last four or five years, there have been a lot of big events in our lives. We separated from our talent agency, a member left, and Yoshioka had a baby. A lot of our songs were shaped by our story. In 2024, it felt like we really focused on the music itself, and we had a lot of fun both performing live and recording songs. We’ve walked a lot of roads, and I think now we’re really able to focus on “what I should sing as a singer,” “what I should write as a songwriter,” and “what kinds of artists we should work with as a group.” We’ve come full circle, back to where we started, and we can move forward from here. I hope a lot of people listen to our new album, and, personally, I’m really happy to be able to look forward to the future.

Yoshioka: As I mentioned earlier, we’ve taken on a lot of different challenges, like playing at the Budokan as just a duo or performing street shows. We’ve worked with a lot of artists on our album. We’ve kept trying new things, and that’s become normal for us now. I think we’ve created a great album, and I feel like we’ll keep diving into new things in the future. In the past, I’ve been the type that gets nervous about new things (laughs), but I’ve come to see how fun taking on new challenges can be. I’m glad we’ve been able to open this door that will lead us in new directions.

—This interview by Tomoyuki Mori first appeared on Billboard Japan