Musicians get one chance to get it right in music reality show 'Take 1'

K-pop

Published: 13 Oct. 2022, 14:54 Updated: 13 Oct. 2022, 14:57

Musicians get one chance to get it right in music reality show 'Take 1'

Producer Kim Hak-min, center, and K-pop duo Lee Chan-hyuk and Lee Soo-hyun to his left and right pose for a photo at the local press event of Netflix Korea's original music reality show "Take 1" at the Megabox Seongsu branch in eastern Seoul, Thursday. [NEWS1]

If an artist had just one chance to sing a single song, and take to the stage one last time, what would they choose to perform?

This is the premise for Netflix Korea’s first-ever music reality show, “Take 1.”

Iconic musicians of their respective fields — Rain, AKMU, Mamamoo, Yim Jae-beom, Park Jung-hyun, Sumi Jo, You Hee-yul and Lena Park — pulled off performances worthy of mission-impossible status to realize their once-in-a-lifetime dream performance, all in one take, in real time. There are no do-overs here.

“Take 1” is Netflix Korea’s first original music reality show and is first in line to release, out of all of the platform’s Korean unscripted shows planned for the latter half of this year.

“It started off with that spark of imagination where people often think about legendary performances or iconic songs of their favorite artists,” producer Kim Hak-min said at a local press event for the show at the Megabox Seongsu branch in eastern Seoul. “I just switched this to the artist’s point of view: What would they want to sing and perform if they could sing only one song before they die? Thus began this mad project where we create the stage for the artist for that one time and demolish it all after it’s over.”

Singer Rain chose his 2008 song “Rainism” and made his stage nothing other than the Blue House, the former presidential compound which transitioned into a cultural complex earlier this year after President Yoon Suk-yeol moved the presidential office to Yongsan District, central Seoul.

K-pop duo AKMU chose its 2021 song “AKMU,” and a performance that involves planes, skydivers and 200 dancers on a field.

“My original plan was to perform on the tarmac,” Lee Chan-hyuk of AKMU says on the show. “Professional skydivers will jump and land on the tarmac, then [the camera] shifts to 200 dancers standing there, all wearing the same sunglasses. Then, everything turns dark, like a blackout.”

AKMU, who attended the event with producer Kim, applauded Netflix for letting them realize their dream performance.

“I’ve always wanted to do so many things, and I like things to be extreme, unconventional,” Lee Chan-hyuk said. “But when I talk about what I want to do, usually everyone just laughs and takes it as a joke. But when I told my idea to the show crew, their expressions turned dark, which meant that they were taking this seriously. During the next meeting, [Kim] started off with the words ‘I looked into the tarmac…’ and that’s all it took for me. I was in. I was touched that they were really trying to turn my ideas into reality.”

Kim also spoke about the appearance of You Hee-yul, a popular singer-songwriter, music producer and TV personality who is currently off the grid in the entertainment industry due to alleged plagiarism issues regarding some of his music back in June.

“All of the filming ended in March,” Kim said. “I want to point out that he did not appear on the show after the [alleged] controversy. This is a project in which countless staff, artists and crew members participated and filmed, and there’s a limit to [taking You out] just because of the issue.”

“Take 1” releases on Netflix on Friday.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]