is a song by Japanese duo

Yoasobi Yoasobi is a Japanese pop duo formed in 2019. It consists of musician and record producer Ayase (music producer), Ayase and singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta, under the moniker Ikura. With the slogan "novel into music", the duo originally released Y ...

from their second EP, ''

The Book 2 ''The Book 2'' is the second Japanese-language EP (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 consists of eight t ...

'' (2021). It was released as a

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 ...

on May 10, 2021, by

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, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

. Written by Ayase and based on Chiharu's short story ''Meguru'', the song is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

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 which 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 ...

for

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

's morning news, ''

Mezamashi TV is a Japanese breakfast television program broadcast every weekday on Fuji TV from 4:55 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. ''Mezamashi'' is a form of the Japanese verb mezamasu (to wake up). Mezamashi TV has several spin-off shows such as (replacing ...

''. Upon its release, the song received acclaim from music critics, who complimented its encouraging lyricism, comfortable, warm, and gentle feeling, as well as friendly and colorful vocals. An accompanying music video premiered on November 22, 2021. 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 Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

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

Oricon Combined Singles Chart The is a record chart released weekly by Oricon, a major provider of information on the Japanese music industry. First published on December 24, 2018, it ranks the top fifty singles in Japan based on an album-equivalent unit system factoring phys ...

and ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100, and was certified gold for downloads and two-time platinum for streaming by

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pro ...

(RIAJ).

Background and release

On January 18, 2021, Yoasobi announced they would be in charge of performing a

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

for morning news ''

'' since April 2021. The new theme would be based on a short story which was chosen from contest ''Yoasobi Contest Vol.3 with Mezamashi TV'' held by ''Mezamashi TV'' and

Sony 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 ...

's creative writing

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, Monogatary.com. The selected 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: a

salaryman The term is a Japanese word for salary, salaried workers. In Japanese popular culture, it is portrayed as a white-collar worker who shows unwavering loyalty and commitment to his employer, prioritizing work over anything else, including family. ...

, an elderly woman, and a high school girl, who saw the same

fortune-telling Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle ...

in the morning. The title of the song "Mō Sukoshi Dake" was announced on March 29, and used as a theme for the morning show for one year since the same day. The full song was first 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 refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

platforms. The cover artwork, designed by animation director and character creator Hmng, shows 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. "Mō Sukoshi Dake" was included on their second extended play ''

'', released on December 1. The English version, titled "Just a Little Step", was appeared on the duo's second English-language EP ''

E-Side 2 ''E-Side 2'' is the second English-language 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 English language w ...

'', released on November 18, 2022.

Lyrics and composition

"Mō Sukoshi Dake" is described as a refreshing light melody and light tempo piano pop song, written by Ayase, a member of the duo, and composed in the key of

E♭ major E-flat major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically D minor). The E-flat 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 described "Mō Sukoshi Dake" as a song which can 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 described "Mō Sukoshi Dake" as "matching 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 Red caviar is a caviar made from the roe of salmonid fishes (various species of salmon and trout), which has an intense reddish hue. It is distinct from black caviar, which is made from the roe of sturgeon.Nichola Fletcher, ''Caviar: A Globa ...

'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".

Commercial performance

In Japan's

weekly chart issue dated May 24, 2021, "Mō Sukoshi Dake" debuted at number one on the Digital Single Chart with 53,131 units, becoming the fifth number-one song on the chart and made Yoasobi becoming the third most number-one song artist on the chart history ("

Yoru ni Kakeru is the debut single by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their debut EP, '' The Book'' (2021). Its music video was first uploaded via YouTube on November 16, 2019, before being officially released on December 15, 2019 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. ...

", " Gunjō", "

Kaibutsu is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second EP, ''The Book 2'' (2021). It was released as a single through Sony Music Entertainment Japan on January 6, 2021, the same date as the duo's debut EP, '' The Book''. As an opening theme for t ...

", "

Yasashii Suisei is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second EP, ''The Book 2'' (2021). It was released as a single on January 20, 2021, by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and released as a double A-side CD single together with "Kaibutsu" on March 24. Th ...

" and "Mō Sukoshi Dake"), along with

Hikaru Utada , also known mononymously as Utada, is a Japanese and American singer, songwriter, and producer. She is considered to be one of the most influential and best-selling musical artists in Japan. She is best known by international audiences for w ...

, behind

Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese singer-songwriter and illustrator. He started 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 million physical copies and ...

(7) and

Bump of Chicken is a Japanese alternative rock group from Sakura, Chiba. 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 their c ...

(6). The song debuted at number four on both the Combined Singles Chart and the Streaming Chart with 6,542,525 streams. "Mō Sukoshi Dake" entered the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 at number four dated May 19, 2021, behind

Hey! Say! JUMP Hey! Say! JUMP (HSJ or JUMP) is an nine-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Smile-Up (formerly known as Johnny & Associates). The group is split into two sub-groups: Hey! Say! BEST and Hey! Say! 7. In Japan they sold more ...

's " Negative Fighter",

HKT48 HKT48 (read "H.K.T. Forty-eight") is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. HKT48 is named after the Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Hakata-ku ward of Fukuoka, where Akimoto originally intended to base the group. The group currently performs at ...

's " Kimi to Dokoka e Ikitai" and

Twice Twice (; Japanese language, Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''Tuwaisu''; commonly stylized in all caps) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon ...

's " Kura Kura", making the duo the best debuted-number song on the chart. The song also topped of the Download Songs chart with 45,931 units and debuted at 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, and peaked at number 103 and 38, respectively the next week. On November 29, 2023, the song received two-time platinum for exceeding 200 million streams from

(RIAJ).

Music video

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

Live performances and usage in media

Yoasobi performed "Mō Sukoshi Dake" for the first time at the free online concert collaborated with

Uniqlo ( ; ) is a Japanese casual wear designer and retailer. The company is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. Clare Waight Keller is the creative director. History Men's Shop OS was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi. It was rebrand ...

'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. The duo gave a television debut performance of "Mō Sukoshi Dake" on December 1 at 2021 ''

FNS Music Festival is an annual music show held among the Fuji Network System and Fuji Television since 1974. The program originated as a song contest to celebrate Fuji TV's 15th anniversary. It is commonly known as FNS, however it has no official short name. ...

''. Besides featuring ''Mezamashi TV'', "Mō Sukoshi Dake" was also chosen as a theme for the drama produced by ''Mezamashi TV'' of the same name as the based story, titled ''Meguru'', broadcast in December 2021.

Credits and personnel

Song * Ayase – producer, songwriter *

– vocals * AssH – guitar * Chiharu – 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, re ...

* Masahiko Fukui – mixing * Hidekazu Sakai – mastering * 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 Monogatary.com {{Yoasobi 2021 singles 2021 songs Animated music videos Music based on short fiction Song recordings produced by Ayase (music producer) Songs in Japanese Songs written by Ayase (music producer) Sony Music Entertainment Japan singles Television theme songs Yoasobi songs