History Music / Babymetal

* ViewerNameConfusion: "Iine!" faces the same problem as "[[Music/{{Loituma}} Ievan Polkka]]", with the initial uppercase "I" being mistaken for a lowercase "l".

* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
** "Iine!" faces the same problem as "[[Music/{{Loituma}} Ievan Polkka]]". Three guesses on what that problem is and the first two don't count.
** "Yava!" is a stylized romanization of "''yaba!''" ("oh no!").

After their 10-Year Anniversary shows in Winter 2021 (performed under strict pandemic guidelines), Babymetal took an official hiatus they called "Closing The Seal". It reopened about 21 months later, at the start of 2023, after a few months of music snippets teasing a new album.

On April 1st 2023, eight weeks after a last-minute concert teaser that caught fans off-guard, the band announced Momoko would be upgraded to full member, taking the stage name MOMOMETAL, reestablishing once and for all the group's trinity formation. Additionally, they announced a few world tour dates. The first area on the list? Southeast Asia, right where they left off.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO7Y8NsnkRg PA PA YA!]]" (2019)[[note]] (physical version bundled with ''Dark Night Carnival'' Bluray only available via preorder for THE ONE members; released digitally a few days after that)[[/note]]

* CostumeTestMontage: "YAVA!" is about a girl struggling to decide between similar things, which many fans believe to be clothing.

** The Legend 1999 & 1997 Apocalypse shows had all members singing songs released in their birth years. Su covered the ''Evangelion'' song "Tamashii no Refrain" and SPEED's "White Love", Yui sang "Chokotto Love" by Petitmoni, and Moa performed Morning Musume's "Love Machine".

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: ''Metal Galaxy'' was released as a 2-disc album in Japan. The first disc represent the light side (Sun) with international elements to music, while the second disc represents the dark side (Moon) that contains more of the heavier tracks.

** In a very early interview with SCOOPERS (Sakura Gakuin's journalism subunit), they used a different logo (pink colored, but already has the hearts and skull) and introduced themselves by their real names and school grades.

** "THE ONE" from ''Metal Resistance'' (6:29). When paired with its companion song "Tales of the Destinies" (5:35), as on the album and at Tokyo Dome Red Night, the spectacle is over twelve minutes.
** The version of "THE ONE" performed at Legend S was an eleven-minute epic by itself. A slightly shortened version was used during music hall shows in their 2018 mini-tour.

** "Tales of the Destinies" → "THE ONE"

--> ''[-(said in turn while holding the fox sign)-]'' "Su-metal DEATH! Yuimetal DEATH! Moametal DEATH!"\\
"We are... ''[-(posing as shown in the top image)-]'' BABYMETAL DEATH!"

** "YAVA!" is a stylized romanization of "''yaba!''" ("oh no!").

** For "METALI!", Momoko's kabuki bridge is lipsynced as its unique diction isn't easy to flip to after a lot of heavy dancing. The death-scream (not on the studio track) she performs immediately after – "ARE YOU READY!!" – is also mimed, but is clearly her.
** The official videos on the band's [=YouTube=] channel using concert footage give off this vibe, as oftentimes the studio track replaces the original live vocals. "Gimme Chocolate!" is a good example. So is "THE ONE". "PA PA YA!!" is another major one, as F.Hero's live vocals sounded very different from the studio version.

** TOTD's companion song, "THE ONE", is mostly in 12/8 (or a fast 4/4), but the bridge mixes it up being mostly in 6/8 with a single fast 4/4 bar thrown in every fourth measure (or 4/8 depending on how you count it). The tempo also subtly changes.

In addition to their headline shows, which can range from the stripped-down (most of their foreign shows plus 2017's Five Fox Festivals) to the incredibly elaborate (Budokan 2014, Trilogy, Tokyo Dome, LEGEND S), they have also served as opener to several bigger acts they have met and sometimes become friends with during their travels to various music festivals over the years. This includes Music/LadyGaga, Music/{{Metallica}}, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, and Music/{{Korn}}. They have also collaborated with Music/DragonForce (with whom they are close), Music/{{Sabaton}}, and Rob Halford of Music/JudasPriest. The undeniable musical chops of the Kami Band coupled with the professionalism and pleasant personalities of the girls has led to the group earning the approval of many of the top names in metal and hard rock.

