The Sony-owned The First Take channel has been promoting other artists besides Japanese bands and singers for quite a while now, but to see a Korean boy band show up on the channel recently for the third time in two years was quite a surprise.
That boy band, of course, is K-pop group Stray Kids.
Although no, it isn’t really a surprise Stray Kids seems to have become popular with The First Take.
After all, the group is such a huge international sensation.
The K-pop group currently has almost 8 million people listening to their music every month on Spotify alone, and more than 12 million subscribers on their YouTube channel earning them heading towards 3 billion plays so far.
Throw in that Stray Kids were the first Korean artists to appear on The First Take channel, and that their music is released in Japan via Epic Records Japan, a subsidiary of Sony, and nope, not a surprise at all.
In fact, seeing Stray Kids show up on The First Take last week with a performance of their hit single ‘Case 143‘, and then be back this week with a live one-take performance of Stray Kids’ ‘Lost Me‘, is pretty much the norm at this point.
Especially as Stray Kids’ first live one-take The First Take performance two years ago earned them more than 14 million views.
And, of course, because their live one-take performances are always so damned good.
Just look at the one-take performance of Stray Kids’ ‘Lost Me’ on The First Take, which was uploaded yesterday.
Every member of the group contributes such superb vocals, they are almost pitch perfect, and their voices work so well together you really do get goosebumps listening to them.
Especially with the lovely mix of rap, falsetto and more ballad-style vocals the track features.
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The guys of Stray Kids also do a fabulous job of introducing themselves and their song to The First Take audience.
Sure, it is all rehearsed like crazy before their performance kicks off, but it is still lovely to watch.
The First Take, by the way, explains Stray Kids being on the channel with the special arrangement of ‘Lost Me‘ like this:
Episode 298 welcomes back Stray Kids, who achieved a triple million-seller with their mini album “MAXIDENT” in Korea and topped the Billboard 200, the main album chart of the U.S. Billboard, with it.
It was the second time for the group to achieve this honor, making Stray Kids as the first K-POP group to top the chart two times in a row.
The 1 TAKE performance of “Lost Me” is off their first Japanese album titled “THE SOUND,” which topped the Oricon Weekly Album Chart and got three #1s on the Billboard Japan Chart.
The song sings out the earnest and essential doubt of “Is there anyone in this world who loves you just the way you are?”
Watch Stray Kids’ ‘Lost Me‘ one-take performance via The First Take below. You can also hear the recorded version of the song via the Spotify player below that.
Meanwhile, that song has now been added to my Liked Songs list on Spotify — a list I run on repeat daily — because it is such a banger.
Watch more superb The First Take performances by a plethora of artists on Leo Sigh.