(This is the final part in a three-part series on how one short conversation between two salarymen led to the creation of global pop superstars.)

Something was happening on TikTok. 

Two years after its release, “Tabun” (localized as “Haven’t”) plays spiked in December 2022. Turns out, the song was part of an artificial intelligence manga filter trend where people would pose—either in normal or absurd positions, sometimes with props. 

TikTok’s AI filter would then transform them into a 2-D approximation. That some results were laughably awful was a large part of the trend’s fun.

All the videos also meant Masako Masuda’s phone was blowing up. Staff from offices around the world were messaging her that play numbers were spiking.

Second in command at The Orchard’s Japanese arm, a music distribution company within the Sony Group, Masuda initially reached out to Yoasobi’s producers Yohei Yashiro and Shuya Yamamoto with an offer to provide the unit’s music to platforms such as Spotify. 

As “Tabun” continued to trend, this time she connected with the two at Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. as head of Yoasobi’s team at The Orchard. 

Yashiro immediately contacted Yoasobi’s vocalist ikura once they heard that plays were soaring.

When she posted her own video with the filter, it instantly went viral. Fans loved the meta of the actual artist taking part while her own song played in the background; even better that at the time she was in Indonesia for the Head in the Clouds Festival and had performed “Tabun.” 

The recurring festival is produced by 88rising, a collective of artists from Asia and diaspora who are also affiliated with The Orchard. 

Behind the scenes, Yashiro realized that even celebrities from other parts of the world had jumped aboard the trend when he found British singer Rita Ora’s TikTok.

“Love it!!!” he commented while logged into Yoasobi’s official account. 

“I figured that celebrities and their fans would be touched if they learned that the artist singing the original song in their TikTok videos posts a comment of appreciation through an official account,” Yashiro said. 

“Tabun” jumped to the No. 1 spot on TikTok U.S. Top Tracks immediately after in December 2022. 

Music critic Tomonori Shiba commented that this marketing strategy of swiftly responding to the first sign of breakthrough is crucial in the digital era, citing it as a factor behind Yoasobi’s global success. 

“A track created by a Japanese artist can become a hit around the same time at home and overseas via YouTube and other online music platforms,” he said. “Of course, a song must be good in the first place."

"But a spike in plays can happen suddenly," Shiba continued. "If you can grow it bigger by acting quickly, it makes a significant difference in today’s markets.”   

While this can be immensely difficult for anyone to pull off, it is not exactly revolutionary knowledge for anyone familiar with internet culture. The difference in Yoasobi’s case is those behind them have the freedom to do this in a corporate setting.

This is part of what Yashiro was obsessed with while the pair was still in their infancy. As a fan of J-pop idols, he had experienced social media’s invaluable role firsthand in not only connecting artists with their fans, but fans with each other.

Whenever he found posts saying a Yoasobi song played during school lunch or other occasions, he made a point of liking them with the official account. 

“I believe that fans will be happy knowing that an artist they admire noticed their comments,” he said, understanding these small gestures can go a long way on a human and business level. “It is vital to catch these positive moments when they happen and immediately respond.”

Yoasobi’s runaway success reached a new peak in June 2023 when the song “Idol” made history as the first Japanese track to claim the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s global chart, excluding the United States.

This year, Yoasobi played their first solo U.S. concerts in Los Angeles and San Francisco in April. August saw them on the East Coast performing in New York and Boston.

However, despite the nearly five-year-old unit’s international success, Yashiro said they did not set out to create music that would sell overseas as their ultimate goal; he did, however, note streaming platforms as mainstays do allow Japanese artists to build followings beyond their home country.

“What we have been striving all these years is to get as many people on the planet as possible to listen to Yoasobi’s music,” he said. “We are going to continue exploring what we find compelling in Japan, and it will be nice if audiences abroad also like it. We are going to stick to that process."