The year was 2015, I was still in my early days of diving into the world of metal and hard rock music; I found a very eery video of someone reacting to a song called ‘Gimme Chocolate’.
I was very confused.
So was the entire world of the metal music community.
Babymetal was formed back in 2010 as a J-pop and metal fusion band by Amuse talent agency. They were initially a subgroup of Sakura Gakuin, a Japanese Idol Girl Group. Their stylistic origins have given rise to a new genre of music altogether: Kawaii Metal. Kawaii, literally means cute.
The original lineup included Su-metal, Yui-metal, and Moa-metal as the frontwomen and of course, my favorite, the Kami band (Kami meaning God). They debuted for the first time with their song ‘Doki Doki Morning’ in 2010, and in 2012 with the Kami Band, and the rest is history.
Just like every metal band has its own creations, entities, and caricatures, Babymetal has its own too. I introduce to you, the Fox God, also known as Kitsune Sama. Symbols and caricatures pertaining to the Fox God are present in almost all of their live shows, including the “sign of the Fox God”. The creator and producer of the band, Kobametal, attributes the name ‘Babymetal’ as a name he was given during a divine intervention with the Fox God. (Too much? Nope. Absolutely not.) They refer to their fans as ‘the One’.
The 2017 Five Fox festival was the last time the original trio performed together. Post this, we saw the departure of Yui (announced, October 2018). In January 2018, Fujioka Mikio, one of the guitarists of the Kami Band, sadly passed away. Their single, Starlight, is considered a tribute to Mikio. Their show ‘Dark Night Carnival’ was the first official show where Su and Moa performed as a duo (they had actually performed as a duo before this, however, Yui was said to be ill during those shows)
They have released three albums up until now, i.e. Babymetal in 2014, Metal Resistance in 2016, and Metal Galaxy 2019. With the release of Metal Galaxy, Babymetal became the first-ever Asian band to top the Billboard Rock Albums Chart.
Over the years, the stylistic approach of Babymetal has had a lot of influence on people’s perception of not just heavy metal but music in itself. They’ve experimented with tons of genres which makes it extremely refreshing as no two songs of theirs are alike! You either love them or hate them. There’s no in-between.
Their lyrics are bold. Their image is bold. Their music is bold. They revolutionized the industry and brought a fresh and wholly new approach. They’re definitely one of the most versatile bands you could possibly listen to.
The year was 2015, I was still in my early days of diving into the world of metal and hard rock music; I found a very eery video of someone reacting to a song called ‘Gimme Chocolate’.
I was very confused.
So was the entire world of the metal music community.
Now, here we are, six years later. The community has fully embraced them wholeheartedly.
We, Stan.
