On Wednesday, July 31st, the group released their 17th single, “Zettai Idol Quit Never Becoming an Idol,” and achieved the feat of being ranked in the top 10 of Oricon’s weekly single rankings for 17 consecutive releases since their debut single. As soon as the music video for the title track was released, it reached 1 million views in 24 hours, the fastest time for the group’s music video (ranked 1st on YouTube’s “Trending Videos” and 4th on Japan’s “Rapidly Rising Music”), and has now surpassed 7.5 million views. The song has been a long-running hit, with a total of over 12 million views on streaming services and over 100 million views on TikTok. On Wednesday, August 28th, all the members of the idol group =LOVE, produced by Rino Sashihara, appeared on the 471st episode of the YouTube channel “THE FIRST TAKE” to perform a special arrangement of “Zettai Idol Quit Never Becoming an Idol.” The group is unstoppable.
To celebrate the release of their much-talked-about 17th single “Zettai Idol Yamenai de”, they held a special live concert at Design Hall (Nagoya). This event was open to lucky users who purchased the single “Zettai Idol Yamenai de” and was a very premium event where only those lucky users selected by lottery could participate and experience =LOVE’s performance up close. This premium event will have a total of 7 performances at 3 venues, including the Osaka performance held at Matsushita IMP Hall on Sunday, August 25th, the “Sanrio Special Live” scheduled to be held at the Galaxy Theater on Friday, November 1st, and the Tokyo performance scheduled to be held at the same theater on Sunday, November 3rd.
The special live performance held yesterday at the Design Hall was divided into two parts (Part 1 from 14:30 / Part 2 from 17:00), and the lucky fans who won the lottery were invited to the event. They performed a total of 10 songs, including their latest song “Zettai Idol Yumenai de”, as well as songs from their 17th single “Nakamawari Shoo Cream” and “Umi to Lemon Tea”, popular summer tunes “Natsumatope” and “Natsumatsuri Koimou”, and =LOVE’s signature songs “Seishun “Subliminal”” and “=LOVE”.
During the MC talk, they talked about the recommended points and choreography of the songs included in the 17th single “Zettai Idol Yumenai de”, the MV shooting behind-the-scenes stories, and other special live talks. By all means, why not apply for this precious special live next time?
In September, =LOVE will hold their 7th anniversary concert “=LOVE 7th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” at K Arena Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, their largest concert to date, and in addition, =LOVE, ≠ME, and ≒JOY will hold a joint concert “Ikonoi Joy 2024” (Fuji-Q Highland Conifer Forest, Yamanashi Prefecture). As they run through the summer and energetically expand the scope of their activities, =LOVE will continue to be a hot topic.
★8/28 (Wed) 17th single “Never Quit Being an Idol” Release Commemoration Special Live @Design Hall
(SETLIST)
1. Never Quit Being an Idol ※17th single title song released on 7/31 (Wed)
2. “Drive Date in Tokyo”
