Hey! Say! JUMP - A Brief History
Monday, October 1, 2012
24th September 2007.
Any Hey! Say! JUMP fan who followed them since they debuted would have a vivid memory of what happened on that day.
Well, I sure did.
I'm have not followed the boys since they stepped into the entertainment industry and I believe that there are others who have been in the fandom way longer than me and know way more than me. But here's my brief history of Hey! Say! JUMP.
Rewinding to way before Hey! Say! JUMP was formed...
Ya-Ya-yah & J.J.Express
Back in 2001, Yabu Kota and Inoo Kei joined the agency as juniors.
Yabu was selected to be part of a 7 member team, Ya-Ya-yah, with each members' letter initials to form the team name. There's very little information regarding the initial 7 member Ya-Ya-yah and the two members that left the team. Ya-Ya-yah soon became a 5 member team, with Yabu taking the center stage.
In 2002 May 15, Ya-Ya-yah released a single, Yūki 100%/Sekai ga Hitotsu ni Narumade, with Yabu Kota, Akama Naoya, Ayukawa Taiyo, Yamashita Shoon and Masaki Hoshino.
Yabu had his first acting experience in Taiyo no Kisetsu though it was a minor role.
In 2003, Ya-Ya-yah started their own variety show, Ya-Ya-yah. Yaotome Hikaru joined the Ya-Ya-yah show as a junior, initially. He was soon seen sharing the center with Yabu Kota, as the two other members of Ya-Ya-yah started fading out.
Yabu, Yaotome, Ayukawa and Yamashita were involved in a play, Stand by me, in 2003 and 2004.
In 2004, Yaotome joined Ya-Ya-yah and Ya-Ya-yah officially became a 4-member band, with Yabu Kota and Yaotome Hikaru sharing the center, along with Yamashita Shoon and Ayukawa Taiyo.
2004 also saw the year where Summary of Johnnys World was held. NEWS, KAT-TUN and Ya-Ya-yah hosted the concert along with the other juniors.
Yabu, Yaotome and Ayukawa from Ya-Ya-yah appeared in Kinpachi Sensei Season 7. Yaotome played a substantial role in the drama.
Ya-Ya-yah's brother group was created. J.J. Express, featuring four main members, Matsumoto Kohei, Inoo Kei, Arioka Daiki and Nakajima Yuto.
The Ya-Ya-yah show became well-known for its onigokko game which featured the Ya-Ya-yah members, J.J. Express members and NEWS members.
In 2005, Ya-Ya-yah had their first solo concert at Yokohama Arena. In 2005 summer, SUMMARY was hosted by NEWS and Ya-Ya-yah.
Ya-Ya-yah was featured in a manga, Ya-Ya-yah ga Yatte Kuru from 2005 to 2006.
Mid-2005, Matsumoto Kohei left J.J.Express. But J.J.Express gradually grew with fellow members, Takaki Yuya, Asaka Kodai, Hashimoto Ryosuke, Kamei Taku, Fukazawa Tatsuya and Morimoto Ryutaro.
Nakajima was pushed to the limelight in 2005 and 2006 with him acting in 4 dramas within that period, The Little Engineer's Dream SP, Engine (along with fellow member Arioka), Nobuta wo Produce and Primadam. Nakajima also appeared in senior TOKIO's PV Jibun no Tame ni, and Shuji to Akira's PV Seishun Amigo, with the latter one together with Yamada and Morimoto.
Debut?
In 2006, Yamada Ryosuke performed along with J.J.Express, though not as an official member.
Yabu wrote the lyrics to the song Asu e, which was the first song lyrics written by him being performed. Asu e had all four members of Ya-Ya-yah names in it. Inoo earned a minor role in Gachibaka! in 2006. Yamada managed to appear in Tantei Gakuen Q SP and Tantei Gakuen Q drama in 2006.
There were a lot of speculations and rumors about a junior group debuting at this period of time. Fans were guessing which will be the next group to debut. Johnny announced on Myojo magazine that there would be a debut next coming spring and that brought a lot more speculations to the fandom.
