Little Glee Monster

Little Glee Monster, also known as Little Glee, is a six-member girl group formed through the "Saikyou Uta Shoujo Audition" held by Sony Music Records & Watanabe Entertainment in 2012. The group initially formed as seven but debuted as six with the single "Houkago High Five" in 2014. Their fifth album, FLAVA, is their most successful album, peaking at number one on both Oricon and Japan's Billboard charts, and certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for sales of 100,000. In 2018, they won an award at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards for Best Japanese Act.

In response to the graduation of Serina and manaka in July 2022 due to health problems, auditions were held in the summer of 2022 to recruit new members. Three finalists of "M∞NSTER AUDITION": Mika, Yumi, and miyou were then selected to join the group. With the new formation, Little Glee Monster started their second chapter.

Members
Current members= Former members=
 * Karen (かれん; )
 * MAYU
 * Asahi (アサヒ; )
 * Mika (ミカ; ) - Joined November 14, 2022
 * Yumi (結海; ) - Joined November 14, 2022
 * miyou - Joined November 14, 2022
 * LINA (リナ; ) - withdrew on July 2013
 * YUKA - withdrew on October 2013
 * Maju (麻珠; ) - withdrew on June 30, 2017
 * Serina (芹奈; ) - inactive from December 20, 2020 to July 24, 2022, graduated on July 24, 2022
 * manaka (まなか; ) - inactive from March 15 to July 24, 2022, graduated on July 24, 2022

Name
The group's name, Little Glee Monster, comes from the word "Glee" which refers to a musical term meaning "vocal composition for three or more unaccompanied solo male voices", originally meaning "to liberate the heart or to rejoice". The meaning of "Glee Monster" is that they wanted to become a big, monster-like figure that touch people's hearts through their singing voice, but because they are young and inexperienced, they added "Little".

