 The long-awaited return of Pour Lui's misfit idol unit is finally upon us! A mere two years after the disbandment of BiS at Yokohama Arena, the group has returned (albeit with an all-new lineup) to give this thing another go. The biggest question burning in the minds of longtime fans has been "will this new iteration of BiS live up to the BiS legacy?"
I hate to break it to you, but no. At least, not yet. Save your hate messages until the end, please.
4 Comments
 June 30th 2002. That’s when Momoko Tsugunaga joined Hello! Project as a Hello! Project Kid. Almost 15 years later, she’s announced that she will graduate from Hello! Project and Country Girls on June 30th 2017. She will be able to go out on her 15th year anniversary being in the business.  Momoko has grown into being an integral part of Hello! Project over the years. A couple years after she joined H!P, she was part of the formation of Berryz Kobo. For many years she ended up being a lead vocalist in the group as they moved forward with a lot of amazing music and projects. In 2007 she became a part of Buono!, who had a very special reunion concert this past August. Throughout the years she always gave her all as an idol and never faltered in delivering to her fans or having fun with her character. Unfortunately, though, all good things must come to an end. The main group she was involved in, Berryz Kobo, went on indefinite hiatus in 2015. We thought we would lose Momoko in the world of idols but she surprised us all with an announcement of her being Playing Manager for the reboot of Country Musume。as Country Girls. Her goal was to teach the new girls all she could and get them molded into the best idol group they could be. It was an odd role, especially in the world of H!P, but she pulled it off with flying colors. We knew this wouldn’t last though, since she said from the beginning that she wouldn’t be sticking around for long. She just wanted to help these girls shine for a couple years and then leave and let them spread their wings. That time has finally come, with the announcement of Momoko’s graduation. She’s stated that she is going to leave the entertainment industry altogether. She’s found her calling: as a teacher. She wishes to be an elementary or kindergarten teacher, which is a noble sentiment. With teaching license already in hand, she’s bound to be able to bring all her wonderful experiences in her life into the classroom.  Momoko will be the last remnant of the Hello! Project Kids, since °C-ute will be graduating earlier that same month. It’ll be the end of an era, but let’s not forget what she worked so hard to cultivate, and continue to support these groups (namely, Country Girls) into the future. Let’s wish her all the best in her future endeavors, and cheer extra loud for her in these upcoming few months. - Teepu  KOTO is definitely a favorite of us here at A-To-J Connections and we’ve covered her several times. We’ve interviewed her once before in Japan (HERE for interview. HERE for live report.), during her first overseas live in Taiwan (HERE and HERE), and we recently interviewed her again during our recent trip to Japan! This was a video interview and due to various issues has so far only been released in Japanese (found below) but a subtitled version will be released soon!
The following interview was on the eve of a special live featuring KOTO and Sasaki Kissa’s band, Recoride; the interview taking place literally hours before. It was also a few weeks before both her birthday and oneman lives. It followed the release of her single “Butoh Yugi” and her appearance at Tokyo Idol Festival so these are all topics that we covered. Keep an eye on A-To-J Connections for more about her and please follow the links at the end of the article (and those above) for more information!  Ever since the Nakisou Sunday single release, bi bi bi bi bi has been one of the most hotly anticipated events in BILLIE IDLE's (admittedly short) history. It also serves as the group's first full release without the much-beloved Yasui Yuuhi, and in turn somewhat of a proving ground for her replacement Akira. I'm happy to say that bi bi bi bi bi smashes all expectations to take its rightful place in BILLIE IDLE's discography.
 Only a week after re-recording some classic BiS tracks, the new BiS are back with another song, this time something totally new!
 Though I adore callme’s music, I admittedly was out of touch with their recent releases due to the hectic nature of my trip to Japan. It came as a surprise to me when I walked into the Tower Records in Shibuya and discovered that callme’s third single, ‘Confession’, was on display in the idol section. When I finally came home and got to pop it in, I couldn’t have been happier. Much to my delight, the headlining song of the release, ‘Confession’, has a heavy piano motif. I always get really excited whenever they use piano motifs in their songs like this. It has a very smooth beat that helps to make the listener relax while enticing the senses with just the right amount of exciting sound. To help accentuate this are the soft vocals that really helps to make the music itself standout. Following that is the song ‘Take my time’, which is a deeply calming song that throws a constant barrage of soothing sound at you to help drown out distractions. Every time I hear this song I honestly feel at peace, which is likely the goal they were going for when creating it. It’s not entirely unique, but is very solid. ‘Summer of love’ is the final song on this release. The song title actually best describes the song in a nutshell. It sounds like a fun, sunny, bright and endearing song. It’s especially nice that callme manages to take some simple song concepts and beats and successfully blends them together to form something different yet familiar and fun yet soothing. ‘Summer of love’ is the culmination of this concept. The whole release clearly is set around the theme of love coupled with the carefree nature of summer. Being a summer release, this makes complete sense and fits quite nicely. ‘Confession’ released on June 29th and is available at cdjapan for order in three editions. Type A includes a DVD with the music video for ‘Confession’; Type B includes a special DVD with some production content; Type C is the only version that includes the song ‘Summer of love’ and it’s instrumental. Be sure to get your copy! - Teepu 
New BiS has been a tough subject for me. While I'm glad that one of my favorite idol groups is back, the live performances with the new members have been... not so good. The wait for new studio material has been frustrating at best! This morning, though, that wait has come to an end. BiS released a ton of redone versions of old songs right onto their Soundcloud account!
Reknowned idol group, BiSH, recently released a new PV titled "本当本気 (Hontou Honki)". Which translates to "really serious". This new PV's video is very vibrant with a fast pace.  The newest member of the group "AYUNi D", got the spotlight as well! Congrats to her! This PV was fun, well-paced , and had a touch of goofiness. The girls in the group are running through the streets of what seems like Tokyo with a shopping cart that has lights attached to it while at the same time Momo has a megaphone and is yelling at the top of her lungs! Things get more interesting when we see Chittiii come by on roller skates, skating through the city with the rest of group. The fun doesn't stop there, the intensity keeps up with Aina dancing in the hallway for pretty much the entire music video, adding more vibrant colors and fast pacing since her dancing style for the PV is very over-exaggerated and wild. LASTLY the big thing that had fans dying and blowing up the comment section is the kiss that happens in the PV! If you pay close attentuon there are actually TWO kisses.
The main kiss being Aina and Chittiii. For the second kiss it is Momo kissing AYUNi D on the cheek! With every new PV comes great music! The actual song itself featured very fast electric guitar playing and big, fast, wild drumming with a touch techno music in-between. This song also has its slow transitions into the chorus while at the same time slowing down the PV itself to match the music atmosphere created. The team over at AVEX sure do know how to give people what they want! My overall thoughts? It was both refreshing and fun to watch! The main thing for me, was that i could not stop staring at AYUNi D and Atsuko the whole time! They're just too cute! I loved the fun they were having running around like chickens with no heads in a shopping cart! It shows the girls are great friends and are very comfortable with each other. Be sure to give the video a watch and subscribe to avex for more videos like these not only from BiSH, but other artists as well! -光る BiSH - Hontou Honki |
Search
Contributors◆ Angie
◆ Hinacchi ◆ Manuel ◆ Megan ◆ Molly ◆ Rose ◆ Sylvia ◆ Teepu ◆ Tiffany ◆ Winfield Support Us On Patreon!
Archives
March 2025
|
RSS Feed
© 2014-2025 A-to-J Connections. All Rights Reserved.