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!  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  Kobushi Factory caught us by surprise when they were first announced, and they had a very solid debut as well. With that under their belt, let’s take a look at their 2nd and 3rd releases, and see if they’ve kept the steam rolling. Their second release kicked off with ‘Sakura Night Fever’ which is a very nostalgic themed song. It reminds me of the type of music that Hello! Project started off with, and that’s a really good thing. It’s a very cute and fun song that is totally grounded in the type of theming that made Hello! Project so endearing over a decade ago. Their second song, ‘Chotto Guchoku ni! Chototsumoushin,’ keeps with the jazzy theme of the recent Hello! Project releases, with a lot of really fun vocal range. In fact, I really love how this song helps to show off how talented these girls can be when given the opportunity. The song offers a little bit of high-end vocal talent mixed with the kind of silly fun we had with ‘Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san no Uta’ (from their debut single). It’s just plain fun! ‘Osu! Kobushi Tamashii’ is their final song, and brings a far more modern musical style to the table to help round out the package of this release. Keeping with the theme of this release, the song is simply fun. It may not excel in any real way but it has a very enjoyable sound that helps assure that it’s worthy of being next to the other two fantastic songs in this release. It’s no wonder that they managed to hit number 1 on the Oricon charts with this release!  Their third release starts off with ‘Samba! Kobushi Janeiro’, which is exactly what it sounds like: a samba-style song. While it may seem like a major departure from what they have done thus far, it’s actually very representative of the style they’ve built for themselves. That style being all about fun. The samba touch helps to give it a bit of an exotic flare to help give it an alluring quality that further improves the really snazzy beat. ‘Bacchikoi Seishun!’ is an odd song. It actually makes me feel like it’s what Sakura Night Fever would be if it were a modern rock song. Depending on what you’re looking for, that could be great or terrible. Personally, I actually really liked that. I could be the only one that feels that way, but the song is a great entry into their growing library nonetheless. ‘Ora wa Ninkimono’ is our expected silly song this release. It’s also my favorite song on the release because of how over-the-top fun it is. When I listen to the song it simply lifts my spirits and really puts me in a good mood. It helps that the song is super catchy. It isn’t a particularly complex song but not all songs need to be complex to be good! As you can see, they’re still doing a great job and I look forward to whatever they plan in the future. Their 2nd single released in Japan on February 17th while their third one released in Japan on July 27th (yes, it just came out!). Be sure to get your copies from cdjapan.co.jp or your preferred retailer! - Teepu  °C-ute, continuing their stream of awesome single releases, came out with another set of songs that addresses a good variety of genres while keeping true to the talents of the girls in the group. ‘Naze Hito wa Arasoun Darou?’ is a very pleasant song that immediately imbues high levels of happiness within the listener. It’s just a fun and carefree song that’s easy on the ears and the soul. The lyrics present a very touching message too, which really spoke to me personally. The last time I was touched by a song’s meaning this much was back when AKB48 released ‘Koisuru Fortune Cookie.’ It’s a very positive message about how we shouldn’t fight each other because it doesn’t accomplish anything. I love it. ‘Summer Wind’ is a calm and soothing song that will give you the sense of a person trying to take flight and spread their wings in a world that wants to fight against them. It’s really quite pleasing to listen to and feels almost inspirational. Ending the set of songs with ‘Jinsei wa STEP!’ feels oddly appropriate. After the slightly more calm tones of the first two songs, this one expresses itself with a much groovier tune that flows along so smoothly and beautifully that you won’t even realize it’s already over. In fact, ‘Jinsei wa STEP!’ caught me completely off guard with the very groovy and jazzy style it went for. °C-ute has done so in the past but not to this extent, and it is one of the most refreshing songs I’ve heard from them in a while. Overall, this was one of the most solid releases °C-ute has had in recent times, with something to please every person with the high level of skill and talent that they’ve developed over the years. Here’s hoping that they keep up the phenomenal work! Naze Hito wa Arasoun Darou? / Summer Wind / Jinsei wa STEP! released on April 20th, and can be purchased from cdjapan.co.jp or your favorite retailer. - Teepu  The nine-member Johnny’s boy-band, Hey! Say! JUMP!, sure does have their summer schedule cut out for the! After releasing their last singles (‘Sayonara SENSATION’ and ‘Maji SUNSHINE’) only a few months ago, they’ve decided to release a new album with both old and new songs. This album shares its name with the four-month tour they’re kicking off the day of the release: ‘DEAR.’