** In the interlude of "Monochrome", Su often asks the audience to turn on the flashlights on their phones so that the venue looks like a starry night. She also did this for "Starlight". In short, she ''really'' likes seeing the audience providing light (as previous generations did with butane lighters), which has gotten her and the audience into trouble a couple of times with venues not expecting it.

* CreepyCrosses: They use it a lot, both during big shows and in merch. Special mention goes to the "LEGEND 1997" concert on Suzuka's 16th birthday, when she was ''crucified'' in front of what appeared to be a giant statue of the Virgin Mary, which promptly shattered. Since that concert, Su has been crucified no fewer than four times.

** During LEGEND S, Suzuka's narration explicitly invokes this about Light, referencing a "Light of Hope" and a "Light of Despair". It's a veiled reference to the atomic bombing of her hometown (Hiroshima) 72 years earlier, an incident still commemorated annually there and which her ancestors survived.[[labelnote:*]]When in Sakura Gakuin, she did a presentation about the bombing and had also asked her fellow members to observe a minute of silence on August 6, 8:15 AM, as practiced annually in Hiroshima but not elsewhere in Japan. She has strong personal feelings about the event.[[/labelnote]]

** The version of "THE ONE" performed at LEGEND S was an eleven-minute epic by itself. A slightly shortened version was used during music hall shows in their 2018 mini-tour.

** Loose white robes & corpse paint for the Kami Band until LEGEND S.

*** According to some who have interviewed them post-pandemic, things aren't as strict as they used to be, though personal questions are still off-limits – this is more a Japanese thing than specific to Babymetal; it's considered extremely rude there to prod into even a celebrity's personal life if they don't offer it up – and only one Western interviewer got away with discussing Yui with Su and Moa, mostly because he had met the original trio several times so had a different perspective than newer press people.

* TheLeader: Suzuka, as the oldest girl and lead vocalist. In post-pandemic interviews, she has heavily implied that she's taken over a lot of musical decision-making originally handled by Koba.

** Whenever Moa (or Yui when she was still around) celebrated a milestone birthday, Su would give her the microphone to sing "Headbanger!". The most recent instance as of this edit was at LEGEND M for Moa's 20th birthday.

** Early live shows were mostly lip-synced, with some live vocals blended in (common for idol performances). Later on, Suzuka did more and more live, followed by Yui and Moa. The production of the ''LIVE AT BUDOKAN'' albums (2015) makes it very easy to hear that the backing vocals are confined to a few parts of the Black Babymetal songs – mostly parts with strenuous choreography, as well as Su's pre-done harmonizing.

** For "METALI!", Momoko's kabuki bridge is sometimes lipsync as its unique diction isn't easy to flip to after a lot of heavy dancing. The death-scream (not on the studio track) she performs immediately after – "ARE YOU READY!!" – is always mimed, but is clearly her.

In addition to their headline shows, which can range from the stripped-down (most of their foreign shows plus 2017's Five Fox Festivals) to the incredibly elaborate (Budokan, Trilogy, Tokyo Dome, Hiroshima), they have also served as opener to several bigger acts they have met and sometimes become friends with during their travels to various music festivals over the years. This includes Music/LadyGaga, Music/{{Metallica}}, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, and Music/{{Korn}}. They have also collaborated with Music/DragonForce (with whom they are close), Music/{{Sabaton}}, and Rob Halford of Music/JudasPriest. The undeniable musical chops of the Kami Band coupled with the professionalism and pleasant personalities of the girls has led to the group earning the approval of many of the top names in metal and hard rock.

Babymetal, like any band, has also suffered setbacks, most notably in December 2017 when Yui was forced to pull out of Suzuka's 20th birthday concert due to an undisclosed medical issue which eventually lead her to [[http://www.babymetal.com/en/news/?id=28 officially withdraw]] from the band in October 2018. Her absence was followed by the death in January 2018 of Kami Band lead guitarist Mikio Fujioka. Since then, the group has adopted the mantra "Just Keep Moving Forward" while they, aesthetically, spent the entirety of 2018 in a self-proclaimed "Dark Side" period.

- I keep a porn tab open while watching Sakura Gakuin in case my parents come in. It's easier to explain.\\

** In the interlude of "Monochrome", Su usually asks the audience to turn on the flashlights on their phones so that the venue looks like a starry night.

