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SKY-HI – Roundtable Interview on Hulu Theater 2021.12.28 (Translation by shizuna)
On December 28, 2021 NTV & Hulu had a Hulu Theater interview with:
SKY-HI (BMSG CEO / artist / producer)
Sugiyama Katsuhiko (producer of 46/48 groups)
Yamamoto Nobuo (Nikkei Ent. editor)
5 interview clips of their discussion was shared on HULU Japan's YouTube channel:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
A rough transcript of what they discussed in Part 1, 3, 4, 5 will be shared under the cut, feel free to use the following and watch the clips as you go.
Enjoy! :)
SKY-HI: It's pretty normal for say, a drama or variety to have scripts, a story (stories), acting, personalities, etc. Auditions seem to work the same way. I think it worked in THE FIRST's favor that there was no script. Maybe that's what drew THE FIRST to people? I don't know.
MC: Wouldn't you know best?
SKY-HI: I simply did what I wanted to do.
[MC asked the other two guests their thoughts while he mulled over this question.]
SKY-HI: I figured out why audition shows are popular now.
MC: You have? Let's hear it!
SKY-HI: People who do their best / work hard are beautiful. That's it.
Sugiyama didn't watch THE FIRST when MC last spoke to him, so MC asked if he has. Sugiyama has since finished it (in a week!). He said SKY-HI's love towards the boys and music is palpable, and is a show that is very relatable. You can see the boys growing and improving due to what he says and it's probably the most touching show he has seen in years. He recommends people who haven't watched THE FIRST yet to give it a watch!
Yamamoto says the appeal of THE FIRST is probably the fact that rather than rivals* it's like the boys are improving and growing together, especially since they lived together with SKY-HI in one place for a month (training camp).
Particularly in scenes where boys who are experienced in dance are teaching the boys with no experience. Technically, they're rivals, but Yamamoto likes that they're working as a team, and is thinking of themselves and their team as a "group" and thinks this is what makes THE FIRST different from other audition programs.
Other audition shows may attempt to build rivalry and drama through: the script, the editing, task/assignment, grouping of teams, or the rankings / eliminations, etc.
Sugiyama: I resonated with Reichan the most. Watching Reichan reminded me of why I decided to devote myself to music.
SKY-HI: I get that.
MC: What do you think SKY-HI? Was there a lot of things, good things, that were out of your expectations?
SKY-HI: I think there were a lot of things that I couldn't predict / expect. So I really didn't have any expectations, only that I want a group of vocalists+dancers to debut within 2021. In the worst case scenario, after broadcasting the program and it doesn't work out, they [auditonees] can grow from it if they were serious about it and did their best.
SKY-HI: I always told them that this will be harsh, and I hope you don't mind, but yeah... I think I didn't assume / expect anything.
MC: I see, but rather than someone on the top looking down, it was like you were not viewing the contestants the same way. Was any of that calculated or thoughts at all?
SKY-HI: I don't think I really get what you mean by "not viewing the contestants the same way" because if there weren't applicants then we couldn't have the show / program anyway... Actually, what do you mean by "not viewing the contestants the same way"?
MC: Umm, Yamamoto-san can you help?
Yamamoto: The judge at the training camp living with the contestants for a month; or when a contestant is performing the judge is also up and dancing with them.
SKY-HI: Oh yeah, that's definitely different. Even I thought I was weird, haha.
Part 2
The focus wasn't on SKY-HI much in PART 2, so I'm skipping to PART 3. Feel free to watch this man sip his cup of water from time to time and slowly space out?
THE FIRST audition schedules had a 6-month delay due to COVID.
Had 2nd round screenings happened in June 2020, JUNON would not have made it for the auditions.🤯
SKY-HI mentioned something G-Dragon (from BIG BANG, YG Ent.) said in an interview 10 years ago.
The interviewer asked GD what he thought of KPop at the time and he said "JPop was Asia #1 so we just tried to catch up to that, and now we're Asia #1".
SKY-HI: We have the same speed to produce groups, so I think it's a pity / waste that we're behind [Kpop] now
SKY-HI mentions he's met with the CEO of FNC Ent. a couple of times. After he spoke about GD the focus was on their recent audition show, "Who is Princess?"
SKY-HI said it's a completely diff. show from THE FIRST.
SKY-HI: 1 billion yen wasn't enough and I eventually went over that amount anyway (for THE FIRST)
Context: SKY-HI placed 1 billion yen (about 100 million USD) of his own money to host the audition (THE FIRST) for his company (BMSG)’s first boy group.
SKY-HI: Minimum, I probably would’ve wanted 300 million; 500-600 million if possible; ideally - 700 million would have been the ideal amount to do the things I wanted.
Sugiyama praised THE FIRST again here. He enjoyed seeing the creativity round.
SKY-HI: I’ve gotten many BESTYs responses that say they're paying more attention to the music / performer after watching THE FIRST. From varying age groups too, younger gen of course, but I’m happy some older audiences are appreciating rap. I’m glad I did that first in [THE FIRST] training camp.
And there ya have it! XD
Please note I translate these for free, so they may not be super perfect.