History
2012: Pre-debut= On March 27, a group of four under the name of "Saikyou Uta Shoujo (Tentative)" performed at the Next Break vol.8 event in Shibuya Vuenos. In July 2012, the "Saikyou Uta Shoujo Audition" (最強歌少女オーディション) was held. Five contestants who passed the audition: Hasegawa Serina, Arai Maju, Yoshida Mayu, Koga Karen, and Yoshimura Lina then joined by Kobayashi Asahi and Sakamoto Yuka from Saikyou Uta Shoujo (Tentative) and formed Little Glee Monster. 2013= On May 6, they made their first performance ever at Nakameguro LGM Theater. Soon after the performance, they held an audition to recruit Fukumoto Manaka. In July 2013, LINA left the group due to personal reasons. On August 14, manaka joined the group, adding its members to seven. On August 28, they made their first TV appearance in the program ZIP! on Nippon TV. In October 2013, YUKA left the group. 2014: Debut= On March 16, they released their first mini album, Little Glee Monster, exclusively for HMV and Loppi. On August 14, they performed in the program Sukkiri!! on Nippon TV and announced their major debut. On October 8, they broadcasted their first radio program, Little Glee no Hamoredio, on Tokai Radio Broadcasting. On October 29, they debuted with the single "Houkago High Five". 2015= On June 27, they performed in TBS TV 60th Anniversary Special Project, ONGAKUNOHI 2015. On July 24, they made their first performance in the program Music Station on TV Asahi. On August 7-9, they made their first overseas performance at the J-Pop Summit event held in San Francisco, USA. On September 23, they released their fourth single "Sukida.", which was used as the theme song for the drama Omotesando High School Chorus!. 2016= On January 6, they released their first album, Colorful Monster. On August 15, they announced their first concert at the Nippon Budokan. They also announced the "DREAM20" project. On October 29, they celebrated their second debut anniversary. They also announced their second album, Joyful Monster. 2017= On January 8, they held their first concert at the Nippon Budokan. On April 16, Maju went on indefinite hiatus. On May 22, they made a guest performance at Earth, Wind & Fire's concert at the Nippon Budokan. On June 30, Maju properly left the group. On July 12–13, they made a guest performance at Ariana Grande's concert at the Makuhari Messe. On November 16, they announced to performing at the annual program Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time. On December 28, they performed at the "Countdown Japan 17/18" rock festival. They also announced their third album, juice. On December 31, they performed the songs "Sukida." and "Jupiter" at the 68th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen. 2018= In January 2018, they announced to be in charge of the 96th National High School Soccer Tournament's theme song. From February to March 2018, they held their first arena tour, Little Glee Monster Arena Tour 2018: juice!!!!!. On July 14–15, they held their first asia tour, Little Glee Monster Asia Tour 2018: juice!!!!!, in Taiwan and Hong Kong. From September 24 to December 19, they held their concert tour, Little Glee Monster Live Tour 2018: Calling!!!!!, with a total of 23 performances. On October 29, they held their first fan club event to commemorate their fourth debut anniversary at the Zepp Tokyo. On November 14, they released the LP "Natsu ni Natte Utae". On December 6, they performed at the EX Theater Roppongi to commemorate it's fifth anniversary, along with Ohara Sakurako. On December 31, they performed for the second consecutive year at the 69th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen. 2019= On January 16, they released their fourth album, FLAVA, which topped the Oricon charts for the first time, selling approximately 52,000 copies in its first week of release. On February 5–6, they held their concert at the Nippon Budokan for the second time. On July 24, they announced to be in charge of the theme song of the 2019 Rugby World Cup news coverage on NHK. On October 14, they announced to be in charge of writing lyrics for the 87th NHK National School Music Competition's theme song. On October 29, they released a collaborative song with Earth, Wind & Fire, titled "I Feel The Light", in commemoration of their fifth debut anniversary. On November 1–3, they performed at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Shibuya, Tokyo, as part of their concert tour, Little Glee Monster 5th Celebration Tour 2019: MONSTER GROOVE PARTY. On November 1, they announced their fifth anniversary EP, I Feel The Light. On November 3, they announced their nationwide concert tour, Little Glee Monster Live Tour 2020: BRIGHT NEW WORLD. On November 16, "ECHO" won the Excellent Work Awards at the 61st Japan Record Awards. On December 31, they performed for the third consecutive year at the 70th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen. 2020= On January 6, "STARTING OVER" was decided to be the theme song of the drama Wasteful Days of High School Girls. From January 9, they was appointed as the fifth radio personality of the music program Muse Note on NHK FM Broadcast. On February 12, they released their fifth album, BRIGHT NEW WORLD, which topped the Oricon charts, selling approximately 40,000 copies in its first week of release. On February 21, "Ashiato" was decided as the theme song of the 87th NHK National School Music Competition. However, the competition was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic and the song will be adopted next year. On March 20, they performed a special live broadcast on their YouTube channel to commemorate students whose graduation ceremonies were canceled or reduced due to COVID-19 pandemic. On June 3, they postponed all of their tour performances scheduled from March due to COVID-19 pandemic and decided to held the Little Glee Monster BRIGHT NEW WORLD Special On Demand Live. On September 25–26, they held their only concert of the year, Little Glee Monster Live on 2020: Ashiato at the Tokyo Garden Theater. On December 20, it was announced that Serina would be temporarily suspend her activities due to poor physical condition. On December 31, they performed for the fourth consecutive year at the 71st NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, without Serina. 2021= On January 20, they released their first greatest hits album, GRADATI∞N. On January 27–28, they held their concert tour, Little Glee Monster Arena Tour 2021: Dearest, at the Nippon Budokan. On February 25, they made their first talk show appearance in the program Sakurai Ariyoshi The Yakai co-hosted by Sakurai Sho from ARASHI and Ariyoshi Hiroiki on TBS TV. On August 20, they announced their second collaboration with Pentatonix on the song "Midnight in Tokyo". 2022= On February 24, they released the music video for the cover song "Sangatsu Kokonoka" featuring Endo Sakura from Nogizaka46. On March 2, they released their 19th single "Your Name". On March 15, it was announced that manaka would be taking a break due to sudden deafness, and thus the group's upcoming nationwide tour Little Glee Monster Live Tour 2022 Journey, starting on April 28, would be held with just three members. On April 20, they released their sixth studio album, Journey. On April 20, they released the music video for the song "Your Name". On April 23, they released the music video for the song "WONDERLAND". On June 7, they held a live broadcast on YouTube and LINE LIVE to commemorate the release of their new single. On June 8, they released their 20th single "magic! / Ikinakucha". The music video for "magic!" also premiered on the same day. On June 12, they released the music video for the song "Ikinakucha". On June 23, the collaboration song "Grande Amore feat. Little Glee Monster" with the Italian vocal trio "Il Volo" was released on streaming services. On June 24, they announced to be appearing as the Paralympic ambassador of Tokyo at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games 1st Anniversary Event in August. On June 24, they announced to be performing at the "Nagaoka Come Hyappyou Festival 2022" in October. On June 28, they announced to be performing at the "TOMAKOMAI MIRAI FEST 2022" in September. On July 15, it was announced that as of July 24, the day of the tour finale of Little Glee Monster Live Tour 2022 Journey, the group would end its activities as five members, with Serina and manaka graduating after both had been on a leave of absence. In line with this, their agency Watanabe Entertainment and their label Sony Music Japan jointly established "Monster Groove Lab.". Led by Little Glee Monster, the lab would bring together performers and creators with the aspiration of "bringing smiles to the world through music", with the goal of creating entertainment that defies conventional thinking. As the first step, "M∞NSTER AUDITION" would be launched in the summer of 2022. Inheriting the spirit of the "Saikyou Uta Shoujo Audition" that produced Little Glee Monster, the audition would be open not only to new members of Little Glee Monster, but to a wide range of talent, both group and solo, that could be introduced to the world. The audition would begin on the 25th of the same month, and the members of Little Glee Monster would participate in the judging to discover new members for the second chapter of the group. On November 14, the final judging of the audition was held with the winners who would join the group as new members being announced at the same event: Mika, Yumi and miyou. On November 23, they announced their new single "Join Us!" which will be released on December 14. The song was composed by Ishiwatari Junji and Nakamura Daisuke, who had worked on many Little Glee Monster songs. It sings a big love full of positive vibes suitable for the beginning of a new chapter. On December 21, they announced to be in charge of the theme song for "SUZUKI Sports Special 2022 Mount Fuji Woman's Long-distance Relay Race" live coverage on Fuji TV on December 30. "Million Miles" was written and composed by Nakamura Daisuke, who also composed "Join Us!". It is a message song that expresses the silence of the morning and the strength of the runners' enthusiasm and exhilaration with the harmony unique to Little Glee Monster.

