Miyawaki Sakura on "Produce48" a year later - "Nekkoya" was the "most loveliest day in my history as an idol"

For this week, IZ*ONE’s Miyawaki Sakura’s Bay-FM radio program “Konya, Sakura no Kinoshita de” (Tonight, under the cherry blossoms), Sakura discussed her experience on “Produce48” a year later.

When asked about “what is your most impressive song or stage that Sakura showed off on the broadcast?”, Miyawaki said, “Nekkoya”.

For those not familiar with “Produce48”, the show was an audition show based on the popular Korean audition show “Produce 101”, which takes the top members voted by audiences (aka “Producers”) to form a group. “Produce48” was a collaboration between “Produce101” and the AKB48 groups.

Miyawaki Sakura was one of the top ranked Japanese members on the show and was voted #1 among the 96 members for the first week, which gave her the opportunity to become center for the performance for “Nekkoya” (PICK ME).

Her performance won over not just audiences but also fellow performers wanting a position on the show. Especially how Sakura ended the performance as she looked towards the camera and smiled, which was commented by other frontrunners.

Miyawaki said of the “Nekkoya” performance, “That’s what I have to say is my most loveliest day in my history as an idol”.

Miyawaki then laughed and said, “I have gotten the highest votes, so I knew that it could only go downhill from there”.

“No, really. I watched the broadcast myself and thought, this is a wonderful reflection of me. I felt I was ready”.

“That day, I was feeling very good and felt that I would not be able to exceed that moment by much”.

Miyawaki who tends to struggle with complex and confidence said, “I personally felt that ‘Nekkoya’ was my peak on the show but for other fans, I wonder what performance they felt my peak was. Honestly, I felt when I was the center for ‘Kimi wa Melody’ for AKB48 was popular, I also felt things could go downhill from there. And I felt the same with ‘Nekkoya’, that things could only go downhill”.

You can listen to the radio episode here. (NOTE: The episode changes each week)