During this time, Johnny created many subgroups with Yaotome and Inoo came together with Kitayama Hiromitsu and Totsuka Shota to form a temporary group, Kitty GYM. The four of them performed along with Yamashita Tomohisa, Golf and Mike.
Nakajima, Yamada and Morimoto soon drifted away from J.J.Express. Instead of being shown together with the other senior J.J.Express members, the three of them were put together with other juniors.
After the formation of the temporary groups, Nakajima, Yamda, Morimoto and Kitty members, Kitayama, Inoo, Totsuka and Yaotome became regulars on YOUtachi!.
End of 2006, all four members of Ya-Ya-yah wrote the lyrics to Te wo Tsunaide Yukou.
HeiSei Era
2006 to 2007, Yabu, Yaotome and Nakajima were often featured in magazines and on variety shows. The three of them turned out to be the hot favourites among the juniors during that period. The trio were tasked to MC Shonen Club along with Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamura Yuichi.
Ya-Ya-yah and J.J.Express remained close as brother groups.
J.J.Express was then split into two distinct groups, the seniors including Inoo, Arioka, Takaki, Hashimoto, Kamei, Fukazawa and the juniors including Nakajima, Yamada, and Morimoto. The distinct groups can be seen when Nakajima, Yamda, Morimoto performed Please x3 and Inoo, Takaki, Arioka, Hashimoto, Kamei, Fukuzawa performed Kanjiru Mama ni You&I. Despite being separated, the entire J..J.Express still performed together in Carnival Gannibaru.
Ya-Ya-yah became the main acts in Shonen Club, with 8 new songs written for them between the year 2006-2007. Yabu became the leader among the juniors.
Furthermore, in May 2005, Yaotome wrote the lyrics to a Ya-Ya-yah song, Imasusumou. In this song, all the members performed with musical instruments, Yabu and Yaotome with the guitar, Yamashita with the bass and Ayukawa with the keyboard.
In April 2007, Hey! Say! 7 was formed with Takaki, Arioka, Nakajima, Yamada and Chinen Yuri. Hey! Say! 7 was a temporary group and they released a single Hey! Say! on 7 August 2007. The group became the youngest boyband to achieve #1 on the Oricon Charts.
It was announced that on 24 September 2007, there will be a live coverage of the new group debut announcement, straight from Yokohama Arena where the juniors were having their concert, HEY SAY 07.
Formation of Hey! Say! JUMP
The members selected to be in the new debut group were Nakajima Yuto, Yamada Ryosuke, Chinen Yuri, Morimoto Shintaro, Okamoto Keito, Takaki Yuya, Arioka Daiki, Inoo Kei, Yabu Kota, Yaotome Hikaru.
Due to the unexpected success of Hey! Say! 7, Hey! Say! JUMP was formed, adding 5 new members to the group. The popular members from Ya-Ya-yah and J.J.Express were placed in Hey! Say! JUMP. As a result, Ya-Ya-yah and J.J.Express were disbanded.
Hey! Say! JUMP became the biggest and yougest Johnny's group to debut with the youngest member being 12 years old.
Hey! Say! JUMP was further divided into two groups, Hey! Say! BEST and Hey! Say! 7. The senior and older members were in Hey! Say! BEST while the younger ones were in Hey! Say! 7.
Hey! Say! JUMP released their debut single on the 14 November 2007, achieving #1 on the Oricon Chart. The song was used to support Japan's Volleyball World Cup Relay 2007.
With the formation of Hey! Say! JUMP, Ya-Ya-yah show was replaced with Hi! Hey! Say!. Hi! Hey! Say! featured Yabu and Yaotome. YOUtachi! was switched over to Bakushō Hyappun Terebi Heisei Families and Nakajima, Yamada and Morimoto appeared on the variety show as regular guests.
