 BiSH aren't the kind of idols to take breaks. Sure, they only released their second album this year. Sure, they just lost founding member Hug Me. And sure, they've just been touring nonstop all year (now with new addition AYUNiD). None of that is about to slow BiSH down. They don't take breaks. On October 5th of this year, BiSH will release their third full-length album (and major label debut) "KiLLER BiSH". If that title and the photo above are anything to go by, this one's gonna be hardcore. And that's just the way I like my idols; punk as fuck. Listen to BiSH's latest single "DEADMAN" below, and get ready to be blown away by whatever they have coming next. -Justin
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 For being an idol group, BiS broke the pop music mold more than their fair share of times. Coming in at song number nine in our BiStory countdown is a song which smashed the mold into a million tiny pieces and burned those pieces to a crisp. "Suki Suki Daisuki" has the distinction of being my personal first-ever BiS song, as well as one of my absolute favorites. The collaboration with legendary harsh noise group Hijokaidan to cover Jun Togawa's classic pop hit came as a massive shock to even the most hardcore of BiS fans, especially considering how little the fanbases for noise and pop music actually overlap. Even today, the majority of people who stumble onto the wild music video accompanying this song are blown away by the sheer destructive force of BiS Kaidan.
 Earlier today, Japanese Idol sensation °C-ute announced that they will be disbanding next year in June. Being one of the strongest and also the longest running group with a consistent line-up within Hello! Project, they’ve earned a special place among fans. After 14 years in Hello! Project and 11 years as °C-ute, and with their sister-group Berryz Kobo having gone on hiatus last year, it was time for them to start considering their futures. Upon careful consideration since February of this year, the ladies of °C-ute realized that they only had 3 options to follow: they could go on hiatus in a similar fashion to Berryz Kobo; they could leave Hello! Project and pursue another direction in their lives as a group; they could quit entirely and pursue their own individual goals. According to the announcement, they decided on disbanding that way each of them could continue to pursue their dreams individually. Moving forward, °C-ute has a few big events still coming up. They will continue to perform during the current Hello! Project Summer tour, will have a performance in Nippon Budokan in September, will have their usual °C-ute no Hi, an autumn tour and a new single as well! Their ultimate dream has been to go to Saitama Super Arena, so that’s where they will hold their final performance before disbanding. The members of °C-ute started off in 2002 within Hello! Project Kids, debuted in their own group in 2005 and have been going strong since. They produced many outstanding songs (including songs that were made as a hymn and cheer for the Japan Wrestling Federation), have participated in many activities and have worked hard to be the best that they possibly can. Let’s give them our fullest support as they take this final journey as °C-ute until June 2017 in Saitama Super Arena. From there, they will end one chapter in their lives and start new ones as individual shining stars!  If you want to read the full announcements from UP-FRONT PROMOTION and °C-ute, check it out here. Stay tuned for more information as it comes! - Teepu °C-ute is: - Yajima Maimi (矢島舞美) Leader - Nakajima Saki (中島早貴) - Suzuki Airi (鈴木愛理) - Okai Chisato (岡井千聖) - Hagiwara Mai (萩原舞) UP-FRONT LINK: https://www.facebook.com/upfrontlink/ °C-ute: http://www.helloproject.com/c-ute/ Hello! Project: http://www.helloproject.com/  That's AYUNiD, the latest member to join infamous punk idol unit BiSH. After the announcement that Hug Me would be leaving the group earlier this year, BiSH and their management WACK have been scrambling to audition a replacement ahead of their upcoming major label debut album.
Ultra Mirakurukuru Final Ultimate Interview with Idol Group The World Standard! (わーすた) (Part 2)7/30/2016  Recently A-To-J Connections was granted the opportunity to interview iDOL Street group, The World Standard! The interview was held via Google Hangouts and was quite long so we split it into two parts! The first part can be found here! This second half deals more with fan activities, their personalities, likes and dislikes, and their goals for the future! You can really get to know the girls by checking out both halves of this interview, but you can find lots here in this half! This marks the end of our interview with them, but this won't be the last you'll see of them on A-To-J Connections! Also note that the video for the interview is up on our YouTube channel (and can be found below) and subtitles will be coming soon!
