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In February 2011, a group called "BABYMETAL" began to challenge the receptivity of traditional metal fans, and controversy ensued when the three girls appeared on stage for the first time in an unprecedented "heavy metal + dance" fusion performance form.
But even if there was a lot of criticism of them back then, ten years later, they had already proved themselves to some extent.
Text: Yang Zixuan Editor: Peach
For a decade, BABYMETAL has steadily gained loyal fans through ever-changing live performances that attract large audiences on the festival stages inside and outside Of Japan. And almost every one of their albums has achieved good results, the most recent one is ranked 13th on the Billboard 200 chart.
Along the way, BABYMETAL has earned the respect of metal industry veterans who have also established a style of the future by extending the boundaries of music.
Two current members of BABYMETAL, SU-METAL (Suzuka Nakamoto) and MOAMETAL (Yuyuki Mizuno, who quit in 2018), recently gave an exclusive interview to billboard, reviewing their decade as "metal idols", sharing how they first came into contact with metal music, their career turning points, and their upcoming collections.
NORAIN, NORAINBOWBABYMETAL - METALRESISTANCE Japan Edition
Billboard:
First, let's go back to the beginning. As we all know, you were not familiar with the heavy metal style when you first formed BABYMETAL, can you give you a specific example of how you understood its charm?
SU-METAL:
It was 2013 for me when I saw Metalica perform live at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan. Before that, I had only heard CDs of heavy metal music, but experiencing their live performances for the first time made me really feel the charm of that sound.
This made me realize that "metal is music that touches your heart and not your ears", and I was shocked to find out that there is such a powerful music in this world, and that's when I realized how amazing heavy metal really is.
MOAMETAL：
The first time I was exposed to metal music was when I heard a demo of Doki Doki Morning. Since then, I have begun to explore this style initially, but there are a lot of scary people in the MV, they paint their faces white, and the music itself is basically a lot of unknown screams to me, so for a while I really couldn't understand the charm of this genre.
But like SU-METAL, seeing Metala live in 2013 was an eye-opener for me and I realized that Metal is great. It pulled me out of my shell, and now I listen to metal whenever I want.
What is the biggest difference between live performances and sound on CDs?
Well, first of all, there is a big difference in volume, and the sound pressure feels like "is the wind blowing?". It's fun to feel the music with your whole body, and the power of the audience. We've never seen anything like that...
There are also circles and diving! [Laughs]
That's right! All of these things add up to the feeling that the music is there, and so is the BABYMETAL concert, but I think the greatest thing about heavy metal performances is how the artists and the audience work together to create this space.
BABYMETAL has made great strides from its early years to the present, and is now a single-handed group, which can neither be classified as the idol group of the original, nor is it a real heavy metal band. Are there any special moments in your journey that make you feel that the group has entered a new phase?
I think for me, it was when Gimme Chocolate !!! When the MV was posted online. I felt something change in my heart.
Before that, I was only vaguely aware that there were people outside of Japan who were supporting us, but when I saw Gimme Chocolate!!! When there were a lot of comments written in the language of countries I didn't know at all, I really realized that we also had a lot of fans abroad.
This makes me feel happy and changes my meaning as a member of BABYMETAL.
"10 BABYMETAL YEARS" is a collection of 10 songs that condenses the ten-year history of your group into 10 songs, so which song is the biggest turning point in BABYMETAL's career?
My favorite is Road of Resistance, many of BABYMETAL's songs evolved through live singing, some songs I really understood after Singing on stage, and "Road to Resistance" is one such song.
We did our first world tour in 2014, the last show was in the UK, and when we first performed the song as the finale track, the audience sang along with us.
Outside of Japan, after a series of concerts held in such distant places, this last tour made us really feel at home. For the first time, I realized, "That's what we've been doing for the past year." ”
At that moment, when everyone was singing together, the song sounded like an encouragement, allowing me to grasp the theme of the song, which was "to keep going where there is no road". I thought, "We're going to break new ground abroad with BABYMETAL, and we're going to go where there's no road." ”
In that sense, the song gave me a lot of support, and even now, whenever I sing this song, it encourages me. I think back to concerts held in different locations in the past and every time I sang this song on stage.
In fact, I will also choose "Road of Resistance" as our turning point, as SU-METAL said, this song casts the path we should go, and is full of the characteristics of BABYMETAL, because we are going to go to places where there is no way. When it comes to our group, this song has to be mentioned.
But if I had to pick another song, it would be Gimme Chocolate!!! Because that song was really a turning point for me personally.
Since 2013, one of BABYMETAL's themes has been the revival of heavy metal music under the banner of "METAL RESISTANCE".
You have announced plans to hold 10 concerts at Budokan in Japan in 2021, which will mark the final chapter of the era of "metal resistance". Do you think metal music has been revived since you first embarked on this journey?
Honestly, I don't know how metal is in the broader field, and I guess there may be a lot of people who are still discouraged by this genre. But I do feel that BABYMETAL has built a bridge between metal and many other things, such as J-POP.
In foreign countries, there are also children who come to see us perform, and in large venues in Japan, there are also families wearing cosplay to watch us perform. So I think our group will gradually make it easier for everyone to enjoy heavy metal music.
I was chatting with members of The Horizon the other day, and they said something like, "BABYMETAL is a group of girls who grew up listening to pop music, and now it's time for metal bands to enter the pop world." ”
So I feel that another form of "resistance" is emerging.
I'm pretty sure the breadth of heavy metal has expanded further in our decade-long musical career, so in that sense, I think our "struggle" should be successful.
I think budokan's performance will allow us to show what we've gained on our journey in this decade. Also our thanks to everyone we met on the road.
Ref：
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/9504315/babymetal-10-year-anniversary-interview/