Generations from Exile Tribe
Generations from Exile Tribe is a seven-member Japanese boy band formed and managed by LDH. The group is part of the collective "Exile Tribe", related to Exile, and signed to the record label Rhythm Zone from the Avex Group. Generations debuted on 21 November 2012.
History
2011–12: Formation and pre-debut
In April 2011, Hiro of Exile began forming Generations. The candidate members started their activities in the summer of 2011, with a major debut as their goal. In April 2012, Alan Shirahama, Ryota Katayose, Ryuto Kazuhara, Hayato Komori, Reo Sano, and Mandy Sekiguchi were announced to the public as official members.On 11 September 2012, it was announced that Yuta Nakatsuka, who had been a support member for the group, would be added as an official member. Generations then made their major debut on 21 November, with the single "Brave It Out", which was used as theme song for the NTV drama Sugarless starring Alan Shirahama.
2013–14: Debut album: ''Generations''
In January 2013, the group changed their name from "Generations" to "GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE" and released their second single titled "Animal" on 30 of the same month.On 15 May 2013, Generations released their 3rd single titled "Love You More" as their first ballad single, it was their first single to include an English version of their previous single as a bonus track, and the first to be released in the One Coin CD and Music Card formats. The single was used as theme song for Samantha Thavasa CM "Samantha × Kawaii ×Art ".
On 10 July, Generations and Sandaime J Soul Brothers released a collaborative single titled "Burning Up" as a part of Exile Tribe releases, it topped the oricon weekly ranking and sold approximately 263,625 copies in its first week of release.
On 13 November of the same year, they released their self-titled first original studio album, and achieved first place on the Oricon charts for the first time, selling approximately 49,000 copies in its initial week of release.
On 9 October, Generations released their 4th and last single of the year titled "Hot Shot", it sold 106,358 copies in its first week and ranked #2 on the Oricon weekly charts becoming their best selling single until the release of "All for you" later on 2015.
In January 2014, Hiro appointed Alan to be the leader of the group. On 23 April, the group released their 5th single, "Never Let You Go" and on 27 April, it was announced Alan and Mandy were two of five people who passed the final audition to join Exile as performers, making them currently members of both Exile and Generations. All members of Generations auditioned.
On 3 September 2014, the group released their sixth single "Always with you", it was used as the theme song for the Japanese drama Is There a Vet in the House? aired on NTV and YTV.
In November 2014, Generations announced they would release a new album in February, followed by a nationwide tour as well as a world tour. The world tour was scheduled to take place in June, with stops in Paris, London, Los Angeles, New York, Taipei, and Hong Kong.
2015–16: ''Generation Ex'' and Speedster
On 26 January 2015, Generations was appointed as "2015 Hong Kong Tourism Goodwill Ambassador". In addition, the first single of the year titled "Sing it Loud" was released on January, 28, which was used as the theme song for TBS drama "Daddy Detective".The group released their second album, Generation Ex, on 18 February, the album reached the #1 position on the Oricon weekly chart, selling more than 64,000 copies in its first week.
From 4 April to 28 June, Generations went on their first nationwide hall tour and world tour "Generations World Tour 2015 "Generation EX".
On 13 May, Generations released their eighth single, "Evergreen", followed by their ninth single, "Hard Knock Days" on 12 August, which was chosen as the 18th opening for Fuji TV's popular anime "One Piece".
On 16 September 2015, the group released their 10th single "All For You", which was used as theme song for the movie Girl's Step, starring E-girls member Anna Ishii. The single reached the #1 position on both the daily and weekly Oricon charts, making this Generations' first #1 single.
On 27 January 2016, the group released their 11th single "AGEHA" as their first single of the year, which later won best choreography at 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. On 2 March, they released their third album Speedster. The album sold 71,000 copies in its first week and topped the Oricon weekly ranking.
From 23 April to 25 December, Generations went on their first nationwide Arena Tour "Generations Live Tour 2016 "Speedster" for which they performed in 18 venues around Japan with a total of 41 performances.
On 29 June 2016, the group released their 12th single and their second single of the year, titled 2=涙 which is the group's first ballad single where in the MV the performers didn't dance. The single sold 94,000 copies in its first week of release, and reached #1 position on the weekly Oricon charts becoming their second #1 single after "All For You".
On 16 November, Generations released their 13th single, "Pierrot" as their last single of the year. It debuted at number two on the Oricon weekly singles chart and peaked at number 3 on Billboard Japan Hot 100.
2017–18: Mad Cyclone and United Journey
On 17 April 2017, the group released their 14th single, 2=太陽も月も which music video was shot for the first time in USA, Los Angeles. The song was chosen as the theme song for Aoyama Prestige Technology "Lost and Found" TV CM and also to promote Rohto Pharmaceutical "Oxy" with both CMs featuring the group's leader Alan Shirahama.On 17 May 2017, Generations went on their second world tour "Generations 2017 World Tour ～Speedster～" which was scheduled to take place in Taipei, Taiwan, Macau, Los Angeles, New York, London and as a last stop Paris on 2 and 4 June. However, due to the Manchester terror attack, European live performances got cancelled.
On 5 July 2017, the group's 4th studio album "Namida o Nagasenai Pierrot wa Taiyou mo Tsuki mo nai Sora o Miageta" was released. The title is a reference to the album's tracks "Namida", "Pierrot" and "Taiyou mo Tsuki mo" and to the song 2=空 which was chosen as the theme song for the movie "My brother loves me too much" starring Ryota and was also used to promote the album. It later peaked at number two on the Oricon weekly chart selling more than 94,000 copies in its first week making it their best selling album before the release of their first best album.
