Sakurai Miu

## Sakurai Miu櫻井(さくらい) 美羽(みう)

Sakurai Miu, December 2023

**Sakurai Miu** (櫻井美羽) is a Japanese idol as a member of ME:I, the group formed in PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS. She made it in the final lineup after placing 4th in the finals. Prior to appearing on the show, she was also a contestant on Nizi Project and Girls Planet 999.

For more in-depth information about Sakurai Miu prior to her participation in PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS, visit her page on the Nizi Project and Girls Planet 999 wikis.

## Biography

### Early Life

Sakurai Miu was born on January 11, 2002 in Aichi, Japan.

### 2020

On July 13, Sakurai Miu auditioned for the Nizi Project in Nagoya, Japan. She passed and became one of the first contestants. Unfortunately, she was eliminated in episode 10.

### 2021

Throughout late 2021, Sakurai participated as a trainee in Girls Planet 999. She was eventually eliminated from the show after ranking 15th out of the Japanese trainees.

### 2023

On September 3, Sakurai was revealed to be a contestant of PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS. She was also the center of the show's theme song "LEAP HIGH! ~Asu e, Meippai~" performance uploaded on the same day.

On December 16, she placed 4th in the finals, making her the center of ME:I.

## PRODUCE 101 JAPAN Participation

### Teams

* **Audition Team:** Wing Bell Moon
* **Group Battle Team:** New bud (sub vocalist 3)
* **Position Battle Team:** Shines (leader/center/main vocalist)
* **Concept Battle Team:** NALALA (sub vocalist 1)
* **Debut Evaluation Team:** Souzou Ijou (sub vocalist 1)

### Rankings

Online votes
* **Week 2:** 5th place
* **Week 3:** 4th place (+1)
* **First Ranking Announcement:** 4th place (=)
* **Week 6:** 4th place (=)
* **Second Ranking Announcement:** 4th place (=)
* **Third Ranking Announcement:** 2nd place (+2)
* **Final Ranking Announcement:** 4th place (-2)

On-site votes
* **Group Battle:** 4th place in team, 31st place overall (tied)
* **Position Battle:** 2nd place in team, 17th place overall
* **Concept Battle:** 2nd place in team, 2nd place overall

### First Voting Period

Sakurai is revealed in Wing Bell Moon, a trio of former trainees in Korean entertainment agencies. Many trainees were shocked to see her there, recognizing her from her previous appearances. Despite this she is evaluated by the other trainees as 51st. The trainers decide to put her in **A** class after she performed "Spicy", much to her delight.

In episode 3, Sakurai is voted in the top two trainees to be the center for the theme song. She beats by Ishii Ran and takes the center role in the 101 trainee performance. As a benefit for being voted as center, Sakurai gets to steal trainees to be in her team for the group battle. She chooses her audition teammates Hidaka Hazuki and Yamamoto Suzu first, then she chooses Kenmotsu Nano, Kato Kokoro, and finally Ebihara Tsuzumi. She has a difficult time adapting to the team due to her experience in South Korea. More shockingly, Sakurai places relatively low in the group battle.

Despite that, she received 1,592,191 online votes, making her 4th place in episode 5.

* **First Ranking Announcement (Hint):** "歌、ダンス、ビジュアル３拍子揃った練習生です。" (She is a trainee who has the three beats of vocals, dance, and visuals.)

### Second Voting Period

In episode 6, Sakurai chooses to perform "Shine A Light" for the position battle. After Ando Chiharu struggles with being the leader, Sakurai becomes the new leader in addition to being the center. She is disappointed with her performance after her voice strains a bit on stage, and she places 17th place overall.

In episode 8, Sakurai is voted by the national producers to be in "&ME". She places 4th in the second ranking announcement, recieving 1,963,368 votes.

* **Second Ranking Announcement (Hint):** "ポジション評価ではセンターとしてチームを支えた練習生です。" (In the position battle evaluation, this trainee supported her team as the center.)
* **Second Ranking Announcement:** "ポジション評価では初めてのメインボーカルに挑戦。リーダーを検認し豊富な経験を生かして技術面でメンバーを支え精神的にも頼られる存在に成長しました。" (In the position battle evaluation, she took the challenge of being the main vocalist for the first time. She has grown into a person who can support members technically and certified as someone who can be relied on mentally by making use of her extensive experience.)

### Third Voting Period

In episode 8, Sakurai stays as a member of "&ME". At the end of the concept battle, she places 2nd overall, having received benefits for her team winning.

Sakurai makes it to the top 2 for the first time in the third ranking announcement. After receiving 481,838 votes, she places 2nd. When choosing her position in the debut evaluation afterwards, she takes Takami Ayane's sub vocalist position 1 in "Souzou Ijou" and makes her the main vocalist instead.

* **Third Ranking Announcement:** "コンセプト評価では喉の不調に悩まされながらもステージでは見事な高音を披露しました。「しなやかな自分の羽」その羽でファイナルへ飛び立ちます。" (In the concept evaluation, she performed a beautiful high note on stage despite suffering from a sore throat. "With my own graceful wings", she flies into the finals with those wings.)

### Final Voting Period

In episode 11, she performs "Souzou Ijou" and "FLY UP SO HIGH" on the final stage. She places 4th place after receiving 655,210 in the finals, making her a member of ME:I. She finally was able to leap high and get to debut.

* **Final Ranking Announcement (Hint):** "真の強さが印象的な練習生です。" (The true strength of this trainee is impressive.)
* **Final Ranking Announcement:** "番組テーマ曲「LEAP HIGH!」のセンターを務めた美羽さん。これまで挫折と挑戦を何度も何度も繰り返してきました。応援してくれるファンの思いに答えるためついにデビューメンバーとして世界に羽ばたきます。この瞬間をファンも待ちわびていたことでしょう。" (Miu was the center of the show’s theme song "LEAP HIGH!". Up until now, she faced many setbacks and challenges over and over again. To answer the wishes of the fans who support her, she will spread her wings around the world as a debut member. Her fans must have also been waiting for this moment.)

### Penalties

From November 28-30, Sakurai had her fancams temporarily taken down due to accumulating over 10 penalty points (12 from being late 4 times, each time being 3 penalty points).

## Personal Life

* Friendships
* Nicknames

Sakurai Miu is very close to her audition teammates Hidaka Hazuki and Yamamoto Suzu. Yamamoto views Sakurai as an older sister from her time practicing with Sakurai.

The following list are nicknames that have been used to refer to Sakurai Miu:

* **Miu-chan (みうちゃん)** : Used by fellow trainees.
* **Sakurai Miuu (櫻井美羽ゥ)** : One of her preferred nicknames.
* **Imiu (イミウ)** : One of her preferred nicknames.

## Trivia

* Her hobbies are to do yoga, to bake, to cook, to swim, and to listen to music.
* Her special skills are studying, cooking, and making up dance formations.
* She had an Instagram account prior and during the show, but she deleted/deactivated it after she became a member of ME:I.
* Her pledge for debuting in the top 11 was baking a cake for the other members.
* She likes hairstyles that show her ears.
* Her favorite bread is sogeum bbang, followed by croissants and kouign-amann.
* When cooking, she likes to go with what she has at home and what is cheap at the store. She also measures ingredients based on seeing and feeling, except for baking, where she is precise.
* She learned Korean by watching reality shows.

## References

1. ↑ "櫻井美羽、桜庭遥花「推しカメラ」公開停止のお知らせ（追記あり） (in Japanese). Official PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS Website. 2023-11-28."
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS Profile" PRODUCE 101 JAPAN. 2023-09-04.

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