This culminated (after 30,000 or so auditions) in the Hello! Project Kids, a 15-girl strong group of ultra-saccharine singers and dancers. While the group in its larger form performed well, there was a decision to break the group into smaller subgroups, similar to the approach taken by Morning Musume (the adult stars of the Hello! Project stable), who occasionally subdivided into smaller constituents. The "Kids" were thus broken up into (eventually) two main groups, the Berryz Koubou and C-Ute, with seven members in each. Both groups still specialized in ultra-saccharine, plastered-smile J-pop, but the smaller group format allowed the music to focus at least somewhat on the individual performers and their personalities, rather than on a general flood of 13-year old cuteness. The girls won the Best New Artist award at the Japan Record Awards in 2007. While their singles performed well on the charts (often breaking the Oricon Top Ten with ease), albums followed quickly as well, with three CDs in their first two years. They broke into Top Ten again with 2008's Love Escalation. ~ Adam Greenberg