Formed in 2006 in Kyobashi, Osaka, Japanese rock band SCANDAL made their major debut in 2008 with 'DOLL'. The following year they won the Best New Artist category of Japan Record Awards with 'Shojo S'.
The girls have a huge herd of followers from home and abroad, and perform shows throughout the world. In recent years they also attract attention as fashion icons, and as producers of their own clothing line 'Feedback!'. In 2019 they founded their private label 'her'. In 2023, as they celebrated their 17th anniversary, they were recognised by Guinness World Records as "Longest running rock band with the same musicians (female)".
SCANDAL Music Videos
SCANDAL Band History:
2006:
SCANDAL formed in August 2008 after four middle and high school girls met a dance and vocal school in Osaka. Shortly after forming, they began performing on the streets of Osaka Castle Park (Shiroten), and began playing gigs at venues in their local Kansai area.
2008:
From March they released three consecutive singles each month independently through TOWER RECORDS. The first single, ‘Space Ranger’ was released on 3 March and reached number two on the TOWER Indie Chart. The second, ‘Koi Moyo’ was released on 4 April and third ‘Kagerou’ on 5 May which reached number one on the chart. Indie mini-album YAH! YAH! HELLO SCANDAL was released on 8 August and reached number two on the TOWER RECORDS J-POP Album Chart. SCANDAL also performed outside of Japan, playing live in the USA (March at Sakura Con, as well as a six major city tour that attracted 7,000 people), France (July at Japan Expo in front of 10,000 people), and Hong Kong (August at Anikomi Fes, with 8,000 people). On 22 October SCANDAL’s debut single ‘DOLL’ received over 40 powerplays on radio stations across Japan.
2009:
On 17 June SCANDAL released their third single ‘Shojo S’ which became a breakout hit, ranking at sixth in the weekly Oricon chart and fifth in the weekly Rekona Chaku Uta ranking. First album BEST★SCANDAL was released on 21 October and reached number five in the Oricon chart. It was the first time in seven-and-a-half years since a girl band’s debut album reached the top five of the chart. ‘Shojo S’ also won the Newcomer Award at the 51st Shining! Japan Record Awards.
2010:
SCANDAL performed at ACGHK 2010 (Animation-Comic-Game Hong Kong Festival), one of the biggest anime festivals in Asia. They also had a solo live show in Hong Kong on 1 August. All 700 tickets sold out immediately. SCANDAL’s second album TEMPTATION BOX was released on 11 August and reached number three in the Oricon chart. On 6 October single ‘SCANDAL Nanka Buttobase’ was released and became their highest selling single so far, reaching number three in the charts. In November SCANDAL performed at ANIME FESTIVAL ASIA 2010 in Singapore, where 3,000 people attended their show.
2011:
2012:
SCANDAL’s first compilation album SCANDAL SHOW was released on 7 March and reached number three in the weekly album chart. On 28 March the band performed their own show at Nippon Budokan. Tickets sold out within minutes and made SCANDAL the fastest selling girl band in the venue’s history.
Single ‘Taiyou Scandalous’ was released on 11 July and produced by NAOTO of ORANGE RANGE. It became a hot topic and a big hit in Japan where it reached number two in the Oricon charts.
Fourth album Queens are trumps -Kiribuda wa Queen- was released on 26 September. It was the first time in history that a girl band could achieve four consecutive top five albums since their debut. On 1 December SCANDAL held their own show in Malaysia at a sold out 1,600 capacity venue.
2013:
Special collection album ENCORE SHOW was released on 6 February and shot to the top of the Oricon Daily Chart. On 3 March SCANDAL held their own show at Osaka Castle Hall, their dream stage since forming the band. The show was a huge success and tickets sold out. In March SCANDAL conducted their second tour of Asia (Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia) with 5,500 people attending. On 24 August they performed at Thailand’s first major festival SONIC BANG representing Japan. On 2 October SCANDAL’s fifth album STANDARD was released and reached number three on the Oricon chart, breaking their previous record.
2014:
In June SCANDAL returned to dream venue Osaka Castle Hall for a second time, followed by their own show at Yokohama Arena for two days, the first time a girl band had done this for 23 years and drawing 35,000 people. In August, SCANDAL performed at 2014 Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival in South Korea as one of Japan’s leading rock bands, and performed alongside KASABIAN and Travis. Sixth album HELLO WORLD was released on 3 December and reached number two in the Oricon Daily Chart, and was their first album to be released internationally from JPU Records.
2015:
SCANDAL conducted their first world tour, entitled SCANDAL WORLD TOUR 2015 “HELLO WORLD”, which had 80,000 people attend and included 31 shows at halls in Japan (their largest tour so far), followed by ten shows overseas in eight countries (France, UK, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, USA, Mexico and Hong Kong). From December they held their first arena tour in Japan entitled SCANDAL ARENA TOUR 2015 PERFECT WORLD in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, attracting 40,000 people.
2016:
Seventh album YELLOW was released on 2 March, reaching number two in the Oricon Weekly Chart and number one in the iTunes Daily Album Chart. SCANDAL celebrated their 10th anniversary on 21 August with a triumphant outdoor performance in Osaka, where they formed, with 10,000 people in attendance. In September the band embarked on their first Europe solo tour.
2017:
Tenth anniversary best album SCANDAL was released on 15 February and reached number two in the Oricon Weekly Chart. The band followed the release with their first tour of Japan to include all 47 prefectures (53 shows in total). In October they did their first Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka tour with UNISONSQUARE GARDEN in Tokyo, 04 Limited Sazabys in Nagoya, and BLUE ENCOUNT in Osaka.
2018:
Eighth album HONEY was released in February and reached number three in the Oricon Weekly Chart and number one in the iTunes Overall Album Chart. The release was followed by another tour of Asia (Hong Kong, China, Philippines, and Taiwan). In October SCANDAL celebrated their tenth anniversary of being on a major label with SCANDAL TOUR 2018 “Thanksgiving”. In December SCANDAL announced the launch of their private label “her”.
2019:
In March SCANDAL had their first release from their private label “her”, the double A-side single ‘Masterpiece / Mabataki’. In May, SCANDAL became the first Japanese headliner to perform at HUSH! Full Music 2019, Macau’s biggest music festival. SCANDAL TOUR 2019 “Fuzzy Summer Mood” started in June with 15 concerts across 14 locations in Japan, followed by the release of digital single ‘Fuzzy’ in August. In November follow up digital single ‘Saishuheiki Kimi’ was released and the band toured Tokyo with Kyuso Nekokami and Osaka with SiM.
2020:
In February SCANDAL released their first album from their private label “her” entitled Kiss from the darkness. Digital single ‘Living in the city’ was released in June, followed by ‘SPICE’ in July. In response to the cancelation of their world tour SCANDAL WORLD TOUR 2020 “Kiss from the darkness”, which was scheduled to begin in March, SCANDAL held a live stream concert without an audience on 21 August for their 14th anniversary.