REGULAR EDITION - 2800 Yen:
LIMITED EDITION #1 - 3300 Yen:
LIMITED EDITION #2 - 3000 Yen:
All three editions are being sold both separately on CDJapan, some with added bonuses, along with a special deal for a bundle of all three editions. Careful! They’re selling out fast! -Dia  Who is Momoiro Clover Z? Momoiro Clover Z is a girls unit featuring Kanako Momota, Shiori Tamai, Ayaka Sasaki, Momoka Ariyasu and Reni Takagi. They began their career in 2008, and their single “Ikuze! Kaitou Shoujo” (Released in 2010) reached No. 1 on the Oricon daily chart. Their activities have brought them into collaborations with many different fields, such as anime and even professional wrestling. Their collaborations within anime are especially strong and they were in charge of the main themes for “Pokemon: Best Wishes”, “Bodacious Space Pirates”, “Joshiraku” and “Dragon Crisis”. In 2014, they were chosen as one of the opening acts for Lady Gaga's tour of Japan. Also in 2014, they recorded the opening and the ending themes for “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal”, as well as the main theme for the film “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'” in 2015. Momoiro Clover Z will return to America for a three-city "Trans-America Ultra Live Tour" November 15th-19th. The tour stops in Hawaii, New York, and Los Angeles. The pop idol unit made their last appearance on U.S. shores at Anime Expo 2015, joined on stage by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS. A limited number of VIP tickets will be available for the each city, and will include an exclusive pre-show special talk with the artist, titled "JUSTICE WITH MOMOIRO CLOVER Z".
-Kelsey
 It's Featured Idol Friday time and this month we bring to you one of the recent favorites at A-To-J, The World Standard! The World Standard (Also known as Wa-suta or わーすた) is an idol group that is part of the iDOL Street collective that also includes groups like Cheeky Parade and GEM. The group was announced on March 29, 2015 with the stated goal of spreading the love of "kawaii" culture to the world using social media and social networking. This means that they are very active on their social media and have are very interesting in breaking into the world market. How are they doing this you ask? Well, for starters each of the members are currently learning a different foreign language (English, French, etc.) to widen their ability to speak to their fans. They also have made one other very important move; they've subtitled their MVs in English with really good translation free of the "google translate"-ness that plagues many other artists who attempt to go this route. Whether this spreads to other iDOL Street groups we will have to wait and see, but I think it's fair to say that subtitling MVs and certain promotional videos is becoming something of the standard in the idol world now. Also an ability for members to speak freely to in their fan’s native languages is always a plus.  The World Standard (2015)
The group is made up of Sakamoto Hazuki (Pastel Yellow), Hirokawa Nanase (Pastel Green), Matsuda Miri (Pastel Purple), Kodama Ririka (Pastel Blue), and Mishina Ruka (Pastel Pink). Ririka and Hazuki were previously members of the unit "Hanarichu", and Ririka was also part of "SAPPORO Snow Loveits". Miri and Hazaki shared time in "OSAKA Daizy7", and Ruka was in "NAGOYA Chubu". Going along with the iDOL Street regional units, Nanase was previously in "FUKUOKA Hakata Minion" and she is also the leader of the group. Nanase and Ruka make up much of the main vocals in the group. This is shown by the fact that in many of the early performance of the group the other members didn't have mics of their own and served mainly as back dancers. This of course has since changed but the bulk of the solos still go to Nanase and Ruka. They had their debut performance on April 29th at the iDOL Street Carnival 2015 ~GOLDEN PARADE!!!!!~ concert and began their Showroom web show the next month titled "Wa-suta no Kawaii Room (わーすたのKawaii☆Room)". Music releases were a little slower in coming, but they released their first single "Inu Neko. Seishu Massakari" via Music Card in October of 2015. The video shows off their cool style, cute sound, and cat ears! Check it out below. The World Standard - Inu Neko Seishu Massakari MV Regarding music, it should be pointed out that they are produced by Manaka Suzuki who also writes most of their music. Manaka Suzuki is a very prolific songwriter/producer who is probably best known for her work with Tomomi Itano, HKT48, and NMB48. Besides 48G she also writes for other iDOL Steet groups, Cheeky Parade, SUPER GIRLS, and GEM. Due to their name and their concept of worldwide recognition, their style is described as having a "world music feel" this means that many different music genres are often mixed together. Pop, country, electronic, disco, and other sounds come together to make up The World Standard's unique sound. This isn't quite present in their singles, but can be seen more in their album tracks. Activities-wise, The World Standard held their first one-man live on February 28, 2016 titled "The World Standard at Shibuya Club Quattro". On their one year anniversary they had their second solo live title "Wa-suta Land 1".  "The World Standard" Album Promotion I mentioned album tracks earlier, well The World Standard released their self-titled album on May 4, 2016 and this release is noteworthy in that it was released in 110 countries! Truly a milestone for any Japanese group, even more so for a relatively new idol group. The album also displays the varied sound that I mentioned earlier and will be reviewed in its entirety in due course. Marking this major album release is the MV for "Ultra Mirakurukuru Final Ultimate Choco Beam". This is the definitive Wa-suta song. There is just so much ridiculousness in it that I don't even know where to begin. It has video game motifs and references, lots of funny visual RPG references, nonsensical lyrics that are still catchy, and cute outfits designed by KOKOkim. The title itself is a mouthful too, but that adds to its charm. Did I also mention that their outfits prominently feature their Twitter user names? Because they do! Musically it's all over the place, but I'll let you judge for yourself as the video can be found below. The World Standard - Ultra Mirakurukuru Final Ultimate Choco Beam MV If all this weren't enough, they recently had their first overseas live in Shanghai this past June at the @Jam in Shanghai 2016 event. In other live activities it was also announced that they would be embarking on their first live house tour this fall. They also recently announced their first single (as of yet untitled) to be released on September 28th.  From Our Interview! Lastly, did we mention that A-To-J Connections recently were lucky enough to interview them? Well we were and that interview will be live very soon at the time of this writing! It will be available in both text (English, Japanese, and Spanish) as well as a video subtitled in English. Be sure to keep an eye out for it! Also be sure to check out The World Standard and get in on what is going to be one of the biggest idol groups of this generation!
