Be:First (stylized in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
) 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 songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...
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 (band), AAA. He is the rapper of the group and also writes rap lyrics for the band. He is also a member of the hip hop music, hip hop trio Mother Ninjas. He also de ...
.
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
fandom name
Many fandoms in popular culture have their own names that distinguish them from other fan communities. These names are popular with singers, music groups, films, authors, television shows, books, games, sports teams, and actors. Some of the te ...
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 ...
'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 seri ...
. 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
is a Japanese private railway compa ...
'' 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 Thu ...
. 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 N ...
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-p ...
'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 (food), spread, melted a ...
" 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 terrestri ...
'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 certif ...
'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 con ...
, 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