Discography
Albums=

Singles=

Collaborations=
 * [2014.12.10] Kawabata Kaname - "Yasashisa de Afureru You ni"
 * [2015.01.28] miwa - "fighting-φ-girls"
 * [2015.02.04] Sakai Yu - "Bara to Rhodes"
 * [2015.04.01] DREAMS COME TRUE - "Asa ga Mata Kuru"
 * [2016.09.07] THE PEANUTS - "Furimukanaide" (manaka & Asahi)
 * [2017.04.22] FM802 Spring Campaign Song "STAY TUNE"
 * [2017.07.07] DREAMS COME TRUE - "Ring! Ring! Ring!"
 * [2018.03.21] Elephant Kashimashi - "Kanashimi no Hate" (manaka)

Radio

 * [2014.10.08-2020.03.29] Little Glee no Hamoredio
 * [2014.10.01-2015.03.18] After School Swag
 * [2015.04.01-2016.03.30] GIRLS♥GIRLS♥GIRLS =FULL BOOST= "I Want to Do a Band" (^ V ^)"
 * [2015.06.02-06.30] Little Glee no Debasaki ga Tabetai
 * [2016.01.03] Little Glee Monster: Colorful Radio
 * [2017.05.13] Show-Up Nighter Special: I Love Little Glee Monster's Music
 * [2017.01.12] @FM SUNDAY SPECIAL Little Glee Monster ~Over/Hikaru Kakera~
 * [2018.02.12] Kyou wa Ichinichi "Analog Record" Zanmai
 * [2018.11.07-2018.11.28] SPARK
 * [2019.03.03] Little Glee Monster and the Music Master
 * [2020.01.09] Little Glee no Muse Note
 * [2020.02.24] Holiday Special Program BRIGHT NEW WORLD
 * [2020.08.10] Kyou wa Ichinichi "Little Glee Monster to Gasshou" Zanmai

