SoulGirl
SoulGirls | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Japan |
| Genres | J-Pop |
| Years active | 2003-2018; 2023-Now |
| Labels |
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| Associated acts | |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
History
2003; Debut with “Break It Out”, Comeback
Starfish Entertainment debuted their first Japanese girl group with 3 members. The members were mega superstar Amuro Kumiko, Nakajima Miyuki, and Miryo. On June 22, 2003, they officially debuted with SO CRAZY. It was a huge success and they became one of the biggest girl groups.
September they surprisingly dropped their comeback “Be Natural”.
2004-2005; Love So Sweet, Girl Talk
After 7 months of no comeback, SOULGIRLS came back with the single “Love So Sweet”. The song sold over 400,000 copies since 2004.
October 17, 2004, SOULGIRLS released “4” Their debut album, selling over 700,000 copies.
2005, they made their yearly comeback with the song “GIRL TALK”. The single sold 900,000 copies the first month.
2007-2008; Debut Mini-album
They came back in Summer 2007 with their 6th single album “Lies” with the ballad hit “Lies”, it went on to sell 100,000+ sales.
In 2008, they dropped their 2nd album “4minutes”.
2009-2011; Breakout, Debut Album, Subunit Activities
July 21, 2009, they released their biggest hit ever that got them their first win, “Abracadabra”. The song was a sexy concept and the music video was rated 18+.
After a year of no promotions, SexXyGirls made the comeback of the decade after an unannounced comeback “君のせいで気が狂う” dropped on iTunes with the teaser for the music video. The song won over 14 awards, surpassing Abracadabra as their most successful song.
They returned 5 months later with the song “Japanese Soul”.
In Fall of 2010 they dropped their 3rd Mini Album. Their album was titled “Follow Me”. The biggest hit off of the album was “Huh” and “Lupin”.
Winter 2010 they went on to drop their 3rd album “Girls’ Story”.
In the beginning of 2011 SOULGIRLS started a hiatus. They would be forming subunits. Members GAIN & Kumiko were in a subunit titled “SuperStars”.
”SuperStars” remixed Kumiko’s track “UNUSUAL” in 2011, 5 months after the initial release.
The second subunit was “M&S”. Members were Songhee & Miryo. They officially debuted with the song “Shampoo”.
After 12 months with no promotions they came back to Japan for their 4th Japanese single “Bang!”. They dropped a documentary detailing the training for the comeback. They had to get the outfits picked out, and learn how to play drums all within 12 months.
Fall of 2011 they dropped new singles 「Bo Peep Bo Peep」 & 「Roly Poly」 which were successful.
In early 2011 they dropped their 2nd album “Girls Love”, with hits such as “Southside” & “Dreaming Girl”.
Late 2011 they returned with “Step”, a disco retro single.
2012-2013; Lovey Dovey, GIRLSASIA, Miniskirt, Fantastic Girls
February they came back to Japan and released their single “Lovey Dovey”.
2012 they dropped their third album “Girls Forever”. They held their first Japanese tour “GIRLSASIA” in 2012 and have had 6 Japan tours under the name “GIRLSASIA” from 2012-2018.
In 2012, they surprisingly dropped their most controversial single since 2009 titled “Look At Me”. The music video was age restricted and rated 18+.
In the music video, the girls were in separate offices, and it was raining. The girls wore long jackets, and when the beat dropped, they dropped their jackets and gave the man in the chair a lap dance, and he took them home and got drunk and gave them another lap dance.
It was so controversial the girls had to give a speech saying they were sorry. The song was banned on music shows.
In 2013 they dropped the sexy singles “Pandora” & “Miniskirt”.
and in 2013 2 new albums, “Fantastic Girls” & “Expectations”.
2014-2015; Marionette, Ryusei, Kumiko’s Departure, Controversy/Lawsuit
2014 SOULGIRLS dropped one of their biggest hits “Marionette” & “Something”. They performed at the Asian Music Awards and Japan Music Awards.
If the controversy couldn’t get any worse they performed their 2013 hit song “Kill Bill” at their 1st Japan Dome Tour, the performance was way more controversial than their award show performances.
The Japanese public were upset that during the song, the members started grinding on each other and pouring water down their chests.
