BE:FIRST Prove They’re Ones To Watch With New Global EP, ‘Watch Me’

BE:FIRST is one of Japan’s most popular music acts.

Since their debut in 2021 (and even before that with their pre-debut songs), the group has earned a dozen No. 1s on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart and has sold out stadium and dome shows in Japan. During their rookie year, they received several awards, including MTV Japan’s Rising Star Award, Hot Topic Artist for LINE MUSIC Trend Awards, Idol Category of the Yahoo Search Awards, #1 New Artist Award from Recochoku Annual Ranking, Best 5 New Artist Award at the Japan Gold Disc Awards, YouTube’s Artist on the Rise, and more. The members – Sota, Shunto, Manato, Ryuhei, Junon, and Leo – would have a hard time not being recognized while walking around in the busy streets of Tokyo.

But in Los Angeles, it’s an entirely different experience for them. The group comes to LA quite often to work on music with American producers, perform, and do promotional engagements. While they’re here, the sextet has immersed themselves in American culture – some staying in homestays with Japanese Americans or Japanese people living in the U.S., with the rest of the members staying at an Airbnb together.

The members slowly arrive at the undisclosed interview site in Los Angeles, some with shopping bags from the upscale, viral grocery store chain Erewhon. Shunto drinks a strawberry smoothie but doesn’t know if it’s the one formerly known as the Hailee Bieber smoothie (it wasn’t). Ryhei even comments that the sushi at Erewhon is really good, and nods excessively when asked if it’s even comparable to back home.

Places like Erewhon and Trader Joe’s have become viral in Japan, representing a bit of America’s pop culture. The boys mention that Trader Joe’s mini-canvas bags are a big thing back home, even though there are absolutely no Trader Joe’s outside the U.S. They mention they’ve been picking up American slang and learning more about society.

“Obviously, there’s a gap when you talk about how one lives in Japan and in America,” Leo says through an interpreter. “Besides the language difference, our lifestyles are quite different. Society is different. The gap is pretty big. If there’s something that we can do to minimize the gap, which would allow us to connect with our fans and audiences better, then that’s something we will work towards.”

Leo not only talks about culture; he also mentions music, especially working with American R&B and hip-hop producers in Los Angeles. The group is best known for their R&B, hip-hop, and rap styles, which they excel at, especially under BMSG, the label of renowned Japanese rapper SKY-HI. The members are extremely respectful and real when it comes to paying homage to hip-hop and R&B. They may be immersed in American culture in LA, but that’s not the same thing as hip-hop culture.

“We spend so much time in Los Angeles and other big cities, but we really haven’t immersed ourselves in the rawness of hip-hop,” Ryuhei says. “To be able to work with producers whose roots are [in hip-hop] or other places they’re from – like Los Angeles or Atlanta – we couldn’t ask for a better place that allows us to work and create what we do. As Japanese artists from Japan, having the opportunity to do that here in Los Angeles is something we can’t complain about. There’s no better place to do this kind of work than here [in LA with these producers].”

For BE:FIRST’s international EP release (their first!), Watch Me, out now, the team worked closely with LA-based record producers – legendary producer Tommy Brown, who has worked with Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Nas, The Weeknd, T.I., and more, and ATL Jacob, who worked with J. Cole, Roddy Ricch, and Future. The mini-album leans into Atlanta hip-hop, with heavy bass, soulful punk, and the Roland TR-808 synthesizer, which Manato is a big fan of.

“I was so excited,” Manato says, entirely in English. “Watch Me was made in January this year. ‘Bruce Wayne’ and ‘Watch Me’ were created by ATL Jacob, so you feel the Atlanta vibes. I love the bass and the 808 sounds he’s made with big Atlanta artists and rappers. [ATL Jacob] is a young guy – 27 years old. We love Atlanta-style hip-hop. We never had that sound before. The melody doesn’t go high or low key; it stays at the same note or the same key, but the distortion and the bass note on the low key are fire. It’s the first thing we tried. It was a wonderful moment.”

The group learned a lot from the producers and collaborators – including American rappers Flo Milli (“Bruce Wayne”) and BIA (“Watch Me”). These are recognizable names in the music industry, and BE:FIRST says they had a great experience learning from them. Junon relays, “These producers have worked with artists that we’re very familiar with, so just for us to imagine how our voices would blend and how that would turn out was a big question mark looming on the top of our heads. The overall experience was unique, new, and fresh for us. There are some songs we co-wrote, but there was a lot for us to learn and absorb.”