Videography
Television= Drama= Theater= Commercials=
 * [2015.04.09-present] Chichin Puipui
 * [2016.05.14-present] Seyanen!
 * [2016.06.18-2017.06.24] Maru★Katsu Set Meal
 * [2019.10.10-present] YELL! 2020!
 * [2019.11.05-present] Okaasan to Issho
 * [2015.06.27] ONGAKUNOHI 2015
 * [2016.07.16] ONGAKUNOHI 2016
 * [2017.07.15-16] ONGAKUNOHI 2017
 * [2018.07.14-15] ONGAKUNOHI 2018
 * [2019.07.13-14] ONGAKUNOHI 2019
 * [2020.07.18] ONGAKUNOHI 2020
 * [2018.07.25] 2018 FNS Music Fes. In Summer
 * [2019.07.24] 2019 FNS Music Fes. In Summer
 * [2020.08.26] 2020 FNS Music Fes. In Summer
 * [2018.12.30] 60th Japan Record Awards
 * [2019.12.30] 61st Japan Record Awards
 * [2020.12.30] 62nd Japan Record Awards
 * [2019.09.14] 508th SONGS
 * [2020.01.11] 520th SONGS
 * [2021.02.06] 564th SONGS
 * [2017] 68th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen
 * [2018] 69th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen
 * [2019] 70th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen
 * [2020] 71st NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen
 * [2015.03.19] Mondai no Aru Restaurant - guest role
 * [2015.08.04-09.22] Onna Michi - Sugar Girls role
 * [2016.04.08-10] Saikou wa Hitotsu Janai: 2016 SAKURA
 * [2016.02-07] Sony Assurance's "Park Chorus"
 * [2016.04-2017.03]	Round One Corporation
 * [2018.07-present]	Coca-Cola
 * [2018.07-present]	Tokyo Parasports Support Project's "TEAM BEYOND"
 * [2019.07-present]	Tokyo Metro's "Find my Tokyo. Ogikubo: A City Where A Lot of Harmony Is Born"

Tours and Concerts
Concerts=

Tours= Events=
 * [2015.03.26-04.19] Little Glee First Live Tour ~High, Peace!! in Higashi-Meihan~''
 * [2015.09.05-11.29] Little Glee Monster Live Tour 2015 ~Little Glee, Autumn's Gao with All Japan!!~
 * [2016.03.12-03.27] Little Glee Spring Zepp Tour 2016 ~Colorful Monster~''
 * [2016.09.03-09.11] Little Glee Monster presents Gaofes 2016 ~Little Glee Summer Camp~''
 * [2016.09.10-10.10] Little Glee Live Tour 2016 ~Little Colorful Monster~''
 * [2017.02.10-04.09] Little Glee Live Tour 2017 ~Joyful Monster~''
 * [2017.09.02-11.19] Little Glee Live Tour 2017 Autumn: Let's Grooooove!!!!! Monster''
 * [2018.02.03-03.25] Little Glee Monster Arena Tour 2018 -juice!!!!!-''
 * [2018.07.14-07.15] Little Glee Monster Asia Tour 2018 -juice!!!!!-''
 * [2018.09.24-12.19] Little Glee Monster Live Tour 2018 ~Calling!!!!!''
 * [2019.08.03–11.03] Little Glee Monster 5th Celebration Tour 2019 ~MONSTER GROOVE PARTY~''
 * [2014.12.15] Christmas Special Live Performance! @Fukuoka Akasaka Le Angers Church
 * [2015.02.27-04.11] "Seishun Photograph/Girls be Free!" Release Event
 * [2015.04.11] Mini Live & High Five in Hiroshima
 * [2015.05.05-07.18] Little Glee Monster 3rd Single Release Commemoration! Mini Live & Privilege Party
 * [2015.07.20-08.04] Little Glee Monster "Jinsei wa Ichidokiri/Gao Gao All Star" Release Commemoration! Events at Pokemon Center
 * [2015.07.26] 3rd Single Release & Music Station Performance Commemoration! Mini Live & Privilege Party

Awards

 * [2018] MTV Video Music Awards Japan - Best Cinematography (Sekai wa Anata ni Waraikakete Iru)
 * [2018] MTV Europe Music Awards - Best Japanese Act (Little Glee Monster)
 * [2018] 60th Japan Record Awards - Composer Award (Marutani Manabu - Sekai wa Anata ni Waraikakete Iru)
 * [2019] 61st Japan Record Awards - Excellent Work Awards (ECHO)
 * [2020] MTV Video Music Awards Japan - Best Pop Video Award (Ashiato)
 * [2020] 62nd Japan Record Awards - Excellent Work Awards (Ashiato)