is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their third EP, The Book 3 (2023). It was released as a single on April 12, 2023, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The song served as the opening theme to the first season of the 2023 Japanese anime series Oshi no Ko. A bubblegum pop, trap, and gothic track, one half of the duo Ayase wrote "Idol", based on Aka Akasaka's short story 45510. The lyrics depict the two-faced nature of a star in the Japanese idol industry, delineating multiple perspectives on the anime's central character, the idol Ai Hoshino, namely those of her fans and media, her fellow groupmates, and herself. It additionally features shouts by B-boy group Real Akiba Boyz and gospel-like background vocals.
"Idol" received positive reviews from music critics, with particular praise for its representation of the anime's central character. The song was a massive commercial success in Japan and worldwide. It reached the top on the Oricon Combined Singles Chart and Billboard Japan Hot 100, including the 2023 year-end charts. The song topped the Japan Hot 100 for 22 non-consecutive weeks, making it the longest-running number-one in the chart history, and also broke the record for the fastest song to achieve diamond certification, with 500 million streams recorded by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in 295 days. Globally, "Idol" became the first Japanese-language song to top the Billboard Global Excl. US, and was marked at number seven on the Billboard Global 200, the highest peak by a Japanese act at that time. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the single was the 19th best-selling song in 2023.
Naoya Nakayama directed the animated music video for "Idol", which premiered on April 13, 2023, and exceeded 100 million views with 35 days, the fastest among Japanese acts. The song 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 in both download and streaming at the 38th Japan Gold Disc Award, Gold Prize at the 2024 and 2025 JASRAC Awards, and Top Global Hit from Japan, Best Anime Song, Best Music Video, and Song of the Year for Creators at the 2025 Music Awards Japan. After numerous domestic and overseas performances, the first Japanese televised performance of "Idol" took place at the 74th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, featuring selected members of the participated Japanese and Korean idol groups, Ano, Kanna Hashimoto, Real Akiba Boyz, and Avantgardey, which was considered to be the most attracted show of the event.
Background and release
An anime adaptation of manga series Oshi no Ko was announced in June 2022. 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". 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", portraying a girl who is the strongest and unbeatable fighter, showing some dark side, reminiscing about Street Fighter character Chun-Li. The demo was originally expected to be released as a Vocaloid song. However, Ayase abandoned the plan after the duo received an offer to perform the opening theme song for Oshi no Ko; he interwove the demo and the new composition to make the final version. The song first previewed on the anime's official trailer, uploaded on February 19, and the full-length song premiered in an extended 90-minute first episode, "Mother and Children", theatrically released on March 17 at selected cinemas in Japan.
After the debut performance of the song at their Denkōsekka Arena Tour on April 5 at Nippon Gaishi Hall, Nagoya, 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. A month later, the duo teased a snippet of the English version as a video clip, showing Ikura recording the song in the studio, uploaded via Twitter; the full-length was issued digitally on May 26. The limited CD and 7-inch vinyl of the single were released on June 21 and July 26, respectively; both formats contains the Japanese, English, anime edit, and instrumental versions. Subsequently, "Idol" featured on Yoasobi's third EP The Book 3 (2023), and the English version on their third English-language EP E-Side 3 (2024). Milan Records released the single in 12-inch vinyl, along with the B-side "Tabun", in November 2024.
Composition and production
"Idol" is three minutes and thirty-three seconds long, and combines aspects from pop, hip-hop, rock, and video game music, with a gospel choir-like rendition, rapping, and Japanese idol song-styled interjection, completely departing from Yoasobi's previous style. Fzine described its genre, "a disorienting miasma of bubblegum pop, trap, and gothic orchestrals". Starting with programmed percussion sound, it is driven by the "bright and poppy", "idol-like bubblegum", and "reign of the king" atmosphere-like sounds, and includes "complicated" structure and "dizzying" transitions, such as jazz-funk slap bass, "gritty" sub-bass, orchestral and electronic-sounded chorus, and "dark" trap metal-like melody. As in previous songs, Ayase, a member of Yoasobi, solely wrote and produced the song. According to him, the production of "Idol" was inspired by strong lows by American musician Ghostemane and bass guitar played during the live performance of Indonesia rapper Rich Brian at the 2022 Head in the Clouds Festival. "Idol" features uncredited background cheering shouts by Akihabara-based B-boy group and YouTuber Real Akiba Boyz, and gospel-styled background vocals sung in English for praise idol.
