Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
The daughter of two pop celebrities goes metal for Halloween
This week, Kim Kardashian and her daughter North West helped Japanese kawaii metal band BABYMETAL gain a significant amount of viral attention on TikTok, as reported by theprp. As the daughter of infamous rapper Kanye West, the aforementioned 12-year-old North West dressed up as BABYMETAL for Halloween. Since then, each of the videos she posted in costume has received millions of views. Ironically, after years of criticism directed at celebrities like Kim for wearing shirts and merchandise from various heavy metal bands for cosmetic reasons rather than genuine enthusiasm, at least one member of the Kardashian clan has started to enjoy considerably heavier music.
Japanese phenomenon Babymetal has taken the world by storm with their singular mix of metal, pop and extreme visual power. They’ve headlined Wembley, topped Billboard charts, and in 2026 they’ll take the stage at Tons of Rock for the very first time — promising a show that will shock, seduce and thrill all at once.
The band was formed in Tokyo in 2010. It consists of Suzuka Nakamoto as “Su-metal” (lead vocals, dancing), Moa Kikuchi as “Moametal” (backing vocals, dancing), and Momoko Okazaki as “Momometal” (backing vocals, dancing). The band is produced by Kobametal from the talent agency Amuse Inc. Their vocals are backed by instrumentation performed by a group of session musicians known as the “Kami Band”.
Babymetal was created with the concept of fusing the heavy metal and Japanese idol genres. Initially a sub-unit of the Japanese idol group Sakura Gakuin, which features school-aged members who leave upon graduation, the band became an independent act in 2013 following Nakamoto’s graduation from Sakura Gakuin. The band originally consisted of Su-metal, Moametal, and Yui Mizuno as “Yuimetal”. In 2018, after Mizuno had been absent from live performances for almost a year, Babymetal announced she had left the band due to health issues. During her absence, the band performed with one or more backup dancers; Okazaki, a former member of Sakura Gakuin who had served as one of those backup dancers, officially joined as the third member in 2023.