BE:FIRST Is Ready for the World: Inside the J-Pop Superstars’ Long-Planned U.S. Breakthrough — Billboard

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

BE:FIRST Is Ready for the World: Inside the J-Pop Superstars’ Long-Planned U.S. Breakthrough — Billboard | AIPROPX

BE:FIRST boasts a dozen No. 1s on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 , played its first stadium concerts this past spring and has a world tour set for the fall. Now, the group is officially unveiling the first step in its effort to rise to greater prominence in the U.S. market.

With the release of its new single, “BRUCE WAYNE,” the J-pop band is revealing its new U.S. distribution partnership with The Orchard, along with hello82 for physical distribution, Tom Windish at THE·TEAM for touring outside Asia, and ex-AVEX USA CEO Naoki Osada ‘s label Nebula17 for A&R.

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“BRUCE WAYNE,” BE:FIRST’s first release under its Orchard deal, is a swaggering, Atlanta hip-hop–indebted single produced by ATL Jacob and featuring Flo Milli , with lyrics by Starrah (Rihanna, Drake, Camila Cabello), Taylor Ross (Normani, Pitbull, Bebe Rexha) and the group’s executive producer SKY-HI, who is also CEO of the group’s Japanese music label BMSG. The track feels in line with some of the group’s harder hits, including 2023’s sleek and synth-y “Mainstream” and the anthemic “BE:FIRST ALL DAY” and its B-side “Rondo,” released in the spring.

“BRUCE WAYNE” is the lead single from WATCH ME , which the group describes as its first “global” EP, slated to arrive on Sept. 18. The set will also include a track featuring BIA as well as production from Tommy “TBHits” Brown .

While three of BE:FIRST’s members did recently carve out a trip to the World Cup final (“I love Messi,” youngest member Ryuhei says), the group is largely in discipline mode to meet arguably its biggest global moment yet. Over a video call from Los Angeles on Friday (July 31), group members Manato, Ryuhei, Sota, Junon, Shunto and Leo are quick to clarify that they have not been sightseeing but have instead spent their days taking English-language lessons, rehearsing choreography and undergoing media training with their new U.S. partners.

This weekend, BE:FIRST heads to Phoenix to perform at the 2026 World Hip-Hop Dance Championship (the same competition BE:FIRST member Sota won four different times), before playing Head in the Clouds in Los Angeles on Aug. 8. The group’s upcoming world tour, its second, launches in September, with two shows slated in New York.

“No time to play, basically,” Manato says with a laugh.

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Formed on Japan’s 2021 singing competition THE FIRST , BE:FIRST has been mapping out its current global push years in advance as part of its annual goal-setting summits, the members tell Billboard .

The run-up has already included two collaborations with K-pop chart-conquerors ATEEZ (plus an opening slot at that group’s 2024 Los Angeles stadium shows) and a hit Janet Jackson remix released after the American pop icon played four dates across Japan this year (BE:FIRST and Jackson’s collaborative “Doesn’t Really Matter (Remix)” hit No. 12 on the Japan Hot 100 in June, while its video has earned 7.9 million YouTube views to date).

“Our entire team is giving absolutely everything we’ve got to bring you the absolute best version of BE:FIRST and share their music with the world,” SKY-HI shared in an exclusive statement with Billboard . “Please look forward to what’s to come.”

You’ve made some moves to collaborate beyond Japan via the K-pop market: Janet Jackson, Jonas Blue. Why was this the right time to go bigger?

Shunto: Every year, SKY-HI and the members hold a meeting where we set goals — “by such-and-such year, we want to be doing such-and-such.” This [upcoming] year is our fifth, so there had been discussions that starting from the fifth anniversary, we’d push to further [our] worldwide presence and exposure. At that stage, we couldn’t yet picture the songs or what this would look like, but it’s been in the works for us. So, now that that’s arrived, we’ve been pushing and polishing ourselves — mentally, but also in practical ways too, like going to language school. All of it is an accumulation of work that we’ve done, and now we’ve sort of arrived at the right time to put things in a different gear.

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Let’s talk about “BRUCE WAYNE.” You’ve got Flo Milli, you’ve got ATL Jacob. How did the song come about, and why was it the right introduction to this new chapter?

Manato: I was in the same studio with ATL Jacob and Starrah in January. Actually, I was a fan of him. We also love Future, Atlanta hip-hop itself, and we kind of have an Atlanta sound style ourselves, so we were very excited to record the song. We gave some directions, like how we wanted a more dark sound, so we went back and forth. It’s not the typical kind of hip-hop; it’s like a luxurious style of hip-hop. We can easily sing the words. Also, all of us — but especially Manato — like Batman. [Laughs.] It feels like our “destiny song.”

Was Flo Milli attached from the beginning or did she record her part later?

Leo: It came together partway through — once the track was made, we searched [for a feature]. I think ATL Jacob shared it and she really loved the song. And we loved it, so we were like, “Let’s go!”

BE:FIRST (Courtesy of Harmonic Public Relations)

Courtesy of Harmonic Public Rela

This leads off WATCH ME , which is bein...