The World Standard (Also known as Wa-suta or わーすた) is an idol group formed in March 2015 under avex's iDOL Street label which also includes Cheeky Parade, SUPER GIRLS, and GEM. The five-member group is produced by Manaka Suzuki and their goal is to bring their unique brand of cute, idol music to the entire world! In order to achieve this goal they have recorded and performed music across many different genres and hope to record in different languages in the future. Their first self-titled album was released earlier this year and they will release their first single this September. They also recently held their first overseas live in at Shanghai's @Jam this past June. This is their first long-form interview for English-speaking audiences. For more on them look here for our Featured Idol Friday article on them! A-To-J: 海外のライブをした上で、他に行ってみたい国はありますか？ A-To-J: Now that you’ve performed outside of Japan, what are some of the other countries you’d like to visit? 廣川 奈々聖： たくさんあるよね！ Hirokawa Nanase: There’s a lot! 小玉 梨々華： たくさんある...やっぱり私たちは担当それぞれ分けて今外国語をそれぞれ勉強してるのでもう本当にたくさんの国に行きたいんですけど、やっぱりみんな担当している国にはかならず行って、そのメンバーが中心となって喋れるようにはしたいなと思います。 Kodama Ririka: There’s a lot… Even though we want to go to many different countries, since we split who is in charge of studying different foreign languages we each want to go to the countries we are in charge of learning the languages for. We also want the member who is learning the language to be the center point and be able to do most of the speaking. 廣川 奈々聖： あと、私個人的にフランスの何だろう...おしゃれな雰囲気...町並みとかすごい好きで...それからなんか雑貨とかもかわいいし、やっぱりなんか日本と海外って全然違うのでどこに行っても楽しいと思うんですけど、フランスは日本の文化も少し浸透してるところかなって思ってて...だから是非わーすたの「かわいい」をどんどん発信していきたいです。 Hirokawa Nanase: Also, I personally really like France’s how do you say it… stylish atmosphere and townscape! Their sundries are cute as well and overseas countries are very different from Japan so I think it’s fun no matter where you go… So I would like to send out Wa-suta’s brand of “kawaii.” A-To-J: ライブしてみたい会場やイベントはありますか？ A-To-J: Is there any particular venue or event that you would like to perform at? メンバー全員： えーなんだろう、難しい... All: Ehh, I’m not sure, that’s hard…. 廣川 奈々聖： でもやっぱりアメリカってすごく大きい会場があるイメージ... Hirokawa Nanase: But I imagine America having really big venues… 小玉 梨々華： 規模が大きい... Kodama Ririka: The scale is big… 廣川 奈々聖： 規模も大きいし...だからまだまだ本当に自分の想像もつかないというか、夢の夢の夢のまた夢なんですけど、本当にアメリカはやっぱり流行の最先端の場所でもあると思うので、そんなところで大きい場所でライブが出来たらすごく幸せだな、って思います。 Hirokawa Nanase: The scale is big so… I really can’t even imagine it yet, it’s a dream within a dream, within a dream, within another dream but I really believe that America is the most updated in trends so I would be very happy if we could do a live at such a big place.  ANGERME has consistently been on fire since they re-launched, and their latest single is no exception to this. They have successfully presented very strong music that is extremely catchy and challenging to turn off. The first song of this release is ‘Tsugitsugi Zokuzoku’ which is arguably one of their most enticing tracks they’ve released thus far. It starts off tantalizing and jumps right in to a really heavy beat and a song that’s going to be stuck in your head for a long time. It does a great job of giving the listener small moments to breathe before jumping back into the immense power in the song. It’s really quite clever how the song flows. As is the current fad of making jazzy songs, ‘Itoshima Distance’ doesn’t fail to disappoint in this regard. Admittedly, it’s a little more different in the way the melody is constructed and the instrumentation isn’t nearly as straightforward as the other Hello! Project jazzy songs that have released recently. This is good, since it give the song its own identity, and makes it that much more interesting. ‘Koi Nara Tokku ni Hajimatteru’ is the final song on this release, and is a fun mix of pure pop with the rock undertone that is one of their defining features. It’s in interesting way the two styles are combined, and the wonderful vocals help to accentuate this dynamic to make everything work seamlessly together. ANGERME has done a fantastic job with their songs, and this release is no exception. In fact, this is their highest selling single thus far, which speaks volumes about how well done it is! Be sure to check it out! Tsugitsugi Zokuzoku / Itoshima Distance / Koi Nara Tokku ni Hajimatteru released on April 27th. You can get your copy from cdjapan.co.jp or your preferred retailer. - Teepu  While I’ve personally been pleased with Country Girls’ progress since they rebooted, there’s no denying that they have had