°C-ute

All you want to know about °C-ute

℃-ute
Origin Japan
Genre(s) Japanese pop
Years active 2005–present
Label(s) Zetima
Associated acts Hello! Project Kids, Aa!, ZYX, Berryz Koubou, 4KIDS, Buono!
Website Hello! Project.com
Members
Maimi Yajima
Erika Umeda
Saki Nakajima
Airi Suzuki
Chisato Okai
Mai Hagiwara
Kanna Arihara
Former members
Megumi Murakami

℃-ute is an all-female Japanese pop group within Hello! Project. The character "℃" (degree Celsius) is substituted for "C" in notation for the purpose of expressing ardor—the hyphen does not have any meaning in particular. The proper pronunciation for this group in Japanese is kyūto (キュート?) with pitch accents on both "ū" and "o".

Contents

History

℃-ute was formed in the year 2005, consisting of seven girls from Hello! Project Kids who were not chosen to form the group Berryz Kobo. The group was officially announced on June 11, 2005, though its formation had been rumored for several months prior. Later, in January 2006, Kanna Arihara, a Hello Pro Egg, was added at the start of the Hello! Project Winter 2006 tour, as part of the Wonderful Hearts team. On October 31, 2006, Megumi Murakami left the group suddenly without any graduation ceremony.

Prior to the band's formation, some members worked with members of Morning Musume in such side projects as Aa! and ZYX, as well as the MiniMoni movie Okashina Daibouken.

Incidentally, the Aa!, Berryz Kobo, and ℃-ute chain are in alphabetical order (ABC), and ZYX itself is in reverse alphabetical order (XYZ).

On February 21, 2007, ℃-ute's first official single "Sakura Chirari" was released. On the first day it ranked third on the Oricon charts, a feat not even accomplished by Morning Musume (who had ranked 6th on their debut single).[1] With their debut single, they became the youngest group (with the average age of 13) to rank in the top 10.[2] Their latest single has debuted at #3 of the Oricon Weekly Charts.

On December 30, 2007, ℃-ute was chosen as the Best New Artist Award with Japan Record Award.

Members

Present members

Former members

  • Megumi Murakami (村上 愛?) – unexpectedly retired on October 31, 2006 to continue schooling and lead a private life

Discography

The following CDs and DVD are released on the Zetima label.

Singles

# Title Single Information
Indies[3]
1 "Massara Blue Jeans" (まっさらブルージーンズ?)
2 "Soku Dakishimete" (即 抱きしめて?)
3 "Ōkina Ai de Motenashite" (大きな愛でもてなして?)
4 "Wakkyanai (Z)"[4] (わっきゃない(Z)?)
Major
1 "Sakura Chirari" (桜チラリ?)
2 "Meguru Koi no Kisetsu" (めぐる恋の季節?)
3 "Tokaikko Junjō" (都会っ子 純情?)
4 "LALALA Shiawase no Uta" (LALALA 幸せの歌?)
5 "Namida no Iro" (涙の色?)
6 "Edo no Temari Uta II" (江戸の手毬唄Ⅱ[5]?)
7 "FOREVER LOVE" ( ?)

Albums

# Title Release date
1 Cutie Queen Vol.1 (キューティークイーン VOL.1?) 2006-10-25
2 2 Mini ~Ikiru to Iu Chikara~[6] (②mini~生きるという力~?) 2007-04-17
3 3rd ~Love Escalation~ (3rd~LOVEエスカレーション~?) 2008-03-12
4 4 Akogare MY STAR (④ 憧れ MY STAR?) 2009-01-28

Filmography (DVD)

Music videos

# Title Release date Miscellaneous info
Music V Special 1 ~Cutie Visual~ 2006-09-06 Includes PVs, a live performance, an interview, and "making of" videos
1 Sakura Chirari 2007-02-28
2 Meguru Koi no Kisetsu 2007-07-18
3 Tokaikko Junjō 2007-10-31

Concerts

# Title Release date Miscellaneous info
1 Cutie Circuit 2006 Final in Yomiuriland East Live ~September 10 is ℃-ute Day~ 2006-12-06 Performance on September 10, 2006 in Yomiuriland East
2 Debut Solo Concert 2007 Spring ~Hajimattayo! Cutie Show~ 2007-04-18 First concert series on February 25, 2007 at Nihon Seinenkan
3 Concert Tour 2007 Spring ~Golden First Date~ 2007-07-18 Performance in April 2007 at Tokyo Kōsei-Nenkin Kaikan
4 Cutie Circuit 2007 ~MAGICAL CUTIE TOUR - September 10 is ℃-ute Day~ 2007-11-21 Performance on September 10, 2007
5 Live Tour 2007 Fall ~Houkago no Essence~ 2007-12-19
6 Live Tour 2008 Spring ~3rd LOVE ESCALATION 2008-04-24

Others

Many DVDs were released to the official fan club and are only obtainable by mail order for a limited time.

Photobooks

Group

  • Berryz Kobo & ℃-ute in Hello! Project 2006 Summer (Released September 21, 2006)
  • So cute! – °C-ute first photobook (February 21, 2007)
  • Hajimattayo! Cutie Show – ℃-ute debut solo concert live photobook (April 11, 2007)
  • Moving down through Japan! Travel Diary of ℃-ute in 2007 Summer – photobook of Cutie Circuit 2007 ~MAGICAL CUTIE TOUR~ (October 4, 2007)

Individual

  • Maimi – Maimi Yajima's first solo photobook (April 27, 2007)
  • Airi – Airi Suzuki's first solo photobook (May 21, 2007)
  • CLEAR – Airi Suzuki's second solo photobook (December 5, 2007)
  • Sou Sora – Maimi Yajima's second solo photobook (January 17, 2008)

Radio Programs

  • Cutie Party – FM-FUJI, Saturdays 23:00-23:30 JST (Yajima, Suzuki & Okai, since October 07, 2006) as the opening portion of Hello! Project Night

Trivia

  • In Episode 36 of Gintama, 3 members of ℃-ute -- Okai Chisato, Hagiwara Mai, and Suzuki Airi -- appear at 14:40 when they start to do the same movements that the dojo does ( "Dream Catcher" ).

Milestones

  • Kōhaku Uta Gassen (紅白歌合戦, Kōhaku Uta Gassen?) youngest participant – 11 year old Mai Hagiwara (58th Kōhaku on December 31, 2007)

See also

References and footnotes

  1. ^ "Oricon home page, on January 22, 2007" (in Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
  2. ^ "MTV Chinese article" (in Chinese). Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
  3. ^ These singles were not released on a major record label. They were only sold at concerts, fan club events and at the Hello! Project Official Shop. These singles have no coupling tunes.
  4. ^ (Z) is pronounced as zetto (ゼット?).
  5. ^ This single is a version of "Edo No Temari Uta I", released by Enka singer Hiroshi Itsuki, who is also an Up-Front Works artist.
  6. ^ Actually a mini album, but was considered as their second album.

External links

Preceded by
ayaka
Japan Record Award for Best New Artist
2007
Succeeded by
incumbent

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