“Happiness” Returns With Juciy Love
Happiness is Japanese pop girl-group, who was formed in October 2008, and are produced by LDH, aka, their company. The idol-group currently has seven members, however, they were previously only a five member group: Kaede, Miyuu, Mimu, Karen, and Sayaka. Arisa Mikyuu is the leader of the group. Some members of Happiness, along with other girls from labelmates, ‘’Dream’’ and ‘’Flower’’, are also part of a unit called, ‘’E-Girls’’, created by their company. As of now, the girls have seven singles and one studio-album, which is called, ‘’Happy Time’’.
Before they got really famous, the group used to be back up dancers for the ‘’Exile Live Tour’’, from the Japanese Pop/R&B boygroup, EXILE, back in 2008. The sixth member, Yurino, joined the group, in the summer of 2009, after the ‘’LDH Dream Girls Audition 2008’’, in which she won. Their debut single was a track called ‘’Happy Talk’’, however, since it was released under an indie label, the song flopped hard on the charts. Despite not having a lot of success, ‘’Happy Talk’’ was used in a commercial for ‘Mister Donut’. After such a tragic debut, the girls tried one more time and, this time around, they decided to release their first major debut-single, ‘’Kiss Me’’, in 2011. The song is described as a love ballad for the Valentine’s Day and charted far better than their previous single, however, it wasn’t still not enough since it peaked only under the Top 20. Two more singles were released afterwards, ‘’Friends’’ and ‘’Wish’’ and became more successful than its predecessors, peaking at #20 and #12, respectively.
Unfortunatly, one of the members, Mimu, decided to graduate, from the group, in January of 2012. But that situation didn’t stop the idol-group as they were ready to unveil one more song, ‘’We Can Fly’’. The track was used as an ending theme for a TV show called, Piramekino. ‘’We Can Fly’’ had the same success that its previous singles had. All of their tracks, plus brand new ones, were included in their first studio-album, ‘’Happy Time’’, released in the summer of 2012.
They may be called ‘Happiness’, but sadness is what the group felt after another member had to stop her activities. Due to a medical treatment, Sugieda Mayu was forced to the group, during August 2012 to August 2013. Even though, she was set to return in 2013, Mayu decided to leave ‘Happiness’ in order to pursue a career as a solo artist.
Two have left the group, but another two were added! In May of 2013, Suda Anna and Kawamoto Ruri, from the unit, E-Girls, were added to the girl-group. Now with seven members, the girls released a new song by the summer of 2013. ‘’Sunshine Dream ~Ichido Kiri no Natsu~’’ was released in July and became their first Top 10 hit ever, peaking at #7, on the Oricon weekly charts.
In their beginnings, Happiness signed with an indie label, from LDH Company, called, ‘Rythym Zone’. During the course of their career, the group signed under Universal Sigma, a sub-label from Sony Music Japan. However, the girls were then transferred from that agency to NAYUTAWAVE RECORDS. As of 2014, Happiness returned to their first label, Rythym Zone, and released a brand new single: Juicy Love. The track became their second consecutive Top 10 hit, peaking again at #7, on the charts.
Members Takeda Kyoka, Dobayashi Kaede, Fujii Karen and Suda Anna were, also part of the TV Drama, Koibumi Biyori, from January to March of 2014.