On December 28th, the girl group "ME:I" appeared at the rehearsal for the "75th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen" (general and other channels) held at the NHK Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo. They talked about the joy of their first appearance on Kouhaku.
ME:I is a girl group born from the audition program "PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS." They made their debut in April 2024 with the single "MIRAI."
Leader MOMONA smiled and said, "It's been about a year since we formed ME:I, and about eight months since our debut, so we'd always aimed to perform at the Kohaku Uta Gassen, but we never expected to achieve it in just our first year. It still feels like a dream, and I'm sure it will only sink in on the day of the performance. We want to perform to the best of our ability, filled with gratitude."
RAN, who will be attempting the Kendama Guinness World Record challenge, a regular feature of the Kohaku Uta Gassen, said with a wry smile, "I've been playing kendama as a hobby since I was a child, and I can do some tricks, but when I try to do them on TV shows, I usually fail."
"When I get nervous my hands shake, so it's no exaggeration to say that I'm more nervous than I am about my performance. I want to practice with my hands trembling so that I can succeed even when I'm nervous. I'm practicing at home with my own Kendama," she said enthusiastically.
The 75th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen will be broadcast on December 31st from 7:20pm to 11:45pm (with some news breaks). Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Kanna Hashimoto, Sari Ito, and announcer Naoko Suzuki will be the hosts.
