Magnolia Factory

was a Japanese girl idol group, formed by Up Front Group under the umbrella of Hello! Project in January 2015. The group was initially composed of eight girls who were members of Hello Pro Kenshusei. Their sister group was Camellia Factory. They disbanded on March 30, 2020.

History

2015-2016: Formation and debut

On January 2, 2015, during the Hello! Project 2015 Winter concert series, it was announced that a new unit consisting of Rio Fujii, Ayaka Hirose, Minami Nomura, Rena Ogawa, Ayano Hamaura, Natsumi Taguchi, Sakurako Wada, and Rei Inoue, was formed. On February 25, Up Front Group announced that the name of the new unit would be Magnolia Factory. On March 8, it was announced that the leader and the sub-leader of the unit were determined as Ayaka Hirose and Rio Fujii respectively.

On September 2, the group released their debut single, "Dosukoi! Kenkyo ni Daitan / Rāmen Daisuki Koizumi-san no Uta / Nen ni wa Nen (Nen'iri Ver.)".

On November 20, it was announced that they had won a Newcomer Award at the 57th Japan Record Awards At the ceremony on December 30, they were presented with their award and were later announced as the winners of the Best Newcomer Award.

On February 17, 2016, the group released their second single, "Sakura Night Fever / Chotto Guchoku ni! Chototsumōshin / Osu! Kobushi Tamashī"

Their third single, "Samba! Kobushi Janeiro / Bacchikoi Seishun! / Ora wa Ninkimono", was released on July 27, 2016.

On November 30, they released their first studio album, ''Kobushi Sono Ichi''.

2017-2018: Line-up changes

On May 12, 2017, Rio Fujii announced she would graduate from the group at the end of the Hello! Project 2017 Summer concert tour to focus on becoming a nurse or a teacher.

On June 14, the group released their fourth single, "Shalala! Yareru Hazu sa / Ee ja nai ka Ninja nai ka".

Rio Fujii's contract was terminated on July 6 due to her lack of compliance with the rules.

On July 13, Hello! Project announced that Rena Ogawa would take a hiatus from the group's activities due to anxiety neurosis. On September 6, it was announced that Ogawa had graduated from Magnolia Factory and Hello! Project after her condition failed to improve.

On December 6, Hello! Project announced that Natsumi Taguchi would no longer be part of the group for not complying with the rules and as a result, her contract was terminated.

On March 28, 2018, the group released their fifth single, "Kore Kara da! / Ashita Tenki ni Naare".

On August 8, they released their sixth single "Kitto Watashi wa / Naseba Naru".

2019-2020: Disbandment

On April 24, 2019, the group released their seventh single, "Oh No Ōnō / Haru Urara".

They released their second studio album, ''Kobushi Dai Ni Maku'', on October 2.

On March 4, 2020, the group released their eighth and final single, "Seishun no Hana / Start Line".

The group disbanded on March 30 with a concert at Tokyo Dome City Hall.

Former members

* - Leader
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*
*
*
* - Sub-leader
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Timeline

ImageSize = width:600 height:150
PlotArea = width:405 height:125 left:75 bottom:20
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:2015 till:03/30/2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2015 gridcolor:black

PlotData =
color:red width:8 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
bar:Fujii from:start till:07/06/2017
bar:Ogawa from:start till:07/13/2017
bar:Ogawa from:07/13/2017 till:09/06/2017 color:black
bar:Taguchi from:start till:12/06/2017
bar:Hirose from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Nomura from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Hamaura from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Wada from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Inoue from:start till:03/30/2020

*Black (horizontal) = hiatus

Discography

Albums

Singles

DVD singles

Awards

Japan Record Awards

The Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show held annually in Japan by the Japan Composer's Association.

, -
, rowspan=2, 2015
, rowspan=2, Magnolia Factory
, New Artist Award
,
, -
, Best New Artist Award
,

References

External links

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{{Authority control

Hello! Project groups
Musical groups established in 2015
2015 establishments in Japan
Musical groups from Tokyo
Japanese pop music groups
Japanese electropop groups
Japanese girl groups
Japanese idol groups