By Winfield Ly It was announced on October 18, 2019 that Country Girls will cease activities on December 26th, 2019 following their concert at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA. They will release a compilation album titled “Country Girls Daizenshuu” on December 4th and it will contain all of their songs and MVs released to date since their revival in 2014.
While 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of idol group Morning Musume。’s formation, it also marks the end of 10th generation member Kudo Haruka’s six-year tenure in the group. She joined in September 2011 at only 11 years old and formally graduated from the group on December 11, 2017 at the legendary Nippon Budoukan.
In a surprising turn of events, Yuki Uozumi (guitarist for LoVendoЯ), has announced that she’ll be graduating from the group. Having had the pleasure of seeing them perform a few times, I can attest to her amazing talent, talent which she says she would like to use elsewhere. According to her own statement, it seems like she wants to explore more ways of increasing her own skills. She also mentioned that she would like to potentially study abroad in order to perform with more musicians. Studying abroad seems to be the running fad with graduated members of UP-FRONT groups lately, which speaks volumes about them understanding the importance of globalizing. Yuki will keep performing with LoVendoЯ until their Shinjuku Reny performance on September 16th. Let’s give her all our love and support for her future, and make these final months in LoVendoЯ good ones! - Teepu Recently, A-To-J Staff Writer/Correspondent, Alita, attended Suzuki Kanon's final concert with Morning Musume。’16 and here is her report!
「Alita has been living and working in Japan for over 8 years. She has followed Hello Project since discovering Morning Musume。in 2001. Kanon Suzuki was the third "oshi", or favorite member, that she has seen off and she has no plans of leaving the fandom any time soon.」 Being a fan of idol groups, graduations are to be expected. Yet, whenever they happen, we are never prepared. The last couple years have been really challenging for Hello! Project fans with graduations, a group going on indefinite hiatus and the mastermind behind the groups having officially declared retirement.
Most recently, Morning Musume '15's 9th Generation member, Riho Sayashi, graduated on December 31st. Now, with people starting to settle down with the group as it is now, we received another piece of news thrown at us in the form of Kanon Suzuki's (also a 9th Generation member) graduation. She's been in the group for 5 years, and joined during a time that Morning Musume was suffering from lower popularity. Her youthful attitude, positive outlook and caring demeanor has completely driven her up as one of the most popular members overseas. In her official announcement, she indicated that she wants to pursue a career that involves helping others. There were no specifics made beyond that, but she did point out that doing the SATOYAMA events helped put this attitude into perspective and to make her more determined. Kanon announced that she'll be graduating at the end of this spring tour. As always, make sure all you fans out there keep supporting her, and give her your best for those of us who will see her in Texas later this month. Also, don't forget that this is the nature of Morning Musume '16. Let's keep supporting them not only in honor of Kanon, but also in the upcoming excitement of inevitable 13th generation members. Hold strong! - Teepu Official Announcement: http://helloproject.com/news/4322/ Translation of Announcement from Up-Front Link: https://www.facebook.com/notes/up-front-link/en-concerning-kanon-suzuki-from-morning-musume16/1016601485065435 As we all know, Tamura Meimi of Hello! Project’s ANGERME will be graduating from the group, as well as Hello! Project as a whole in spring of 2016. She is doing this in order to start anew and refocus her training on becoming a musical actress. While Tamura is arguably the best vocalist in ANGERME, it can also be said that she is among the top vocalists in all of H!P as well. On top of her being a very talented singer, she is also one of the most capable actresses in the company as well. Put these two factors together and you get the phenomenon that is Tamura Meimi. Taking a brief look at Tamura’s family background, and her own personal experiences, one would not be surprised that she has both an interest in, as well as a skill in singing and performing in musicals. Her mother was a troupe organizer who also acted in Gunma Prefecture in Japan. Her elder sister is also an actress who had graduated from a music academy in early 2015 and joined Toho Ent. Tamura’s first public performance Tamura’s first noted public performance, was when she was just a mere 5 years old and a member of the Dodonpa Kids on March 27th 2004. This performance was during the concert tour of Japanese Enka singer Hikawa Kiyoshi, on the stage of the Okinawa Convention Center. Just 5 years later in 2009, Tamura was cast as Yuiki Yaya in the Shugo Chara musical. This would later prove to be what sparked Tamura’s interest in S/mileage (now ANGERME) and would lead to her audition in the future. Tamura would later become a member of S/mileage in 2011. Since her becoming a member, she has been part of a handful of stage plays and musicals through Hello! Project. One of the most notable musicals being LILIUM, as well as a solo musical put on by S/mileage called SMILE FANTASY. Tamura was given the opportunity to perform a solo number in each of these two musicals and was able to tackle the challenge tremendously! Although it is sad to see her go, there is no doubt in my mind that Tamura will be incredibly successful in her path to becoming a musical vocalist and actress. What kind of musicals would you like to see her perform in? Action? Romance? Comedy? She has the ability for them all so take your pick! Official Announcement: http://www.helloproject.com/news/4010/ Translation of Announcement via Up-Front Link: https://www.facebook.com/notes/up-front-link/en-announcement-concerning-meimi-tamura/991425097583074 Tamura Karen Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/tamurakaren Notable Performances By Tamura Meimi |
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