** "Elevator Girl" has fans speculating about its true meaning, due in part to some differences between the original and the English version (though the spirit is the same in both). The original gives the image of an elevator descending to UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} hell; the English adaptation uses the elevator as a metaphor for stress or mental illness – a Western reviewer called it a song about "a mentally unstable elevator operator". Fans have speculated the song could be referencing the group's uncertain situation in 2018, ''or'' perhaps (especially in the English lyrics) a stealth reference to Su-metal's older sister Himeka Nakamoto, formerly of Music/Nogizaka46, who was diagnosed with a form of bipolar disorder in 2016 which led to her having to retire from showbiz in late 2017.
** "Starlight" is also believed by many to be a farewell song to Mikio Fujioka, who was known to enjoy stargazing (Mikio died after he fell from an observation deck while doing so). It's also interpreted as a farewell to Yui, as it came out mere hours before her departure was announced.[[labelnote:*]]Of course, that means the song was completed way before then, but Yui has mentioned that she has deliberated for a long time before she decided to bow out.[[/labelnote]] Coincidentally, Yui was also known to enjoy looking at the stars.

* HeWhoMustNotBeHeard: When the Babybones backing band and the band's producer get on-camera interviews, all they do is mumble and subtitles of what they're actually trying to say are shown.

** Loose white robes & corpse paint for the Kami Band.

** Averted for the American Kami Band, as it is not exactly a secret that the personnel are involved with Babymetal, as all of them are tied to other bands (mostly Galactic Empire, as well as Chris Kelly being a founding member of Alustrium and Anthony Barone being a studio member of Music/BeneathTheMassacre and a now-former member of Music/ShadowOfIntent and A Night in Texas).
* TheLeader: Suzuka, as the oldest girl and lead vocalist.
* LighterAndSofter: Than most heavy metal bands. To wit, one of Music/AmonAmarth's songs was about the fated clash to the death between Thor and the World Serpent ("Twilight of the Thunder God"), one of Music/JudasPriest's songs was about the circumstances that lead people into a life of crime ("Breaking the Law").[[labelnote:*]] For the record, Suzuka likes this song and has performed it ''with'' Rob Halford, as well as by herself during a couple of Babymetal shows.[[/labelnote]] What is Babymetal's most popular song about? ''Chocolate''. [[note]] Well, one can argue it's actually about body image, as the singer must balance her desire for sweets with concern about gaining weight in a society that values thinness.[[/note]]

* MoneySong: "Onedari Daisakusen" ("Begging Strategy") offers practical advice to teens on how to extract extra pocket money from one's father with a well-timed shoulder-massage/flattery combo. Said flattery include praising him for his hard work and ultimately declaring that one ''wants to be her father's bride'' (obviously in a LikeParentLikeSpouse sense, not ParentalIncest). Audiences have been known to make it rain with fake money whenever this song is performed. The video interlude before this song at the 2016 Wembley concert strongly implied that as the girls were growing up it would not be performed in future; however, it was performed at the 2016 Tokyo Dome concerts as they were going through all their album songs (Japanese versions) over the two nights, and again by Moametal during the 2021 Budokan 10-day concert.

** "Sis. Anger" has "''Kirai da!''" ("I hate [you]!") and ''Baka yarō!''" ("You dumbass!").
** Their collaboration with Music/BringMeTheHorizon, "Kingslayer", has multiple F-words, although they're in BMTH's parts.

** Unfortunately, too many Western fans assume the pun was only [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant on the girls' ages when they started]] and make the (unfunny) joke that they should change their name to "Ladymetal" or "Teenagermetal" (even though as of 2019 the original trio have all passed 20, as has Avenger Riho).

* RapMetal: "[=BxMxC=]" is this, and the MV features Su and Moa in a rap and dance battle called the "Tenkaichi Metal Budokai", with similar Bali imagery to its ''Manga/DragonBall'' counterpart.[[labelnote:*]]Although the Hindu temples in the background are actually the Prambanan in Yogyakarta, around 500 km from Bali.[[/labelnote]]

* RecurringRiff: "Over The Future", the opening song for the anime adaptation of ''Manga/PsychicSquad'', comes up quite a bit in the group's early years. The song is Suzuka's first single as a member of an Amuse group (Karen Girl's), and inspired Yui to become a singer.[[labelnote:*]] According to her, this and other Karen Girl's songs helped her endure when a member of her family was critically ill.[[/labelnote]] Yui and her best friend Moa auditioned for Sakura Gakuin by performing a dance cover of that song.[[labelnote:*]] Since Suzuka was the third and youngest member, her spot in the choreography was left vacant by the two, which some fans see as {{Foreshadowing}}.[[/labelnote]] Finally, the three of them performed a metal cover version of the song, called the "[[Music/YngwieMalmsteen Rising Force]] version", as Babymetal in 2012.

