THE FIRST

Logo

THE FIRST is the audition show for SKY-HI's first boy group under BMSG - BE:FIRST. The slogan for THE FIRST was, "Quality FIRST, Creativity FIRST, Artisism FIRST".

## Outline

SKY-HI was looking to debut his first boy group by 2021 under his newly established entertainment company, BMSG. Some slogans that have come out of the audition were: "To not kill talent", because SKY-HI wanted to provide a means for which talents in Japan can be recognized and debut in his boy group. "Quality FIRST, Creativity FIRST, Aritsism FIRST", in which SKY-HI is looking for skilled talents and professionals that can uphold these values throughout the audition and when the group debuts. The show follows SKY-HI as he kicks off the Quality Screenings across Japan until 15 contestants were chosen for THE FIRST Training Camp. With more screenings and eliminations during the month-long training, eventually the top ten finalists were selected. After two final screenings, seven boys were chosen to be part of BMSG's first boy group, BE:FIRST on August 13, 2021.

## Audition Details

* **Application Requirements:**
	1. Male
	2. Between the age of 13 ~ 25 by the time of the first round.
	3. Must not be under contract with any agencies, record labels, or production companies by March 1, 2021.
* **Application Deadline:** Unknown (December 2020)
* **Broadcast:** Hulu, NTV (30-minute digest), BMSG YouTube Channel

### First Round

Applications started at 8:00 PM (JST) on September 26, 2020 and ended in December, 2020. Applicants regardless of experience were welcome.

Candidates were asked to:

* Submit a photo and profile of themselves
* Submit a vocal and dance video

### Quality Screening (Second Round)

More than 231 applicants  qualified for the Quality Screening between January to late-February, 2021.

The second round was conducted in six locations:

* Sapporo
* Tokyo
* Osaka
* Kobe
* Nagoya
* Fukuoka .

For COVID prevention and health measures, other than the screening in Tokyo that was conducted in-person, all other screenings were conducted remotely.

Participants prepared their vocal or rap performance, and a dance performance to show to SKY-HI.

The available songs for the vocal section included:

* "SOBER ROCK" (Novel Core)
* "FLY" (Mukai Taichi)
* "Do Well" (SIRUP)
* "GIRL FRIEND" (Hirai Dai)
* "Blizzard" (Miura Daichi)
* "Yuki no Hana" (Nakashima Mika)
* "366 Days" (Shimizu Shota feat. Nakazone Izumi (HY))
* "First Dates" (SALU)
* "Good Life" (Shimizu Shota)
* "Nanairo Holiday" (SKY-HI)
* "Snatchaway" (SKY-HI)
* "Sky's The Limit" (SKY-HI)
* "F-3" (SKY-HI)
* "Kanden" (Yonezu Kenshi)
* "LOSER" (Yonezu Kenshi)
* "Mou Ee Wa" (Fujii Kaze)
* "Underground" (MY FIRST STORY)
* "I LOVE…" (Official Higedandism)
* CITRUS (Da-iCE)

The available songs for the dance section included:

* "Neo Gal Wap" (JP THE WAVY)
* "Mr. Psycho" (SKY-HI)
* "Let It Be" feat. Kid Fresino (Daichi Yamamoto)
* "Not Today" (Miura Daichi)
* "FAKE ME FAKE ME OUT" (Da-iCE)
* "We Don’t Need To Talk Anymore" Remix feat. SKY-HI (w-inds)
* "I’m a Pop" (Chanmina)
* "Painkiller" (SALU)
* "Doze Off" feat. SKY-HI (Novel Core)
* "RGTO" feat. SALU, H.TEFLON, K DUB SHINE (AKLO)

### Artisism Screening (Third Round)

30 participants were chosen for the Artisism Screening held in Tokyo (Tokyo School of Music & Dance) from February 27 to February 28, 2021.

On February 27, participants were ranked from 30th to 1st by SKY-HI. Contestants introduced themselves and sang a song or did a rap they prepared. .

After the top 30 rankings contestants had an hour of dance training. The contestants were then split into six teams of five (Teams A to F) to prepare an assigned song ("Sexual Healing" by SKY-HI for Team A and B; "BACK TO BACK" by Da-iCE for Team C and D; "Beautiful Now" by w-inds for Team E and F) .

