generasia:Featured article for 2018 week 15
Momoiro Clover Z
Momoiro Clover Z (ももいろクローバーZ) is a female idol group of selected members from Stardust Promotion Agency's 3B junior Department. The group formed in 2008 as Momoiro Clover and made their musical debut a year later with the single "Momoiro Punch" under the indies label Happy Music Record. In early 2010 they signed with Universal Music Japan, however they only released one single under this label, "Ikuze! Kaitou Shoujo", before moving to King Records' sub-label StarChild. On April 10, 2011, Hayami Akari graduated and the group decided to be renamed Momoiro Clover Z.
The group is the first female group to hold a solo concert at National Olympic Stadium in Japan. They are the only group to provide theme music for three major Japanese anime television series with worldwide distribution: Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon.
In 2013, Momoclo grossed the fourth highest total sales revenue by a music artist in Japan, with over ¥5.2 billion. During 2016, about 636 thousand people attended their live concerts, the most ever for a Japanese female group. They have been ranked as the most popular female Japanese idol group from 2013 to 2017.
Momoclo has collaborated with other performers, including a 2015 recording with American hard rock band KISS, marking KISS' first ever collaborative recording. In 2016, their first overseas tour titled Trans America Ultra Live was held in Hawaii, Los Angeles and New York.
Their nineteenth single "Xiao Yi Xiao" is released this week on April 11th.