Hey! Say! JUMP had their first Tokyo Dome concert on 22 December 2007 and broke the record for the youngest performing act to hold a solo concert in Tokyo Dome with the average age of 15 years 7 months.
Path to Success
In 2008, Yamada clinched 20 Junior awards from Myojo, breaking the record Akanishi Jin set in 2006. Yamada saw a rise in popularity and soon became the face of Hey! Say! JUMP.
The variety show Bakushō Hyappun Terebi Heisei Families was changed to Jikuukan Sedai Batoru Shōwa x Heisei Sho wa Hey! Say!, but still keeping Nakajima, Yamada and Morimoto.
Within the year 2008, Hey! Say! JUMP released 3 singles, Dreams come true, Your Seed/Bouken Rider, Mayonaka no Shadowboy. All 3 singles achieved #1 on the Oricon Chart.
The members had their fair share of dramas to act. From 2008 to 2010, Yamada acted in One-Pound Gospel, Furuhata Chuugakusei SP, Niini no koto Wasurenaide, Hidarime Tantei Eye Special and Hidarime Tantei Eye; Chinen appeared in Yukan Club and 1 Pound no Fukuin; Takaki in Shibake, Gokusen Season 3; Yaotome in Orthros no Inu; Yabu in Ninkyo Helper. In 2008, Nakajima, Yamada, Chinen and Arioka appeared in the drama special Sensei wa Erai! and the drama Scrap Teacher, with Nakajima as the lead role.
SUMMARY 2008 was held with Hey! Say! JUMP as the stars of the concert.
Yabu participated in DREAM BOYS with Kamenashi Kazuya and Tanaka Koki.
Hey! Say! 7 Ultra Power, a weekly radio program was introduced. Hey! Say! 7 members rotated the DJ job among themselves.
The same year, Hey! Say! JUMP-ing tour 08-09 was held, with Yabu and Yaotome working together to plann the concert details.
In 2009, Hey! Say! 7 held their first solo concert which was followed by Hey! Say! JUMP Spring Concert. During the concert, Inoo announced his acceptance to Meiji University, studying architecture.
Yabu had his first starring lead role in his musical, SHE LOVES ME.
Yabu and Yaotome collaborated for Tears and Smile, which Yabu wrote the lyrics for and Yaotome composed the song.
Jikuukan Sedai Batoru Shōwa x Heisei Sho wa Hey! Say! was switched to School Kakumei! and now starred Yamada, Yaotome and Chinen instead. Hi! Hey! Say! was changed into Shumatsu YY JUMPing, still featuring Yabu and Yaotome.
In June, a temporary group, NYC Boys, was formed with Nakayama Yuma, Yamada Ryosuke, Chinen Yuri as NYC and Boys was formed with B.I.Shadow members. NYC Boys released a single, NYC, which hit #1 on the Oricon Chart.
As of 13 September 2009, 1,000,000 people have attended Hey! Say! JUMP concerts.
In 2010, Hey! Say! JUMP released a new single, Hitomi no Screen, and it achieved #1 on the Oricon Charts.
During the concert Hey! Say! 2010 TEN JUMP, Hey! Say! JUMP announced their first album.
JUMP No.1 was released on 7 July 2010 and saw it being #1 on the Oricon Chart. Members contributed to the album by writing and composing songs. Yaotome wrote the lyrics to INFINITY, and composed Ai Scream; Yabu wrote for DREAMER; Yamada wrote for Shinku; Nakajima wrote the lyrics for Dash!; Chinen for Smile Song; Takaki wrote for Time with Arioka helping with the arrangement. Yabu and Yaotome collaborated to write for SCORE, which was a Hey! Say! BEST song. Hey! Say! JUMP all contributed to Thank You: Bokutachi kara kimi e.
Yamada, Chinen and Nakayama formed a new group, NYC, and they released two singles in 2010, Yuki 100% and Yoku Asobi Yoku Manabe.
Hey! Say! JUMP also became supporting MCs for Shonen Club, which saw 3 members being the MC during each episode.
