bmsg | SKY-HI – Da-iCE music lab (2022.04.06) (Translation by shizuna) (Reply)

SKY-HI went on Da-iCE music lab on the episode that aired April 6, 2022

Summary of what he said under the cut! :)

Total amount spent on THE FIRST, out of SKY-HI's own pocket: $140 million yen (1 oku 4 sen man yen). In comparison to other audition programs, he says this was actually not a lot (some of you follow survival audition shows, maybe you can confirm this one lol)

There were about 2-3 staff that were with the boys+SKY-HI at training camp

Main reason in holding an audition: There was only him and Novel Core in BMSG at the time. He wanted to create a boy group that gathers people who missed the opportunity to debut - basically a lot of what he already said in THE FIRST #1 haha

Rather than thinking it's a risk NOT KNOWING who will audition or that he WON'T meet the people he wants, SKY-HI held the audition believing he WILL MEET THE RIGHT PEOPLE, they just haven't encountered each other yet.

SKY-HI thought each auditionee was the MC of their own story whenever he met them. He brings up Ran, Rui, and Ryuhei here, but it's not just the BE:FIRST members or the final 11 members when he had moments of "Ah, it was a good idea to hold this audition" - he had this thought constantly with each contestant.

SKY-HI wasn't judging contestants based on the dichotomy of good / bad skillsets, but more of whether this contestant listens to music and how often, enjoys it, and how they deliver that music+joy into their performance.

Does SKY-HI believe in the myth that "Boy groups gotta have odd number of members; girl groups gotta have even number"? NO.

Taiki (Da-iCE) has heard about SKY-HI wanting to have an audition a year prior to THE FIRST.

Although SKY-HI made a lot of great memories from THE FIRST he does not want to experience that situation again, haha.

With BE:FIRST, SKY-HI wanted to leave the impression that "ah, this group really loves music", rather than just "Wow everyone's so handsome" or "This group is working hard towards their dream & shining brightly because of it!".

SKY-HI chose the members in BE:FIRST based on how he wanted the group to look like. He broke it down into the following: whoever he picks, SKY-HI will be responsible for furthering their skills/potential (he actually used the modal verb "MUST BE" responsible); was this member happy with their performance today, would debuting him to the group make him happy?; if I add this member would that make the rest of the members happy?

Did SKY-HI refer to Tsunku or JYP in terms of how he judged? NO, though SKY-HI likes to watch Kpop audition programs, he didn't really look to them for inspiration for THE FIRST, because that won't be "SKY-HI" / him. SKY-HI said if he did it JYP's way, things would've been funny.

Here SKY-HI mentions Junon again - that Juju originally had his office job lined up for him. Had auditions been held 6 months earlier, Juju would not have made it.

Junon did not take the office job exam and auditioned for THE FIRST instead as his last chance.

What's the selling point of BE:FIRST? "All 7 of them are irreplaceable." (SKY-HI, 2022)

Although there were 10 members before he decided on the 7 for BE:FIRST, SKY-HI imagined the final 7 with all possible member combinations based on the 10 finalists.

SKY-HI's 3 mottos for BE:FIRST - 1)+2) "We aim for the top but we do not cajole, condescend, or deny others the same spot." 3) "You are here in the present, so love others."

SKY-HI wants their relationship with fans to be built on the grounds that fans can be confident about what they like without having to hide it or deny it, and they (SKY-HI, BE:FIRST, BMSG) answer this through their performances.

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!