8th & Beyond

From Clumsy Media

8th & Beyond (Japanese: 8&ビヨンド; Hachi-no-beyondo) 'is a Japanese girl group formed by Clumsy Media in 2012. The eight member group consists of Isabella Ino, Jun Sessue, Renata Mori, Miu Shirato, Rin Takanashi, Rie Kotobiki, Sumire Kimura and Chihiro Yamada.

Contents

Members

  • Isabella Ino (real name Hana Ino) is the first official member to join the group, having became a trainee back in 2009. Among the general public and fans she is known for her modelling experience and tall height, standing at 175cm. Isabella is often viewed and promoted as the face and image of the the group. She has been labelled as the center member of 8th & Beyond. (2009-current)
  • Jun Sessue (real name Maya Akihiro) is the second group of members to join the group, having being scouted by agency Avex Group in 2010. She came first place in the Avex Group Japan Open Audition that year and beat out thousands of other application for the position. Originally she was scheduled to become a member of the idol group AKB48 until she refused due to unrevealed reasons. She is often regarded as the best and center dancer within the eight members. Reportedly she had chosen her current unisex stage name as she wanted to pursue a stronger and independent image. (2010-current)
  • Sumire Kimura is the leader as well as the lead vocal of the group. Michiko was discovered by producer Mini Bus in 2012 whilst at a karaoke bar with her friends. She is among one of the latest members to join the group prior to debut. Since her debut she has been dubbed as 'the second Dll Ini' for her vocal abilities and style. (2012-current)
  • Chihiro Yamada is considered by fellow members and the public as the one most active in acting. She auditioned at the Clumsy Global Auditions 12'-13', Fukuoka stop and joined the company in November 2012. Yamada was trained for a total of five months in the areas of acting, singing and dancing. (2012-current)
  • Rie Kotobiki is a member known to be responsible for most of the group's musical releases, often acting as a songewriter and lyricist due to her previous experience in music. She became a trainee under the recommendation by the singer JayMi in January 2013. By the time she made her debut she had only been trained for two months; becoming the member with the shortest amount of training time. Before becoming a trainee, Kotobiki was a first year university student in musical composition. (2013-current)

History

2009-2012: Formation and training

After the failure of Clumsy Media's previous two girl groups, Sucette♦ and ∞78, the company planned to debut a new girl group. Both previous models received great commerical success and the first was once even dubbed as 'Japan's representative idol group' at one part but company management issues and member conflicts within the group eventually ended the fate of both groups. Seeing this the company wanted to build another strong coming group with the number one aim of ensuring the member would stay together, which would ultimately turn into 8th & Beyond, featuring a start-up roster of fifteen members.

For nearly a year, Japanese websites speculated about which of the female Clumsy Media trainees would be placed into the group since many of them are privatly trained and are not revealed to the public. The candidate members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing, while some were also selected to be trained in acting and modelling. Many of the candidate members had already made names for themselves in the Japanese entertainment industry through their participation in magazine advertisements, television commercials, and small television drama or film appearances. The group witnessed several revisions, as members were either added or cut, until final line-up of the debuting eight was decided. Prior to their announcement the company referred to them under the project name of Beyond.

The first member of the group to join Clumsy Media's training system was Isabella Ino in 2009 as one of the company's first generation of scouted trainees. Members Jun Sessue and Renata Mori were first cast into Avex Group's training system in 2010 through the 2010 Avex Group Japan Open Audition. Miu Shirato was the next 8th & Beyond member that joined the group, Ino, who was her friend had recommended her to the company for her vocal abilities. Rin Takanashi, the group's youngest member, was scouted on her way to school by a talent scout, then auditioned in 2011, singing Duffy's Mercy. The group's leader, Sumire Kimura, was cast in 2012 after being being discovered at a karaoke bar by the company producer Mini Bus. That same year, member Chihiro Yamada auditioned at Clumsy Media's Clumsy Global Auditions 12'-13' at the Fukuoka stop, and joined the company in November 2012. The eigth and final member of the group to be added was Rie Kotobiki, who under the recommendation by the singer JayMi she decided to joined Clumsy Media in January 2013.

2013: Debut and consecutive single releases

In March 2013, 8th & Beyond had their unofficial first stage performance on Fuji Television's Music Fair where the group performed their first single, "Moving&BEYOND" (移動＆ビヨンド). A documentary recording the story of the group's debut consisting of nine episodes in total titled The New Eight Threats of Beyond was filmed by Fuji Television during this time, revolving around their pre-debut experiences, stories, unofficial debut and various interviews. Each member had one specific episode dedicated to them with the final episode being a group evaluation.