an interesting journey trying to identify their own style. They express themselves exactly as their title suggests: a group of country loving girls who live fun lives. Their latest release helps to express this completely and powerfully while still providing some fun variety, which was lacking from their previous release unfortunately. ‘Boogie Woogie LOVE’ is their kick-off track that’s groovy and exciting and superbly catchy. It has a very heavy jazz style to it that seems to be the running theme of a lot of the Hello! Project music this year. The next song, ‘Koi wa Magnet,’ transitions smoothly into a catchy and fun song that is very reminiscent of more old-style idol music and music in general. It reminds me of a lot of the old 80’s and early 90’s music that I grew up with, which is really endearing and nostalgic. It’s a great way to please older listeners while presenting something (potentially) fresh for younger listeners who aren’t familiar with older music. They close out with ‘Ranrarun ~Anata ni Muchuu~’ which holds onto the very carefree and innocent style that is their overall defining feature and has been since they rebooted. It’s not particularly new or fresh but it’s still super fun to listen to. I was very pleased with the overall improved quality of songs in this release considering their mediocre output before that. If Country Girls keeps up with this then they could truly become one of the most special groups Hello! Project has ever had. Boogie Woogie LOVE / Koi wa Magnet / Ranrarun ~Anata ni Muchuu~ released in Japan on March 9th. You can get your copy from cdjapan.co.jp or your preferred retailer. - Teepu Ultra Mirakurukuru Final Ultimate Interview with Idol Group The World Standard! (わーすた) (Part 1)7/26/2016  Recently A-To-J Connections was granted the opportunity to interview iDOL Street group, The World Standard! Fresh from their first overseas live in Shanghai we discussed everything from their formation to their future activities and their hopes to come to the US and perform in various languages! Ever wanted to know more about this rising group that is trying to establish themselves as the standard for Japanese idol music in the world? Well look no further than this interview! Due to the length of the interview, it has been split into two parts and the second part can be found here.
The World Standard (Also known as Wa-suta or わーすた) is an idol group formed in March 2015 under avex's iDOL Street label which also includes Cheeky Parade, SUPER GIRLS, and GEM. The five-member group is produced by Manaka Suzuki and their goal is to bring their unique brand of cute, idol music to the entire world! In order to achieve this goal they have recorded and performed music across many different genres and hope to record in different languages in the future. Their first self-titled album was released earlier this year and they will release their first single this September. They also recently held their first overseas live in at Shanghai's @Jam this past June. This is their first long-form interview for English-speaking audiences. For more on them look here for our Featured Idol Friday article on them! A-to-J: 本日はインタビューのため、お時間を頂きありがとうございます、最初に自己紹介をお願いします。 A-To-J: Thank you for taking time for this interview, can you introduce yourselves? 廣川 奈々聖：私たち、The World Standard… Hirokawa Nanase: We are, The World Standard… メンバー全員： 「わーすた」です！ All: “Wa-suta”! 小玉 梨々華： よろしくお願いします！ Kodama Ririka: Nice to meet you! 他のメンバー：よろしくお願いします！ The other members: Nice to meet you! 廣川 奈々聖： 一人ずつ自己紹介します。 Hirokawa Nanase: We’re going to introduce ourselves one by one. 三品 瑠香：愛知県出身、高校1年生、15歳の三品瑠香です！よろしくお願いします！ Mishina Ruka: I come from Aichi prefecture, I’m a first-year student in high school, and I’m 15 years old! I’m Ruka Mishina! Nice to meet you! 小玉 梨々華： 高校1年生、15歳、「りりぃ」こと小玉梨々華です！よろしくお願いします！ Kodama Ririka: I’m a first-year student in high school and I’m 15 years old. I’m Ririka Kodama also known as “Ririi”! Nice to meet you! 坂元 葉月： 高校2年生、16歳の「みりてこ」こと松田美里です！よろしくお願いします！ Sakamoto Hazuki: I’m a second-year student in high school and I’m 16 years old! I’m Miri Matsuda also known as “Miriteko”! Nice to meet you! 廣川 奈々聖： 高校2年生、17歳の「なっちゅん」こと廣川奈々聖です！よろしくお願いします！ Hirokawa Nanase: I’m a second-year student in high school and I’m 17 years old! I’m Nanase Hirokawa also known as “Nacchun”! Nice to meet you! 坂元 葉月： 高校3年生、17歳、「はーちん」こと坂元葉月です！よろしくお願いします！ Sakamoto Hazuki: I’m a third-year student in high school and I’m 17 years old! I’m Hazuki Sakamoto also known as “Haachin”! Nice to meet you! |
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