Finally, after a staggering eight years, BABYMETAL is coming back to Korea. The group is set to headline the 2025 Busan International Rock Festival on September 28, the final day. BABYMETAL first played Korea in 2017, when they were the opening act for Metallica’s “WorldWired Tour.” Their upcoming concert in Busan will be their first Korean performance as headliners. Just a bit earlier, on August 8, the group released their fourth album, “METAL FORTH.” The release is their first since “THE OTHER ONE” in 2023. Considering that “THE OTHER ONE” was positioned as a spin-off record that deviates from the usual BABYMETAL narrative, “METAL FORTH” is effectively the group’s first true studio album in six years. Moreover, it’s the first album to include MOMOMETAL, who joined the group in 2023, making their performance at the Busan International Rock Festival all the more highly anticipated.
2025 is an especially significant year for BABYMETAL, marking their 15th anniversary. That might explain why “METAL FORTH” is full of collaborations with prominent international artists, like German electronicore band Electric Callboy, Russian deathcore band Slaughter To Prevail, Indian metal band Bloodywood, and Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello. In an interview this past August 10 on the Japanese show “Sunday Japon,” the BABYMETAL members explained how “the title of the album signifies going beyond metal.” True to their words, “METAL FORTH” shows what happens when BABYMETAL embraces a fusion of new musical styles with their own.
Dreaming of the metal–idol fusion
Though the word “metal” is right there in their name, BABYMETAL is actually more like an idol group with a metal concept or what could be called a metal performance group. It all stems from the fact that they were originally an offshoot of SakuraGakuin, an “underground” idol group with entertainment agency AMUSE. BABYMETAL producer KOBAMETAL once revealed that the group’s origin was born out of asking, “What if we made a metal band disguised as idols?” As they started to grow more popular than SakuraGakuin themselves, they branched off into the independent group that they’ve continued on as to this day. SakuraGakuin disbanded in August 2021, but the connection between them and BABYMETAL hasn’t completely vanished. Consider how, after YUIMETAL left BABYMETAL in 2018, another former SakuraGakuin member, Momoko Okazaki, joined BABYMETAL as MOMOMETAL five years later.
You can see how unique BABYMETAL is right from their distinctive way of suffixing the word “metal” to each of their members’ names. They open every one of their concerts with the song “BABYMETAL DEATH,” which serves as a means of introducing themselves. It’s a way of announcing that you’re about to be entertained by Momoko Okazaki as MOMOMETAL, Moa Kikuchi as MOAMETAL, and Suzuka Nakamoto as SU-METAL.
Where BABYMETAL truly shines is onstage. Whenever they perform live, BABYMETAL shares the stage with a group of session musicians called the KAMI BAND. With the group since 2012, the KAMI BAND is composed of seasoned professionals including two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer. The members of BABYMETAL, meanwhile, strictly focus on singing and dancing, two areas they truly excel in. In fact, SU-METAL’s one-of-a-kind vocals are the group’s single greatest strength and their defining feature. Rather than relying on typical metal singing styles like growling, her clear, straightforward screaming style serves as a bridge between the heavy metal of the KAMI BAND and BABYMETAL’s J-pop idol performance style. No song highlights her voice better than their 2012 single “Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!” Interestingly, the recently joined MOMOMETAL breathes fresh life into this track when they perform it live now thanks to her unparalleled growling and screaming vocals—what’s often called her “death voice.” “Now that we have this new arrangement with MOMOMETAL joining, she’s made us heavier with the death voice she does—in a good way,” MOAMETAL said in one interview. “She adds some weight to our cuteness, which I think is a significant evolution for us.”
With SU-METAL singing, she has MOAMETAL and MOMOMETAL (YUIMETAL until 2018) at her sides, screaming and pulling off dance moves that are a sight to behold. As former SakuraGakuin members, not only did they already come equipped with a solid foundation in dance, but their choreography is also led by renowned choreographer MIKIKO, who’s worked with names like Perfume and Gen Hoshino. You can see BABYMETAL’s uniquely disciplined choreography on full display in the song “KARATE.”
KOBAMETAL’s original intention for BABYMETAL was to craft a style where metal meets dance. In line with the concept, he brought in two girls with entirely different vibes from SU-METAL and exceptional dance skills. “The starting point for BABYMETAL never came out of wanting to form a conventional metal band,” KOBAMETAL said in a 2021 interview with “AERA DIGITAL.” “The goal was to create a new kind of music where the concept was ‘metal meets dance,’ and that was one aspect that absolutely could not be compromised.” And ultimately, that proved to be the right decision. MOAMETAL and MOMOMETAL’s dance moves have contributed massively to the group’s image in a way that no other group can replicate. BABYMETAL simply wouldn’t be the same without SU-METAL’s vocals, and likewise, the group wouldn’t exist without MOAMETAL and MOMOMETAL.
A new chapter for BABYMETAL
The addition of MOMOMETAL to the group hints at a significant transformation for BABYMETAL. The group faced challenges after YUIMETAL’s departure disrupted their long-established dynamic as a trio, but with MOMOMETAL joining, they’ve solidified their status as a three-piece once again. Interestingly, MOMOMETAL herself has a unique connection to the number three—she was born on March 3, 2003 (03/03/03) and her given name, Momoko, is three syllables long. “Song 3,” a track off “METAL FORTH,” works in some wordplay surrounding the number three, too. Beyond feeling like a warm welcoming in for MOMOMETAL, it also gives the impression that BABYMETAL is declaring the return of their three-member format.
