 On April 23, 2011, Maeda announced that she would make her solo debut with her debut single "Flower", released on June 22.It was met with commercial success in Japan, debuting at number 1 on the Oricon Charts with first week sales of 176,967 copies.The follow-up single "Kimi wa Boku Da", released in June 2012, was Maeda's last solo single while still a member of AKB48.