CUTIE STREET

Overview

CUTIE STREET (stylized in all caps; nicknamed "Kyusuto") is a Japanese girl group formed in 2024 and managed by Asobisystem. The group was born from the agency's "KAWAII LAB." project and is produced by Misa Kimura, the project's general producer and former leader of Musubizm. The name expresses the wish that the members and the people around them can become whoever they want to be (CUTIE) and go anywhere (STREET). Their concept is "KAWAII MAKER": eight members of differing ages and backgrounds sending their "KAWAII" from Harajuku to the world.

The members are Risa Furusawa, Aika Sano, Kana Itakura, Ayano Masuda, Emiru Kawamoto, Miyu Umeda, Nagisa Manabe and Haruka Sakuraba. Before joining, Furusawa and Itakura were models, Sano was an actress, Masuda and Umeda had been in A♡Z and Lapilaz, Kawamoto had been in Amorecarina Tokyo, Tokyo CuteCute and HO6LA, and Sakuraba was a contestant on Produce 101 Japan The Girls.

Career

2024: Formation and debut

KAWAII LAB. announced the new group on July 23, 2024, and revealed the name and eight members on July 30. They made their stage debut at TOKYO IDOL FESTIVAL 2024 on August 4. Their digital release "Kawaii Dake ja Dame Desu ka?" (かわいいだけじゃだめですか？) on September 9 went viral, mainly on TikTok, thanks to a dance that repeats opening and closing the hands and ends in a kabuki-style pose. It charted for eight weeks on Billboard JAPAN's TikTok Weekly Top 20, including five weeks at No. 1, and ranked 8th on the TikTok Songs Chart of the Year 2024. The music video, released October 16, passed 20 million views by January 1, 2025. After solo concerts at Hulic Hall Tokyo on October 7 and December 5, they released their five-track first CD single of the same name on November 13. In December they appeared on Music Station SUPER LIVE 2024 as part of KAWAII LAB.

2025

On February 2 they held their first one-man concert at Toyosu PIT. Digital singles followed: "Happy Sekai!" (ハッピー世界！), "Love Training" (ラブトレ), "Haru Flake" (ハルフレーク), "Chikyu Makeup Keikaku" (ちきゅーめいくあっぷ計画) and "Cue ni Stop Dekimasen!" (キューにストップできません！). In June they won the TikTok First-Half Trend Award 2025 (Music category). Their second CD single, released July 23, topped 500,000 copies in its first week on Billboard JAPAN, a half-million debut roughly one year after forming. "More Berry Summer" (モアベリサマー), "Tagen Kofukuron" (多元幸福論) and "Shooting Star" came out between August and October. Their first national tour, "1st ANNIVERSARY JAPAN TOUR 2025 CAN'T STOP CUTIE," ran from August 27 to October 13 with 15 shows in 12 cities; the two-day final at Pia Arena MM drew about 18,000 people. They won the Best New Artist award at the 67th Japan Record Awards on November 21, and on December 3 their debut song ranked first in the song category of Yahoo! Search Awards 2025.

2026

They released "Purikyukyu" (ぷりきゅきゅ) in January and "Yumemiru Prima Donna" (ゆめみるプリマドンナ) and "Disco Mute Ant!" (でぃすこみゅーたんと！) in February. On March 26 they appeared on Mnet's M COUNTDOWN in Korea, and their debut song topped Korea's Billboard Japanese songs chart in April. The third single "Cutie na Cue-tai / Nice da ne" (released May 27) sold 533,000 copies in its first week on Billboard JAPAN's Top Singles Sales and reached No. 1 on Oricon's weekly singles chart with a career-best 441,000 first-week sales, surpassing the previous single's 379,000. "Cutie na Cue-tai" was used as an ending theme for the TV anime Pokémon, and "Nice da ne" as a commercial song for a new LOTTE ice cream brand. On August 25–26 they held their first Nippon Budokan concerts for their second anniversary. A seven-city, 13-show arena tour, "CUTIE STREET JAPAN ARENA TOUR 2026 -AUTUMN-," is scheduled from September 23 to November 29, and their first album, CUTIE LAND, is scheduled for December 2.

Musical style and reception

"Kawaii Dake ja Dame Desu ka?" was written and arranged by Hirotaka Hayakawa, who praised the members' vocal expressiveness. The group's songs center on "kawaii" and self-affirmation, pairing pop, cute melodies with a touch of wistfulness and relatable lyrics about girls' honest feelings. Writer Yuki Sakaeya cited the popularity of short-form video and the favorable reception of "azatokawaii" (calculatedly cute) charm as factors in the group's rise, while Billboard JAPAN described them as part of a new wave of "Reiwa-era" idol groups.