New Me

In August 2023, literary magazine Bungei partnered with creative writing social media Monogatary.com for Bungei × Monogatary.com Collaboration Award at the novel contest Monocon 2023.^[1] Seven winners from a total of 879 stories were announced on February 28, 2024; one of all is short story Hakusan-dōri Enjō no Ken (Japanese: 白山通り炎上の件; lit. 'The Hakusan Street Incident'), written by Mado Arite.^[2] An action genre, it is about Nozomi, a female freelancer who struggled at workplace due to a pressure from her male colleagues, meets a mysterious guy from dating app, which later find that he is an assassin. The two are chased by and fight against their enemies, leading Nozomi to discover unexpected truths about herself.^[3][4]

On the same day, it was announced that the duo Yoasobi would perform the song based on the winning story.^[5] Furthermore, this song would be used as a tie-up for human resources company Recruit's second part of the project Mada, Koko ni Nai, Deai, Koko ni Nai, Ongaku television advertisement, scheduled for airing in late 2024.^[6] On October 1, Yoasobi's fifth anniversary, the song, titled "New Me", first unveiled on the 15-second commercial for the project "Wakaranai mama, Sore de mo" (わからないまま、それでも; lit. 'Without knowing, nevertheless'),^[7] and was made available to digital music and streaming platforms on November 11, 2024.^[8] The re-arranged English version of the song was released on July 11, 2025.^[9]

According to a Recruit interview with Yoasobi, Ayase chose the title "New Me" because he "wanted to use English phrase that conveys something like 'a new birth', 'a new encounter', or 'a new change in yourself' at first glance," and it was "catchy and cute-sounding."^[10] The song is a mid-tempo electropop song with "sticky" bass line, depicting the theme of "a new rebirth of oneself",^[11] about the change and journey in the protagonist's state of mind as they moves forward with each new day despite their own conflicts.^[12][13]

An accompanying music video for "New Me", directed by Havtza, premiered on November 30, 2024, at 22:00 JST, preceded by a ten-second teaser video two days before.^[14] Based on Hakusan-dōri Enjō no Ken, the animated music video expresses Nozomi, the protagonist from the story, who is troubled by interpersonal relationships at work, getting caught up in a thrilling action scene due to an unexpected event which lead Nozomi to discover the truths about herself.^[15] The English version's music video, directed by Hana Watanabe, was uploaded on July 11, 2025. It stars Tsugumi and depicts her everyday life both in a room and outside.^[16]

Yoasobi included "New Me" on the setlist for Chō-genjitsu Dome Live as the twelfth song, which they debuted the performance at Kyocera Dome for the Osaka show on October 27, 2024, before the song's release. The duo performed the song with the reproduction situated at the center platform of Ayase's temporary room at his sister's house, where he wrote Yoasobi's songs in their early career.^[17] The duo performed the song, alongside "Idol", at the 2024 Melon Music Awards on November 30 at Inspired Arena, Incheon, South Korea, where they won J-pop Favorite Artist,^[18] as well as music program The Show three days later.^[19]

• Digital download and streaming

1. "New Me" – 3:26

• Digital download and streaming – English version

1. "New Me" (English version) – 3:22

• Ayase – songwriter, producer, sampler
• Ikura – vocals
• Konnie Aoki – English version lyrics
• AssH – guitar
• Mado Arute – based story writer