C-ute

Cute
°C-ute at Japan Expo 2014
Background information
Also known as	℃-ute, C-ute
Origin	Japan
Genres	Pop teen pop bubblegum pop electropop dance-pop pop rock EDM
Years active	2005–2017
Labels	Zetima (JP) Pony Canyon (KR)
Associated acts	Berryz Kobo Buono! Hello! Project Kids Aa! ZYX Hello! Project Mobekimasu Morning Musume Erina Mano S/mileage Juice=Juice
Website	helloproject.com/c-ute
Past members	Maimi Yajima Saki Nakajima Airi Suzuki Chisato Okai Mai Hagiwara Megumi Murakami Kanna Arihara Erika Umeda

Cute, stylized as ℃-ute (キュート, Kyūto), was a Japanese idol girl group part of Hello! Project collective produced by Tsunku, who also writes almost all the group's songs. Cute consisted of Maimi Yajima, Saki Nakajima, Airi Suzuki, Chisato Okai, and Mai Hagiwara, who were all members of Hello! Project Kids prior to the group's formation. The original member line-up also consisted of fellow Hello! Project Kids members Megumi Murakami and Erika Umeda, as well as Hello! Project trainee Kanna Arihara, prior to their departure.

After releasing a string of independent hits, Cute made its major debut in 2007 with "Sakura Chirari" and that year won the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist. In 2008, the group was nominated for the main Japan Record Award, the Grand Prix, its song being named one of the year's best songs. As of April 2016,, all of the group's major-label singles have debuted in the top 10 of the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart.

All the group's members were initially selected during the audition for Hello! Project Kids in 2002. Later that year, Airi Suzuki and Mai Hagiwara, as members of the group 4Kids, played in the Minimoni movie Okashi na Daibōken!