Poppin'Party


Poppin'Party is a Japanese all-female band that was formed in 2015 as part of Bushiroad's media franchise BanG Dream!. The group's members are voice actresses who portray fictional characters in the franchise's anime series and mobile game BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!.
The band consists of Aimi, Sae Ōtsuka, Rimi Nishimoto, Ayaka Ōhashi, and Ayasa Itō. In the anime and game, the band is represented by Kasumi Toyama, Tae Hanazono, Rimi Ushigome, Sāya Yamabuki, and Arisa Ichigaya. Poppin'Party serves as the protagonists of the anime, which began airing in 2017.
Of BanG Dream! seven bands, Poppin'Party is one of four whose members play their own music during live concerts. The band has produced 15 singles and two albums.

History

The BanG Dream! franchise was created by Bushiroad founder Takaaki Kidani with the premise of voice actresses who were capable of playing their own instruments in live performances. He received inspiration for the concept when he attended The Idolmaster Masters of Idol World!! 2014 concert at Saitama Super Arena, where Aimi's ability to sing and play guitar piqued his interest.
At her ~Love Generation~ concert on February 28, 2015, Aimi announced she would form a band under the BanG Dream! umbrella and serve as its vocalist and guitarist. Rimi Nishimoto and Ayasa Itō joined the project in April as bassist and keyboardist, respectively. Their first live show, I Started a Band in Spring!, took place on April 18, 2015 at Shimokitazawa Garden. The three played 12 songs, 11 of which were cover versions of popular anime music, with the exception being the original song "Yes! BanG_Dream!". Composed by Elements Garden's Noriyasu Agematsu, it was released as Poppin'Party's debut single on February 24, 2016. During the concert, Aimi lost her voice, which was later used as a plot point for her character Kasumi in the anime.
The band's name Poppin'Party was revealed in the magazine Monthly Bushiroad prior to their second show. Officially known as Instruments × Girls = Justice! and held on June 14 at Shinjuku LOFT, the live saw the introduction of Sae Ōtsuka as guitarist. A week later, Aimi conducted a solo concert at CharaExpo 2015 in Singapore for the franchise's first performance outside of Japan. Drummer Ayaka Ōhashi joined Poppin'Party as its fifth and final member during the Welcome! Poppin☆Party!!!!! concert on October 11 at Differ Ariake. In its early stages, the band's performances were inspired by fellow all-female band Silent Siren; the two groups would collaborate for the Battle of the Bands-style "No Girl No Cry" concert at the MetLife Dome on May 18–19, 2019. Poppin'Party and Silent Siren also released a single by the same name on July 31, 2019.
In 2016, Poppin'Party started hosting in-character concerts beginning with BanG Dream! First☆Live Sprin'Party 2016! on April 24, 2016. The band grew in popularity with their performances over the year, with the Second☆Live Starrin'Party 2016! on November 13 selling out much of its tickets shortly after opening sales in mid-October. In the summer, the group performed at Animelo Summer Live, which helped boost sales of their third single "Hashiri Hajimeta Bakari no Kimi ni / Teardrops" to 11,301 copies in its first week of release; in comparison, "Yes! BanG_Dream!" had less than 1,500 initial-week sales, while their second single "Star Beat! Hoshi no Kodou" sold 3,414. In December, "Hashiri Hajimeta Bakari no Kimi ni / Teardrops" ranked tenth on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, the first time an anime-based artist had a single in an Oricon chart's top ten prior to their show's airing.
The anime began broadcast in 2017, with the band's members portraying the main characters. Currently consisting of three seasons, the series features Poppin'Party songs as theme music: the first season used "Tokimeki Experience!" and "Kirakira da toka Yume da toka ~Sing Girls~" as its opening and ending, respectively; the second featured "Kizuna Music♪" and "Jumpin'"; and the third had "Initial" and "Yume wo Uchinuku Shunkan ni!". A film focusing on the band titled BanG Dream! Poppin'Dream! is scheduled for a 2022 theatrical release.
"Tokimeki Experience!" and "Kirakira da toka Yume da toka ~Sing Girls~" were released as singles on February 1 and 15, 2017, respectively. The two songs were performed by the band at the 3rd☆Live Sparklin'Party at Tokyo Dome City Hall on February 5. Poppin'Party's next single "Mae e Susume! / Yumemiru Sunflower", whose included tracks were insert songs in the anime, saw a May 10 release. On August 21, Poppin'Party participated in the 4th☆Live Miracle Party 2017! at the Nippon Budokan, which quickly sold out its 11,000 tickets prior to general sale, prompting Live Viewing Japan to live broadcast the concert in theaters. During the concert, the band debuted the song "Time Lapse", which was released as their seventh single on September 20; it sold 10,603 copies in its first week to rank a then-best sixth on the Oricon Weekly Chart. A third 2017 single "Christmas no Uta" came out on December 13; its coupling track "B.O.F." was used as a theme song for the anime Future Card Buddyfight X.
Poppin'Party's ninth single "CiRCLING" came out on February 21, 2018 as part of a dual-release day with fellow BanG Dream! band Roselia's "Opera of the wasteland". The two groups held the BanG Dream! 5th☆Live at Makuhari Messe—with Poppin'Party's concert being named Happy Party 2018!—on May 12–13. Another single "Double Rainbow / Saa Ikō!" was released on July 11 and became the band's first single to appear in Oricon's top five when it peaked at fourth; "Saa Ikō!" later served as the opening to Future Card Buddyfight Ace, and Aimi and Nishimoto also voiced characters in the show. In August, Poppin'Party returned to Animelo Summer Live, where they performed "Teardrops", "Kirakira da toka Yume da toka ~Sing Girls~", and a cover of "God Knows" from Haruhi Suzumiya, while Ōtsuka and Nishimoto partnered with Maon Kurosaki and Luna Haruna to cover "Shunkan Sentimental" from . Another cover collaboration had taken place in April at Animax Musix 2018 Osaka as the band worked with OxT for a cover of OxT vocalist Masayoshi Ōishi's song "Kimi Ja Nakya Dame Mitai". The band's 11th single "Girl's Code", which Real Sound noted had more bittersweet lyrical content in the titular track and its B-side "Setsunai Sandglass" than other Poppin'Party songs, received an October 3 release. Two months later, they played on the 6th☆Live's second day on December 8 at Ryōgoku Kokugikan; "Kizuna Music♪" saw its debut at the concert followed by its release as a single four days later.
The band's first album Poppin'on! was released on January 30, 2019. Consisting of their first 11 singles with acoustic versions of some songs, the album peaked at fourth in the Oricon Albums Chart. The 12th single "Jumpin'" was one of six released by the franchise on February 20 ; every single would rank in the Oricon Daily Chart's top ten for February 19, with "Jumpin'" being the fourth-highest in sixth. "Dreamers Go! / Returns", released on May 15, enjoyed a fourth-place ranking on the Oricon Weekly Chart. Poppin'Party made a third appearance at Animelo Summer Live in early September, performing "Teardrops" with the festival's band, "Star Beat! Hoshi no Kodou", and Kizuna Music♪". In December, the group partnered with beverage producer Kirin Company to promote its Gogo no Kōcha tea line by creating the song "White Afternoon"; Sanzigen, who animated the second season of BanG Dream!, produced a 30-second advertisement for the collaboration. A full version of "White Afternoon" received a digital release on December 9. Performances during the year included the BanG Dream! 7th☆Live at the Budokan on February 23, No Girl No Cry with Silent Siren in May, and a guest appearance at Rock in Japan Festival on August 11.
In January 2020, Poppin'Party's 15th single "Initial / Yume wo Uchinuku Shunkan ni!" became the first of the franchise to top Oricon's weekly chart after selling 27,000 copies from January 7 to 11. Before "Initial", their best-performing singles were "Double Rainbow / Saa Ikō!", "Kizuna Music♪", and "Dreamers Go! / Returns", all of which ranked fourth. The band's second album Breakthrough! was released on June 24; it was originally planned for a June 3 debut before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The album, which contains the band's four latest singles, sold 10,269 copies in its first day to top Oricon's daily chart; after one week, it had 20,988 sales to rank first on Billboard Japan Hot Albums listing for July 6.
, Poppin'Party is one of four bands in BanG Dream! that perform their own live music along with Roselia, Raise A Suilen, and Morfonica.

