Dream’ Last Original Member Set To Leave

Kana during Dream' golden era

No sooner had I posted details about Dream’ new album which is coming out next week that I hear news that the last surviving original member of Dream – Kana Tachibana is set to leave at the end of the group’s next tour on February 11th. Kana has been with the group since its inception in 2000 and has stayed with them even with the other original 2 members leaving.

Kana said “”Even though I’ve been granted my childhood dream of becoming a singer, that’s not my goal. I still have a lot to study to become the person that I really want to be.” She still wants to continue singing but would rather do this on her own rather than be a part of Dream. It’ll be the end of an era when she leaves.

Dream’s New Album

Girl group Dream will be releasing their new album next week and the covers/tracklisting have just been unveiled. It’s been a long 6 years since ID was released back in 2004 plus Yu Hasebe left in 2008 so it’s the first album for them as a 6-member unit. I’m really looking forward to this album.  I will definitely be buying it during my travels in Japan next month. Unfortunately it seems that the fans that supported them during their idol days have abandoned them and moved on to other groups which is a shame as they’ve come out with some great songs during the past year.

All of their hit singles after their comeback such as Perfect Girls/To The Top and Ev’rybody Alright will be on the album. It also comes out in 3 versions – CD-only, CD+DVD and CD+DVD TRINITY Zill O’ll Zero (this is a game by the way) and if you buy the First Press editions it comes with a special serial number. Combine this with 2 more serial numbers on their previous 2 singles and you’ll get a special live DVD from their “～Road to dream～” tour.

The tracklisting is as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CD & DVD version

01. Promise
02. Hands Up!
03. Ev’rybody Alright!
04. GLORY
05. CHANGE
06. Breakout
07. Perfect Girls
08. Naked
09. To The Top
10. Dear my friend
11. Get my way -Dance Ver. w/o Bridge -/AILI thanx to Dream
12. Himawari (ヒマワリ)
13. I Believe
14. My Way ~ULala~

1. Perfect Girls PV
2. Breakout PV
3 My Way ~ULala~ PV
4. Ev’rybody Alright! PV

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trinity Zill O’ll Zero Edition CD & DVD

01. Promise**
02. Hands Up!
03. Ev’rybody Alright!
04. CHANGE**
05. Breakout
06. Himawari (ヒマワリ)
07. My Way ~ULala~

01. TRINITY Zill O’ll Zero documentary (30 min)
02. Dream documentary (30 min)

and this is the tracklisting on the bonus DVD with the First Press edition:

01. Opening
02. Breakout
03. To The Top
04. FantAstrip
– MC –
05. Secret Party
06. DANCE
07. Lady soldier
– MC –
08. I WISH YOU ~Egao no Loop~ (I WISH U ～笑顔のループ～)
09. My Way ～ULala～
10. Himawari (ヒマワリ)
11. Perfect Girls
12. Get my way -Dance Ver. w/o Bridge – / AILI thanx to Dream
13. I Believe

Dream – My Way ~ULala~ PV

This release very nearly slipped through my radar. Former idol group Dream released their first proper single in over 5 years this week with My Way ~ULala~.

They’ve been trying to build up their fanbase once more by appearing as special guests on EXILE’s Fantasy 2010 tour during May and doing a 3-date tour of their own. Exclusive songs such as Perfect Girls/To The Top which came out last year have been sold only at their free concerts so they never charted on the Oricon Top 30.

Sales so far for this single places them possibly inside the Top 20 next week. Another follow-up single from them comes out on the 29th September with an album being released sometime during November. The road back for them isn’t going to be easy as they’ve been out of the limelight for a while and it depends on how well they’ll be promoted but I wish them all the best as I like this single a lot and their overall look.

Dream – Perfect Girls Full PV

I’d forgotten that the PV to Dream’s new single came out on Youtube under a week ago so here it is. I really love the PV, the girls look amazingly hot although they’re trying to look like The Pussycat Dolls. The song itself definitely deserves to hit the top 5 in the Oricon charts when it’s released.

Dream 20th Single Preview – Perfect Girls

There’s less than a month now until the release of Dream’s 20th single – Perfect Girls which comes out on the 9th September. From the preview you’ll get to listen, I really like the song and I’m certainly going to support and buy the single when it comes out and I really hope everybody else that liked them before their hiatus supports them too. And as for their revamped image, it took time for me to get used to their new look but I think they all look fantastic judging by the picture below. Fair play to AVEX, they could easily have terminated their contract but they’ve stuck with them. It’s up to us as fans to show AVEX that Dream have a bright future ahead of them.

Details On Dream’s New Single

Confirmation that idol group Dream are really back is with the news that they’ll be releasing their new single in September. It’s been over 4 years since they last released a single (that’s not taking account of the digital songs they released 2 years ago as DRM). The name of the song is called Perfect Girls and it has a tie-in with a movie Wangan Midnight which is based on a manga.

Even better news if you’re in Japan right now is that the group is holding free concerts in 5 cities with 2 other idol groups called Love and Happiness starting from today.

Welcome back Dream, you’ve been missed!

Dream Are Finally Back!

Below you’ll find a preview of Dream’s brand new song To The Top. It also unveils their new look. They certainly look more mature now than they were before and I quite like their sound. I look forward to seeing the official PV when it comes out.

The Rise & Fall of Dream

Dream were in my opinion one of the finest idol groups to come out of Japan. Debuting in 2000 as a 3nin group and adding 6 new members in 2002 when Mai Matsumuro graduated, they may not have achieved the heady heights of popularity as Morning Musume but I found their songs were better and more catchy so what exactly happened to make Dream decline that they’re virtually non-existent these days.

Since their debut, Dreams’ sales figures were respectable. Nothing spectacular mind you and not coming near to the level of what Morning Musume were selling but they were still considered to be their rivals due to both groups having a large number of members. You couldn’t fault any of their singles and albums as they were of a high standard – they had some very good songwriters working for them. A lot of what has happened since can be attributed to AVEX for ignoring them but you can argue that if any artist/group isn’t bringing enough revenue for a big company then it’s only fair for them to be relegated down the pecking order and concentrate on the big sellers instead. Is this what happened or was it a case of they’ve had their glory now we want to bring in someone new and fresh?

From 2005 onwards, things have been quiet for the group, only surfacing to perform at concerts (their last in 2007) or taking part in the Sphere futsal league with Team Dream. Some of their members even came to US to meet fans at an anime convention which was a big success. In 2007 it was announced that the name of the group would shorten to “DRM” and that their music would change as they wanted to convey a more mature image and move away from being idols.  It is said that this was a group decision but I’m not convinced. A mini-album was released which has to be said apart from 1 song was not that good. Last year saw them release 4 digital singles which were decent but hardly the great music they were coming out with when they were at their peak.

And then a huge blow – one of the founding members announced she was leaving to try her hand at acting. For myself, Yu Hasebe was the face of Dream and her departure would leave a big gap. Not only was she a capable singer but she had a wonderful personality and was a stunning young woman to look at. It was obvious with nothing happening for Dream anymore that Yu would quit the group. Only Kana is left now as the last survivor of the original 3nen group. They changed their name back again to Dream but we’ve heard nothing from them since. Taking a look at their website it seems that we might get some new material from them soon. But will the fans that were so loyal before come back to support them again or have they moved on to other idol units – we shall see?

Whilst we wait for something new from Dream, let’s see a PV of one of their greatest hits – the anthemic “I Love Dream World” which is a classic idol song and was a huge favourite with fans. It would be used at the climax to many of their concerts. It’s one of my all-time best idol songs.