BILLIE IDLE®︎

## Former Members

First Summer Uika
 Hirano Nozomi
 Momose Momo
 Akira
 Pour Lui
Yasui Yuuhi

## Logo

**BILLIE IDLE®︎** were a Japanese idol group active from 2014 to 2019. The group was initially formed by ex-BiS members First Summer Uika and Hirano Nozomi, managed and produced by the fashion designer NIGO. Their gimmick was that they were idols who are "NOT IDOLS". In their final years of activity, they were also joined by BiS' founder, Pour Lui.

   Watanabe Junnosuke served as a joint producer until sometime in 2018 - so while Watanabe was being paid to advise but not outright have creative control over NIGO, they weren't a full WACK group.

## Final Lineup

* First Summer Uika *(Founding member)*
* Hirano Nozomi *(Founding member)*
* Momose Momo *(Joined January 14th, 2015)*
* Akira *(Joined August 25th, 2016)*
* Pour Lui *(Joined June 6th, 2018)*

## Past members

* Yasui Yuuhi *(Joined January 14th, 2015, withdrew August 25th, 2016)*

## History

### 2014-2015

In 2014, during BiS' disbandment concert at Yokohama Arena, First Summer Uika and Hirano Nozomi announced their plans to form a new group and would hold auditions for members.

In January 2015, Momose Momo and Yasui Yuuhi were announced as members and BILLIE IDLE®︎. On January 1, the began recording the radio show, IDLE TALK, on HOMETOWN HI-FI.

Their debut live, BILLIE IDLE LAUNCH SHOW, was held on January 11 at Shibuya's Clubasia.

BILLIE IDLE®︎'s first digital single, Anarchy in the music scene, was released on March 2, with their debut album, IDLE GOSSIP following on April 1 alongside a second digital single, Be my boy.

BILLIE IDLE®︎ held their first oneman live, "IDLE GOSSIP SHOW (NOT IDOL, NOT KAWAII)" at Laforet Museum Harajuku on April 4.

On September 9, they released their second album ROCK "N" ROLL IDLE alongside another digital single, be-bop tu-tu.

On December 12, BILLIE IDLE®︎ hosted a BiS reunion show, "BILLIE IDLE® presents Brand-new Idle Society". Performing alongside BILLIE IDLE®︎ were the active projects of the other members of BiS' first-generation line-up; LUI FRONTiC Akabane JAPAN (Pour Lui), Maison book girl (Coshoji Megumi), POP (Kamiya Saki) and Tentenko as a soloist.

### 2016

From February 20 to April 29, the Brand-new Idle Society performance became a nationwide tour.

On April 6, BILLIE IDLE®︎ released the EP "4 in 1" THE OFFICIAL BOOTLEG. Each track was a solo song for each of the members, with the exception of Hirano Nozomi whose song featured First Summer Uika and other former members of BiS on guest vocals.

On July 13, Yasui Yuuhi went on indefinite hiatus for an unspecified health problem. Her withdrawal was later announced on August 25, and her replacement, Momose Momo's younger sister, Akira, was announced the same day.

BILLIE IDLE®︎'s third studio album, bi bi bi bi bi, was released October 26 with the digital single Nakisou Sunday.

### 2017

On April 26, 2017, BILLIE IDLE®︎ released two albums at once; a live album, LAUNCHING OUT, and BILLIed IDLE, a best-of album with songs updated with Akira's vocals. BILLIE IDLE®︎ released their first CD single MY WAY in August 2017.

In Summer 2017, the group started allowing sales of cheki (small polaroids) with fans after previously not doing that in order to keep in-line with the "NOT IDOL" theme. In a joint interview with NIGO and Watanabe, Watanabe mentioned that this was his idea along with holding larger tours while the two talked about the group's financial situation.

In the Fall, members First Summer Uika and Momose Momo provided guest vocals on the N.E.R.D song "Secret Life Of Tigers".

On November 1, BILLIE IDLE®︎ released the digital single Sayonara Romantic.

BILLIE IDLE®︎'s fourth album, LAST ALBUM, was released on November 22. While promoting the release of this album, Watanabe stated that there would be "major changes" to the group in 2018.

### 2018-2019

BILLIE IDLE®︎ released P.S.R.I.P. on March 21, which was revealed to be their final single have any input from Watanabe.

On April 1, BILLIE IDLE®︎ released an "April Fools" video teasing a new member, which was deleted the following day. However, on May 12, former BiS founder and leader Pour Lui made a surprise appearance during the encore of BILLIE IDLE®︎'s P.S.R.I.P Tour finale where it was announced that she had joined BILLIE IDLE®︎. Pour Lui's first show was their June 6 one-man at Akasaka BLITZ.

On July 4, BILLIE IDLE®︎'s second best-of album, BILLIed IDLE 2.0 would be released July 4. Like the previous BILLIed IDLE album, all the songs were re-recorded to include Pour Lui's vocals. This was followed by their first original album with Pour Lui (and what would be their final album), NOT IDOL, on November 7. A song from the album, Bye Bye Loneliness, was later released as a single on December 19.

On January 23, they released their third single, Soshite, Mata.. digitally. It received a general release on February 2, and spawned the temporary BILLIE IDLE®︎ rival group, BULLY IDOL - their final adjacency to anything WACK related.

Their second release of 2019 was the single Bokura Mada Chippoke na Koro no Hanashi, followed by their final single, LAST ORGY in October.

On October 16, 2019, BILLIE IDLE®︎ announced that they would disband at the end of December. One of the main reasons given by producer NIGO was that the group was not profitable enough. BILLIE IDLE®︎ disbanded at the finale of their LAST ORGY tour on December 28, 2019.

## Radio

* [2015.01.01 - 2019.11.21] IDLE TALK (HOMETOWN HI-FI)

## Trivia

* Although they are not an official WACK unit, they were listed on WACK's website due to Watanabe's involvement until early 2018. While listed as a co-producer (not the same as a music producer or somebody that has complete creative control), the role and themes of the group were decided predominately by NIGO with Watanabe acting as an adviser and occasional lyricist.
* As of 2018, a majority of the group consisted of former BiS members.
* As Otsumo Records existed solely for the group, after the group's breakup the label no longer existed and all of their songs were taken off of streaming services.
* NIGO's "NOT IDOL" theme was heavily inspired by wanting to create a group like 1st generation BiS, but with less dangerous stunts - focusing on more of an 80's and rock n' roll theme instead. The difference between a BiS-like group with full creative by Watanabe and a BiS-like grop with majority creative direction by NIGO was frequently a topic in interviews.
* "NOT IDOL" wasn't literal and they were indeed idols.
* The group's lack of financial success and mainstream exposure compared to certain other groups that formed around the same time was frequently brought up, and cited as one of the reasons they broke up.