Members

Besides live performances, Poppin'Party's members voice characters in the BanG Dream! anime series and other animated media. Fictionally, Poppin'Party was formed by Kasumi Toyama in her journey to rediscover the "Star Beat". Although their raw skill is not the best, they make up for this with their strong energy and innate connection between each other. Their name references the "popping" theme of their band and music; before performances, they huddle and recite the chant, "PoPiPa, PiPoPa, PoPiPaPaPiPoPa!".
The first season of the anime follows Poppin'Party's creation and efforts to perform at live house SPACE, while the second details the band's plans of organizing a self-sponsored live show. For the third season, Poppin'Party enters the Girls Band Challenge competition alongside Roselia and Raise A Suilen. In the main story mode of Girls Band Party!, Poppin'Party helps the player character recruit bands for the titular event.
Novelist Kō Nakamura was tasked with creating the band's fictional personas. Aspects of Poppin'Party's formation were based on Nakamura's high school band; examples included their origins stemming from classmates who wished to create a band together and the guitarist finding a guitar in a pawnshop, while Poppin'Party and Nakamura's group both conducted meetings in a warehouse. Further inspiration was drawn from photos of The Beatles performing at the Nippon Budokan, which Nakamura set as Poppin'Party's ultimate goal; the band would perform at the arena as part of the fourth and seventh BanG Dream! live concerts. The character designs were also loosely modeled after their voice actresses to better reflect their musical abilities.
BanG Dream! first work, the manga BanG_Dream! Star Beat by Nakamura and Aya Ishida, contained numerous differences in character traits that were retconned in later media.

Discography

, Poppin'Party has produced 41 songs, including five image songs by their members, and 15 singles. Nakamura writes the lyrics for Poppin'Party songs, though Kasumi is credited as the in-universe lyricist; to better connect with Kasumi, Nakamura's songwriting process emulates how he believes she would do so, such as using dictionaries and consulting her friends. Elements Garden's members like Agematsu and Junpei Fujita oversee the songs' composition and arrangement.
In addition to their two albums, Poppin'Party and the other bands in the BanG Dream! franchise were featured in four cover song albums. The soundtrack from BanG Dream! Film Live, which included songs by Poppin'Party and its fellow groups in the project at the time, was released in September 2019.

Singles

Other songs

Albums