End of 2010, Hey! Say! JUMP released a new single, Arigato ~Sekai no Doko ni Ite mo~, achieving yet another #1 single on the Oricon Chart. This song compromised many different languages of the word "Thank you", giving thanks to the fans all around the world.
In 2011, Shumatsu YY JUMPing was revamped into Yan Yan JUMP. This time round, they featured all 10 members of Hey! Say! JUMP. The show started with members playing handball every episode to trying to complete a task every week. However, the show soon shifted and now features only Yabu and Yaotome.
Okamoto appeared in Kinpachi Sensei Final Special, with Yabu and Yaotome also appearing during the reunion episode.
NYC released a new single, Yume Tamago.
Hey! Say! JUMP was scheduled to release their new single, OVER, on 29 June. However, 3 days before the release of OVER, Morimoto was involved in an underage smoking scandal. As a result, Morimoto was put on hiatus while Hey! Say! JUMP resumed activities as a 9 member band.
Hey! Say! JUMP performed in Tokyo Dome for SUMMARY 2011 without Morimoto.
Magic Power was the first 9 member single being released after Morimoto's underage smoking incident. Magic Power was the theme song for SMURFS the movie, which saw Yamada and Chinen doing the voice characters for the Japanese version. Magic Power was Hey! Say! JUMP 8th consecutive #1 single.
2011 also saw Yaotome receiving his first lead starring actor role in Ikemen Desu ne. He was joined together with Tamamori Yuta and Fujigaya Taisuke, and Takimoto Miori as A.N.Jell.
In 2012, Yabu announced that he will be going to Waseda University and Okamoto entering Sophia University.
Along that, it was announced that Morimoto will officially quit Hey! Say! JUMP due to studies.
On 2 January, Hey! Say! JUMP announced an Asia Tour from March to June. They will be going to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and Japan. This would be the first time Hey! Say! JUMP is holding overseas concerts.
However, due to some circumstances, Hey! Say! JUMP postponed their first Asia concert in Hong Kong by two months just a week before the concert commences. Their Taiwan concert was also pushed back. At the same time, they cancelled their concert in Korea and Thailand.
SUPER DELICATE was released as Hey! Say! JUMP 9th single, which was the theme song for Risou no Musuko. Risou no Musuko starred Yamada and Nakajima as the lead roles.
2012 saw Hey! Say! JUMP members taking up acting roles with Chinen was appearing in the drama Saikō no Jinsei no Owarikata: Ending Planner and Sprout; Takaki in Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou; Yaotome starred in 37-sai de Isha ni Natta Boku ~Kenshui Junjo Monogatari~; Arioka in Chushingura Sono Gi Sono Ai; Yamada in Shirarezaru Bakumatsu no Shishi: Yamada Akiyoshi Monogatari.
Yamada and Arioka are filming for Kindaichi Shonen Jinkenbo in Hong Kong at the moment.
NYC released two singles in 2012, Wonderful Cupid/Glass no Maho and Haina!.
Hey! Say! JUMP released their second studio album on 6 June 2012. JUMP WORLD again saw some members contributing to the album songs. Yaotome wrote the lyrics for Perfect Life and Sam & Pinky; Okamoto wrote a mixed English-Japanese song Hero; Yabu wrote the lyrics for SNAP; Yamada wrote for Hana Egao.
Yaotome is set to perform along with Kamenashi in Dream Boys 2012.
JOHNNY’S World was staged to be the biggest stage production for Johnny's and Hey! Say! JUMP was selected to be part of it. JOHNNY's World was in celebration of Johnny Kitagawa breaking the Guinness World Records for most number of concerts produced by an individual and most number of #1 CDs produced by an individual.
And that pretty much sums up the brief history of Hey! Say! JUMP.
Some information may not be accurate so please do not take my words completely.
And as you can tell, I pay more attention to the boys that I adore and I may have neglected some important milestones of the other boys that I do not adore as much.
This post is a tribute to the band which disbanded on 24 September, and the band which was formed on 24 September.