And More Fes wrote a very interesting report to promote the upcoming BABYMETAL show at Summer Sonic Osaka featuring facts of BABYMETAL's popularity in Japan and outside Japan including their debut at Summer Sonic in 2012, their show at Nippon Budokan, Sonisphere Festival, Gimme Chocolate on Youtube, Inazuma Rock Festival in 2013, Chicago Open Air and more. Read the article translated below.
BABYMETAL's whirlwind, numbers of their popularity by And More Fes
5th Time: BABYMETAL's first time performing at Summer Sonic was in 2012. They were the youngest performers at the event, and it's said that an English cameraman in attendnace told Lars Ulrich (of Metallica) about the band, helping them gain their footing in the international market. This year is their 5th time performing at the event. They will unfortunately only be playing in Osaka, but it's sure to be closely watched.
14.7 years old: 4 years after their debut, the group performed at the Nippon Budokan in March of 2014. At the time, their average age was only 14.7 years old! It was the record for youngest solo female performers. In fact, at the time of their debut, the average age was only 11.6 years old!
Number 39: Their internationally sold album Metal Resistance came in on the US Billboard 200 at number 39. It was the first time a Japanese artist appeared inside the top 40 since Kyuu Sakamoto appeared on the list 53 years ago. Thinking about Japanese rock bands that have gone international, the band Loudness comes to mind. They performed at New York's Maidson Square Garden, but even their song Lightning Strikes topped out at 64. Rock fans online noted that "they beat Loudness!"
36 takes: According to an interview their producer Kobametal did with the English media, the video for their 2nd Single Megitsune took 36 takes. Kobametal noted "it wasn't about the vocals, it was about the arrangement and setting. It might be because this group's songs are different from other idol groups' songs." Popular artist Yuyoyuppe (DJ Tekina//Something) who puts a lot of work into the songs said about this time "While working on it, I had to be admitted to the hospital. Even with all that, I'm glad BABYMETAL is doing so well. It was worth going to the hospital (laughs)." Considering that the creators are true metal fans themselves, with the addition of cute girls, their vocals and dance standing out, they are keeping metal fans all over the world captive.
148,000 Yen: T.M. Revolution's Takanori Nishikawa does an annual event called Inazuma Rock Fes. The event is aimed at selling popular musical act's merchandise for charity, and BABYMETAL took part in 2013, selling signed Fox masks. At the time, they sold for 148,000 yen. It was near the top of those artists that participated. Incidentally, the money was used to protect the environment around Shiga Prefectures Lake Biwa.
65,000 people: In 2014, at the biggest heavy metal event in the world "Sonisphere Festival," BABYMETAL performed as the only Japanese artist. In the midst of the estimated 65,000 in attendance, they found their identiy. If the fans don't like you at this festival, they have been known to start throwing water bottles at the artists. In front of this tough crowd, there was no such behavior, rather chants of "We want more!" rang out! This helped get their name out in the international music scene.
50,000,000 times: The song that lit the fire of their international popularity was the single "Gimme Chocolate" and it's music video. Uploaded to the group's official youtube station in February of 2014, there were over 23,000,000 views in one year. By July of 2016, it had reached over 50,000,000 views. In 2015, the most popular Japanese video was Explosion's "Honnouji no Hen" dance series called "I tried dancing but...Odottemitansukeredomo." Japanese views reached 38,876,091 views (views outside of Japan are not counted). You can see just how many views this is!
5:10pm: July 15-17, 2016 - BABYMETAL performs at Chiacgo Open Air, a rock festival held in Chicago, IL, USA. Huge bands like Rammstein, Chevelle, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Bullet For My Valentine perform at this event, and it was a huge success. BABYMETAL played at 5:10pm on the last day. This time actually had great meaning.
Even though they were on the second stage, they played right before Killswitch Engage. At the same time on the main stage, Bullet For My Valentine, Marilyn Manson, and other big names were performing. This shows the level of expectation and respect held for BABYMETAL. They did not let the fans down. In front of a huge crowd, they killed their performance, and once again worked US BABYMETAL fans into a frenzy.
This was our intro to BABYMETAL through numbers. After a year of testing themselves abroad, the girls come back to Osaka Summer Sonic. Let's use BABYMETAL's performance to explode rock's spirit again!
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Article by: And More Fes.
Translation by: Imandroo
Write a comment
BAT-METAL (Tuesday, 26 July 2016 09:48)
You forgot a very important number!
#1 - Suzuka is the #1 rock performer in the world right now. She is the one to beat. Did you notice she tried an american R&B-style vocal run in Karate at the AP awards? I pray to foxgod she stays far far away from R&B singing and hip-hop dance style, but maybe this is a hint that BABYMETAL are coming to USA for Taylor Swift's head, Beyonce's head and Ariana Grande's head?