was a

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

, formed in 2011 and on an indefinite hiatus since 2020. They were managed by the talent agency

Rising Production , operating as Rising Production, is a Japanese talent agency. It largely works with musical talent, but has branched out in recent years to include actors and comedians. The company came into prominence after the widespread successes of musical ...

and produced by the

Avex Avex Inc. ( kabushiki gaisha , commonly known as Avex and stylized as avex) is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi ...

record label Sonic Groove.

History

Pre-debut

Fairies was formed by talent agency

Vision Factory , operating as Rising Production, is a Japanese talent agency. It largely works with musical talent, but has branched out in recent years to include actors and comedians. The company came into prominence after the widespread successes of musical ...

(now Rising Production), famous for successful artists such as

Namie Amuro Namie Amuro ( ; ; born September 20, 1977) is a retired Japanese singer. She rose to prominence as a Japanese idol, teen idol, and transitioned into a leading Pop music, pop artist due to her versatility across music styles and visual presentatio ...

MAX Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

and

Speed In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...

. Their concept was "a world class talented group that is able to compete overseas." Members were chosen from 100 candidates who were attending dance schools affiliated with Vision Factory, coming from 13 regions of Japan. The group name was open for suggestions from the public through a special corner in

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

programme ''Sukkiri!!'', and "Fairies" was chosen with the explanation that their dancing form resembled a group of fairies fluttering.

2011–2013: Debut and Kiyomura’s departure

The group debuted with the double A-side single " More Kiss / Song for You" on September 21, 2011. At the 53rd Japan Record Awards, held on December 30, 2011, Fairies were named the best newcomer of the year, receiving the Best New Artist award. Among other nominees, they beat

2NE1 2NE1 (, ) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment in 2009. The group consists of Park Bom, Bom, CL (rapper), CL, Sandara Park, Dara, and Minzy. Known for their Experimental music, musical experimentation, fashion, and stage pre ...

and Super Girls. At the time of receiving the award, Fairies' average age of 13.6 was the lowest for this award, a record shared with that won in 2007. On January 17, 2013, the group's youngest member Kiyomura announced that she would be "restraining" from activities with Fairies due to educational issues, leaving the remaining six to continue. Although the group had been using the name "Fairies" in Latin script until then, from February onwards it was changed to Japanese on all their official sites and single jacket covers. However, no announcement was ever made about which was the official notation. On February 1, 2013, the subunit with Hayashida Mahiro, Fujita Miria, and Shimomura Miki as members was announced. The name was due to "M" being the initial of all three girls' given names. Their debut single "Yumemiru Dancing Doll" was released on March 27.

2014–present: Subsequent releases, Fujita’s departure and group hiatus

Fairies released their eponymous first album on March 26, 2014. Included as a new song on the album was Ito's solo song "Poker Face", which later became the title song on Ito's solo debut single, released July 23. From August 9 to August 14, the group held their first live tour "Fairies LIVE TOUR 2014: Summer Party," which was released on DVD that December. In January 2017, Fujita Miria announced that she would be withdrawing from the group in order to focus on her studies. On June 17, 2020, it was announced by Rising Production that after several discussions with the members, Rikako Inoue, Sora Nomoto and Mahiro Hayashida decided to end their contract with the agency, with Rikako also retiring from show business. Momoka Ito and Miki Shimomura will remain in the agency working individually. Although the activities ended as a group, the agency revealed that the group have not disbanded and their future activities are "undecided". After working at a beauty company for two years, Rikako Inoue began a career as an adult actress under the name Yotsuha Kominato.

Members

Former Members

* (2011–2020) * (2011–2020) * (2011–2020) * (2011–2020) * (2011–2017) * (2011–2020) * (2011–2013)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:600 height:200 PlotArea = width:455 height:175 left:75 bottom:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:27/07/2010 till:17/06/2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyy Colors = id:a value:rgb(0, 0, 0. 9) legend:1st Active Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2011 gridcolor:black PlotData = width:8 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from bar:Rikako from:27/07/2010 till:end Color:purple bar:Sora from:27/07/2010 till:end Color:blue bar:Momoka from:27/07/2010 till:end Color:red bar:Mahiro from:27/07/2010 till:end Color:yellow bar:Miria from:27/07/2010 till:10/01/2017 Color:orange bar:Miki from:27/07/2010 till:end Color:pink bar:Kawane from:27/07/2010 till:17/01/2013 Color:green

Discography

Albums

Singles

Subunits' and solo singles

M Three

Momoka Ito

Music videos

Awards

, - , rowspan=3, 2011 , rowspan=2, Fairies (group) ,

Japan Record Award is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Established in 1959, the Japan Record Awards are one of the oldest and most prestigious music awards in the count ...

s — New Artist , , - , Japan Record Awards — Best New Artist , , - , " More Kiss" ,

Japan Cable Awards are an annual set of music awards, sponsored by the . The awards were presented annually since 1968 and are based on requests from the audience received by cable broadcasters. The awards ended in 2017; Kiyoshi Hikawa, who is a Japanese enka si ...

— New Artist , , - , rowspan=3, 2012 , rowspan="2", " White Angel" , Japan Record Awards — Gold Award , , - , Japan Record Awards — Grand Prix , , - , "

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...

" , Japan Cable Awards — Excellence Award , , -

Notes

References

External links

* {{Fairies (Japanese group) Japanese pop music groups Japanese girl groups Japanese idol groups Japanese-language singers Musical groups established in 2011 Avex Group artists 2011 establishments in Japan 2020 disestablishments in Japan Musical groups disestablished in 2020 Child musical groups Musical groups from Tokyo