Archive for February 2013
SCANDAL is a Japanese pop-rock girl band from Osaka, Japan. Formed in August 2006 by four high school girls, they started playing street lives until they were noticed and signed to the indie label Kitty Records. In 2008, they released three singles and a mini-album while performing shows in the United States, France, and Hong Kong. In October 2008, they made their major debut on EPIC Records Japan with the single "DOLL". It gave them more exposure, including appearances on mainstream music television shows like MUSIC STATION. The band released their second major single "SAKURA Goodbye" in March 2009 to commemorate MAMI and TOMOMI's high school graduation. The song is a new version of their indie song, "SAKURA", only heard live. The following month, their then upcoming third major single "Shoujo S" was used as the tenth opening theme for the anime BLEACH. This brought their popularity up even higher as the single ranked #6 on the Oricon charts when it was released two months later in June,On October 14th, SCANDAL released their fourth major single, "Yumemiru Tsubasa" which was followed with their major debut album, BESTSCANDAL, the next week. The album ranked #5 on the Oricon weekly chart, making them the first girl band since ZONE to have a debut album chart in the top five.[9] In December, SCANDAL embarked on their first one-man tour. Concluding the year, the band won a New Artist Award at the 51st Nihon Record Taisho, but lost the Best New Artist Award to BIGBANG. 2010 began with SCANDAL's fifth major single in February, "Shunkan Sentimental". It was used as the fourth ending theme for the anime Hagane no Renkinjutsushi FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST. SCANDAL continued into 2011 with their ninth major single on February 9. Titled "Pride", the song was used as the second ending theme for the anime STAR DRIVER Kagayaki no Takuto.