| C-ute | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | °C-ute, Cute |
| Origin | Japan |
| Genres | Pop |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Zetima (JP) Pony Canyon (KR)[1] |
| Associated acts | Hello! Project Kids, Aa!, ZYX, Berryz Kobo, Buono! |
| Website | C-ute on YouTube |
| Members | |
| Maimi Yajima Saki Nakajima Airi Suzuki Chisato Okai Mai Hagiwara |
|
| Past members | |
| Megumi Murakami (2005-2006) Kanna Arihara (2006-2009) Erika Umeda (2005-2009) |
|
C-ute (キュート Kyūto, the word Cute stylized as ℃-ute) is an all-female Japanese pop group within Hello! Project, currently consisting of five teenage girls. C-ute made its major debut in 2007 and that year won the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist. All of the group's major-label singles have reached the Top 10 in the Oricon Weekly Chart.*
*Not including two special singles that were intended for limited distribution only.
Contents |
C-ute was formed in the year 2005, consisting of seven girls from Hello! Project Kids who had not been chosen to form the group Berryz Kobo.[2] Prior to the band's creation, some members worked with members of Morning Musume in such side projects as Aa! and ZYX, as well as the Mini Moni movie Okashi na Daibōken. The group was officially announced on June 11, 2005, though its formation had been rumored for several months prior.
In January 2006, at the start of the Hello! Project Winter 2006 tour, Kanna Arihara, a Hello! Pro Egg, was added as part of the Wonderful Hearts team.
On October 31, 2006, Megumi Murakami left the group, officially to concentrate on her studies.[3]
On February 21, 2007, C-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).[4] With their debut single, they became the youngest group (with the average age of 13) to rank in the top 10.[5]
On December 30, 2007, C-ute received the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist.[6][7]
The year ended with the group's debut at the 58th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, an annual music show broadcast on December 31. They performed a number together with Morning Musume and Berryz Kobo.[8][9][10]
At the end of 2008, C-ute was nominated for the main Japan Record Award for the song "Edo no Temari Uta II", which was chosen as one of the best works of the year, but lost to Exile and had to be contented with a Gold Award.[11][12][13]
On February 26, 2009, Hello! Project announced that Kanna Arihara was having difficulty performing on stage due to hallux valgus, or bunion deformity, and would not be able to attend Hello! Project 10th Anniversary fan club event that week. She would also be absent from Hello! Project's activities, including activities in C-ute, while receiving treatment.[14][15][16] Finally, in July 2009, Hello! Project informed that Arihara had decided to leave C-ute and Hello! Project and return to the life of a normal girl.[17]
On August 1, 2009, Hello! Project posted Erika Umeda's official announcement that at the end of the upcoming C-ute's 2009 fall concert tour she would be graduating from C-ute and Hello! Project to pursue her dream of becoming a fashion model.[18] Her graduation was held on October 25 in Osaka, at the last concert of the tour.
The last single to feature Erika Umeda, "EVERYDAY Zekkōchō!!", released on September 19, 2009, topped at number 1 in the Oricon daily singles chart and at number 2 in Oricon Weekly to become the C-ute's highest-ranking single to date.
In November 2009, the official group member colours changed to: Maimi Yajima – red, Saki Nakajima – blue, Suzuki Airi – pink, Chisato Okai – green, and Mai Hagiwara – yellow.
On November 27, 2010, Chisato Okai released a solo single on iTunes,[19][20] and is currently the only member in the group to have done so. The single closely followed the success of Chisato's dance videos on YouTube, the first of which, “Dance de Bakōn!”, had been viewed more than a million times by the end of January, 2011.[21][22]
On February 23 C-ute released their 15th single, "Kiss Me Aishiteru".
C-ute's 16th single, "Momoiro Sparkling", debuted in the 4th place of the Oricon daily singles chart for May 24. It spent two consecutive weeks in the Top 30 of the Oricon Weekly, ranking 6th and 17th.[23]
On June 18, 2011, C-ute's spring concert entitled Chō Wonderful! was broadcast live on the group's YouTube channel. The live stream was a big success. As it was later confirmed by the band's leader Maimi Yajima in her blog and by the management of the Up-Front Agency on Twitter, there were 93,144 YouTube viewers who watched the broadcast.
Singles
|
Albums
|
The Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show held annually in Japan by the Japan Composer's Association.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | “Tokaikko Junjō” | New Artist[24] | Won |
| Best New Artist[6] | Won | ||
| 2008 | “Edo no Temari Uta II” | Gold Award[11] | Won |
| Japan Record Award[11][12] | Nominated |
| Preceded by Ayaka |
Japan Record Award for Best New Artist 2007 |
Succeeded by Jero |
|
|||||||||||||||||