Babymetal is a Japanese pop/metal group whose international popularity far outweighs the dissenting cry of its detractors. So they don't need me to defend them, really. Nonetheless, I feel compelled to address some of their detractors' most common complaints.
Criticism Number One: Babymetal's music isn't heavy metal.
In the Internet era, during which the various genres of music have expanded, morphed, commingled, and recombined, this criticism is the most baffling, and the easiest to dismiss--because the band itself would be the first to agree. Babymetal has never claimed to be heavy metal. They are kawaii metal (a genre created specifically for Babymetal), which means "cute metal," and the term "cute," in this context, refers to the group's roots in Japanese pop idol music. J-pop idol groups are, generally speaking, the Japanese equivalent of American boy bands like One Direction or the Backstreet Boys. Babymetal is a pop group that utilizes heavy metal tropes as interpreted by said group.1 It is not a heavy metal band.So all those heavy metal purists throwing their ridiculous tantrums in the comments sections on YouTube and elsewhere aren't wrong, insofar as Babymetal isn't pure heavy metal. But freaking out about this is a bit like freaking out because Daft Punk's Random Access Memories isn't true disco. What exactly are these disproportionately offended folks complaining about? If Babymetal's music isn't "metal enough" for them, don't listen to it. Why must Babymetal's very existence threaten their personal visions of metal culture so intensely? This I can't answer, but then I've never completely understood the reason for the Internet's exaggerated effect on people who live to decree their categorical opinions on various elements of popular culture.
Criticism Number Two: Babymetal doesn't sing live.
I have to admit, this bothers me, too. But only because the lead singer, Suzuka Nakamoto (a.k.a. Su-metal), seems to be more than capable of singing live.2 However, as Babymetal is a J-pop group and, traditionally, J-pop groups tend to lip-synch during their live performances (and because I have some past experience enjoying J-pop groups like Supermonkey's [sic]), I can deal with it. To fans of great live bands who find this practice distasteful, I suggest thinking of Babymetal not as a music group but as performance art. The theatrical story, the choreography, the costumes, the lighting, and even, yes, the music3 (albeit prerecorded) combine to create a unique entertainment. This is kabuki theater for the twenty-first century.
Criticism Number Three: Babymetal is a corporate construct, not a group of likeminded musicians creating songs born of sincere artistic expression.
Correct, the origin of Babymetal is not that a thirteen-year-old and two twelve-year-old fans of Megadeth and Slayer got together on their own to write some hardcore songs about the Fox God, bullying, and eating chocolate, then learned how to shred the guitar like Eddie Van Halen, found a record label that believed in their personal vision, conceptualized a kickass live show, and against all odds released Babymetal to the world by their own six, tiny hands. Frankly, that would've been impossible.4 And so what? Again, I invoke the kabuki theater metaphor. Babymetal is too complex a work of art to have been dreamed up (and, more importantly, implemented) by three kids. True, that makes Babymetal a commercial work of art, but it's still a work of art. Kabuki theater isn't created by its actors; it's a collaborative effort, in the way that all theater is a collaborative medium, in the way that film is a collaborative medium, in the way that television is a collaborative medium. Even most pop music is a collaborative medium. Frank Sinatra didn't write any of the songs he sang. Neither did Whitney Houston. And neither do half of the most popular singing acts performing at any given moment. Babymetal is not the Dixie Chicks.But that doesn't mean they'll never be like the Dixie Chicks. I remember when Namie Amuro finally broke free from her longtime producer Tetsuya Komuro in 2001 and began writing some of her own material. The girls of Babymetal are at a disadvantage because they don't own the name (and will thus never be able to escape the control of their label--at least not while performing as Babymetal), but it's certainly possible that, if Babymetal continues to be as popular as they are now, and the girls get a handle on what it takes to create a great kawaii metal song, whoever this Kobametal is just might allow them to write some of their own songs. Anything's possible.
And besides, aren't those three girls up on stage the ones who are dancing? Didn't they record the vocals to which they're lip-synching? It's not like we're watching three mannequins up there. They've done the work.
Ultimately, these criticisms are as valid, or invalid, as any other criticism someone might level at any other band. For example, I don't like Nickelback for a number of reasons, but I'm sure their legion of fans could easily dispute my complaints. All I know is that Babymetal makes me smile, and when "Gimme Chocolate!" gets stuck in my head, it doesn't make me want to trepan myself. It makes me want to dance.
Pointless Footnotes
1 It's worth mentioning here that the three members of Babymetal had no idea what heavy metal was before they were drafted into Babymetal by the group's creator and producer, who goes by the moniker Kobametal. Kobametal enlisted three members of the larger J-pop idol group Sakura Gakuin (which is comprised entirely of junior-high-aged girls) to create Babymetal, which was originally a subgroup within Sakura Gakuin (which contains several other subgroups). Nonetheless, they seem to have gotten the hang of it:
2 Watch the audience-singalong breaks during "Gimme Chocolate!!" in any of their recent concerts on YouTube, and you'll hear Su-metal singing live to prompt the audience. She also seems to sing live during a few of the slower songs, when she doesn't have to dance around like a maniac the entire time.
3 Babymetal is comprised of two distinct elements: the three singers and one of two bands. The band dressed in skeleton costumes simply mime playing their instruments. The band dressed in white robes and facepaint are a real band, and when they're onstage, they're actually playing their instruments. So at least that much of the musical performance is live (unless you have the misfortune of seeing Babymetal with their skeleton band--in which case pretty much everything's prerecorded).
4 The closest you're gonna get to that experience is Smoosh and, let's be honest, they're not even in the same league. Apples and oranges, in fact.
No comments:
Post a Comment