Catch you all next month for Featured Idol Friday! -Manuel The World Standard is:
For More On The World Standard: Website: http://wa-suta.world/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tws_staff Sakamoto Hazuki Twitter: https://twitter.com/tws_hazuki Hirokawa Nanase Twitter: https://twitter.com/tws_nanase Matsuda Miri Twitter: https://twitter.com/tws_miri Kodama Ririka Twitter: https://twitter.com/tws_ririka Mishina Ruka Twitter: https://twitter.com/tws_ruka Blog: http://lineblog.me/theworldstandard/  I can hardly believe the news myself, but this is happening; rebel idol unit BiS have announced their official return! Fronted once again by founder Pour Lui, the original Brand-new idol Society is auditioning new members as we speak, and have confirmed their debut album "Brand-new idol Society 2" will be out on Tsubasa Records on November 16th! That's a particularly significant date for yours truly, as it happens to be my birthday.
BiS disbanded in 2014, with the final lineup of Pour Lui, Hirano Nozomi, Tentenko, First Summer Uika, Kamiya Saki, and Megumi Koshouji. As all of them are currently involved in music projects to varying degrees of success (my favorite being Uika and Nozomi's BILLIE IDLE) it makes sense that Pour Lui is the only member available for a reunion. Of course, it's possible Lui just wanted a fresh start, too! BiS marked their original dissolution with the single aptly-titled "Final Dance" (below). On one fateful day ten years ago, a talent scout approached Ai Shinozaki and her friend while they were out shopping. When asked if she had any interest in the entertainment industry, Ai said no and walked away from the scout. Her story could have ended there. However, it didn’t. Because thankfully her friend saw the opportunity she had been given and gave the scout her name and home phone number. 3 days later she was flown to Cebu Island by herself to film her first photobook and image DVD.  Ai's First DVD Release On June 26th, 2016, Ai Shinozaki held a dinner show in Ginza to celebrate her 10 years in the business. It was titled “Ai Shinozaki 10th Anniversary Party ~Do you promise to love me forever~”. Now, you may think that sounds an awfully lot like something you would hear at a wedding. And, you would be right. Before Ai made her entrance, we were informed that an actual Priest had been called for the event and we were all going to swear our love to Ai. As Ai entered, the crowd gasped. She wore a real wedding dress and we were all allowed to take pictures of her as she walked down the aisle.
