What is The First Take starring Mirror’s Jer Lau and Jeremy Lee? The Hong Kong Cantopop stars flaunted their talent on the Japanese YouTube channel that’s also hosted Harry Styles and Avril Lavigne

May 16 , 2023

Jer Lau and Jeremy Lee from Mirror appeared on Japanese singing show The First Take on May 5. Photo: @the_firsttake/Instagram

Hong Kong showbiz fans went into a frenzy when Mirror’s Jer Lau and Jeremy Lee appeared on The First Take, Sony Music Entertainment Japan’s YouTube channel that celebrates singers’ raw vocal talents

The show, which allows performers just one take, follows a similar format to South Korean Netflix series Take 1, which featured K-pop idol Rain (Jung Ji-hoon) and rocker Yim Jae-beum

There was plenty of buzz among Hong Kong showbiz followers when Jer Lau and Jeremy Lee from popular 12-piece boy band Mirror were invited to perform on The First Take, the unique Japanese YouTube channel in which – as its title might suggest – singers perform songs in just one take.

Jer Lau (left) and Jeremy Lee performed on The First Take. Photo: @the_firsttake/Instagram

Since the video premiered on YouTube on May 5, it has gained over one million views at the time of writing. The overall feedback on the pair’s performance has been extremely positive so far, with fans taking to the comments section to rave about their harmonic duet.

The praise isn’t just coming from Mirror fans though; people from many different parts of the world have been commenting on the video too. Some of them even mentioned that they hadn’t heard of Lau or Lee before, but after seeing their impressive performance, they would be paying more attention to their work from now on.

What is The First Take – and who has performed on it?

Created by Sony Music Entertainment Japan and first launched in November 2019, The First Take invites singers to perform in a white studio and sing directly into the microphone. Only one take is given to each singer during the recording.

The music is either played acoustically live on a guitar or a piano, or singers are accompanied by a pre-recorded music-only track. With no auto-tune, overdubbing or other effects on the vocals, the performance is supposed to be a true reflection of the singer’s raw talent and skill.

English singer, songwriter and actor Harry Styles was invited to perform on The First Take last June. Photo: @the_firsttake/Instagram

The initial First Take performances were by artists under Sony Music Japan, but soon the channel started opening up to Japanese singers from different backgrounds. Eventually a few famous international singers, such as Avril Lavigne and Harry Styles, were invited to perform too, giving the channel an even bigger global audience.

Before Mirror’s Lau and Lee, Jason Chan was actually the first Hong Kong artist appearing on The First Take, surprising local fans and making them proud of his Cantonese-language ballad on the show, per A Day Mag.