In 2015, A Japanese all Female Group was announced name Toriizaka46, but was later named in to Keyakizaka46, they were the first sister group to be made after Nogizaka46, a rival of Japan's most popular female idol group of the time, AKB48. The group debuted in 2016 and released a single titled "Silent Majority" which became a hit amongst their new fans and japan. The fans already had an idea of what the songs and the groups' concept is and what they want to convey. The group was known for performing songs about being different, that it is okay to be yourself and don't care about what other thinks, avoiding to connect with society and such. With their concept, they were loved and known as one of the unique groups that Akimoto(the one who produced the 48 and 46 groups) formed. The group debuted its first batch of girls (The First Generation which consists of 22 girls) in 2016, with each singles they released, they had a "center" member who is the center of the certain song. In Keyakizaka's case, the groups management made Hirate Yurina the center for their first single. Hirate eventually became very popular in Japan and became one of the most popular idols' in Japan due to her extreme charisma and charm. She eventually became the center of most Title tracks and Side tracks of Keyakizaka46 songs which at the end made the other remaining members positioned at the side or the back of Hirate when releasing songs. Hirate eventually expanded her branches and started her acting career while as a member at the age of 15. She also became the favorite of the management and was constantly the center of each songs they would release as a group which became a problem since at Hirate's part, it became tiring for her due to the amount of work she does inside and outside keyakizaka, and the management made all the members look like they were relying so much on the impact of Hirate's popularity in the group. Hirate became the center constantly and continuosly single after single and each single, with her being center and being pressured, she wanted to convey what the songs put out and reflect it all through her performance and performing each songs. Hirate portrays the song in its way the song wants it to put out there which she was known for. It could be seen that the management relied so much on her to the point when she had an injury, they decided to cancel a 2 day concert at a big arena due to the injury their center had. At the end of 2017, It could be seen that Hirate looks like she has reached her limit performance wise and at times, Hirate wouldn't be present with the group and also be present at different times. The group's performance quality without Hirate at first could be seen as degraded since they relied so much on her appeal, which eventually became a problem within the group since no members get to shine in the spotlight during their time. Hirate was the group's center for 5 years and consecutively at all the 8 (supposedly 9) singles they released. The group eventually still tried their best maintaining their performance quality even without their center which by time can be seen that the group is trying to move forward at time when Hirate is not around. But it all comes back when managament give Hirate the push at the center. With internal management issues, the group had a delay on the 9th single (which was also supposed to be centered by Hirate) and after almost a year of it not being released, Hirate decided to withdrew from the group due to privacy reasons. Fans expected that the group could finally have a chance to grow even further especially since it has become a chance for them to have a new center. But on July 2020, The group's leader announced that they will be Rebranding as a new group(The group in 2019 had its 2nd batch of girls known as the 2nd generation and will be part of the groups' rebranding). Somehow fans thought management refused to make the group grow without Hirate under the Keyakizaka wing. But with the groups' rebranding, they aimed to finally Bloom with all the pain and obstacles they experienced and learned as Keyakizaka, and finally rebrand as a different group. The group rebranded its name to "Sakurazaka46", The "Sakura" which is known as cherry blossoms are trees in japan that Bloom during a specific season, The group connected to their goal and its name for them to finally grow and bloom from the trees of Keyakizaka, to Sakurazaka. On December 2020, the group will be releasing their first single as Sakurazaka46 with a new center but management this time announced that the rebranded group will have different centers per single and their aim is for all members this time to shine.
The story may not be that deep for others, but for me as an avid listener of the group to a beginning fan, it can be seen how much the group endured so much and learned from all their past obstacles, though it may be seen that not all were happy with the rebrand (especially for the members) it felt like a "restart" was necessary due to them reaching their limits. But this time, they will bloom and continue to move forward and bring the things they learned from Keyakizaka, be put into Sakurazaka.
- 前ページ
- 次ページ