The group's first single was physically released soon after, including an instrumental of the group's debut song and two other tracks: "The First Journey" and "Countdown" The group's debut officially began on April 10, 2013, first performing on Music Station, later on NHK's J-Melo and other various live performances. "Moving&BEYOND" was a great commercial success, having achieved the No.1 spot on all major Japanese music charts within twenty hours of release. Promotions went on for a full month across various media forms. The single's success brought along a great fan base and recognised the group as one of the great up and coming idol groups in the Japanese music scene.

The group released their first studio full album, "Beyond" on May 28, 2013 with the lead single "Beyond Generation" (世代を超えて), produced by award winning trio producer team Moving Ghost. The album also included the group's first single "Moving&BEYOND" and eight other tracks by the group. At the time the name of the lead single generated much debate, as many wondered whether it was a hint in rival of the Korean girl group Girls' Generation, but it has since been denied. It was met with great commercial and critical success. It easily topped the Oricon daily ranking and later the weekly albums chart and, with just one week of sales at more than 100,000 copies became the best selling album by a debuting new idol group that year. The last idol group in Japan to accomplish this feat with AKB48 in 2011. Approximately one month later the album entered the Oricon annual albums chart at the position of fifteenth having sold at that point 158,438 copies which also made them the fastest and best selling début idol group of the year. During this time the group also made their first collective cameo appearance in Fuji TV's popular drama Yamada and the Seven Witches.

In August the same year, the group released began promoting their third single, "Boy: His Presents" (少年～彼のプレゼント～), which came with two additional versions: acapella and instrumental, performed by label-mate singer songwriter Ophelia who also produced the track. It received explosive commercial and critical success and officially established the group as a popular act on nation's level. This song achieved the first position on all music rankings within simply ten hours of release. On the first day the single sold 330,800 times, however by the end of the first week it sold 1,200,000 copies - excluding physical single sales. It stayed firmly in the first position on Oricon's weekly and monthly music chart in August. By the end of the year it was awarded as a Triple Platinum by the RIAJ physical shipping certification. The popularity of the track successfully brought the group's career to a high peak and firmly secured the group as the best-selling début artist of the year and among the top five for idol groups. By the end of the year 1,132,853 copies, finishing the group at fourth place behind AKB48’s three singles for the highest selling singles of the year at the Oricon 2013 Yearly Ranking Top 50 : Singles. Many artists and celebrities covered the song and as a result many different versions were released. In particular, label-mates Dll Ini, JayMi and Bellella all released their respective version of the song. It was the second most placed song by an idol group on radio and television networks in 2013.

On November 10 the group released their fourth single, "Orange Marmalade" (オレンジマーマレード). It solidified the group's popularity and further promoted their existence, it received moderate success, selling close to 800,000 by the end of the first week but failed to garner the same wide reaching mainstream popularity as the precedent. On December 5 the group's first festive themed single, as well as their overall sixth release "Kiss of Candy Cane" (キャンディーケインのキス) was released. It sold more than 620,000 copies on its first day and by the end of its first week of release, it sold more than 800,000 copies and reached top spot on the Oricorn weekly singles chart - a modest feat for a newly debut idol group due to the flood of Christmas releases in the industry.

2014-2015: Rising mainstream popularity and individual promotions

With the musical success the group reached in their first year, the group began the second year with a string of individual promotions. Members such as Ino and Yamada, branched out into acting while others such as Kimura and Shirato, began production for behind the scenes music and became a fixed attendant for variety shows respectively. The members during this time received tremendous personal success, which further promoted the group's nation in other sectors of the entertainment industry.

On April 11 details were published online in regards to the group's first release of the year, their sixth single "Good Bye Alex" (さようならアレックス). For the first time ever, the group released the single in multiple versions: Regular, Limited and Deluxe editions. On May 21 the group successfully held their first fan meeting with three hundred fans, The Beyond Extension: Thanks 01. The group continued with another fan meeting, titled 8th & Beyond: The First Step in China in June: Guangzhou Gymnasium on July 15, Shanghai Grand Stage June 20 and finally Beijing Arts Academy Hall on June 22.

2016-2017: First national tour and second studio album return

Discography

Singles

2013
2014
2015
2018


Albums

Tours

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