 At A-to-J, our opinions on NECRONOMIDOL have been fairly controversial in the alt-idol fanbase. While they have a unique concept and style, their production quality up until now has been incredibly weak (defended under the guise of being "black metal", though I've never heard any black metal so lacking in punch or grit). With Necroma's latest release, however, they seem to have stepped it up a bit. Is it enough, though?
 Here we go again. The recently revived BiS is back at it with their second comeback album, this time with a full lineup of brand-new songs straight out of the SCRAMBLES kitchen. Were Pour Lui & co able to pull out all the stops and top the mild disappointment that was Brand-new idol Society 2, or is Re:STUPiD just another exercise in trying to light a flame that has long been burned out?
 ・・・・・・・・・ (or Dots from here on out) are a new idol group who fuse soft idol pop with the sweet and soothing sounds of 90s-era shoegaze. Though the group popped up out of nowhere late last year with some performance videos, Shuwa Shuwa is their first actual release. It's comprised of only three songs, so this is gonna be a short one.
 Last weekend, we at A-to-J Connections were lucky enough to conduct a short interview with the music guests at SacAnime Winter: Dancing Dolls and MIREI, before seeing them perform two nights in a row. Originally found through their popular dance covers on both Niconico and YouTube, Dancing Dolls are an ensemble that combine hard style dance with vocals inspired by genres such as R&B and Hip Hop. They made their US debut at Anime Expo 2016, performing their smash “Ring Dong” and a cover of “Jinsei Reset Button” dance track. Singer-songwriter MIREI is a solo artist who has been inspired by American Pop and R&B. She has won first place at the legendary Amateur Night at Apollo twice, and has scored #1 on iTunes R&B/Soul chart with her major debut release “Fallin’ Out/I Wanna No feat. SHUN” from Sony Music.
世界中に花を咲かせる – Flower Notes  Flower Notesは日本コロムビア株式会社のLabel The Gardenプロジェクトからメジャーデビューするグループの第一戦となります。上の写真はその第一戦に相応しいメンバーです。メンバーは左から千葉県出身の木村さあや（２１）、東京都出身の高橋みお（２０）、東京都出身の葉月ことみ（１７、サブリーダー）、神奈川県出身の藤井愛願（１５）、岩手県出身の長澤佳歩（１７）と北海道出身の湊帆洋（１８、リーダー）になります。2016年12月15日にインタビューをさせていただきました。残念ながら藤井さんは体調不良のため欠席いたしました。
Flower Notes is part of NIPPON Columbia’s Label The Garden project. The group consists of six standout members chosen to be the first to make their major debut under the project. Those members are the members pictured above: Saaya Kimura (21) from Chiba, Mio Takahashi (20) from Tokyo, Kotomi Hazuki (17) from Tokyo and the sub-leader, Aine Fujii (15) from Kanagawa, Yoshiho Nagasawa (17) from Iwate, and Honami Minato (18) from Hokkaido and the leader of the group. I got the chance to interview them on December 15, 2016. Unfortunately, Aine Fujii was not feeling well and could not attend the interview.  KOTO es definitivamente la favorita en A-To-J Connections y hemos hablado de ella en varias ocasiones. La entrevistamos antes en Japón (HERE para la entrevista. HERE para el reporte del concierto.), durante su primer evento fuera de Japón, en Taiwan. Taiwan (HERE and HERE) y recientemente, pudimos entrevistarla de nuevo. ¡Durante nuestro viaje a Japón! Fue una video entrevista y, por varias razones, sólo pudo ser realizada en japonés. (Video abajo) ¡Pero pronto estará la versión con subtítulos!
La siguiente entrevista fue realizada literalmente horas antes de una presentación especial de KOTO y la banda de Sasaki Kissa, Recoride. Fue también unas semanas antes de su cumpleaños y su presentación en solitario. Después de esto, fue lanzado su sencillo “Butoh Yugi” y su aparición en el Tokyo Idol Festival, siendo estos los temas de los que hablamos en la entrevista. Mantente al pendiente de A-To-J Connections para más información acerca de KOTO y visita los links al final del artículo (Y lo que están al inicio) para más detalles. After much anticipation, and many failed auditions, we finally got our long-awaited 13th generation Morning Musume ’16 girls. During the Budokan concert that should be closing out now, they finally made the announcement!  Yokoyama Reina First to get announced was Yokoyama Reina, who just joined Hello Pro Kenshuusei (Hello! Project’s trainee branch) a few months ago in September.  Kaga Kaede Our second 13th generation member who was announced is Kaga Kaede, who has been working extra hard as a Hello Pro Kenshuusei since November 2012.
It’s always exciting when Morning Musume ’16 gets new members, and we’re all looking forward to them adding their charms and talents to the group! Let’s cheer them on! - Teepu  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.  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! |
Search
Contributors◆ Angie
◆ Hinacchi ◆ Manuel ◆ Megan ◆ Molly ◆ Rose ◆ Sylvia ◆ Teepu ◆ Tiffany ◆ Winfield Support Us On Patreon!
Archives
October 2024
|
RSS Feed
© 2014-2025 A-to-J Connections. All Rights Reserved.