BABYMETAL
In April, Babymetal welcomed third member Momometal to the band and began their next chapter as a trio once more. But what’s next, and what’s all this about spin-off band Metalverse?
It was the most important live announcement of Babymetal’s career. On April 1, 2023, at the end of the first of two shows at Yokohama’s Pia Arena, a booming voice narrated the words appearing on a big screen:
“Here and now, a new Babymetal has been summoned by the god of metal, the Fox God.
“Vocal & Dance… Su-metal. Scream & Dance… Moametal.
Scream & Dance… Momometal.” A roar of applause went up from the audience. “Given a new life, the newly reborn Babymetal will begin a new stage and journey into the Metalverse.”
And there, the three figures stood onstage wreathed in dry ice, soaking in the moment Momometal officially became part of one of the most talked-about metal bands of the past 10 years. It was the first time Babymetal had numbered three since Moametal’s original ‘Scream & Dance’ counterpart, Yuimetal, departed in 2018, citing health reasons. While Momometal had been performing intermittently since 2019 as part of a rotating trio of stand-in dancers, dubbed The Avengers, she was now a fully initiated, bona fide member of Babymetal.
“I was most anxious about if I would be accepted or not,” says Momometal today, four months on, as she recalls what was on her mind when the announcement was made. It came a week after the release of Babymetal’s fourth album, The Other One. “A lot of thoughts ran through my head, and I knew that to try and be suddenly accepted through the course of Babymetal’s long history was going to be very difficult. I honestly had absolutely no confidence whatsoever, and couldn’t quite really believe that I’d be an official member until the exact moment of the announcement. I remember I was so nervous that I was slightly shaking.”
She needn’t have worried. While there will always be a subsection of purists who pine for Yuimetal’s return, most of the fandom had been cheering Momometal on since her first appearance with the band at Taiwanese music festival Super Slippa 10 on August 4, 2019. The sound of approval she heard echoing through Pia Arena on April 1 – known as Fox Day in the band’s lore, because they annually reveal a surprise – buoyed her up.
“The moment it was announced, it totally blew me away that the fans roared and shouted with such excitement, and not only did I feel relieved, but it was also as if our fans were relieved, and to me, it felt like they had been waiting for this moment to happen for such a long time,” she smiles.
That gig was called Black Night, while the second was called Clear Night
