If somebody ever told you that Christmas is about togetherness and family, they lied to you and you should stop talking to them. Christmas is about gifts, sometimes expected, sometimes unexpected. The culmination of the PARADISES audition gave us the expected Christmas EP featuring some of the WAgg girls and also the unexpected results:
1. Utauuta will be promoted to PARADISES
2. Tsukino Usagi will join trainee group WAgg for 6 months
3. Yuina Empire, formerly of EMPiRE, BiS2nd, BiS and CARRY LOOSE, will join WAgg

Honestly, there’s so much happening we don’t know where to begin! It’s like when you finally sit down for dinner with your family and you aren’t sure if you should go for the potatoes or stuffing first. But instead we aren’t sure if we should go for the good news or the “huh???” news first.

Good news to soften the blow maybe? The WAgg and PARADISES Christmas EP, “Special Xmas Song + XXX“, is a result of the audition. In the rankings for one of the challenges, Ainastar placed 1st so she got 3 songs, A Anzupia placed second so she got 2 and Love third so she got 1. They’re all very good and if you still have a little Christmas cheer left, go listen to all three versions of Special Xmas Song on repeat until you’re sick of the song and the holiday.

Secondly, Utauuta will officially graduate from WAgg on January 3rd and join PARADISES on January 30th! The full audition has been a ride for her, she got eliminated from the competition (hence why she isn’t on the EP) and then managed to come back! Her single with PARADISES sold the most out of everyone, which allowed her to return to the competition and steal the show. Unsurprising for somebody who’s voice Matsakuma Kenta compared to Aina the End – she’s basically in line to become a pillar of PARADISES.

If you don’t follow WAgg – Uta is just like that mysterious older girl you wanted to be friends with in high school. She’s a huge Jun Togawa fan and loves gothic fashion! She even sang Suki Suki Daisuki when auditioning for WACK in 2018. If you can think of a cool Japanese alt rock band from any generation, Uta is probably a fan. A punk girl for a pop-punk idol group, we know she’ll be amazing.

But of course, you’ll probably notice that somebody is missing from that picture. Tsukino Usagi, the icy chilled vocal lead of PARADISES. For six months, she’ll be joining the trainee girls at WAgg. You might be asking why, but we’re here to answer that for you!

Flashback all the way to the BiS/GANG PARADE rental trade many moons ago. It’s like that, but instead of a trade it’s just a temporary loan! When Aya Eightprince joined GANG PARADE, the members were all able to come together and find that special something they were lacking and on the other side, Saki brought a little extra chaos back to BiS. Mostly kissing Kika and Momoland a lot. The chaotic part is that we aren’t sure if it was with tongue or not.
WAgg are a trainee group and Tsukino is a seasoned idol, so instead of everyone teaching Aya, it’s Tsukino teaching everyone. A temporary teacher who will, as far as we know, go back to PARADISES in June. Also this way she’ll get to perform GANG PARADE songs once again! Everybody wins.

Finally, we get to Yuina. The crowd at the PARADISES live, “LAST FANTASTIC FOUR”, were just as surprised as you. A gasp let out and the announcement sprang fourth from Watanabe’s lips. Yuina, in her own (albeit translated) words had this to say:

“ After CARRY LOOSE disbanded, I had a long time to think about the course of my future. I had a shot in EMPiRE, BiS and CARRY LOOSE over 3 years but I kept missing the mark. So, I think that i’d like to grow as both a person and an idol with WACK, so i’ll be learning how to do that with WAgg. I learned a lot from watching this audition, but out of everyone in WAgg, i’ll be aiming for that promotion more seriously than anybody. “

Seems like a mutual decision was reached! So LET’S GO YUiNA_EMPiRE_BiS_CARRY_WAgg! She’s aiming for the longest Twitter username in human history.

Both Yuina and Tsukino will debut on January 3rd in a performance with the new WAgg lineup after Uta’s graduation. There’ve been a lot of livestreams lately, so maybe we can look forward to watching ourselves ey?

Oh, and PARADISES will be releasing an EP on March 3rd! We have a lot to look forward to.

So there you have it! For Christmas this year, WACK are mixing it up a little! A gift we never asked for but will probably learn to love regardless, like unwrapping a pair of  incredibly comfy socks. A comparison that was absolutely not inspired by what the author of this article got from their mother-in law.