The public thought that the controversy would destroy the group, but they became the best selling Japanese girl group of all time, hitting 50 million records.
After the performances, they were met with controversies, people thought the performances were too risky and they should not have performed the songs too sexually.
In 2014 they dropped their comeback “Like A Cat”.
After 4 months of no comeback they dropped a surprised comeback with “B.B.B”. It showed the girls in a dominatrix role. It stayed at No. 1 for 15 weeks.
After promotions were over they dropped their 6th album “Marionette” with hit singles like “O.R.I.O.N” & “Sakura” & “Ryusei”. The album is their best selling album of all time.
Summer 2014 they released their retro style single “君は私を愛していません”, it received an award at the 2014 Japanese Music Awards “Record Of The Year”.
In 2014 they won not one, but 4 important awards at the Japan Music Awards. They won Song Of The Year with song “RYUSEI” & “SAKURA”.
They won Best Female Act, and they also won “Pioneer Of The Year Award”.
They also won Best EDM Track with song “Sugar Free”.
October 2014, it was announced Kumiko left SOULGIRLS for good to work on solo music.
Once news broke out, the media went crazy, they started calling her selfish.
When news broke out that a dispute with the group manager and Ayu got out, the whole point of view was changed as the group manager was trying to get Ayu to sign a slave contract with the group.
Once her manager found out he filed a lawsuit against the group manager, sending SOULGIRLS into hiatus after Miyuki left the group in early 2015.
The temporary leave eventually led to Miyuki leaving the group April 4, 2016.
After their Tokyo Dome concert they were announced they have been put on a temporary hiatus.
2017-2018; DDD, Comeback As 2, Black Dress, Miryo’s Retirement
Summer of 2017, SOULGIRLS would make their first comeback as 3 members since Kumiko left the group in October 2014.
October-December 2017, they restarted touring after 2 years. They held their 5th GIRLSASIA Japan Tour. They held their first show in Osaka.
Summer 2018 they came back with single “Black Dress” and album “Black Dress”. They received 30 wins with that song. They went on to release a single in August 2018 titled “Me”.
Winter 2018, Miryo announced she would be retiring from music, and they announced her departure from the group.
With Miryo leaving, SOULGIRLS was coming to an end so they announced their disbandment after 15 years.
2023; 20th anniversary, Kumiko’s Return
2023; It has been 20 years since their debut single. Member Kumiko rejoined the group after 9 years.
The last group activity was in 2022 during Kumiko’s 30th anniversary concert tour.
They announced their 78th single would be released on August 10th, it will be their first physical single in 10 years.
They also announced their 20th anniversary tour July 17, that started at the Fukuoka Dome on July 28th.
Albums
Fulfilled (2004)
Girls’ Story (2010)
Girls’ Love (2011)
Girls Forever (2012)
Fantastic Girls (2013)
Flashback (2013)
Marionette (2014)
Controversy
2013 their comeback Miniskirt was getting backlash for being “Too Sexy” the music video was rated 18+.
If the controversy couldn’t get any worse they performed their 2013 hit song “Kill Bill” at their 1st Japan Dome Tour, the performance was way more controversial than their award show performances.
The Japanese public were upset that during the song, the members started grinding on each other and pouring water down their chests.
The public thought that the controversy would destroy the group, but they became the best selling Japanese girl group of all time, hitting 90 million records.
After the performances, they were met with controversies, people thought the performances were too risky and they should not have performed the songs too sexually.
October 2014, it was announced Ayumi left SOULGIRLS for good to work on solo music.
Once news broke out, the media went crazy, they started calling her selfish.
When news broke out that a dispute with the group manager and Kumiko got out, the whole point of view was changed as the group manager was trying to get Ayu to sign a slave contract with the group.
Once her manager found out he filed a lawsuit against the group manager, sending SOULGIRLS into hiatus after Songhee left the group in early 2015.
Tours
Japan Tours
GIRLSASIA: 2008 Dome Tour Live
GIRLSASIA (contains 1-5 japan tours)
GIRLSASIA: 20th Anniversary Live
Japan Dome Tours
SOULASIA: 1st Japan Dome Tour 2014
SOULASIA: 2nd Japan Dome Tour 2018
Fanmeetings
TOKYO DOME SUMMER FANMEET 2014