3. Nakanaori Shoo Cream ※B-side of the 17th single released on 7/31 (Wed)
MC
4. Umi to Lemon Tea ※B-side of the 17th single released on 7/31 (Wed)
5. Start!
6. Heroines
MC
7. Natsumatope
8. Summer Festival Love
9. Youth “Subliminal”
MC
10. =LOVE
(=LOVE information)
★”=LOVE – Never Quit Being an Idol / THE FIRST TAKE” is now available
★Product information
Release date: Wednesday, July 31, 2024
17th single “Never Quit Being an Idol”
★”Never Quit Being an Idol” Music Video
“Don’t ever quit being an idol”
Lyricist: Rino Sashihara
Composition and Arrangement: Ryuuki Koike, Hiroto Kikuchi
Sound Director: Takayuki Yayama (Sony Music)
Recorded by Sony Music Studios Tokyo
(MUSIC VIDEO)
Director: Ryohei Shingu (BABEL LABEL)
Choreographer: Maika Takeda
★”Music Video for ‘Makeup Cream Puffs’
“Reconciliation Cream Puffs”
Lyricist: Rino Sashihara
Composer: Furuppe (Kerakera), Takayuki Yoshimura
Arrangement: Takayuki Yoshimura
Sound Director: Takayuki Yayama (Sony Music)
Recorded by Sony Music Studios Tokyo
(MUSIC VIDEO)
Director: Shunji Ohno
Choreographer: Saeko Makita
★”Sea and Lemon Tea” Music Video
“The Sea and Lemon Tea”
Lyricist: Rino Sashihara
Composition and Arrangement: Tetsuya Iwasaki
Sound Director: Takayuki Yayama (Sony Music)
Recorded by Sony Music Studios Tokyo
(MUSIC VIDEO)
Director: Nakajima Seito (superbly inc.)
Choreographer: CRE8BOY
★”Never Quit Being an Idol” now available
https://equallove.lnk.to/Zettaiidolyamenaide
★17th single “Never Quit Being an Idol” release commemorative event held
Online individual talk session, two-shot photo session, individual talk session
★Video product of =LOVE, ≠ME, and ≒JOY joint concert “Ikonoi Joy 2023” will be released on Wednesday, September 18th!
https://equal-love.jp/news/detail/8874
★The largest-ever concert to celebrate the 7th anniversary of =LOVE, “=LOVE 7th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” will be held
[Date]September 7th (Saturday) and September 8th (Sunday), 2024
[Venue]K Arena Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture
Doors open 14:00 / Show starts 16:00 (both days)
https://equal-love.jp/news/detail/8800
★=LOVE, ≠ME, and ≒JOY will hold a joint concert “Ikonoi Joy 2024”
[Date]Saturday, September 28, 2024
[Venue]Conifer Forest, Fuji-Q Highland, Yamanashi Prefecture
https://nearly-equal-joy.jp/feature/specialsite_ikonoijoy2024
★”Iconojoy Thanksgiving Festival 2024″ to be held
[Date]October 22nd (Tuesday) Appearance: ≠ME October 23rd (Wednesday) Appearance: =LOVE October 24th (Thursday) Appearance: ≒JOY
[Location]Tokyo: TOKYO DOME CITY HALL
https://equal-love.jp/news/detail/8822
★Profile
An idol group produced by Rino Sashihara. They made their major debut on September 6, 2017 with their first single “=LOVE” from Sony Music. They have released 17 singles so far, all of which have made it into the top 10 of the Oricon weekly single rankings. (Their 6th single “Zuruiyo Zuruine”, 8th single “Seishun Subliminal”, 12th single “Be Selfish”, 14th single “Natsumatope”, and 15th single “Last Note Shika Shiranai” debuted at No. 1. Their first album “Zenbu, Himo.”, released in May 2021, also debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly album rankings.) In October 2023, they will hold the “=LOVE 6th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” for two days at Saitama Super Arena to celebrate their 6th anniversary.
From February to April 2024, they will hold their first arena tour, “=LOVE Arena Tour 2024 “Tell me what’s more than “LOVE”” (8 performances at 4 venues in total), which was a huge success, attracting approximately 50,000 people. On Wednesday, July 31st, they will release their 17th single, “Zettai Idol Yumenai de,” which broke their own personal record for first-week sales in both the Oricon Weekly Single Ranking and Billboard JAPAN Top Singles Sales. On September 7th and 8th, they will hold the “=LOVE 7th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT,” the largest concert in =LOVE’s history, at K Arena Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. The name “=LOVE” is filled with Rino Sashihara’s thoughts that “idols must be loved by their fans. And they must love their job as idols.”
[Official website]https://equal-love.jp/
[Official X]https://x.com/Equal_LOVE_12
[Official Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/equal_love.official/
[Official TikTok] https://www.tiktok.com/@equal_love_12
[Official YouTube Channel]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv7VutirxDn3RWIJXI68n_A
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