Their Name Is BabyMetal and They Will Kill You (With Kindness)

Symphony of destruction? Okay, sure, but make it cute. With their mix of candy-coated hooks and drum blasts seemingly forged at the gates of hell, BABYMETAL has emerged as a hard rock group that melds their native Japan’s kawaii aesthetic and J-pop theatrics with the pyrotechnics and ground-and-pound of American metal. Already a sensation back home, the duo has even toured internationally with some of the biggest stars in the genre, including their idols Metallica. Here, a profile of the enigmatic entertainers, in numbers.

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22: Age of BABYMETAL’s oldest member Suzuka Nakamoto, also known as Su-metal.

20: Age of BABYMETAL’s youngest member Moa Kikuchi, also known as Moametal.

14: Moametal’s age when BABYMETAL headlined their first arena show.

3.5: Number of years it took to write their latest album, last year’s Metal Galaxy. 

55,000: Number of people who attended BABYMETAL’s biggest ever show, at the Tokyo Dome. 

26,386: Number of miles BABYMETAL’s have flown during their 2019 tour. 

1: Number of times they’ve met Billie Eilish. 

2–3: Number of times they’ve hung out with Slash.

17: Number of times they’ve opened for Red Hot Chili Peppers on The Getaway World Tour.

0: Number of times they’ve publicly discussed the mysterious 2018 departure of their founding member, Yiumetal. 

5: Number of times they’ve opened for Lady Gaga on her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball Tour.

24: Number of awards they’ve won, including three for Most Devoted Fans at the Loudwire Music Awards.

1: Number of spirit animals that inspire the band’s lyrics (they claim to be the chosen ones of Kitsune the Fox God).

8: Number of styles of fox masks sold as tour merchandise. (It’s their thing. We don’t really get it.)

1: Number of newlyweds who have walked down the aisle to a BABYMETAL song (that we know of).

8: Number of hours spent practicing the choreography for their viral hit, “Gimme Chocolate.”

111,361,821+: Number of views on YouTube for the “Gimme Chocolate” music video.

100+: Number of Instagram fan accounts devoted to Moametal and Su-metal. 

53: Number of years between the last Japanese act to crack the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 and BABYMETAL doing so in 2016.

1: Number of fire-breathing chickens that appear in the graphic novel Apocrypha: The Legend of Babymetal.

This article appears in the March 2020 issue of Interview Magazine. Subscribe here.

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Hair and Makeup: Aya Watanabe
Wardrobe: Shohei Kashima
Special Thanks: Go-Sees Studio