BeForU

This article is about the J-pop group BeForU. For their eponymous debut album, see BeForU (album).

BeForU was an all female J-Pop group who performed music primarily for the Bemani series of rhythm games. BeForU debuted in 2000 with their popular song "DIVE," which was notable as being the first J-POP song in the Dance Dance Revolution series. BeForU was produced by Naoki Maeda, one of the lead Konami musical producers. At the present time, they were primarily producing songs in the whole BEMANI series.

"BeForU" is a play on words and was the winning result of a contest to name the group. For Dance Dance Revolution songs, this would be a hark to the song "B4U" from Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix. Both are plays on the words "before you." In another play on words, when BeForU originally formed, they had four members. In 2004, Maehara left the group. Auditions were then held to find three replacement members. The winners of the audition were Miharu Arisawa, Sayaka Minami and Risa Sotohana, thus bringing the total number of members to six.

Their first album "BeForU" was released on November 28, 2003.
A year following that, they released their first single with Konami. Called KI・SE・KI, it was released on September 1, 2004. Their next release would be two years after, their second album BeForU II released on February 14, 2006.

From that point, there were no releases on CD until a Bemani secret live event in which Riyu Kosaka and Noria revealed that they had signed onto avex and would subsequently release a single each. In the following month, BeForU soon followed and released the single "Red Rocket Rising" on November 1. 2006.

In addition to the songs the group BeForU has done, the members of BeForU have been successful on solo, performing additional popular Bemani songs.

BeForU performed live for the first time in Zepp Tokyo on February 19, 2006. Their performances were recorded and released on DVD later that year, BeForU FIRST LIVE at ZeppTokyo 2006.

On December 22, 2006, BeForU released Get set GO!! 〜BeForU Astronauts Set〜, which contained the single "Get set GO!!", and "Strike Party!!!", was released on January 17, 2007. "Strike Party!!!" is featured during the ending credits of the 3rd season of the anime MAJOR.

BeForU released an EP called 6NOTES on March 3 that was under their Be+Wings Records label. Each of the 6 songs is a solo by each member.

BeForU's third album, BeForU III: Breaking Into the Probability Changes was released on March 14, 2007 BeForU performed live at Zepp Tokyo for BeForU LIVE 2007. In addition to BeForU III, Riyu has released a solo project called Guilty Sky for the anime CLAYMORE.

As of December 12, 2007, BeForU has officially disbanded. Due to illness, Miharu Arisawa has retired. Similarly, Yoma Komatsu has chosen to depart for personal reasons. These two members are unable to perform at a scheduled concert on December 30, where a "graduation" will take place for Noria and Risa Sotohana.

The Original BeForU

BeForU began as a competition for a new J-Pop group singing for Konami and their video games, namely Dance Dance Revolution. The four winners were chosen for their talent, ablility and emphasis. They were Riyu Kosaka at age 15, Noria Shiraishi at age 19, Yoma Komatsu at age 26, and Shiyuna Maehara at 21. Their first single DIVE was promoted widely throughout the J-Pop community. DIVE made its first appearance on DDR Extra Stage, and its official debut on DDR 5th Mix.

By DDR -Max- 6th Mix, BeForU had released another song called Firefly. Riyu also performed two solos, of which were placed in full form in her single true...

By DDR -Max 2- 7th Mix, Shiyuna was the only member of the group that had not received a solo in any BEMANI game. As a group, they released a popular song called BRE∀K DOWN!, that was later re-arranged for Guitar Freaks and DrumMania. Yoma debuted as a soloist with her song "ever snow", her only solo to be featured in any game to date. Due to their success as an artist, they were able to create an album entitled BeForU First Album-BeForU. Later on, Riyu released her solo album, entitled begin..., which featured covers of many BEMANI songs. In early 2004, Shiyuna left BeForU group to pursue other venues. She was the only BeForU member without any solos.

The New Beginning - BeForU NEXT

After Shiyuna's departure in 2004, BeForU had another contest for two new members. Somewhere along the line, there was a tie for either first or second place, so the grand total became six instead of five. The additions were Miharu Arisawa, Sayaka Minami, and Risa Sotohana. These girls would form the second generation of BeForU known as BeForU NEXT. (Note that BeForU NEXT refers exclusively to Arisawa, Minami and Sotohana) The new BeForU debuted with their single mini-album entitled KI・SE・KI. The album/DVD included a message from Naoki Maeda, their founder producer and who is also the sound producer of Dance Dance Revolution, and each of the girls.

By 2006, BeForU had release a new single and album. They also remade most of their previous songs. Their first album was BeForU Second Album-BeForU II. This featured a remix to DIVE entitled DIVE 2006. The went on tour songs from the original BeForU and from BeForU. Later that year, BeForU released and concert DVD entitled BeForU FIRST LIVE at ZeppTokyo 2006. At a secret event in August, they announced they had been signed to Avex Trax. Since then, every BeForU release has been on the avex trax label.

Group members

Original Members:

Yoma Komatsu (小松代真) - Known as 代真 (Left group in 2007)
Noria Shiraishi (白石紀亜) - Known as Noria
Riyu Kosaka (小坂りゆ)
Shiyuna Maehara (前原しゆな) (Left group in 2004)

Also, the following members are referred to as BeForU NEXT, and are first featured in Drummania/GuitarFreaks V. The three girls to replace Shiyuna Maehara:

Risa Sotohana (外花りさ) - Also known as Lisa Sotohana due to the phonetical similarities between r and l in the Japanese language
Miharu Arisawa (有沢みはる) (Left group in 2007)
Sayaka Minami (南さやか)

Discography

See BeForU discography.

Singles

Albums

DVDs

Mini-Albums

6NOTES

Other Songs

Note that many of these songs were used in BEMANI games, so are edited

BRE∀K DOWN!/ (GF/DM style) [and re-arranged for GF/DM]
チカラ [as edited for DDR, in full in GF/DM]
ever snow
DIVE ~more deep and deeper style~
Freedom
GRADUATION ~それぞれの明日~ [as edited for DDR and Pop'n Music]
Morning Glory [as edited for DDR]
PEACE (^^)v [as edited for DDR]
シナリオ
Under The Sky [in full in IIDX, as edited in DDR] (NOTE: although this song is a solo by Sayaka, with platoniX, it is credited in whole to BeForU)
BLACK OUT
Staff Roll [DDR EX OST] (full version of GRADUATION ~それぞれの明日~)
Honey punch [as edited in DDR]

Trivia

BeForU and TËЯRA are both produced or composed by Naoki Maeda, and many of the songs from each are related.
The song "I am..." by Miharu Arisawa bears similarity to the song "WE ARE" by TËЯRA - both have similar themes and both are composed by the same artists. (Both are composed TËЯRA WORKS.) A noteworthy similarity is that 'we are' is the plural form of 'I am.'
"ever snow," a solo by Yoma Komatsu (from DDRMAX 2) was composed by TËЯRA WORKS, the moniker used by Naoki Maeda and Junko Karashima. A long version sung by Karashima appeared in TËЯRA's album, RЁVOLUTIФN.
The song Freedom has a similar melody to the song "1/6 billionth" by TËЯRA.
BeForU II was released on February 14, which is Valentine's Day.
Strike Party!!! was released on Riyu's birthday of January 17.
BeForU III was released on March 14, which is White Day in Japan.
Although Risa Sotohana is the youngest member of the group, she is not the youngest member to join; Riyu Kosaka was 15 when BeForU originally formed back in 2000.

External links