The Japan Timess Patrick St. Michel described the song as "a mix of varied influences that draws from Akihabara livehouses and Atlanta hip-hop," that is "connected by a piano dash that has come to define Ayase's production." JX Soo of NME said the song "conjur[ing] up the technicolor pop" like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Writing for Shūkan Bunshun, 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. 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" trap beat-styled rapping.
Lyrics and interpretations
Told only until the end of Oshi no Kos first episode, the lyrics of "Idol" express the two-faced nature of people in the entertainment industry, specifically Japanese idols, including idol's perfection and ultimate, and their fan's culture, psychology, and idolatry. The song shows the three perspectives on Ai Hoshino. The first part expresses the eyes of outsiders—fans and media—about her perfection. In the intro, she silences the media with her "invincible smile" and makes herself seem mysterious to fans, earning praise as a "perfect liar" and a "genius idol". The first verse shows Ai answering fans and her questions about not knowing how to love someone and no longer distinguishing between truths and lies. In the first chorus, the song speaks up about Ai's perfection and how she captivates everyone with her smile and saying "I love you" even though it is all a lie.
The second part sarcastically tells the story of the girl group B-Komachi's other members' jealousy of the "absolute" center, Ai, as they were relegated to her supporting roles as backup dancers. At the same time, the members cannot tolerate Ai's whining or her true feelings, and they want her always to be perfect and stronger than anyone else as an idol (also known as cult image). In the third and final part, the song depicts Ai's point of view on her reasons for lying, greed, and imperfection. She hides the secret that she is the mother of twin children, Ruby and Aquamarine. Metaphorized as Mary, mother of Jesus, she is convinced of her love's strength and believes the "singing and dancing" will hide the truth. Though outsiders view her as a perfect idol, Ai describes herself as a "greedy idol" and expresses her honesty and the magnitude of her desire for love. In conclusion, she hopes someday her lies become true and does not lie about loving her children.
45510
The source of "Idol" is 45510, a short story written by Oshi no Kos writer Aka Akasaka. The title refers to the initials of the manga's fictional idol girl group B-Komachi founding members: Takamine, Nino, Ai, and Watanabe, when typing on a telephone keypad. Each number corresponds when feeding kana inputs: as "4", as "55", as "1", and as "0". The story was first published via Weekly Young Jump website on April 13, shortly after the anime's first episode televised premiere, before being included as a poster booklet on the single physical releases.
The story is told from the perspective of an unidentified former founding member of B-Komachi, who discovers the livestream of their former groupmate and center, Ai Hoshino, 16 years after her death. The video shows Ai talking to her fans, prompting the former member to reminisce about her jealousy of Ai. After the video ended and she could not find more videos, the former member decided to log in to B-Komachi's blog, run by four founding members, using the password "45510". She found Ai's unpublished posts, written about her negative feelings and her desire to return to the past. The former member decided to delete the posts because she did not want to show Ai's weak side to everyone. Although she disliked Ai, the protagonist also respected Ai as a "perfect and ultimate idol".
Critical reception
Upon its release, "Idol" received critical acclaim. 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." 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.' " Real Sounds Mio Komachi dubbed the song "standing out" among Yoasobi discography, feeling "the essence of a Vocaloid song", and the "perfect" portrayal of Ai with an "almost inorganic" voice, while Tsuki no Hito described the song as "having this chaotic sense of balance incorporated K-pop homage [...], and exploded with a clear chorus that is typical of J-pop."
In a Rolling Stone Japan interview, Spotify Japan's Noriko Ashizawa said 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." Rockin'On Japans Miho Takahashi called the song "a perfect work that could not be better." Mikikis S.H.I. dubbed "Idol" "a song representing 2023", stated about "emphasiz[ing] the impression of the performer's presence rather than the musicality." Patrick St. Michel of The Japan Times wrote that the song is "disorienting [...] but it's certainly catchy." Music critics Tássia Assis called the song "their magnum opus so far". Billboard Japans chart director Seiji Isozaki and music journalist Tomonori Shiba lauded "Idol" as a representative song of the Reiwa era.