* RunningGag: Su and Moa took to making funny faces to each other during the interlude of "Megitsune", when Su's face is obscured to the audience by her fox mask. Kano was even [[https://i.imgur.com/ViTWlNJ.gifv briefly distracted]] by one of those exchanges.

* SpecialGuest: ''Metal Galaxy'' has several tracks with guest artists: [[Music/{{Bz}} Tak Matsumoto]] on "Da Da Dance", [[Music/{{Sabaton}} Joakim Brodén]] on "Oh! Majinai", [[Music/{{Polyphia}} Tim Henson and Scott LePage]] on "Brand New Day", Music/AlissaWhiteGluz on "Distortion", and Music/FHero on "Pa Pa Ya!!".

** Early live shows were mostly lip-synced, with some live vocals blended in (quite common for idol performances). Later on, Suzuka did more and more live, followed by Yui and Moa. The production of the ''LIVE AT BUDOKAN'' albums (2015) makes it very easy to hear that the backing vocals are confined to a few parts of the Black Babymetal songs – mostly parts with strenuous choreography, as well as Su's pre-done harmonizing.

** The official videos on the band's [=YouTube=] channel using concert footage give off this vibe, as oftentimes the studio track replaces the original live vocals. "Gimme Chocolate!" is a good example. So is "THE ONE". "PA PA YA!!" is another major one, as F.Hero's live vocals sound very different from the studio version.

** Averted with Momometal as she's taller than both Su-metal and Moametal, although her voice is somewhat similar to the latter.

* TheHerosBirthday: "Headbangerrrrr!!!!!" is about a girl going to her first metal concert on the night of her fifteenth birthday. All three founding members performed the lead parts of the song on stage for each of their real fifteenth birthdays (although not on the exact day for Yui and Moa). The Legend S and Legend M concerts were held in Su and Moa's hometowns (respectively Hiroshima and Nagoya) on the months of their twentieth birthdays (the age of adulthood in Japan), and they sang the song with the "fifteen" changed to "twenty". The "Babymetal Awakens" concert in Yokohama Arena, held in June 2019, was probably originally meant to be Legend Y as well.
--> ''This night of my fifteenth birthday,\\
I will never forget.\\
All you crybabies,\\
Get out of my sight now!''
** The few times the members break character on stage was when somebody mentioned to the audience that it was their birthday.

* DamselInDistress: In the lore of Legend D, Moa and Yui are 'captured' by the evil idols of Akiba.

* BoundandGagged: Suzuka was tied up with rope when she was put on the cross to be crucified during the finale of Legend 1997, albeit in more of a badass sacrificial martyr sense than the traditional damsel-in-distress one, and without a gag.

* BoundandGagged: Su was tied up with rope when she was put on the cross to be crucified during the finale of Legend 1997, albeit in more of a badass sacrificial martyr sense than the traditional damsel-in-distress one, and without a gag.

* Bound and Gagged: Su was once tied up with rope when she was crucified during the finale of Legend 1997, albeit in more of a sacrificial martyr sense than the traditional one, and without a gag.

* BoundandGagged: Su was once tied up with rope when she was crucified during the finale of Legend 1997, albeit in more of a sacrificial martyr sense than the traditional one and without a gag.

** "Pa Pa Ya!!" features a verse of Thai rapping by Thai rapper Fucking Hero, or F.Hero for short.

* Bound and Gagged: Su was once tied up with rope when she was crucified during the finale of Legend 1997, albeit not in the traditional sense and without a gag.

* MemeticHandGesture: The Fox sign is the group's version of the heavy metal horns.

* MusicForCourage: "Road of Resistance", made in collaboration with Music/DragonForce's Herman Li and Sam Totman.
--> Our hearts are one.\\

go on the way even without a path!

--> Be faster than light, be stronger than steel\\

* [[ExcitedShowTitle Excited Song Title!]]: They have a few…
** Their second song, "Iine!"
** "Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!"
** "Gimme Chocolate!!"
** "YAVA!"