Tokyo Girls' Style

Tokyo Girls' Style
東京女子流

Japanese idol group TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE perform at the 2015 HYPER JAPAN summer festival.

TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE at HYPER JAPAN (2015)
Background information
Origin Tokyo, Japan
Genres J-Pop
Years active 2010 (2010)–present
Labels Avex Trax
Website tokyogirlsstyle.jp
Members Miyu Yamabe
Yuri Nakae
Mei Shyoji
Hitomi Arai
Past members Ayano Konishi

Tokyo Girls' Style (東京女子流 Tōkyō Joshi Ryū) (stylized as TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE) is a Japanese idol girl group created by Avex Trax.[1] Consisting of four teenage members, Miyu Yamabe, Hitomi Arai, Yuri Nakae, and Mei Shyoji,[2] this group was the first idol group that Avex had created in seven years.[1]

The group's name symbolises that the group is full of surprises and it is unknown how they would develop in the future, much like Tokyo's image.[3] They also hope that they can one day emulate Tokyo's success in areas such as entering overseas markets and coming up with their own unique style.[3]

History

Avex created the group Tokyo Girls' Style in 2009 to capitalize on the rising demand for Japanese idol girl groups, a trend fueled by the success of the female idol group AKB48.[4] Members of the group later said that they had previously worked with this record label before, and were reportedly encouraged to audition for the new group.[4] On December 1, 2009 the Japanese media made reports about this new group, though Avex kept the identities of the group's members a secret until January 1, 2010.[1] From January 1 to January 5, 2010, Avex gradually released more information on the members of the group,[5] and launched the group's official website.[2]

The group's debut single, "Kirari" (キラリ☆ lit. "Sparkling"), was released on May 5, 2010,[6] reaching a peak position of 30th place on the Oricon charts.[7] Their second single, "Onnaji Kimochi" (おんなじキモチ "Same Feeling"), was subsequently released on May 19, 2010.[8] Their first album, Kodou no Himitsu, which is a compilation of their previous singles,[9] was released in Japan on May 4, 2011.[10] This album peaked at the 25th position on the Oricon charts.[10]

In order to break into other Asian markets, Tokyo Girls' Style re-recorded the song in their second single, "Onnaji Kimochi", in Mandarin Chinese.[9] This version of the song was included in the album entitled 心跳的秘密 (Xīntiào de mìmì), which was released in Taiwan on May 4, 2011, and in Hong Kong one week later.[3] The group admitted that "They were worried that their singing is not good because the Chinese pronunciation is so hard [to grasp]."[3]

Since then, the group has released more albums in these two places,[4] as well as releasing a Chinese-language official site.[11]

In 2012, they made their debut performance in Singapore.[4] They later commented that "they were surprised by how many people showed up to watch them.".[4]

Tokyo Girls' Style's 11th single, ROAD TO BUDOKAN 2012: Bad Flower, was released on October 17, 2012, and it became their first single to debut on the Oricon TOP10 charts, debuting at the 4th position.[12] They later performed their first solo gig at Nippon Budokan on December 22, 2012,[4] becoming the youngest female group to perform at this location.[13] During this concert, the age of the group's members were revealed for the first time; previously, only their birthdays had been revealed.[13]

In 2014, they starred in two films, Count Five To Dream Of You (directed by Yuki Yamato), and Kotodama – Spiritual Curse, a of famous horror movie series in Japan. Of the experience Ayano Konishi shares, "It was horrifying to shoot at the abolished school at the middle of night. It was completely dark there, so it was too scary to be alone. Especially in front of mirror, I was not able to keep my eyes open because of the fear of accidentally seeing someone standing behind me." [14] The two films had a US premiere at the Japan Film Festival in San Francisco in July 2014. They also made their US performance debut at the J-Pop Summit Festival 2014 at Union Square.[15]

It has been announced that Tokyo Girls' Style will no longer be an idol group starting April 2015.[16]

As of December 30th, 2015, Konishi Ayano has announced her retirement from both Tokyo Girls' Style and the music business in general, saying her ongoing health concerns have caused her to lose confidence in her ability to fulfill her duties as a performer.[17]

Members

Name Birthdate[13][18] Age[13] Birthplace
Miyu Yamabe (山邊 未夢) June 24, 1996 20 Chiba
Hitomi Arai (新井ひとみ) (Sub-Leader) April 10, 1998 18 Miyagi
Yuri Nakae (中江 友梨) June 28, 1997 19 Osaka
Mei Shyoji (庄司 芽生) (Leader) July 2, 1997 19 Yamagata

Discography

Albums

# Title Release date Oricon peak
position[19]
1 "Kodou no Himitsu" (鼓動の秘密) May 4, 2011 25
2 "Limited addiction" March 14, 2012 25
3 "Yakusoku" (約束) January 30, 2013 13
4 "Killing Me Softly" June 4, 2014 23
5 "Reflection" December 23, 2015 41

