“I am who I am.”
Vol.01 Hirai Miyo (BEYOOOOONDS) / Photographed & Written by Nao
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| (The truth will move one's heart. Photographer Nao captures Hirai Miyo at this moment of truth in this real documentary) |
Hirai Miyo, now living her life as an idol, has her own set of ideals and conflicts.
While attending university, she auditioned for Hello! Project for the third time and debuted as BEYOOOOONDS in 2019. She has expanded her repertoire to include singing and acting in addition to dance, which has earned her recognition from the start.
She says, "When I first started out, I worried a lot." While she rapidly gained prominence, she struggled to live up to her ideals. However, she kept going forward in spite of these shortcomings.
I wanted to express myself, so I became an idol.
“It's been three years since my debut, and I've finally come to accept myself for who I am. At first, I was very nervous about whether anyone would support me since I was just an ordinary college student. This Yamano Hall is the place where I made my debut. Now that I'm back here after several years, I can feel my emotions from those days rushing back to me.”
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| (Yamano Hall, the place where Miyo made her debut) |
She had been studying classical ballet since she was 4, but Hirai-san didn't decide to pursue a full-fledged career in dance until she saw dancer Koharu Sugawara-san in a commercial when she was in junior high school. Before then, she was "just dancing".
"I was fascinated by the idea of dancing so emotionally that I wanted to be on stage. I aimed to join Hello! Project because I'm interested in singing and acting too, so it seemed like the right place for me to challenge myself in all these areas. What drew me to Hello! Project was Morning Musume's "Help me!!" music video."
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| (Miyo is in her own private clothes for the entire photo shoot) |
A one-of-a-kind performance... but
But fate took its course, and she ended up joining BEYOOOOONDS. Aside from dancing and singing, they put on skits, perform live music and use castanets in their live performances?! They're truly a unique idol group that captivates with its genre-less performances.
She now feels that BEYOOOOONDS touches people's hearts in a unique way. But it was perplexing for her at first, since she had debuted as an idol while still in university.
“For example, skits are cool when they are done right. But because I joined the group at 18 years old, I felt self-conscious and ashamed. There were times when I struggled to break out of my shell.”
In the last three years, I have come to think that “There are things I can do because of who I am."
Nevertheless, Hirai-san was able to work through her conflicts, and turn them into a creative expression. For instance, in one play she had a small role, but she worked hard to deepen her interpretation of that character and was rewarded with the lead role in the next play. She was once frustrated with her singing voice, but she recently realized that it can be used as a powerful weapon.
“I didn't have a particularly strong voice and had difficulty hitting the high notes. I put a lot of effort into developing my skills for my solo singing concert in 2020. Now I am now able to sing with a good balance of emotion and make use of my husky voice to add spice to my performance.”
"I've gained more self-confidence through singing, and I think "There are things I can do because of who I am." I have an inferiority complex, but I am sure this feeling will come up again in different areas of my life. So I'd like to keep expanding my reach. What I want to master now is dancing."
Living the life of an idol will lead to the future
“I want to push Hirai Miyo with pride now. In the music video for our major debut single, I didn't want to stand out, so I thought, "I'm going to hide." (laughs) but that insecure girl is no more.”
"When you become an idol, graduating is inevitable. I'm anxious about my future, but unless I work hard and live each day fully as Hirai Miyo of BEYOOOOONDS, the future I want will never come. That's why I'm giving my best effort at everything now and looking forward to seeing how the present will lead to the future."
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