It seems the group may be feeling more confident in their position than before. As mentioned earlier, “METAL FORTH” notably features many collaborations with international musicians, resulting in a markedly fresh turn from their previous albums. While “PA PA YA!!” featuring Thai rapper F.HERO became a hit, and they had an earlier feature on a Lil Uzi Vert track, this album takes their collaborations in a different direction. Of the 10 tracks, only three—”KxAxWxAxIxI,” “Algorism,” and “White Flame ー白炎ー”—feature no outside artists. “It was fun to include languages from other countries in songs on the album,” the group said. “We hope people will enjoy these new musical crossovers. You can truly feel how the whole world becomes one through metal on this album.” The electricity between the group and Electric Callboy is undeniable when they perform “RATATATA” live together, repeatedly slamming their audience up against the beat. It’s the same thing with “METALI!!” and Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello. BABYMETAL is known for their unique way of transcending genre—they’ve never shied away from drawing inspiration from Japanese folk songs or nursery rhymes, for instance—and this song, too, perfectly captures that.
Seeking a more mature kawaii metal
That said, there are certain songs that are essential for defining the BABYMETAL sound, like “Megitsune,” “Ijime, Dame, Zettai,” and “Gimme Chocolate!!.”
The words BABYMETAL sings over their metallic melodies are written with girls in mind, and this is where their identity truly comes together. You can hear it in “Iine!” (“A girl’s dreams are super chaos for sure”), in “Megitsune” (“Women of ages past / Dance in fleeting dreams / Transcend thousands of years / And live for the moment”), in “Ijime, Dame, Zettai” (“I couldn’t say nothing / And almost gave up / That’s who I was up until yesterday / Goodbye to her”), and in “KARATE” (“Let’s fight on / More with our fists, more with our spirits / Refining it all / Even if we are sad and can’t stand back up”). These are the stories of girls with great tenacity hidden away inside—a sentiment mirrored in their stage performances.
Some look at this and call it kawaii metal, and others are more disparaging, but based on an interview BABYMETAL gave for the new album, the group seems unfazed by any commentary. “We still want to move forward as representatives of kawaii metal, and we believe ‘METAL FORTH’ reflects a more evolved, more mature version of it,” MOAMETAL explained. “In fact, we’re deliberately leaning into that aspect, and we plan to keep doing kawaii metal going forward.” It’s the culmination of all these distinctive traits that shapes BABYMETAL into a group unlike any other.
The future according to BABYMETAL, the living embodiment of a genre
BABYMETAL has spent the 15 years since forming in 2010 forging an extraordinary path. The same year they debuted, they made history as the youngest group ever to perform at SUMMER SONIC. In 2013, they became the youngest artists to play LOUD PARK, Japan’s premier heavy metal festival. By 2014, they set another record as the youngest to ever perform at Budokan, and embarked on their first overseas tour that March. That same summer, they opened for Lady Gaga during her “artRAVE: the ARTPOP ball” tour. In April 2016, BABYMETAL became the first Japanese artist to hold their own concert at Wembley Arena in England, performing to a crowd of 10,000. Later that September, they wrapped up their tour with two nights at the Tokyo Dome and a massive audience 110,000 strong. In 2019, they broke new ground as the first Japanese musicians to perform at Glastonbury Festival, and the following year, they made their debut at “The Red & White Year-End Song Festival” on NHK, where they performed alongside Yoshiki from X Japan.
But BABYMETAL’s journey is far from over. “METAL FORTH” has already made waves, hitting No. 3 on the “Billboard JAPAN” Top Album Sales chart for CDs and going all the way to the top of the Download Albums chart. It’s not just about the numbers, though. Kawaii metal is an entirely new genre, born in Japan—all thanks to BABYMETAL’s success. In the early to mid-2010s, Japan’s underground idol scene saw the emergence of numerous metal idol acts, undoubtedly inspired by BABYMETAL’s influence. The group has brought about an entire social phenomenon. What started as a dream to fuse idol music with metal has grown beyond those early confines to pioneer a completely new genre. It begs the question: What kind of show will this one-of-a-kind group put on at the Busan International Rock Festival?
On “Sunday Japon,” the BABYMETAL members were asked a question: “How are you feeling these days with the news of metal legends like John Sykes and Ozzy Osbourne passing, and being part of the next generation to carry the torch?” “Well,” SU-METAL responded, “when we first started doing metal, there had to be someone to teach us about it. It’s like, everybody had something to say. The artists people call legends were positive about it, like, ‘No, you are metal. You should believe in your own style of metal and just keep going.’ We really feel that we’re where we are today because of people like them. We really want to carry their spirit forward. And we’ve really been able to feel how our status is slowly rising at the festivals we’ve played lately. … We’ve been doing this for 15 years now, but we kept at it, and now it’s all paying off. It keeps us ready to pounce and motivates us to work even harder.”
Later this month, we’ll get to witness the fruits of that labor firsthand in Busan. I can’t wait to see what BABYMETAL will do as headliners.