He uses “Bruce Wayne” as an example because they couldn’t imagine how their voices would sound on the track. But they overcame it – with the help of the experienced producers – and felt like their “range had expanded to a level that they didn’t know they had before.”

The members faced many challenges, including reaching new styles and lengths with this EP. Leo had to work on a lower range or key, and he put in a lot of work to get there. He applied pressure in areas that he’s never done before. He felt like this song was a personal challenge. Leo shares, “There are things that I was able to pull out of these drawers that weren’t really yet opened for me. There were these hidden things that I didn’t really discover before, but now I know I can go there.”

As the biggest American comic book fan in the group, Leo was excited to sing about Batman’s alter ego in “Bruce Wayne.” He is excited to talk about the character – and how it relates to the high-energy anthem. He rubs his chin as if there’s an invisible goatee ready to present a comic book lesson.

“There’s some sort of point of view that takes inspiration from the actual Batman series, because Bruce Wayne is a character in the series,” he begins. “At the same time, he’s a dark hero, but he’s also a sophisticated gentleman. He has his own core. He’s committed in such a way that sometimes falls into advantageous or sometimes disadvantageous sort of situations. It can depend on the situation when he interacts with all other superheroes that come into play, but his core remains the same. He doesn’t tend to adapt or shift; he remains true to who he is. From that standpoint, I feel like BE:FIRST overlaps because we definitely say true to who we are, whether it is our style or something we want to communicate outwardly.”

Shunto adds, since the music video sets up a lore for the group, “Ever since our first tour, we’ve had elements of a narrative or setting a lore up, but it’s covering a wide variety of characters. There’s no one-to-one attachment. The concept behind it was to capture a multi-dimensional feel of who we are as individuals. But after the stadium tour, it completed that lore. With the six characters introduced in ‘Bruce Wayne,’ there’s no one-to-one characterization of any of us in the group. It’s more like six of us are making up this group.”

Of course, with Batman and Bruce Wayne, the conversation of duality comes into play. Bruce Wayne is a facade – a mask of Batman, who is his true self. Does BE:FIRST relate to that idea as artists – who is their true self? The artist on stage or the person off-stage? The members pause for a long time, then Shunto breaks the silence: “It’s a case-by-case situation.”

The answer causes everyone to burst into laughter.

Sota, who has been the quietest during the interview, speaks up, “The good thing about us is that we actually don’t have that hard line that we are kind of the same on and off stage. That’s a quality that we like about ourselves. The most important thing is that it does sometimes depend on the song. When we’re performing, we’re obviously putting our energy and passion into the song, but we’re respecting what we’re singing about. It might slightly depend on how we’re performing, but as people, we don’t really change as much on and off stage.”

The group is looking forward to international fans to give them a chance with this release. They really love all the songs on the EP; many of them had a hard time picking a favorite. Shunto says it’s “Bruce Wayne” for him, while Leo prefers “Dead Eyes Everywhere” ft. ATL Jacobs. Sota names two: “Watch Me” and “Cagliostro.” Ryuhei likes the bass and melodies of “Watch Me.” Junon initially agrees on “Watch Me,” but the song he could listen to over and over again would be the slow jam “Paper Scars.” Manato starts naming the entire tracklist, and the guys start shouting in Japanese: “No!” “You’re cheating! Pick one!”

Manato continues, “All of them,” then suggests playing snippets of each song. He caves to the group’s pressure and finally says, “Dead Eyes Everywhere.”

Though the guys are busy promoting their new album, Leo drops that they’re already working on the next one. It came out accidentally after Sota revealed that they’ve been thinking about doing 2000s R&B-style music. When asked what kind of sound or artists they’re inspired by for the album, they declined to comment as it would give away their plans.

Ryuhei sighs, “I still want to do New Jack Swing.”

BE:FIRST says they’re still going through the process of trying to understand the culture they’re working with, comparing it to when foreign artists go to Japan and try to use whatever little Japanese they know.

“We appreciate that,” he says candidly. “That effort is super appreciated. We are doing the same and try to absorb as much as we can. The most important thing is to understand and try our best to understand the culture. If we can communicate as we do with our Japanese fans, and get one step closer every single time we make an effort with the non-Japanese fans, that’s always the goal that we have in mind.”

BE:FIRST’s Watch Me is out now on all streaming platforms. Physical copies are available at select retailers.