This Is Your Wake Up Call!: January 2015

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Idol Renaissance's Debut CD!

T-Palette Records have announced the debut EP for the group Idol Renaissance, "YOU". It will contain four newly recorded vocal songs and four instrumentals. All the songs are cover songs. Still no word on whether the venue-only singles will get a wide release or even if Idol Renaissance will record something original for a change. Hopefully the CD will be sold on all the usual internet stores specializing in Japanese music.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Unblocked Idol Videos!

Disappointed that certain idol groups have their videos region blocked on YouTube? Me too. The record companies who do this may have legitimate reasons for blocking them, but this only leads some fans to illegally upload the videos to their personal YouTube and Dailymotion channels. When this is done the fans will find their uploads blocked or their channels deleted by the music companies who own the videos. So it's not a good idea to do this, no matter what your intentions are. The good news is some progress has been made for two idol groups I follow.

I already reported that on December 13, 2014 Idol Renaissance was signed to T-Palette Records. Previously they were with Sony. Well yesterday I just noticed that all of their YouTube videos were now unblocked! I'm not sure when this happened, but I'm guessing that as a result of Idol Renaissance changing companies that T-Palette decided to make their videos available for people all around the world to enjoy. So fans can now rejoice! If you haven't already become a fan of Idol Renaissance, here are some videos that are personal favorites of mine to hopefully get you interested.

"17 Sai"

"Taiyo to Shinzo"

"Hatsukoi"

A group that I was the first person to write about in English way back in late 2010 is Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku, or EbiChu for short. (Note: I capitalize the C to differentiate it from the anime series Ebichu.) I was excited, like many others, that EbiChu were being signed to a major label, Sony's DefSTAR Records, in late February 2012, only to be disappointed when Sony decided to region block all of their videos! In December 2014 a friend of mine on Facebook pointed out that there was now an EbichuVEVO YouTube channel! Yes, everyone around the world should hopefully be able to see their previously blocked videos. Having said this, Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku filmed a video for the song "Otona wa Wakatte Kurenai" back in 2012 which still has not appeared on this YouTube channel. Hopefully it will soon. Here are some personal picks from the VEVO channel for you to watch.

"Houkago Getabako Rock'n'Roll MX"

"Te wo Tsunagou"

"Butterfly Effect"

I'm not sure if any other idol groups (on Sony or other record labels) have recently had their videos unblocked, but you might want to check YouTube and see for yourself.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Prizmmy☆'s "I Just Want To Be With You"

Three days ago the preview versions of the new Prizmmy☆ single, "I Just Wanna Be With You ~Kaso to Shinjtsu no Hazama de~", were uploaded to YouTube. I've watched these videos multiple times as this is one of the best Prizmmy☆ songs yet! Prizmmy☆'s usual songwriters, NOBE and michitomo, had nothing to do with this song, and neither did Prizmmy☆'s normal choreographer, SAKI. Instead, a new composer and choreographer were brought in to give the new single some freshness! This time the song was written by Tetsuya Komuro and the choreography is by Jessica JJ Rabone, a woman born in Japan to British and Japanese parents. The CD will feature both the original mix and a "Club Mix". The DVD will not only include the standard content, regular, Dance Master and TV size versions of the music video, but also a making of segment too. The back dancers are four members of Prism☆Mates, Runa, Yuka, Natsu and Sana, as well as Dairiki Chie, the Grand Prix Winner of Dream Girls Magazine's PriPara idol audition contest.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Aither Members Update

Aither broke up on December 29, 2014, and while this may be the end of the group I loved, the members are still around...at least on Twitter. Four of the Aither girls now have Twitter accounts, with only Megumi having apparently dropped out of the public eye in order to be a normal high school girl.

Aither's original leader Konno Yuuka continues to tweet messages and share photos of herself on Twitter. While she seems to be selective in who she follows on Twitter, Yuuka is following former Aither member Sakura, and, surprisingly, also her old group Party Rockets!

Tsujimura Airi created a Twitter account on December 30, 2014 and has now begun a solo career. She is still signed with Deja Vu.

Misaki created a Twitter account on December 29, 2014 and is also still with Deja Vu. Misaki aspires to a model.

Sakura is continuing to tweet and share photos on her account, and is the only one following all the former members of Aither on Twitter.

Special thanks to my friend GPBchan for some info.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

JS Idol Spotlight: école☆primaire

If you thought St. Bonapro School being reorganized as Si☆Stella was surprising, the reorganization of Q♥T might be even more so. Q♥T was a very indie group that formed in March 2014 with three members, and released singles that were extremely limited. It was said in the group's blog that only 97 copies of each single were available; although I highly suspect that 100 copies were pressed and the three members each got a copy and the rest were sold to fans. Yano Myuu was later added to Q♥T's lineup, but she left barely two weeks later and announced that she was joining usa☆usa Girls Club. Then in November Q♥T broke up. With such a small group and fanbase, it would seem unlikely that a group such as Q♥T would be worth bringing back in some form. I mean, I like these girls very much, but realistically, they were never meant to be a big, popular group. But don't tell this to the management of usa☆usa Girls Club.

On January 1, 2015 it was officially announced on the usa☆usa Girls Club blog that Myuu would be transferred to a new group and the four ex-members of Q♥T would be forming a new group named école☆primaire, or éco☆pri for short. Yes, that is French for "elementary school", with a star symbol inserted. The group will debut on January 11, 2015 at an usa☆usa Girls Club live event. So long live Q♥T, or maybe I should say école☆primaire.

Author's notes: All four girls are now using their full names. Luna is now referred to as Runa, although I still think of her with her original idol name. Mio is now Miori, but again, she is still Mio to me. I thought that Mio's birthday was January 1 (as I mentioned in my original Q♥T blog article), but apparently it is January 17. I have used both Myu and Myuu in my blog for this cutie's name, but I primarily spell it Myuu. Old habits die hard, and old idol photos never die! For example, take this photo of the four member Q♥T.