Participants performed their team songs on February 28, followed by a second ranking after. However, only the top 15 contestants were given the chance to move on to the 4th Round (THE FIRST Training Camp).

## THE FIRST Training Camp (Fourth Round)

15 contestants were chosen for THE FIRST Training Camp, which started on March 13th, 2021 and ended April 8th, 2021 . Training camp was conducted in the hostel, Horinoya in Yamanashi Prefecture.

In that one month, contestants received vocal and dance lessons daily on top of completing the screenings for the audition.

### Creativity Screening (THE FIRST Training Camp Round 1)

Contestants were split into 3 teams (Team A, B, C) to compose the melody, lyrics, and rap, as well as design a choreography to a song. The track is ready-made for them, by Matt Cab and MATZ.

Contestants had 9 days to have the song and dance ready for performance, with an interim report 3 days before the deadline . 3 contestants were eliminated after the Creativity screening.

**Creativity Screening (THE FIRST Training Camp Round 1)**
 B
 C

### Professional Trial Screening (THE FIRST Training Camp Round Two)

Contestants were split into 2 teams to perform either "Be Free" or "Move On".

Contestants had 7 days to master their lines and the choreography for their song in mid-late March, 2021. The songs were officially released to the public on June 26 and July 5, 2021.

Choreography for both songs was done by Oguri and kazuki from s\*\*t kingz respectively. The winning team from this screening had no members eliminated, while one member from the losing team was eliminated after the Professional Trial Screening.

**Professional Trial Screening (THE FIRST Training Camp Round 2)**

### VS. Pro Artist (THE FIRST Training Camp Round Three)

Contestants worked together as a team on SKY-HI's "To The First" and performed the song after 7 days. Contestants discussed the line distribution and choreography to the song together. 1 contestant was eliminated after this round, leaving the audition with 10 finalists.

**VS. Pro Artist (THE FIRST Training Camp Round 3)**

## THE FIRST Final Screening (5th Round)

Top 10 finalists had a one month break before returning to Horinoya in Yamanashi for THE FIRST Final Screening from May to July, 2021.

Finalists prepared for the group's pre-debut song, "Shining One", produced by SKY-HI and ☆Taku Takahashi, and choreography designed by NOPPO from s\*\*t kingz. Contestants were split into two teams, "Team Shining" and "Team One" to perform the same song.

**THE FIRST Final Screening: Shining One**

### THE FIRST Creative NEO

An additional screening, THE FIRST Creative NEO, was included in the final screening of THE FIRST. Similar to the Creativity screening during THE FIRST Training Camp, contestants composed an original song based on a track by SKY-HI, which functioned as the backing track. Finalists also choreographed the song.

**THE FIRST Creative NEO**
 96BLACK
 Club JRL
 RANREI
Backing track: "Adventure" by SKY-HI

## Results

The name of BMSG's first boy group, BE:FIRST, was revealed on August 13, 2021. The members of BE:FIRST were chosen in the following order:

1. SOTA
2. SHUNTO
3. MANATO
4. RYUHEI
5. JUNON
6. RYOKI
7. LEO

### Top 15 Audition Rankings

SKY-HI ranked the members after each screening. Even though there was rankings, SKY-HI emphasized that his opinion of the contestants never went down - only improved - after each round. The top 15 contestants that took part in THE FIRST Training Camp were considered "THE FIRST" members.

## Episodes

*Main article: THE FIRST/Episodes*

THE FIRST became available for streaming on Hulu starting April 2 - August 13, 2021 in the evenings. Sukkiri (NTV) had commentary on the show every Friday morning, with coverage every day the week leading up to the finale.

BMSG's Youtube channel began uploading the show starting May 1, 2021, with CC captions in English, Korean, and Spanish.

### Spin-off Episodes

**THE FIRST Episode 21** was extra content included in the Gifted. CD+DVD 1. BE:FIRST members return to Horinoya dorms for a new challenge?!

**裏・THE FIRST (Ura THE FIRST)**

Ura THE FIRST premiered on Hulu August 20, 2021 and August 27, 2021, showing THE FIRST contestants watching the first episode of THE FIRST (Episode 1) and going to Fuji Q Highland (Episode 2).

