Nikkei Entertainenment published on April 4 special content about BABYMETAL, with the girls in the cover. Suzuka in the inveriew about Soniphere as breaking point, response from the audiences outside Japan and the difference between Su-Metal and Suzuka Nakamoto. Full interview translated below!
Nikkei Entertainment May 2016 issue, separate interview with Su-Metal
She thinks that "Sonisphere Festival" in UK in July 2014 was a breaking point for BABYMETAL. The event gathered big names like Metallica, Iron Maiden and The Prodigiy serving as the first overseas Rock Festival for the girls.
Su-Metal: "At first we didn't have an idea of what kind of Festival was "Sonisphere". When we showed up we realized for first time that we would be performing in front of 50.000 which was a really big surprise for me (Laughs). With honesty my impression was if this couldn't be happening for real.
Also, we looked from the side of the stage and didn't see many people in the back so we started to say, "There is not many people in here. What should we do?". Once the show started we noticed the mood from the audience, "What is this? Who are these girls?", which was a bit shocking for us. But once we started the singing and the live advanced we could feel the excitement gradually growing from the people in the front towards those in the back.
Since the response from crowds overseas is homely, you can say that it's easy to read their emotions and we felt that they were taking interest in us. Even singing in Japanese there was a moment when we realized that we jumped over the language barrier and at that moment on stage turned into a huge confidence that links to our live shows overseas."
Nikkei: BABYMETAL stayed long periods of time overseas during their World Tours. So, apparently they take care to maintain thier health and physical conditions than when they are in Japan due the difference of enverioments from country to country and stage to stage.
Su-Metal: "BABYMETAL performing overseas is about to 1 show every 2 days, and of course the temperature and environment drastically change depending of the place. It was really hard to deal with changes. But I never got nostalgic and personally enjoyed the situations (Laughs).
In fact the members and the staff spend a lot of time together, our bonds are actually getting deeper and I was able to enjoy a number of experiences that I would not have been able to do it if I had been living in Japan. The country that I remember the most in my memories is Mexico, I think. The hot and the atmoshere of the town was really interesting and the way the fans responded to the music was different to other countries. They were so into their own way of enjoying the show that I wondered if they were even watching our performance (Laughs)."
Nikkei: BABYMETAL's attractiveness is the heavy and aggressive sound of the backing band known as "Kami Band", made by first class musicians who together with the girls break into a total candid song and dancing performance that makes you feel like the whole band is possessed by some other kind of power. This helps BABYMETAL surprise the audience.
Su-Metal: "There is a point in the song "Doki Doki Morning" where in the choreography we lie down in the floor. In most situations it's not very enjoyable and is embarrassing to get laughs, but in BABYMETAL's case when we were working in the choreography for the song we said to each other, "Doing this would be interesting right?", and when the fans response with surprise and enjoyment to this we think, "Yes, we did it!!". And talking about becoming Su-Metal, I feel like I have changed. For example, when I raise my hand and fans cheer up I feel happy and since I can to enjoy that experience I feel like my experience of experiencing the live performances has changed."
Nikkei: The impression of being Su-Metal in her daily life is being soft and tuneful changes when she goes on stage where she transfors into Su-Metal the singer who shows an image of power, strenght and bustling charisma. How she control her self knowing that Su-Metal can certainly not be the person who is bouncing and laughing around all the time?
Su-Metal: "I have the wish to be seen more as cool than cute. But honestly, during the live shows I don't think about things like that. In particular in recent shows I noticed the moments when the FOX GOD descended into me. There are more and more moments where I feel like if someone from the inside of me is taking me and taking my hand and leading me to be making it so I can sing and express myself just as I wish to. So, I'm making use of my self control it's more like If there is someone inside of me doing it for me (Laughs)."
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Translation by: Hitoshi Sugioka.
Nikkei Entertainment Magazine issue April 4 Scans, click here.
Nikkei Entertainment interviews Yuimetal, read here.
Nikkei Entertainment interviews Moametal, read here.
Nikkei Business: BABYMETAL: their Idol-ness is disappearing in Japan, read here.
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