Kelsey Sowards leaves 1 Girl Nation

Two days ago, it was announced that Kelsey Sowards has left 1 Girl Nation, a Christian pop girl group. On April 30, 1 Girl Nation posted the following message on their Facebook page:

Change is constant in our lives, but often times isn’t something planned or expected. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” It’s with this hope, that we share with you a change in 1 Girl Nation. As many of you know, Kelsey is getting married this June and she has decided to step away from the road and leave the group. We are all excited for Kelsey as she starts her new life with Caleb and wish her all the best moving ahead. We are equally as excited to announce that 1 Girl Nation will continue as a four member group with Lauryn Taylor, Carmen, Lindsey, and Kayli!

Kelsey joined 1 Girl Nation back in 2012 when the group was formed. She was part of their self-titled debut album, released in 2013, and went on tour with the rest of the girls. On November 5, 2013, she became engaged to Caleb Grimm, member of the band Anthem Lights (formerly under the same label as 1GN).

Kelsey announced on her Facebook page that same day that her singing would not end here, but she would just have a new medium to share her musical talents:

#Team1GN, 

Kelsey here. Just wanted to let you know that I have made a decision to part ways with 1 Girl Nation. I had an absolutely wonderful 2 full years as a member and God did some incredible things in and through us over that time. As most of you know, I am getting married to Caleb Grimm in a just a couple months (Yay!) and am excited about the next chapter of our lives. I have now established my own voice studio here in Nashville and am teaching full time. I am passionate about teaching, instructing and coaching voice, so it's my desire to help others find THEIR passion for singing and using their gifts for Jesus too! However, my own passion for singing still remains, It will just look differently now. Please know how much I love you, each one and appreciate your support and encouragement! You all mean the WORLD to me. And remember, as the song says, you are treasured, perfect and beautiful in the eyes of the One who created YOU. 

All my love, Kelsey Taylor Sowards

It's always sad to see someone leave a group, but it's much more encouraging too see that they are still continuing their career in a different form. I'm also glad that 1 Girl Nation is continuing, and that they're not trying to find someone to replace Kelsey. I look forward to their next album.

Congratulations on getting married, Kelsey! I pray that you continue to live a blessed life.

New Sailor Moon character profiles

This is so exciting! It has been announced that the new Sailor Moon anime will premier July 5, and will air a new episode every other Saturday. In addition, character profiles are now on the official website. And they are fabulous. You can tell they've been updated a little but are still very true to the style from the original show. In fact, I'm not completely sure, but I think it may actually be a little more similar to the manga style? I'm interested to see how it will look animated.

The Japanese voice cast has been confirmed, as well. Mitsuishi Kotono will be reprising her role as Sailor Moon. The rest of the cast of sailor soldiers includes Kanemoto Hisako, Sato Rina, Koshimizu Ami, and Ito Shizuka.

Please check out all the profiles on the website.

Have I mentioned I'm excited? I can finally start to call myself a Sailor Moon fan once this premiers! I won't be the weird magical girl fan-blogger who has never seen the most popular magical girl series ever. XD

I just noticed from looking at the profiles that all their last names end with "no", with the first kanji representing their "power" (moon, water, fire, tree, love). You see how much of a newb I am?

Are there any other new fans like me who plan to watch this series? As for the older fans, what are your thoughts so far on the new info?

Berryz Koubou's new song "1 Oku 3 Senman Diet Oukoku" performance on Hello! Project Station #49

With my new blog name, I'm also trying to produce a nice balance of news and opinions in my posts. I'm kind of just experimenting here so we'll see how this goes!



On today's episode of Hello! Project Station, many high-quality performances from the Hello! Project concert at Nakano Sun Plaza were featured. Each of the groups, including Hello Pro Kenshuusei, sang a song from their latest single, and we finally got a preview of Berryz Koubou's next single song: "1 Oku 3 Senman Diet Oukoku" (which is one of two A-sides).

I really like this song. It's got that cool, almost-electronic-but-not-quite sound that I think fits them very well (see "Heroine ni Narou ka!" and "WANT!"). Tsunku has been having a lot of fun with these dance, electro songs lately, and I will bet you money that Okubo Kaoru arranged this one. Some people think it's repetitive, but I say if it works, the fans love it, and it's done well, then I love this kind of sound!

The choreography is great, too; I especially love the part where they do the wave!

I can't critique the song too much right now because we haven't heard the studio version yet, but so far I've got high expectations for this, and I'm very interested to hear how the vocals are mixed. Maybe we'll get a music video soon?

Berryz Koubou's 10th anniversary of their debut is March 3 (my birthday!) this year, so I hope this single and their compilation album are successful!

(If you like this song, please support Berryz and pre-order the single from YesAsia)