Be:First (stylized in

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) is a Japanese

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

formed and managed by BMSG and signed to B-ME. The group debuted on November 3, 2021, through the reality competition show ''The First'', which is hosted by

Sky-Hi is a Japanese rapper, singer, actor, dancer, and a member of the J-pop group AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * ...

Name

The group's name, Be:First, was chosen with the intention of "always aiming for the top", and Sky-Hi hopes that the group will "continue to respect and love the fact that others are number one at the same time as they continue to be number one themselves". Their official

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is Besty, which was coined by combining the first and last two letters of the group's name to mean bestie (best friend).

History

2021: Formation and debut

On April 2, the audition of ''The First'' started airing on

Nippon Television Network JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed sub ...

's information program Sukkiri and online streaming service

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

. On August 13, the group name and members were announced on the last episode of the audition program. On August 16, the group's digital pre-debut track, Shining One, was released On the ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

'' chart released on August 25, their digital pre-debut track, "Shining One", made its first appearance at number one on the Download Songs, number two on the Streaming Songs, and number two on the overall

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

. The song was also ranked number one on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

Weekly Digital Single ranking on the same day, and ranked first on the Oricon Weekly Streaming ranking. This double crown is the first time in three months since

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-produ ...

's "

Butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

" on May 31 that the same work has reached number one in both the weekly digital single and streaming rankings simultaneously. Despite their pre-debut, Be:First performed on several TV programs, including

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

's ''Sukkiri'' (August 25) and ''Buzzrhythm 02'' (September 10),

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

's ''Shibuya no Oto'' (September 11), and

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

's ''Premiere Melodix!'' (September 11). The group was also featured in the industry magazine ''Nikkei Entertainment''. Be:First appeared on September 18 as the opening act at SuperSonic2021, a music festival held as an alternative event to

Summer Sonic Festival The , also known as Supersonic, is an annual two- or three-day rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba, Japan. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Chiba the following day and vice versa. The line-up cont ...

, and gave their first performance in front of an audience.

2022–present: ''Be: 1''

Be:First collaborated with

Jonas Blue Guy James Robin (born 2 August 1989), known professionally as Jonas Blue, is an English DJ, record producer, songwriter, and remixer based in London. He is known for recruiting young artists for his dance-pop and tropical house productions, wh ...

to release the Japanese version of " Don't Wake Me Up" on July 13, 2022. The group released their debut studio album ''Be: 1'' on August 31, preceded by their first two singles, "Gifted", and "Bye-Good-Bye".

Members

Credits adapted from the official website. * Sota * Shunto * Manato * Ryuhei * Junon * Ryoki * Leo

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Promotional singles

Other charted songs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:First, Be Japanese boy bands Japanese dance music groups Japanese pop music groups