As a solo singer-songwriter and as YOASOBI’s vocalist ikura, Lilas maintains a presence on the global stage while showing no sign of slowing her creative stride. Now, roughly three years after her last solo release, she has completed her new album Laugh. Created alongside YOASOBI’s whirlwind international schedule, the album distills the experiences of living through the past three years and reflects her sustained reexamination of her own voice.
In this conversation with Billboard JAPAN, the 25-year-old songstress speaks at length about the different “switches” between her solo work and YOASOBI, and the resolve she arrived at regarding her own voice through the making of this album.
It’s been an incredible year for you. You’ve just finished YOASOBI’s biggest tour to date, and you were making this album at the same time. I want to ask about the difference in expression between YOASOBI’s ikura and Lilas. How does that switch exist for you at this point?
It’s not like there’s a clear button I press and the switch flips. With ikura, I’m singing songs created by someone other than myself. In YOASOBI’s case, there’s the world Ayase has built, and it’s like I’m being allowed into it. During recording, I’m constantly thinking about whether I can respond to what’s been created with my voice, so my mindset naturally shifts. It’s less a switch and more something that inevitably changes as I face the song itself. When I’m standing in front of the mic in the booth, I’m always thinking about being able to deliver everything I’ve cultivated so far, including technique, to the fullest whenever it’s asked of me. That’s a feeling I definitely don’t have when I’m singing my own songs.
As Lilas, the stories and experiences that come from within me become the songs, so I’m imagining what’s best for each piece as I create it. Naturally, the expression changes when I sing them too. With YOASOBI, Ayase handles everything from lyrics to arrangement, and because I write songs myself, I have deep respect for creators. I understand how demanding the process is, how deeply you immerse yourself in that world, and where you shouldn’t overstep. I give everything I have to singing the role I’ve been entrusted with. With my solo work, I’m responsible for that foundational part myself, so it’s about being sincere toward it. Since the greatest weight is in the songwriting process, the way I approach things naturally shifts depending on the situation. It’s hard to put into words.
That makes perfect sense. As you said, the foundation is different, and the worlds of YOASOBI and Lilas are clearly distinct. The free motivation you’ve been nurturing as a songwriter alongside YOASOBI feels fully packed into this album.
Thank you. This past year was really a year of nonstop live shows. I managed to make it through to the end somehow, but there were 63 shows total, starting with an Asia tour, then Europe, London, and straight into a 40-date nationwide tour. Live performances are supposed to be something out of the ordinary, but they started feeling like everyday life. It was my first time doing the same set for 40 shows, and I wanted to properly turn the daily encounters with audiences and those moment-by-moment emotions into songs.
“Latata” was written early in the tour, so I was able to put my own words and melodies to what I was experiencing through YOASOBI. I really feel that having both activities allowed me to bring in the best of each. “In Bloom” is also a song about my experiences with YOASOBI. The album as a whole feels like a reflection of the past three years, days spent running nonstop with two faces, Lilas and ikura.
“In Bloom” in particular really shows the physical instincts you’ve built up as ikura. Maybe those muscles weren’t being used, or couldn’t be used, on your previous album. It’s like you’re using YOASOBI ikura’s strength to propel Lilas’s worldview forward. There’s a real sense of freedom there.
Thank you. The song had turned into something with constant key changes before I knew it. I wanted to make something playful, where you can’t predict what comes next. It was the first song I released in 2025, and it ended up pulling me forward throughout the year. It’s one of the tracks on the album that means a lot to me.
Each song on this album carries such deep meaning. Even a simple phrase conveys an incredible amount of emotion. There’s such density, such richness of information. Technically as well, it feels like an album where you confronted the essence of being a vocalist, asking what can be communicated even by just singing “la la la.” That’s why you leave those simple melodic turns as they are. It feels like you were able to trust your core as a singer.
I think I’ve started to be able to trust it. Through the process of making this album, and in my creative work overall, I’ve been thinking again about how I want to use this voice of mine, both speaking and singing, over the course of my life. “Appeal” is a bit too simple a word, but how much can I do with the elements of this voice? How many works can I create, how much expression can I achieve? I want to devote my life to that, whether I’m making solo music or working with YOASOBI.
I’ve kept polishing and facing this voice since I was born, and because I have confidence in that, it feels like the songs have finally caught up to it over these past three years. There’s still so much about my voice that I haven’t fully learned how to handle, but I feel like these three years brought me closer to doing interesting things with it and creating good music.
The final track, “Time Machine,” was newly written, correct?
Yes. There was a defining moment behind it. It was a song I could finally write after sorting through a lot of things. Something that’d been a huge part of my life was gone, and once time passed and I could organize my feelings, I realized I still didn’t want to return to a world where none of it had existed. That’s what the song is about.
Ultimately, what I wanted to convey is that even if I felt that way at times, time can’t actually be turned back, and all I can do is move forward. I’ll thrive on it and keep going.
I hadn’t written anything this detailed before, something that would allow people to feel my own experiences so directly. It was a matter of resolve. As a singer-songwriter, I can’t help but turn my experiences into songs, and deciding whether to hide or reveal them out of embarrassment didn’t feel right. I wrote it all the way through out of a kind of personal sense of responsibility.
Because the events that inspired this song had been there throughout these three years leading up to the album, I wanted to close with it. Not that it neatly wraps up those three years, but by releasing it as a part of Laugh, it felt like I could step forward as a new version of myself. That’s why I placed it at the end.
You’ll also be doing solo shows outside of Japan this time. How do listeners from other countries react to your solo endeavors?
It’ll be my first time preforming in South Korea, and my first headlining solo show outside of Japan. I’ve been surprised by how much people are already listening to my solo music. A lot of K-pop artists have recommended my songs in different media, and that’s led to many listeners in Korea. So we decided to take the first step in Korea and scheduled the concert there.
Do you discover new things when you perform overseas?
I’ve only experienced overseas shows with YOASOBI, but it’s always a strange feeling. Music can really reach people wherever they are, at any moment in their lives. That makes me feel the potential of my own singing voice. How far can this circle expand? With YOASOBI and with my solo work, I think a lot about how far my expression using this voice can reach the world, how much it can accompany someone’s daily life even if they don’t live where I do.
You’ve made a wonderful album. Is there something you’re aiming for as a solo artist?
I still don’t think in terms of going global or anything like that. With YOASOBI, we’re all on the same ship, so when the world starts to feel within reach, if there are still new possibilities that can open up through what I’m able to do, or something big we could take on together, then I’d like to see that by giving everything I have to the role of ikura.
For my solo work, I just want to turn my experiences into music as honestly as possible and hope it can become something like a charm for someone’s daily life. That feels like the extent of what I can do. Beyond that, I’d be happy if lots of people listen to it, not only in Japan but around the world, but making that the goal feels like it would shift my axis again.
In 2025, I’d originally thought I’d give equal time and energy to both ikura and Lilas, but what I imagined as 5:5 turned into something like 9:9. I rediscovered how difficult and challenging it is to wear two hats. My mind and body are still just one, so I’m reconsidering my goals. Results will come on their own as I keep going. Whether they’re good or bad, I can’t predict them now. For now, I just want to express what I genuinely want to do, the music I want to make.
Above all, what hasn’t changed is my desire to deliver my singing voice, my vocals, to as many people as possible. I’ll use ikura and Lilas to do that, expanding what I can do and continuing to challenge myself musically.
—This interview by Daisuke Koyanagi (Interview inc.) first appeared on Billboard Japan
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