On the bayfm radio show “Tonight, Under Sakura’s Tree” (every Wednesday from 24:00 to 24:30) broadcast on July 1, 2020 (Wednesday).
IZ*ONE’s Miyawaki Sakura talked about “KCON”, which was also broadcast on YouTube.
Miyawaki Sakura: Tokyo, radio name “Light”.
Listener email: Good evening, Saku-chan.
Miyawaki Sakura: Good evening!
Listener email: I was watching “KCON: TACT 2020 SUMMER” on YouTube.
Minju’s message in Japanese was cute, and it was the first performance of “Merry-Go-Round (Japanese Ver.)”. I never thought they would sing the Japanese version, so I was very happy.
Please tell us any behind-the-scenes stories from KCON.
Miyawaki Sakura: Ugh. At KCON, we ended up singing the Japanese version of “Merry-Go-Round,” a song that Hii-chan composed called “Hwayeong Monma (Carousel).”
It must have been really hard for the Korean members. And because this was during our comeback, we had to do it without having much time to practice, so it was really tough.
But Hii-chan wrote the lyrics, so if there was something I didn’t understand, I just asked Hii-chan and she already knew it all (laughs).
So with Hii-chan’s help, we managed to do it. We ended up performing the Japanese version for the first time.
And then, KCON… right. It was a “new world” when we tried it. Really.
I think those who watched it will understand. Um… during the actual performance, the fans couldn’t see it, but there was a really big screen in front of us… it was really all the way from one end of the studio to the other. There was a screen so big that it was like “the biggest screen you can get” right in front of us, and there were all the faces of our fans on it, “whoosh!” And there were also YouTube comments.
So we weren’t dancing “towards the camera”, but “looking at the faces of our fans” who were supporting us! I wanted to tell you this as soon as possible because I don’t think you knew this, but we were performing at KCON while looking at our fans!
It wasn’t in person, but it was really encouraging to see our fans’ faces after a long time, and now… it’s difficult to meet, but I felt really happy that we could deliver our “current appearance” in this way, and we could see our fans’ “current appearance”.
Well, it was virtual, but we were able to meet like this and get strength, and I once again felt that IZONE is necessary for WIZONE… and WIZONE is necessary for IZONE… for each other.
It was really KCON… we were on stage quite late at night, so I’m sure everyone waited for a long time… but thank you so much for holding it until late and making it such a great performance!