Upon arriving to the stage, cameras closed and the commitment ceremony began. It was interesting to hear traditional wedding vows read out to the audience. When asked if we would swear our love to her, the answer was a resounding “Yes!” That was our role after all. It was whether or not Ai would swear her love back that was the worry. Anyone who has met Ai knows that she is quite the sharp-tongued woman and a “no” wasn’t that unimaginable. But, we needn’t worry, the answer from her was also a cheerful “Yes.” And so, we swore to love Ai forever. After the Priest left, we were allowed once again to take photos for a short period of time. I was able to get some good shots of her at this time. Unfortunately, I don’t yet possess a super expensive camera like many of her fans do, so I apologize that these were the clearest shots I could get. Once cameras were put away for good, the event continued. There was a lot of talk about how Ai got her start, her transfer to a different agency (which led to her participation in the idol group AeLL) and some of the first events the group held with fans. One of those events was a Fuji mountain climb with fans. The climb was planned to reach the 8th Level and do goods sales there, however no one made it that far. After making it around half-way there, the group turned around and went back down to the starting point at Level 5, where an exhausted Ai sold goods to exhausted fans. Ai thanked fans from her early days for putting up with such ridiculous staff-planned events. Of course, no anniversary event would be complete without messages from people close to her. First came a message from a magazine editor she has worked with for many years, then a cameraman, and finally her high school teacher. Her high school teacher seemed more interested in having her give his regards to other celebrities than talking about Ai herself. In rehearsal, Ai had heard that there would be four video messages. However, that was a lie. The comedian who acted as emcee that day said they had a message from her mother. At this, Ai asked if it was really from her mother. The emcee explained that staff had pulled a prank on her before where they said her mother wrote a letter but the letter at that time was an obvious fake. No, this one was real. The letter itself wasn’t too spectacular in its content towards Ai, but it still moved Ai and her fans. The most striking thing was that Ai’s mother referred to the fans in her letter and thanked all of her daughter’s fans for supporting her for so long. Of course, it made Ai cry. After composing herself, Ai went on to sing two songs with piano accompaniment. She sang her second single that was only released digitally, “Hikari” and then one of the coupling songs to her debut single “Again”, a song called “Rainy Blue”. Now it was time for Ai to get changed for the second half of the event. Before doing so, she went around to each table and took a commemorative photo that should be arriving on fan’s doorsteps soon. Around 20 minutes passed before Ai returned. And when she returned, she was no longer wearing a wedding dress. In fact, the dress she now wore was longer pure white. It was passionate red. The second half of the event started with an upbeat performance of her debut single, “Again”. This was followed by a talk on stage where she revealed that the dress she now wore was what she will be wearing in her major debut single from Sony.  It was first revealed that she would be making a summer debut with Sony back at her birthday party event in February. But at that time, there were no details given. Now, we were told that her major debut would be on August 24th with a single titled “Kuchi no warui onna.” I suppose there are many ways you could translate this. For now, I’ll go with “A sharp-tongued woman” as all of the other ways I thought of had too negative of a feel. Of course, the title drew a laugh from the audience as we all know exactly how well this title fits Ai Shinozaki. On stage, it was joked that the title may as well have been “A woman who loves to eat” as Ai is constantly posting pictures of the food she eats on her social media accounts. Alas, that title was deemed not catchy enough. Fans at the event got to see the first performance of this debut single and it is certainly catchy. It is a Latin-flavored upbeat pop song with a catchy chorus that all of the fans can sing and dance along to. The lyrics certainly are sharp-tongued and are certain to amuse both old and new fans alike when the song is reveled to the public. For now, I will leave it to you to imagine the sort of lyrics that could go along with an outfit as passionate as the one above. To finish off the event, Ai sang one of the most popular songs from her mini-album released last year, titled “Memorize.” And then we were given postcards on the way out with hand-written messages thanking us for coming and supporting her. It was a very enjoyable night and I am certainly looking forward to seeing where this major debut takes her. -Rin Rigoni    On March 25th, 2015, Ayu_star released Mon Histoire, her first mini album. Composed by SYUN, the songs have their own distinctive style. The release kicks off with ‘Tenderness so Melodies!!’ which has an extremely catchy tune along with a soothing vocal style. It’s the kind of song that makes me feel like I’m going on a journey, and would be fit to be the introduction to an anime. ‘I’m proud’ goes with a completely different approach. It begins with a very slow and relaxing vocal focus and then transitions into a cool beat that is supported by a strong piano presence. Despite the transition, it still manages to keep the relaxing tone coupled with the slight pace increase. Moving into ‘Yume no Kuni no Jumon Wa Farara!!’ we get a more upbeat and fun song that really lifts the spirits!  ‘Hana’ evokes a sense of calm and longing in the way that the music is composed, and is only heightened by Ayu_star’s singing. Finally, the release closes out with ‘Zutto Ishi ni’, a song that follows in similar theming to ‘Hana’, but with a different instrumental focus that helps make it stand out as a pretty conclusion to her mini album. If you’re looking for something sweet and pleasant to listen to, you should definitely check this out. You can get it via cdjapan. Ayu_star is a Japanese artist based in Nagoya who debuted with Mon Histoire. Since then, she’s released two singles with more to come. She generally performs a couple times a month and has even performed in Los Angeles for AnisonUSA earlier this year. - Teepu cdjapan: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/FSM-11 Official Site: http://ayu.nagoya/# Profile: http://hokkemirin.com/prof_ja_eng.html Blog: http://ameblo.jp/ayu-star0822/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ayustar0822/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ayu_star0822 |
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