During a concert at the Saitama Super Arena in April, all-girls vocal group Little Glee Monster performed a new song, Kimi to Ireba. While the track was met with fanfare, it was missing one thing–member Serina was on leave due to health concerns. The four-member version of the song was released in June, but now, Kimi to Ireba -complete ver.- has been released, sung by all five members. 

Little Glee Monster made their major debut in 2014, and has left a mark on the music world with their powerful vocals and skilled harmonies. In 2018, the group won Best Japanese Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. 

Kimi to Ireba -complete ver.-

Serina made her return to the group after being on leave since December 2020, and is currently taking part in the group’s longest tour to date, Little Glee Monster Live Tour 2020→2021 Bright New World. The group will be performing in 30 locations across Japan, and on the first day of the tour, June 28, the complete version of Kimi to Ireba was performed for the first time at Century Hall in Nagoya. 

To commemorate the complete version of Kimi to Ireba, the song premiered on the official Little Glee Monster YouTube channel on August 15. It uses live footage from the first day of the new concert tour. 

What do you think of the complete track? 

Tokyu Musix Challenge is set to take place at Bunkamura Orchard Hall this year on March 7 at 18:00.

2020 saw the cancellation of music events across the world, with Japan being no exception. Shibuya, Tokyo’s hub of countless live music venues and halls, was particularly affected by the effects of the pandemic. But the energy and power that music artists hold is one they can offer to brighten up peoples’ time during today’s times. That’s where Tokyu Musix Challenge comes in, a new kind of music festival that will bring together a multitude of genres, and where better for it to be held than the cultural melting pot that is Shibuya.

This year will be the first run of the festival, where a collaboration between classical music and contemporary pop music will clash at Bunkamura Orchard Hall. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, which is recognised as Japan’s oldest symphony orchestra, will play alongside acts such as Little Glee Monster, Ai Higuchi, Win Morisaki, Meimi Tamura, Kayoko Yoshizawa, ROTH BART BARON, and more. And the line-up is set to grow as more performers will be announced in the lead up to the event.

Comments from the Artists

Little Glee Monster

“We are really looking forward to feeling the fresh breeze of our music colliding with the grand scale of an orchestra. We’ll be sure to play our part so that we don’t lose to the overwhelming performance of everyone in the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, but also so that our music complements theirs. We hope that everyone can have a good time and feel good from the strength that music has.”

Ai Higuchi

“In 2020, we may have all lived kind of complicit with so many options in front of us leading down different paths. A certain friend might have gone to a drinking party, another might not have seen their lover for a long time. What choices do we make? We become darker depending on our choices. In Shibuya, a city that continues to change, I will sing my unchanged songs.”

Win Morisaki

“Over this past year, the respect I have for the position I’m in where I can express myself has really sunk in. I’m so happy I’ve been able to get involved with this challenge. And getting to sing with an orchestra, it’s magnificent. I’m so excited about what’s to come.”

Meimi Tamura

“I can’t contain my excitement at a genre collaboration between classic, which is the foundation of music, and pop which is strongly tied to Shibuya. I think I’m going to start feeling tense at getting to perform alongside everyone in the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and singers of all different kinds of music. We don’t have a lot of freedom today during the pandemic, but I will work my hardest so that I can deliver love through music from the city of Shibuya.”

Kayoko Yoshizawa

“My chest roars and having the opportunity to perform along side Japan’s oldest and longest-running Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at the legendary Orchard Hall. It’s my first time experiencing singing with an orchestra, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the songs will be structured, and how my voice will sound, when we do it.”

It has been announced that Little Glee Monster’s new song Kimi ni Todoku Made will be used as the ending theme for the upcoming TV anime series MIX set to begin airing on April 6, 2019.

MIX is a baseball manga series written and illustrated by Mitsuru Adachi and a follow up to his other manga series Touch which it is set 30 years after.

Little Glee’s new song was composed by Yoshiki Mizuno of Ikimono-gakari who also worked on the group’s 2018 track Natsu ni Natte Utae.

Talking about their tie-up with the series, Little Glee Monster’s Karen said the following: “We are honoured to be in charge of this song for MIX, a follow-up to Touch loved by guys and girls of all ages and known by everyone. We didn’t watch Touch when it originally aired, so we hope that our song serves as an introduction to the series to those in our generation who also haven’t seen it. We will put our all into singing this song for the series, Little Glee style.”

Five-member female vocal group Little Glee Monster performed their first-ever overseas solo tour Little Glee Monster Asia Tour 2018 – juice!!!!! – in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The girls performed at Legacy Taipei in Taiwan on July 14 and Music Zone@E-Max in Hong Kong on July 15. Over 500 fans flocked to each venue, including fans from Japan.

The group put on a captivating performance for fans with a set that included their classic live a capella funk melody, their popular cover song Jupiter, their new song Sekai wa Anata ni Waraikaketeiru set for release on August 1, and more.

They even performed covers of songs from each respective country. In Taiwan, they spoke about their dining experiences in the city at night and showed off their knowledge of popular phrases in Taiwanese taught to them by the local staff. They also pumped up everyone by shouting “Sing!” in Taiwanese.

The tour marked Little Glee’s first real step into the world as a group, and they certainly left their mark with fans with each of their phenomenal voices.

Sekai wa Anata ni Waraikaketeiru will be released on August 1 for Coca Cola’s 2018 image song. In September, the group will also embark on their biggest ever Japan tour.

Little Glee Monster – “Sekai wa Anata ni Waraikaketeiru” Short Ver.

Little Glee Monster continue to drawn in fans overseas. Stay tuned to see what they get up to next.