The Instability and Future of Country Girls, or simply put- just me rambling about the group

You know, I just came back from a decent vacation out on a island. Despite me having very limited Internet connection, I still had a lot of fan and came back completely sunburnt but happy. My boyfriend was very kind of enough to publish the remaining draft entries for ˚C-ute Appreciation Week for me while I was away. Yet, when I went to check on news that I have missed up until now- bam! This happens. Country Girls, or basically the entire Hello! Project, as a whole is getting completely reorganized.

Just letting this out before you guys start shooting me or something: everything I'm writing is just my own opinions and perspective of the events that is happening. They're just my opinions. I don't consider a die-hard fan of Country Girls but I have followed them since their beginning in 2015. Again, these are all just my opinions and if you disagree- let's have a civil discussion in the comments! I'd like to read your thoughts about it. 

When I first read the news about Country Girls a few days ago, I'll be very honest– I wasn't really surprised that something like this was actually happening and I had predicted this quite some time ago. Here me out first, when the group first started out- there was a lot of promise about them. We all know Momoko wasn't done with her career and tried to stretch out her cutesy idol image for as along as she could and there were Kenshuusei members that everyone was dying to have debut. We have an experienced idol plus promising rookies put into a newly rebranded group. Surely, there was a lot of potential for them to be a success and become a fresh change for Hello! Project.

And for a small while, that seemed to be the case for them. I'm not that big of a Country Girls fan so I'm just writing my observations here. Itoshikute Gomen ne was such a hit in the fandom and everyone was completely smitten with Shimamura Uta- who I believe was destined to be center in the group. It seemed that everything was going relatively well.. that is until Uta withdrew from the group and broke the fandom's hearts into pieces. It seemed like that was start where everything slowly started going downhill. Not quite, but you could say it was a small spark that eventually grew.

Their second single was in no way bad and I quite loved it. Without Uta there as a center, there was a gap that needed to be filled but the remaining five girls did relatively fine working around that. There was still quite a lot of potential for them to grow and become more successful. With the addition of Nanami and Musubu along with the departure of Manaka, that was where the cracks of lineup instability started to become more obvious for me. I just started having a lot of bad feelings about the group and there was the impression that probably the agency was growing desperate and stretching the group out.

Up until their fourth single, there has not been a time in which the lineup stayed the same for more than two singles. For every single, the lineup fluctuates. They're losing a member, they gained a member, they're losing a member, they're gaining a member, and so on. There's nothing bad about an changing line-up (you can look at Morning Musume as an example) but from my opinion, if a lineup changes this much... Okay, I'm not entirely sure if that's a good thing anymore. The agency has lost Uta and Manaka - who were the two more popular "rookies" - and now they're losing Momoko - who had the biggest fanbase. I feel like with the addition of the three youngest members, the agency were growing desperate and trying to gain the group some relevancy again perhaps?

That being said, I cannot contribute everything bad to their instable lineup. I feel like another prominent thing that lead to their downfall was the change in primary music style. With the success of Itoshikute Gomen ne, the group tried to go cutesy. With the success of Boogie Woogie Love, they group tried to rehash that in their next single. From my own perspective as a casual listerners, they're songs have been a hit or miss and they're rehashing the more popular songs. You have a group filled with very decent vocalists. I feel like if there was just a tiny bit more effort into giving them good songs like ºC-ute or ANGERME, things could have been better for their music-wise.

The constant change in their member lineup and the hit or miss songs... For me, I felt like that initial potential the group had in the beginning was wasted and that the group was just going down unless something starts improving.

The way this next group format that Country Girls will go through- in which the members are going to other groups and only come back together during holiday breaks- is probably a more silent way of saying the agency is giving on the group. Even if the group stayed together and this new plan didn't occur, I doubt anything will change for the better. Adding members isn't going to help them and I don't think more effort will be put into their music when you compare it to Morning Musume or ANGERME. Again, I'm not that big of a fan of Country Girls yet I just can't help but feel just sorry for them. This group has been quite unlucky in a sense and the girls are basically been thrown around. Now the agency's just slowly dissolving the group itself without actually just straight out saying it.

With Risa and Mai choosing to focus on their academics, I highly doubt that they'll continue to be full time idols in the future. I feel like the new format is a way to keep the two within the idol scene or else they'll just leave and the member lineup fluctuates even more. And to think Risa was my favorite in the group.. out of everyone, she stood out to me the most from beginning to the end. As for the topic of what would happen had Uta remained in the group, I honestly don't know what could happened if had stayed. I doubt much would change, maybe with her being popular and as center- the agency could invest more into the group? I really don't know.

Now for the remaining three members, I sincerely hope that them being in new group would result in a more positive outcome for them. Chisaki will be going into Morning Musume, which is not a bad thing as she does have some popularity and will be in a group where she will be noticed. However, as a fan of Morning Musume, we just recently have the 13th generation who hasn't quite find their footing in their group yet. It feels too soon and forced. And the members reaction to her joining was quite mixed... and I feel slightly worried that there's gonna be an internal conflict in the group. I just sincerely hope there's gonna be some good outta this.

Nanami and Musubu will be in Juice=Juice and ANGERME respectively. Juice=Juice has been really boring for me and adding new members will really shake things up for the group. However, she doesn't really fit with the group's visual aesthetic and it feels odd for me to imagine her with Juice=Juice. But who knows? Nanami being in Juice=Juice could bring out a more cooler, better side of her that she couldn't show in Country Girls. As for Musubu, I think she'll be absolutely fine with ANGERME. From the video released, the group was really accepting and excited. Sure, it'll be awkward at first as Musubu will have to work to get her hold onto the group. I think she'll be great and really blossom.

Overall... this group was really something. They were really going downhill and people are trying to jump off a sinking ship. I can only hope for the best for the members in the respective future routes. Still trying to get those new member additions to sink in though.. I'm still trying to get used to it. /whacked;