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W (duo)

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W
W, 2005
From left: Kago and Tsuji
Background information
OriginTokyo, Japan
GenresJ-pop
Years active
  • 2004 (2004)–2007
  • 2019
LabelsZetima
Spinoff of
Past members

W was a Japanese duo formed in 2004 by Up-Front Promotion and associated with Hello! Project. The members consisted of Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago, former 4th generation members of the idol girl group Morning Musume. Tsuji and Kago had previously achieved fame through being in the group and the sub-group Mini-Moni.

W's formation was announced at the same time as Tsuji and Kago's planned departure from Morning Musume. Prior to their official departure, they debuted with several cover versions of kayōkyoku songs, including their debut single, "Koi no Vacance" (2004) and their first album, Duo U&U (2004). After leaving Morning Musume, W released their first original song, "Aa Ii na!" (2004), followed by "Robo Kiss" (2004). In 2005, W starred in their first musical, Mysterious Girl Detectives Cara & Mel: The Case of the Stolen Dangerous Violin (2005). They reprised the roles of their characters with the release of "Miss Love Tantei" (2005).

In 2006, W's activities were halted after Kago was suspended for underage smoking. W was scheduled to make a comeback in 2007, but after media reports of Kago dating and smoking again surfaced, her contracted was terminated and Up-Front Promotion announced that W had disbanded.

In 2019, W briefly reunited to make a concert appearance celebrating Hello! Project's 20th anniversary, and their previously cancelled releases, "Dō ni mo Tomaranai" (2019) and W3: Faithful, were released in the same year.

History

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2004: Formation and debut

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In 2004, W's formation was announced not long after Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago's graduations from Morning Musume. Tsuji and Kago had previously worked together in one of Morning Musume's sub-units, Mini Moni, as a side project. Both members had been known as the "Twins" and had been some of Morning Musume's most popular members since joining the group at age 12.[1] Tsunku, Hello! Project's producer, had selected the name "W" because the origin of the name meant "two Us" and "gave off the feeling of two You's", symbolizing Tsuji and Kago's dual nature.[2]

W released their debut three-song EP, Koi no Vacance, the title track being a cover version of The Peanuts' 1960 song. The EP was followed a few weeks later by their debut album as W, Duo U&U, which contained covers of other Shōwa period female duo songs exclusively. One of the other groups covered by W on the first album was Pink Lady. Pink Lady were invited to perform with W on Japanese television as a one-time four-piece ensemble.

Kago and Tsuji performed their graduation concert (final performance as members of Morning Musume) in August 2004; a week later, their second single "Aa Ii na!" was released. Not only was it the duo's first release since they departed Morning Musume, it was also the first W single to feature an original composition by Hello! Project founder and producer Tsunku. A third single of original material, "Robo Kiss", followed three months later.

In December 2004, W joined their fellow Hello! Project members on the 2004 shuffle unit single "All for One and One for All", credited to the H.P. All Stars. W also began joining Morning Musume onstage at concerts during this period to perform Kago and Tsuji's final Morning Musume single, "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari" together with their former bandmates.

2005: Rise to popularity

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W's second album, 2005's 2nd W, released in March 2005, contained Shōwa period J-pop cover songs as well as original songs. Afterwards, they released "Ai no Imi o Oshiete!"

In the spring of 2005, W starred in their first stage musical, Cara & Mel: the Case of the Stolen Dangerous Violin, at Yokohama Blitz in Yokohama and Ikebukuro Sun Shine Theater in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, from March 18, 2005 to April 10, 2005. In September 2005 the duo released their 6th single "Miss Love Tantei". The video, which features Kago and Tsuji playing multiple roles, including a reprisal of their stage musical roles of Cara and Mel. In addition to their musical career, W continued to appear on Hello! Project's weekly TV show Hello! Morning, often in tandem with Morning Musume.

2006-2007: Hiatus and disbandment

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On January 11, 2006, the release of a new single, "Dō ni mo Tomaranai" on February 22, followed by their third full-length album, W3: Faithful on March 15, was announced. However, they were pushed back[3] after photographs of Kago smoking underage were published in Friday in February 2006.[4] Hello! Project issued a press statement saying that Kago and W's activities had been suspended indefinitely.[5] Kago was put under house arrest for a year and was not allowed to contact Tsuji.

In January 2007, Kago returned to Tokyo and did assorted clerical work at her agency's office while the company was making preparations for her comeback. Not long after, photographs of Kago smoking underage for a third time, as well as going on a "dirty weekend trip" to an onsen with a 37-year-old man, began circulating in the media, completely tarnishing her reputation. Kago was dismissed from the company, and W disbanded as a result.[6]

Post-W activities

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Kago posted on her blog in 2014 that she and Tsuji were in contact again.[7] In 2018, Tsuji and Kago were invited as guests at Hello! Project's 20th anniversary summer concert, leading to both their names trending on Twitter; they were scheduled to perform together, but Tsuji dropped out from maternity leave.[8] In 2019, they were announced as performing guests at Hello! Project's spring concert and were releasing their previously cancelled works, "Do ni mo Tomaranai" and W3: Faithful, on March 30 as digital releases; "Do ni mo Tomaranai" would be bundled as a double A-side single with "Choi Waru Devil."[9] At Hello! Project's spring concert, the two performed together in front of a crowd of 5,000 people for the first time in 13 years.[10][11]

