This week's J-Artist is full of cuteness and bouncing fluffiness. Directly from Hello! Project, it's S/mileage time!
S/mileage, Hello! Project's most recent group
Consisting of four members, S/mileage started as a group of Eggs (trainees) in 2009. Their first indie single "Amanojaku" was released in June and received good and bad reviews, many of them related to the girls' ages.
Still, this first year of their existence as a group was surprisingly good, with many fans cheering for them from YouTube. The second single "Asu wa Date nano ni, Ima Sugu Koe ga Kikitai" brought attention to the group for their charisma and overloading cuteness.
"Asu wa Date nano ni, Ima Sugu Koe ga Kikitai"s Promotional Video
The next two indies-singles got higher and higher on charts. Seeing the already stable fanbase, Tsunku decided to give the girls their desired major group status. But to be certain of his investment, he created a game: 10,000 photos of fans were required in order to become major. A site was opened so people could send their pictures from anywhere in the world (I sent mine lol *-*).
On April 3, 2010 it was announced that the results had been positive. The S/mileage girls then graduated from Hello! Pro Eggs and entered the mainstream music market. Their major debut single, "Yume Miru Fifteen", reached #5 at sales charts, a very good position for beginners.
"Yume Miru Fifteen"s jacket
The girls then started to regularly produce new singles. "○○Ganbaranakutemo Eenende!!", my favorite song, was released in July, followed by "Onaji Jikyū de Hataraku Tomodachi no Bijin Mama" and the first album, "Warugaki 1".
"○○Ganbaranakutemo Eenende!!" - I LOVE THIS SONG <333
For 2011, S/mileage has already released one single, "Short Cut". The group continues to rise with a promising career, following the steps of mighty Morning Musume. They are so cute and the songs are so happy, it makes me wanna hug them! Keep an eye on this group and help them climb the charts to #1!
Go S/mileage~ :333