Kimono

Kimono is a Japanese girlgroup that formed and originated in Tokyo in 2010. The group consist of four members, Sakura Kimura, Hikari Onuki and Kaori Takahashi who formed the band in 2010, and Kuki Amuro who joined in late 2012. They achieved very minimal success in Japan, and decided to try and introduce Europe to J-pop, as there were no asian artists at the current time. The girls headed over to the UK in 2011 where they discovered a new talent show, The G Factor. The girls auditioned for this and made it to the final 11, however the show was then cancelled after it was discovered the bosses were messing with the votes in order to let the acts mentored by Just Ginger progress. Whilst on the show the girls were mentored by L'mondrea.

One year later in 2012, the girls auditioned for the first series of The Uraps Factor. They stated they wanted to make people happy with their music. After progressing to the final 24, they were informed their mentor would be James Moss, the only judge who had never been fond of them. He didn't put the girls through to the live finals, however the public was allowed to vote one act through themselves, and Kimono went through to the final 16 with an enormous 80% of the votes. The group started off well, however after performing "5,6,7,8" in Rock Week they were voted out by their own mentor in 13th place, causing a great deal of media outrage.

In 2013, the girls returned to the second series of The Uraps Factor, with a new member Kuki Amuro, in order to ensure they meet the rules about coming back. With Candi as their mentor this year, they finished in 10th place, being eliminated in the fifth week of live shows.

2010: Formation and early Japanese career
For around two years, each of the three girls tried to make it as solo artists, being based in Tokyo. It wasn't until February 2010 that a chance meeting at an open-mic night led to the girls meeting, and deciding to form a band together. The group began to recieve more attention, and managed to make a good amount of money through the large amount of gigs they were given. The girls managed to independently release a single in June 2010, titled "Ai shi teru!" which charted at #24 on the Japanese Oricon chart. The group then managed to release a second Japanese single, "Kisu" in October 2010, which charted at #33. Following this slight success, the girls decided that they could make more musical impact if they travelled to the Western musical scene, and flew over to the UK.

2011: The G Factor
After arriving in the UK in April 2011, the girls struggled to receive much attention, with J-Pop not being relevant in the UK, however the girls noticed a new show, The G Factor, where groups could audition. Thinking it could help them break into the market, the girls auditioned in July and were put straight through. The girls progressed to the Bootcamp stage, making it to the final 24 acts and final 6 groups. Following a public vote, they progressed through to the final sixteen and last four groups, now at the Judge's house stage. Kimono performed infront of her mentor L'mondrea and her Moodring band member Cassie. They both put the group through, meaning the girls made it to the final 12 and the live finals. In Week 1 the girls performed "If U Seek Amy" and went straight through to the next week, however before the second week it was revealed in the media that owner of the show Just Ginger had tampered with the votes to give each of her acts more votes than they really recieved, meaning the show was instantly cancelled. Following this, the group recieved a bit more attention, and were able to perform several small shows around the UK, however it wasn't the success they were hoping for.

2012: The Uraps Factor
Towards the end of 2011, Kimono were struggling to maintain the momentum that had built up from The G Factor, and began to struggle to secure more gigs. In late 2011 a large amount of excitment was focused on a new talent show, The Uraps Factor. The first series of the show had a massive amount of media attention due to it's high profile judging line-up, consisting of Brett Clarkson, Stacy Hart, Candi (who Kimono already knew as she was the host of The G Factor) and James Moss. The group decided to audition for the show, and made it through to the final 24, where they had to audition infront of judge James Moss in Texas. Unfortunately for the group, Moss had been the only judge to not like the group, and he decided to not put them through to the final 16. However the public were able to vote one act from each category back into the show, and Kimono were voted back in with a massive 80% of the vote, the largest of all the twelve contestants who were voted out. In the first week of the live finals as part of the final 16, the girls performed "The One That Got Away" and progressed straight through, avoiding the double elimination where a group was eliminated, meaning they were one of only three groups left. Now in the final 14, the girls performed "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and easily went through to third week. However Week 3 was Rock week, a week where Kimono were sure to struggle due to J-Pop being a sharp difference to Rock. The girls performed "5,6,7,8" by Steps and were slaughtered by the judges for performing something that wasn't rock. The girls found themselves in the bottom 2, and when it came down to the judge's votes, it ended up being their judge James Moss who could either send them to Deadlock or vote them out. There was a massive amount of shock when James sent an act from his own category home, instead of Sebastian LeBlanc (who ironically was voted out the next week). Moss recieved a large amount of media backlash for this, especially when it was discovered that if he had taken it to deadlock, Kimono would have remained in the competition and LeBlanc would have went home. Therefore the girls finished 13th place.

Due to The Uraps Factor being the most watched talent show ever, the girls recieved a lot more media attention than they did after The G Factor. They are currently doing a small tour around the UK and appeared on a track for 8-BIT's debut album "Character Select" titled "The Reality Game". The album peaked at #1 on the UK charts. "The Reality Game" focused on the effects of reality competitions, as 8-BIT appeared on The G Factor alongside Kimono.

2013: The Uraps Factor 2 and second line-up
The second series of The Uraps Factor premiered on 12 January 2013, where the judge's house stage was shown, featuring the final 28 acts. It was revealed that Kimono had reached this stage in the show, and were one of the final seven groups auditioning infront of the mentor for groups that year, Candi and her guest judge Ben Johnston. They had auditioned for a fourth band member throughout September 2012, in order to be able to re-apply for the show, and thus Kuki Amuro made the group now a foursome. They performed "Beautiful 'Cause You Love Me", and were chosen by Candi to progress through to the live shows as one of her four groups and one of the 17 finalists. For the first live show, under the 90's theme they performed "Wannabe" and progressed through to the second live show, surviving a double elimination where another of Candi's groups, 4EVR, were eliminated. On the second live show, the group performed a mash-up of "Call My Name" and "Gangnam Style" in which they survived another double elimination, progressing into the final 13. On Week 3, the girls performed a cover of their mentor's recent #1 hit, Best Damn Night" and progressed through to the fourth week, where as Candi lost another group, Diamante, leaving Kimono as one of only two remaining groups, and meaning they outpeaked their performance on the show in 2012. On Week 4, the girls sang "About You Now" for the theme 'Best of British'. They recieved their best judges comments yet over the two series and progressed through to the next week, surviving yet another double elimination. On Week 5, they performed "Cry Me A River" however were put in the bottom two against Deidrea Wright. After judges Kleo and James voted out Kimono, and Candi and Brett voted out Deidrea, the vote went to deadlock, where it was revealed Kimono recieved the least votes, and finished in 10th place.

Following the show, band member Sakura Kimura provided vocals for Babycakes' single "Devon". Released on 26 August 2013, the song became a top ten hit, debuting at #10.

The group are expected to release their first single in five years, "Ai No Sensō" at some point during 2015.

Band members

 * Kuki Amuro, 19 (born in Kanto on August 07, 1993)
 * Sakura Kimura, 18 (born in Tokyo on July 03, 1994)
 * Hikari Onuki, 18 (born in Tokyo on May 26, 1994)
 * Kaori Takahashi, 20 (born in Tokyo on June 15, 1992)