generasia:Featured article for 2017 week 25
ANGERME
ANGERME (アンジュルム), formerly known as S/mileage (スマイレージ), is a Japanese pop girl group managed by Up-Front Promotion and part of Hello! Project. The group's name derives from the French words ange ("angel") and larme ("tears"), and was re-branded in December 2014 to mark a new start after adding its third generation of members.
The group originally consisted of four former Hello! Pro Egg (Hello! Project trainees) members that left Egg in 2010 and became full-time members of Hello! Project. In 2010, they won the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist. In 2011, five new girls were added to the group as part of the second generation, with two being former Egg members and three new girls, while also losing three members at the same time; three more members were added in 2014. With the graduations of two members, and the additions of two more members in 2015 and 2016, as of July 2016 the total members of the group stands at 9 members.
Their 23rd major single "Ai Sae Areba Nanni mo Iranai / Namida Iro no Ketsui / Majokko Megu-chan" is released this week on June 21st.
