All About Japanese Pop Music Group E-Girls

What will this article about E-Girls discuss?

Well, it has come to this: after a journey of writing, article #1,200 will be one of the most memorable ones to date. This article takes a look at the career of Japanese electronic pop music group E-Girls. I had always read about this girl group or heard about them on Japanese pop culture websites and I have decided to write about them.

Also, there will not be discussion of all of the member departures and or graduations because turnover in this group has been high and to discuss all of the member departures would be too much. Attempts are made to analyze only certain aspects of the career of this group while also providing enough interesting and unique information.

It was on December 24, 2019 that was announced that this group would disband after 2020. The band's name is sometimes known as Exile Girls and they made their musical debut with the single Celebration! This was back in December 2011. The group is one of the largest girl groups of its kind except for Morning Musume and AKB48. They have 11 active members and these members are:

• SAYAKA (not to be confused with Sayaka Yamamoto)

• Kaede

• Karen Fujii

• YURINO

• Anna Suda

• Rena Washio

• Nozomi Bando

• Harumi Sato

• Anna Ishii

• Nonoka Yamaguchi

• AND Yuzuna Takebe

Note: even though Wikipedia has a long article about the career of E-Girls we will not be using that as a source. Attempts will be made to put a different perspective on the band's career. It was in late 2011 that the group was being formed and at this early stage, the group's membership swelled to a total of 21 members. These members were from three other groups called Dream, Happiness, and FLOWER. Two of those members, SAYAKA and MIMU would both go on a hiatus period. The group's second single called One, Two Three was about to be released and for the single, two new girls Reina Kizu and Anna Suda would join the group. As the group was preparing to release their third single called Follow Me, the group's numbers skyrocketed up to 31. As a result of this massive member increase, there was a new system put in place where these girls would have to undergo a period of training and I'm assuming that this training was pretty extensive.

The members that excelled well enough and fit the image of the single would be able to sing on the song called Follow Me. 16 girls passed this training. The Never Ending Story and Candy Smile are two singles that followed. The formation of E-Girls is rather interesting in the sense that they have had members from other groups such as Happiness and Flower. So in a sense, the way that I understand it is that these girls that are now part of E-Girls have come from other groups. In April 2013, the group released their first studio album called Lesson 1 and this one was an immediate success. It would rank #1 on the Oricon Music Charts in Japan and it would sell 57,337 copies in the first week in May 2013. That number may seem insignificant but to get that kind of a start for a debut album is a promising kind of start.

On January 5, 2014, Aya was appointed as the leader of E-Girls. The opening theme song for the drama Diamond Only would also become the 8^th single for E-Girls. On March 19, 2014, the second studio album for E-Girls called Colorful Pop was released. In July of that year, the group would embark on a national tour called Colorful Land. In October 2014, member Chiharu Muto announced that she would be leaving both E-Girls and Flower because she wanted to study abroad. On November 26, 2014, the 12^th major single from E-Girls called Mr. Snowman was released.

To start the next year, E-Girls released their 3^rd studio album called E.G. Time. LDH, the management company for E-Girls made a special announcement at this time. It was described as a new system for the E-Girls lineup. This was known as the E-Pyramid. The audition system was the same as for the single Follow Me. The girls would have to undergo what are called reviews and they must do this every year. It is kind of like a checkup but in this case it can be described as an entertainment evaluation in which the girls that need more training get classified as Rabbits (those that are at the high school level) or Bunnies (those that are at junior high school level or less).

Because of recent events dictating that E-Girls will no longer be together as a group after December 31, 2020 plans are already being made as their members have started to do their own musical work. Rena Washio has started her solo project called Rei. There is a song on there called Call Me Sick which is pop song that is designed to motivate those that want to move forward with their lives. Now, we must address one of the hardest decisions for any group and that is the decision to disband. They released their new single called Betsusekai on January 29^th 2020 and it was announced that the group would go on a tour called “E-girls PERFECT LIVE 2011?2020” This will be their last tour as a group. Group leader Harumi Sato expalined the reasons for the group disbanding saying that there was much talk about the future of E-Girls and they came to an agreement that each of the girls would do best while working on their own activities. Yuzuna Takebe will be forming a new unit with members that are able to pass the Afrojack audition. Five of the girls which are SAYAKA, Kaede, Karen Fujii, YURINO, and Anna Suda will continue to work as the unit Happiness and they will team up with 88rising as part of their plans to expand their work across the world. Good luck to all the members of E-Girls as they will embark on what will more than likely be a future filled with more success!