Billboard Magazine Vol. 128 issue 14 released on May 28, 2016 published an article about BABYMETAL's success in North America interviewing BABYMETAL's producer Kobametal and the specialist on Japanese entertainment Patrick St. Michael to explain with details about BABYMETAL's concept. Read a summary of the article below and high quality photos of the article published in the magazine.
Billboard Magazine Vol.128 article about BABYMETAL's success in North America
The rare Japanese act to crack the Billboard 200's top 40 is Babymetal, a trio of teenage girls who sing sugary pop melodies over head-banging, guitar-shredding heavy metal, which landed at No. 39 on the chart dated April 23. The creation of 38-year-old Tokyo-based entertainment company Amuse, the group has gained millions of followers in its home country as well as on YouTube. Thanks to songs like "Gimme Chocolate!!" and "Karate," the former performed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in April, the act is now poised to break out of the J-pop-dominated circuit in Japan to tour North America and Europe.
To hear executives at Amuse tell it -- proudly -- every Babymetal move is calculated, down to the grim reaper face paint the backing musicians wear. "We select everyone we work with in the studio and on tour, as well as the visuals," says Key Kobayashi, who as Babymetal's Svengali and producer goes by the name Kobametal. Relatively anonymous offstage, he has been involved with the group since its inception in 2010. "The team of composers and musicians ... everybody is serious about metal music. Getting praise from other metal musicians and people in the scene in general proves that we're doing something right."
“I think Amuse has done a great job of promoting the group, especially of taking what easily could have been a one-hit-YouTube-wonder and turning them into something that has lasted way longer,” says Tokyo-based Japanese music journalist Patrick St. Michel. “It will be interesting to see what Japanese artists or labels try to replicate the Babymetal strategy.”
-------------
Full Article released on: Billboard Magazine Vol. 128 issue 14 released on May 28, 2016.
Get your copy of Billboard Magazine today, click here.
Photos of the article by: Jay Bird.
Write a comment