## Songs used

* To The First / SKY-HI
* Sexual Healing / SKY-HI
* BACK TO BACK / Da-iCE
* Beautiful Now / w-inds

## Producers & Trainers

* Matt Cab - producer (Episodes 8, 11) \*participated remotely as a judge for the Training Camp, Creativity screening
* MATZ - producer (Episodes 8, 11) \*participated remotely as a judge for the Training Camp, Creativity screening
* kekke - dance trainer (Episodes 8-11)
* Ari - vocal trainer (Episodes 8, 11, 13, 17)
* Sato Ryoko (RyonRyon) - vocal trainer (Episodes 9-11, 13-14, 16, 17, 18, 20)
* Satoshi - dance trainer (Episode 16)

## Guests

* Tachibana Keita / w-inds (Episode 4-5)
* Kudo Taiki / Da-iCE (Episode 4-7)
* Novel Core (Episode 9, 11)
* Oguri, kazuki / s\*\*t kingz (Episode 13-15)
	+ Mikawaya Shouhei (Oguri's assistant, Episode 13-14)
	+ GAMI (kazuki's assistant, Episode 13-14)
* Chanmina (Episode 14-15)
* NOPPO / s\*\*t kingz (Episode 18)
	+ kanako (NOPPO's assistant, Episode 18)
* ☆Taku Takahashi (Episode 18)

## Trivia

* SKY-HI approached Fukushima (producer of THE FIRST) via an Insta DM
* SKY-HI asked Kudo Taiki (Da-iCE) if he could guest on THE FIRST through a comment during one of Taiki's Insta Lives
* SKY-HI invited Tachibana Keita (w-inds) if he could guest on THE FIRST through LINE
* SKY-HI placed 140 million yen (roughly $1,000,000 USD) of his money into THE FIRST
* SKY-HI's crowdfunding to sustain BMSG and its artists generated some topic and discussion among Japanese media.
* The 3rd round (Artisism screening) was the shortest round out of the audition, only spanning two days.
* SKY-HI hand-picked most of the teams and leaders for the screenings in THE FIRST.
* SKY-HI stayed with the contestants at THE FIRST Training Camp venue, this became a topic of discussion as well .
* SKY-HI participates in the vocal and dance lessons with the contestants in THE FIRST .
* All contestants in THE FIRST kept a journal while they were in THE FIRST Training Camp.
* SKY-HI decided to include Creative NEO in the final round after watching the broadcast of THE FIRST training camp, Creativity screening episode.
* THE FIRST Creative NEO was the only assignment in the audition with groupings, songs, and choreography completely decided on, and designed by, the contestants.

## References

1. ↑ AUDITION | BMSG https://bmsg.tokyo/audition/
2. ↑ THE FIRST - BMSG BOYS GROUP AUDITION 2021, https://bmsg.tokyo/thefirst/
3. ↑  https://qjweb.jp/regular/49141/2/
4. ↑ [BMSG Audition 2021 -THE FIRST-] #2-1 / 2nd Round, https://youtu.be/DL0C9p3HJnw
5. ↑ [BMSG Audition 2021 -THE FIRST-] #2-2 / 2nd Round, https://youtu.be/2uUQp9rqdD0
6. ↑ [BMSG Audition 2021 -THE FIRST-] #3-1 / 3rd Round - Singing Audition, https://youtu.be/OGvHyUrqKOY
7. ↑ [BMSG Audition 2021 -THE FIRST-] #4-1 / 3rd Round - Group Audition, https://youtu.be/95RlTmyslSQ
8. ↑ BE:FIRST Gifted Days, Episode 4.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 [BMSG Audition 2021 -THE FIRST-] #8-1 / Creativity Screening, https://youtu.be/KGVMN1-mf9Y
10. ↑ Trash Talk Gang #3 and #4 Guest: Fukushima (THE FIRST producer)
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 [BMSG Audition 2021 -THE FIRST-] #4-2 / 3rd Round - Group Audition https://youtu.be/SiqcX38AkF0
12. ↑ HULU Roundtable Discussion with SKY-HI, Sugiyama, Yamamoto, Part 1 / 5, https://youtu.be/c75EHN1aVCE
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 [BMSG Audition 2021 -THE FIRST-] #8-2 / Creativity Screening, https://youtu.be/A2-BPm919Eg