Singles

# Title Release date Oricon peak
position[19]
1 "Kirari☆" (キラリ☆) May 5, 2010 30
2 "Onnaji Kimochi" (おんなじキモチ) May 19, 2010 30
3 "Ganbatte Itsudatte Shinjiteru" (頑張って いつだって 信じてる) July 21, 2010 31
4 "Himawari to Hoshikuzu / Kitto Wasurenai..." (ヒマワリと星屑 / きっと 忘れない、、、) October 6, 2010 19
5 "Love Like Candy Floss" February 9, 2011 20
6 "Kodō no Himitsu / Sayonara, Arigatō" (鼓動の秘密 / サヨナラ、ありがとう。) May 18, 2011 24
7 "Limited Addiction / We Will Win! －Kokoro no baton po・pon no po~n☆－"
(Limited Addiction / We Will Win! －ココロのバトンでポ・ポンのポ～ン☆－) 		August 24, 2011 11
8 "Liar / W.M.A.D." November 23, 2011 18
9 "Rock you! / Onnaji Kimochi -YMCK REMIX-" (Rock you! / おんなじキモチ) March 7, 2012 16
10 "Tsuioku -Single Version- / Taisetsu na Kotoba" (追憶 -Single Version- / 大切な言葉) May 23, 2012 12
11 "Road to Budokan 2012 ~Bad Flower~" October 17, 2012 4
12 "Unmei / Wonderful Smile" (運命 / ワンダフル スマイル) June 5, 2013 6
13 "Get The Star / Last Forever" September 25, 2013 4
14 "Road to Budokan 2013 ~Chiisana Kiseki~" (ROAD TO BUDOKAN 2013 〜小さな奇跡〜) November 22, 2013 16
15 "Partition Love" February 12, 2014 9
16 "Jūjika: Eiga Gakkō no Kaidan Noroi no Kotodama Ver.〜" (十字架 〜映画「学校の怪談 -呪いの言霊-」 Ver.〜) May 21, 2014 11
17 "Say Long Goodbye" (Say long goodbye/ヒマワリと星屑 -English Version-") December 10, 2014 8
18 "Stay with me" March 11, 2015 7
19 "Never ever" June 24, 2015 23
20 "Shinkai" (深海) August 31, 2016 38
21 Mille-feuille November 30, 2016

Digital singles

# Title Release date
1 "Boku no Tegami" (僕の手紙) August 10, 2011
2 "LolitA☆Strawberry in summer" August 1, 2012
3 "Partition Love" September 25, 2013

References

  1. 1 2 3 2010年1月1日、エイベックスから7年ぶりにガールズグループが誕生 (in Japanese). Barks. December 1, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  2. 1 2 謎のガールズグループ東京女子流、ついにベールを脱いだ (in Japanese). Barks. January 6, 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-12-23. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "蘿莉少女大作戰！「東京女子流」襲台力拼AKB48" (in Chinese). KKBOX Taiwan Co., Ltd. 2011-06-14. Archived from the original on 2012-12-24. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 St. Michel, Patrick (2012-12-20). "Tokyo Girls' Style to perform first solo gig at legendary Budokan, but first — homework". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 2012-12-23. Retrieved 2012-12-23.
  5. ↑ 謎のガールズグループ東京女子流の集合画像を先行入手。メンバーは5人. Barks (in Japanese). Barks. December 28, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  6. ↑ "東京女子流、5月に2枚のシングルでCDデビュー決定". Barks (in Japanese). Barks. March 18, 2010. Retrieved 2012-12-23.
  7. ↑ "キラリ☆ profile" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  8. ↑ "おんなじキモチ profile" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  9. 1 2 "東京女子流1stアルバム「鼓動の秘密」初回盤は写真集付き" (in Japanese). Music Natalie. 2011-02-09. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  10. 1 2 "鼓動の秘密 profile" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  11. ↑ "東京女子流 official Chinese page" (in Chinese). avex Taiwan. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  12. ↑ "【オリコン】東京女子流、11枚目のシングルで初のTOP10入り" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2012-12-23.
  13. 1 2 3 4 東京女子流 ： ももクロ抜き、女性グループ最年少で初武道館公演 (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun Digital Co.Ltd. 2012-12-22. Retrieved 2012-12-23.
  14. ↑ To, Jeffrey (July 14, 2014). "An Interview with J-pop Supergroup Tokyo Girls' Style". Nihongogo. Nihongogo. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  15. ↑ "J!-ENT's Dennis A. Amith interviews Tokyo Girls' Style" (PDF). J!-ENT. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  16. ↑ "TOKYO GIRLS` STYLE Say Goodbye to Idol World Hello! JPOP World". Pure Idol Heart. Pure Idol Heart. 2015-01-06. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  17. ↑ "To Everyone That Has Supported Us". Tokyo Girls' Style (in Japanese). Tokyo Girls' Style. 2015-12-30. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  18. ↑ "Tokyo Girls' Style official profile page" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-12-23.
  19. 1 2 "東京女子流のCD・DVDリリース情報、東京女子流のプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
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