Discography

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Albums

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Studio albums

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List of albums, with selected chart positions, sales figures and certifications
Title Year Album details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications
JPN
Oricon 		JPN
Hot
[a][13]
Duo U&U 2004
  • Released: June 2, 2004
  • Label: Zetima
  • Formats: CD
 4 —
  • JPN: 85,017
 —
2nd W 2005
  • Released: March 2, 2005
  • Label: Zetima
  • Formats: CD
 11 —
  • JPN: 27,534
 —
Choi Waru Devil 2019 4 21 TBA —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Video albums

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Title Details Peak chart positions Sales
JPN
W no Satsuei no Sekai vol. 1[14]
  • Released: October 14, 2004
  • Label: Zetima
  • Formats: DVD
 — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Singles

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Title Year Peak position Sales
JPN
"Koi no Vacance" 2004 10 39,226
"Aa Ii na!" 7 41,581
"Robo Kiss" 5 30,239
"Koi no Fuga" 2005 12 20,922
"Ai no Imi o Oshiete!" 11 21,408
"Miss Love Tantei" 13[15] 39,226
"Dō ni mo Tomaranai" / "Choi Waru Devil" (どうにもとまらない/ちょい悪デビル) 2019 — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Network Notes
2004-2005 Hello! Morning Themselves TV Tokyo Morning Musume's variety show
2004-2005 Oha Suta Themselves; Cara and Mel TV Tokyo Appeared as Cara and Mel from January 11-September 8, 2005

Theatre

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Year Title Role Notes
2005 Mysterious Girl Detectives Cara & Mel: The Case of the Stolen Dangerous Violin (ふしぎ少女探偵 キャラ&メル 魔のヴァイオリン盗難事件) Cara and Mel [16]

Tours

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Publications

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  • 20 January 2005 – 50W
  • U+U=W Essaybook

Notes

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  1. ^ The Billboard Japan Hot Albums did not exist until June 4, 2015.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Campion, Chris (2005-08-21). "J-Pop's dream factory". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  2. ^ Tsunku (2004-03-06). "辻希美＆加護亜依の新ユニットに関してのお知らせ". Tsunku.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  3. ^ "W（ダブルユー）3月発売予定シングル・アルバム・シングルV発売中止のお知らせ" (in Japanese). Helloproject.com. 2006-02-10.
  4. ^ "Mainichi Daily News". mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp. Retrieved 2006-02-09.
  5. ^ "Hello! Project -Official Site-" (in Japanese). helloproject.com. 2006-02-10. Archived from the original on 2006-05-13.
  6. ^ "Some News Reports about Ai Kago" (in Japanese). hellproject.com. 2006-03-26. Archived from the original on 2007-04-03.
  7. ^ "加護亜依、"盟友"辻希美の誕生日会に出席". Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). 2014-06-18. Archived from the original on 2014-06-18.
  8. ^ "「辻ちゃん」「加護ちゃん」連日トレンド入りで「Wをもう一度」 辻希美＆加護亜依の伝説ユニットが話題に". Model Press (in Japanese). 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  9. ^ "辻希美＆加護亜依歓喜！「ダブルユー」復活に合わせて 発売中止の楽曲13年後に配信". Sports Nippon (in Japanese). 2019-03-26. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  10. ^ a b "「W(ダブルユー)」13年ぶり復活 加護亜依は感極まり涙 辻希美も涙ぐむ". Oricon (in Japanese). 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  11. ^ "「Ｗ」が１３年ぶり復活！加護亜依、「Ｉ ＷＩＳＨ」披露で堪えきれず涙". Sankei Sports (in Japanese). 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  12. ^ "新チャート"Hot Albums" 第1回を制したのはSuperfly『WHITE』！ μ'sは惜しくも2位に" [Superfly's White appears at #1 on the new "Hot Albums" Charts, followed by μ's at #2]. Billboard Japan (in Japanese). 2015-06-04. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  13. ^ Peak chart positions on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums:
  14. ^ "Wの映像の世界 Vol.1". Oricon (in Japanese). 2019-05-06.
  15. ^ "Missラブ探偵". Oricon (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2013-06-13.
  16. ^ "2005年 辻希美・加護亜依(W/ダブルユー)主演ミュージカル ふしぎ少女探偵キャラ&メル「魔のヴァイオリン盗難事件」". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  17. ^ "2004夏 ファーストコンサートツアー「Wスタンバイ!ダブルユー&ベリーズ工房!」". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  18. ^ "2005年夏 W&Berryz工房コンサートツアー「HIGH SCORE!」". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  19. ^ "モーニング娘。CONCERT TOUR 2004春 The BEST of Japan". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  20. ^ "Hello!Project 2004 SUMMER ～夏のドーン!～". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  21. ^ "Hello!Project 2005 Winter オールスターズ大乱舞～A HAPPY NEW POWER! 飯田圭織 卒業スペシャル～". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  22. ^ "ハロ☆プロ パーティ～!2005～松浦亜弥キャプテン公演～". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
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