is a Japanese

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...

formed in June 2016. The group consists of six members: Nanamori,

Jel Jel or JEL may refer to: * Jel (rapper), American record producer and rapper * Jel (singer), Japanese singer * Journal of Economic Literature The ''Journal of Economic Literature'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal, published by the American Ec ...

Satomi is a feminine Japanese given name which is also used as a surname. Possible writings Satomi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *里美, "hometown, beauty" *怜美, "wise, beauty" *聡美, "wise, beauty" *智美, "wisd ...

, Colon,

Rinu is a Japanese singer, voice actor, and live streamer. He is a member of the J-pop group Strawberry Prince. Biography Rinu was born on 24 May 1998 in Tokyo, Japan. As a child, his family was constantly in debt, and he had a poor relationship wi ...

, and

Root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

. Each member is represented by an illustrated character when appearing in media.

History

Strawberry Prince was founded by Nanamori, the group's leader, on June 4, 2016. Nanamori had gained popularity on Nico Nico Douga by uploading song covers, and he contacted other popular users to form a group. The members use

stage names A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

and illustrated

avatars Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearan ...

to represent themselves, never revealing their real names and never showing their real faces except at live performances and meet-and-greets. Nanamori thought that it was too dangerous to post his face on the internet when he first started posting videos, and he decided to keep the gimmick after forming the group. In addition to music, the members also upload talkshows, video game playthroughs, and humorous videos to their

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

channel. While the group would upload their original music to their official

channel for the first few years, Strawberry Prince's first commercial release would not be until 2019, with the release of the mini-album ''Strawberry Start'' in March 2019. ''Strawberry Start'' sold over 80,000 copies in its debut week, and achieved the second place spot on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

weekly album ranking. Four months later, they released their first full album, ''Strawberry Love!'' This time, the group would achieve the first place spot on the Oricon weekly album ranking, with the album selling 72,000 copies on its first day and over 107,000 copies in its first week. They would rank first again with their third full album, ''Strawberry Prince'', which exceeded 230,000 sales in its first week and would also be the group's first album to receive a Platinum certification from the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

in November 2020. The second full album, ''Strawberry Next!'', would also receive a Platinum certification in January 2021. The group's first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

, ''Are You Ready?'', released on August 1, 2022. Following the pause in activities from Nanamori and Jel, the remaining four members would release ''Here We Go!!'' on December 21, 2022, which sold 165,000 copies in its first week and achieved the number one spot on the Oricon weekly album ranking. Strawberry Prince's music has been featured in other media, particularly in the '' Yo-kai Watch'' franchise. The songs "Gingira ginga" and "Dai uchū Rendezvous" were used as ending themes for the video game '' Yo-kai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Academy Y – Waiwai Gakuen Seikatsu'' and as opening themes for the anime '' Yo-kai Watch Jam – Yo-kai Academy Y: Close Encounters of the N Kind'', and the song "Yōkai Watch" was used as the opening theme for the video game '' Yo-kai Watch 4++''. The song "Start" was also used as the opening theme for the second season of the anime '' Cardfight!! Vanguard overDress'', and the song "Accelerate" was used as the opening theme for the second season of '' Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress''. In February 2022, the members appeared in an anime-style

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

for

Meiji Seika is a Japanese snack food company. It is the trade name of a pharmaceutical company in Japan. It was renamed into the on March 31, 2011. It is currently a subsidiary of Meiji Holdings and a Japanese leader in the area of infectious disease wit ...

. In March 2022, the YouTuber Korekore claimed that Nanamori had a fiancée and child, and accused him of

infidelity Infidelity (synonyms include cheating, straying, adultery, being unfaithful, two-timing, or having an affair) is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and ri ...

. STPR Inc., the

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

of the group's record label, put out a statement a few days later confirming that the allegations were true and stating that Nanamori would be going on hiatus. A live concert that had been scheduled for May 2022 was confirmed to be going ahead with only the other five members. In August 2022, Jel announced that he would be going on hiatus following a concert later that month due to depression. On December 14, 2022, Nanamori stated that he would be resuming his activities solo, but that he would not be rejoining Strawberry Prince for the time being.

Members

Current members

Active

* * * *

Inactive

* *

Former members

* * * *

Discography

Albums

Mini albums

Extended plays

Singles

Filmography

Television

Radio shows

Bibliography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{official website, https://strawberryprince.com/ Musical groups established in 2016 Japanese musical groups Utaite 2016 establishments in Japan