The group launched their second nationwide Arena Tour "Generations Live Tour 2017 Mad Cyclone", which started on 22 July and ended on 17 December with a total of 29 performances in 11 venues across Japan.
On 27 September 2017, the group released the music video of their 15th single "Big City Rodeo" which was announced to be released on 25 October. The song peaked at number two on Oricon and Billiboard Japan Hot 100 with estimated physical sales of 117,842 and digital sales of 3271.
On 1 January 2018, Generations released their first best album titled Best Generation, which include all singles and music videos since their debut up to "Big City Rodeo" plus their new song "Alright! Alright!". The album was released in a Japanese edition and an international edition and peaked at number two on the Oricon weekly chart, selling more than 100,000 copies in the first week of its release.
In March 2018, Generations collaborated for the first time with American fashion brand Guess on a unisex capsule collection. In the same month, the group held their China tour "Generations China Tour 2018 ～Mad Cyclone～" which took place in Shenzen, Beijing, and Shanghai.
In May, Generations launched their first dome tour "Generations Live Tour 2018 United Journey", performing from 12 May to 5 August in four dome venues: Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Tokyo.
The group released their 16th single "F.L.Y. BOYS F.L.Y. GIRLS" on 13 June 2018, which included as B-side tracks, "United Journey", the theme song of their dome tour, and 2=また、アシタ the theme song for drama Love Rerun starring actress Anne Nakamura. The single peaked at number two on Oricon and Billboard Japan Hot 100.
On 31 October, the group released their seventeenth single 2=少年 as their first ballad single release in 2 years.
In 29 November, Generations and E-girls were chosen to promote the "Energy Project" by LDH martial arts by releasing 2 digital singles "G-ENERGY" and "EG-ENERGY", respectively.
2019–present: ''Shonen Chronicle'' and Battle of Tokyo
On 26 May 2019, Generations announced on a live episode of their internet TV show Generations High School TV that they would be releasing one single per month for 3 consecutive months starting in July. On the same episode, the group announced they will hold their first national five dome tour titled Generations Live Tour 2019 "Shonen Chronicle" beginning 31 August at Sapporo Dome and ending on 15 December in Fukuoka Yahuoku Dome.In June 2019, the Battle of Tokyo project started, which includes all Jr.Exile groups. During this month those 4 groups released collaboration singles every week, until they released a full album titled "Battle of Tokyo 〜Enter the Jr.Exile〜" on 3 July. Accompanying the album release, the groups held a row of live performances from 4 to 7 July with the same name.
The first single of their 3-month project, released on 17 July, is titled "Brand New Story", which was used as the theme song of the anime movie Ride Your Wave in which Ryota voiced as the main character. To promote the single, a music video was released on 21 June featuring the members in animated form created by Science Saru. The single included "Control Myself" as a B-side track, being the group's first original English song featuring Mandy as a rapper.
On 5 July 2019, during the second day of "Battle Of Tokyo 〜Enter The Jr.Exile〜", it was announced that the second single of the project is titled "Dreamers". The music video was released on 31 July in a short drama format with a duration over 11 min, the story showcased different types of "dreamers" played by the members with each one being in a different type of situation, showing what they would possibly do if they weren't part of Generations. Musically speaking,"Dreamers" is the first group's song with a simple acoustic guitar sound and a slow tempo. The single featured as a B-side "A New Chronicle", the theme song of the group's dome tour and was released on 28 August.
On 31 August 2019, it was announced that the third single and the last of the project is titled "EXPerience Greatness", the capitalized words of the title make reference to EXPG as the song was created with the intention of sharing dreams with students of EXPG STUDIO and to march forward with them. The single's music video was released on 11 September, showcasing about 2,000 EXPG STUDIO students in various scenes. The single was released on 25 September featuring the track "Snake Pit" as a B-side, one of the songs in the soundtrack of the movie "High & Low The Worst" in which Hayato and Yuta made their debut as actors.
On 3 October 2019, it was announced that Generations would release their 5th studio album titled Shonen Chronicle on 21 November. It would include all tracks from their previous 3-month project alongside Ryuto's first solo song "Nostalgie" and 2 new songs,"One in a Million -kiseki no yoru ni-", the theme song for the movie Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight starring Ryota and "Shinsei", which is written by Ryuto and Alan's first work as a sound producer. The CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray editions of the album included each member version of the "Dreamers" Music Video.
On 14 November 2019, the final lineup for the annual new year Eve program NHK's Kouhaku Uta Gassen revealed that Generations will make their first appearance on the 70th edition and the first in the Reiwa period.
On 21 February 2020, it was revealed that the group would release their second collaboration with American fashion brand Guess consisting of a new collection, lookbook and Pop-up in Tokyo.
On 4 March 2020, Generations were selected as "Japan & United Arab Emirates Goodwill Ambassadors". On 10 March 2020, the group unveiled their first single of the year titled "Hira Hira" which was released on 15 April.
From 18 April to 5 July, the group was scheduled to hold their dome tour Generations Perfect Live 2012▶2020 which would be part of LDH Perfect Year 2020: Season 2 "Imagination", but due to COVID-19 pandemic, all performances were postponed. Moreover, on 11 May, the group released a new digital song "You & I".