January 20, 2023 marked the first time a VTuber performer took to the mic at popular YouTube channel The First Take. Hoshimachi Suisei, a Hololive-affiliated VTuber, performed her original song “Stellar Stellar” on the channel. Less than a week later, her performance has surpassed 6 million views.
The milestone makes Suisei’s song the most popular First Take performance in January 2023. It’s also the most popular performance on the channel since October 2022, when EDM-pop group Wednesday Campanella performed “Edison” and cleared 10 million views.
Check out her performance of “Stella Stella” from her album Still Still Stellar below.
The First Take (aka The F1rst Take) is run by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and invites performers to sing songs of their choice on camera. Its gimmick is “One Take, One Life,” meaning that the invitees perform in a single take, as if they’re live on stage. The channel typically features Japanese talent, such as LiSA, YOASOBI, Aimer, and more, but performers from outside the country, like Harry Styles, have also appeared. It has more than 7 million subscribers, and has amassed over 2.7 billion views since it was founded in late 2019.
Suisei’s performance hitting 6 million views is a milestone, although compared with the other artists that have appeared on The First Take since 2019, it’s in the middle of the range. The most popular video on the channel is Takumi Kitamura (leader of DISH//) singing “Neko (Cat).” Since it was uploaded in 2020, it has gathered over 195 million views.
Hoshimachi Suisei streams from her YouTube channel. Her second album, Specter, is available for purchase and streaming from various services.