Retranslations or sharing of the summaries is fine! For retranslations, please notify me beforehand and credit once posted!
SKY-HI (BMSG CEO / artist / producer)
Sugiyama Katsuhiko (producer of 46/48 groups)
Yamamoto Nobuo (Nikkei Ent. editor)
5 interview clips of their discussion was shared on HULU Japan's YouTube channel:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
A rough transcript of what they discussed in Part 1, 3, 4, 5 will be shared under the cut, feel free to use the following and watch the clips as you go.
Enjoy! :)
Part 1
SKY-HI: It's pretty normal for say, a drama or variety to have scripts, a story (stories), acting, personalities, etc. Auditions seem to work the same way. I think it worked in THE FIRST's favor that there was no script. Maybe that's what drew THE FIRST to people? I don't know.
MC: Wouldn't you know best?
SKY-HI: I simply did what I wanted to do.
[MC asked the other two guests their thoughts while he mulled over this question.]
SKY-HI: I figured out why audition shows are popular now.
MC: You have? Let's hear it!
SKY-HI: People who do their best / work hard are beautiful. That's it.
Sugiyama didn't watch THE FIRST when MC last spoke to him, so MC asked if he has. Sugiyama has since finished it (in a week!). He said SKY-HI's love towards the boys and music is palpable, and is a show that is very relatable. You can see the boys growing and improving due to what he says and it's probably the most touching show he has seen in years. He recommends people who haven't watched THE FIRST yet to give it a watch!
Yamamoto says the appeal of THE FIRST is probably the fact that rather than rivals* it's like the boys are improving and growing together, especially since they lived together with SKY-HI in one place for a month (training camp).
Particularly in scenes where boys who are experienced in dance are teaching the boys with no experience. Technically, they're rivals, but Yamamoto likes that they're working as a team, and is thinking of themselves and their team as a "group" and thinks this is what makes THE FIRST different from other audition programs.
Other audition shows may attempt to build rivalry and drama through: the script, the editing, task/assignment, grouping of teams, or the rankings / eliminations, etc.
Sugiyama: I resonated with Reichan the most. Watching Reichan reminded me of why I decided to devote myself to music.
SKY-HI: I get that.
MC: What do you think SKY-HI? Was there a lot of things, good things, that were out of your expectations?
SKY-HI: I think there were a lot of things that I couldn't predict / expect. So I really didn't have any expectations, only that I want a group of vocalists+dancers to debut within 2021. In the worst case scenario, after broadcasting the program and it doesn't work out, they [auditonees] can grow from it if they were serious about it and did their best.
SKY-HI: I always told them that this will be harsh, and I hope you don't mind, but yeah... I think I didn't assume / expect anything.
MC: I see, but rather than someone on the top looking down, it was like you were not viewing the contestants the same way. Was any of that calculated or thoughts at all?
SKY-HI: I don't think I really get what you mean by "not viewing the contestants the same way" because if there weren't applicants then we couldn't have the show / program anyway... Actually, what do you mean by "not viewing the contestants the same way"?
MC: Umm, Yamamoto-san can you help?
Yamamoto: The judge at the training camp living with the contestants for a month; or when a contestant is performing the judge is also up and dancing with them.
SKY-HI: Oh yeah, that's definitely different. Even I thought I was weird, haha.
Part 2
The focus wasn't on SKY-HI much in PART 2, so I'm skipping to PART 3. Feel free to watch this man sip his cup of water from time to time and slowly space out?
Part 3
THE FIRST audition schedules had a 6-month delay due to COVID.
Had 2nd round screenings happened in June 2020, JUNON would not have made it for the auditions.🤯
Part 4
SKY-HI mentioned something G-Dragon (from BIG BANG, YG Ent.) said in an interview 10 years ago.
The interviewer asked GD what he thought of KPop at the time and he said "JPop was Asia #1 so we just tried to catch up to that, and now we're Asia #1".
SKY-HI: We have the same speed to produce groups, so I think it's a pity / waste that we're behind [Kpop] now
SKY-HI mentions he's met with the CEO of FNC Ent. a couple of times. After he spoke about GD the focus was on their recent audition show, "Who is Princess?"
SKY-HI said it's a completely diff. show from THE FIRST.
Part 5
SKY-HI: 1 billion yen wasn't enough and I eventually went over that amount anyway (for THE FIRST)
Context: SKY-HI placed 1 billion yen (about 100 million USD) of his own money to host the audition (THE FIRST) for his company (BMSG)’s first boy group.
SKY-HI: Minimum, I probably would’ve wanted 300 million; 500-600 million if possible; ideally - 700 million would have been the ideal amount to do the things I wanted.
Sugiyama praised THE FIRST again here. He enjoyed seeing the creativity round.
SKY-HI: I’ve gotten many BESTYs responses that say they're paying more attention to the music / performer after watching THE FIRST. From varying age groups too, younger gen of course, but I’m happy some older audiences are appreciating rap. I’m glad I did that first in [THE FIRST] training camp.
And there ya have it! XD
Please note I translate these for free, so they may not be super perfect.
Retranslations or sharing of the summaries is fine! For retranslations, please notify me beforehand and credit once posted!