was a Japanese

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but has s ...

, formerly made up of leader and

Morning Musume , formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an ...

member

Reina Tanaka is a Japanese singer and actress. She is the leader of the Japanese rock band Lovendor. From 2002 to 2013, she was one of the main vocalists of the girl group Morning Musume and participated in other music acts under the Hello! Project name. ...

Miyabi Natsuyaki is a Japanese singer. Her career began in 2002 when she passed the audition for Hello! Project Kids, an all-female child pop group under Hello! Project. She continued to sing in that group and became a part of four smaller groups composed of ...

and

Airi Suzuki is a Japanese singer, actress, model, and radio personality associated with Up-Front Works. In 2002, she joined Hello! Project as a member of Hello! Project Kids and later debuted as one of the lead vocalists of the Japanese girl group Cute in ...

, two Hello! Project Kids.

History

The group's name was chosen by producer and writer

Tsunku , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer, record producer, and songwriter. He is the lead singer of the rock band Sharam Q. As a songwriter, Tsunku is the primary producer for Morning Musume and other Hello! Project acts, such as Coconut ...

to represent multiple emotions such as joy and sadness multi-lingually, and so the group's CDs would be alphabetically at the start in record stores (although most Hello! Project merchandise is grouped together). The original group itself released only one single. The group returned from hiatus in 2009 with a new song, "Yes-Yes-Yes", on the '' Champloo 1: Happy Marriage Song Cover Shū'' album. It was announced that

would no longer be a part of the unit, in order to focus on

. She was replaced by

Hello! Pro Egg (formerly known as until January 2012) is a pre-debut training group established by Japanese entertainment agency Up-Front Group is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agenc ...

Akari Saho is a Japanese singer. She is a member of Up-Up Girls and a former member of Hello! Pro Egg, a Japanese idol trainee program under the Hello! Project umbrella. She was also an original member of Shugo Chara Egg!, and played the role of Amulet S ...

, who was only thirteen when she joined. Akari was already a member of two groups,

Shugo Chara Egg! , also known as ''My Guardian Characters'', is a Japanese shōjo manga series created by the manga author duo, Peach-Pit. The story centers on elementary school girl Amu Hinamori, whose popular exterior, referred to as "cool and spicy" by her clas ...

and Tomoiki Ki Wo Uetai. The group's new generation's second song, , was released later in the same year on the Petit Best 10 collection. The second generation of Aa! was also featured in the 2010 Shuffle Date tour, performing "First Kiss" and "Yume to Genjitsu". A joint release for Aa! with the shuffle units were announced for June 30, but it never released. Aa! was also featured in the Fankora! tour, performing the songs "First Kiss" and "Masayume". In 2011, Aa! was featured again in the 2011 Winter tour with the songs "Shining Itoshiki Anata", originally by Country Musume and "DON'T STOP Renaichuu", originally by T&C Bomber. In April 2011, Akari Saho left Aa! and Hello! Project and joined the group Up Up Girls (Kari). From February 28 to March 1, Aa! reunited with Miyabi Natsuyaki and Airi Suzuki to perform a slightly updated version of "Masayume" at the Berryz Kobo Matsuri mini-tour, their first activities as Aa! since 2011. On March 3, 2015, Miyabi Natsuyaki graduated from Hello! Project with 5 other members of her main group, Berryz Kobo, as they entered an indefinite hiatus. On August 20, 2016, it was revealed that Airi Suzuki, the last remaining Aa! member in Hello! Project, will graduate from Hello! Project. She graduated along with all of the members of C-ute on June 12, 2017.

Discography

Singles

Notes and references

External links

Official Up-Front Works discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aa Japanese girl groups Japanese idol groups Hello! Project groups Japanese pop music groups Child musical groups Musical groups from Tokyo Musical groups established in 2003 2003 establishments in Japan Japanese musical trios