, stylized in all caps, is a Japanese kawaii metal band 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 heavy metal with Japanese idol culture, including elaborate choreography. 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.
Babymetal have embarked on several tours, of which a majority have taken place in Europe and the Americas, and have released five studio albums: Babymetal (2014), Metal Resistance (2016), Metal Galaxy (2019), The Other One (2023), and Metal Forth (2025), though they consider The Other One to be a separate concept album and not their fourth studio album. Metal Forth was released in August 2025, and was the first album to feature Okazaki; it signaled a new approach for the band, with seven of its ten tracks being collaborations with artists from various countries, such as Bring Me the Horizon, Electric Callboy, and Tom Morello.
History 2010–2012: Early career In 2009, the band's producer and heavy metal enthusiast Kobametal started planning the launch of a "metal dance unit" that would fuse heavy metal with Japanese idol culture, including elaborate choreography. Impressed by the performance of Suzuka Nakamoto (who was then around 11 or 12 years old) with her previous group Karen Girl's, he believed she would be suitable as the lead vocalist for the new group. The band was formed in 2010 in Tokyo, Japan serving as the (sub-unit) of the female idol group Sakura Gakuin, which was also formed that year. The band's name is a combination of and , and the Japanese pronunciation rhymes with "heavy metal". "Baby" here refers to "the birth of a new genre of music". According to Kobametal, Yui Mizuno and Moa Kikuchi were added to the band to complement Nakamoto's "unique stage presence" with their smaller statures, dancing around her "like angels". None of the three members were familiar with metal music before the inception of the band. Mikiko was put in charge of creating the choreography the three would perform.
Babymetal's first live appearance was on November 28, 2010, at Sakura Gakuin's first solo concert, Sakura Gakuin Festival ☆ 2010. In July 2011, Babymetal premiered the song "Ijime, Dame, Zettai" ("No More Bullying") at a Sakura Gakuin concert, but the song was not released commercially until 2013. The band's first single, "Doki Doki Morning", originally appeared on Sakura Gakuin's debut album Sakura Gakuin 2010 Nendo: Message, released on April 27, 2011. A music video for the song was uploaded to Toy's Factory's YouTube channel on October 12, 2011, and was released as a DVD single in late 2011, under the independent Toy's Factory sublabel Juonbu Records. The music video totaled over 1 million views by the end of 2012.
Babymetal's first CD single was a collaboration with the band Kiba of Akiba, titled "Babymetal / Kiba of Akiba". Released in March 2012 by Juonbu Records, the single ranked at number three on the Oricon weekly indie chart and number one in the Tower Records Shibuya weekly indie ranking. In the summer of 2012, the band released a music video for their next single, "Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!", directed by Hidenobu Tanabe. In August 2012, Babymetal performed at Japan's Summer Sonic Festival, becoming the youngest act ever to perform at the festival. The same year, Babymetal performed outside of Japan for the first time at the 2012 Anime Festival Asia in Singapore.
2013–2015: Major label debut and Babymetal
On January 9, 2013, the band debuted on a major record label with "Ijime, Dame, Zettai". Released under the main Toy's Factory label and Juonbu Records, it sold 19,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number six in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. In the spring of 2013, Nakamoto graduated from junior high school and therefore had to "graduate" from Sakura Gakuin (a group of elementary and junior high school girls). However, their management decided Babymetal would not dissolve and would continue its activities as a band. The group released its next single, "Megitsune", on June 19, 2013, under Toy's Factory and the band's new sublabel BMD Fox Records. The single also included the song "Onedari Daisakusen" (おねだり大作戦, "Begging Operation") performed by Yuimetal and Moametal under the stage name of Black Babymetal.
On August 10 and 11, 2013, Babymetal again took part in the Summer Sonic Festival, performing both in Chiba and Osaka, Japan. Later, in October, Babymetal also became the youngest artists ever to perform at the heavy metal music festival Loud Park at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City, Japan. In November, Babymetal released a promo video for the Japanese premiere of Metallica's movie Through the Never, and released its first live music video Live: Legend I, D, Z Apocalypse, which debuted at seventh place in the weekly Oricon Blu-ray Disc charts, and at second place among music Blu-rays. In December, Babymetal performed at Anime Festival Asia Indonesia 2013 and performed for a second time in Singapore.
On February 26, 2014, Babymetal released their first, eponymous album. It contained thirteen tracks and was also available in a limited edition that included a DVD with music videos and live footage. The album was well received by music critics as well as the public, selling over 37,000 copies in Japan its first week, debuting at number four on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart, and number two in Billboard Japan. It also topped iTunes Metal charts in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and reached number 187 on the US Billboard 200 chart on March 22. Their album also made it into the Heatseekers chart at number four. On March 1 and 2, 2014, the band played two concerts at the Budokan. With an average age of 14.6 years, they became youngest-ever female act to perform a show there. The two concerts were attended by 20,000 people. On April 3, 2014, an episode of the Fine Brothers' YouTubers React show was uploaded to YouTube, covering the band and the music videos of "Doki Doki Morning", "Iine!", and "Gimme Chocolate!!"; the band members' own reaction to the video would later be released in 2016.
At the end of their concert on March 2, Babymetal also announced their first world tour, the Babymetal World Tour 2014, initially performing in Paris, France and Cologne, Germany. The Sonisphere Festival 2014 at the Knebworth House, England was added to the tour after the band were formally invited to play there following a successful fan campaign called "Babymetal For Sonisphere UK 2014", which Sonisphere later acknowledged on its website. After the UK leg of the tour, the band went on to make their debut appearance in the United States on July 27 with a headlining show at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. They played at the Heavy Montréal in Montreal, Canada on August 9, 2014 alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax; and performed at the Summer Sonic 2014 in Chiba and Osaka, Japan on the Mountain Stage with bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Megadeth. Babymetal was also the opening act to five of Lady Gaga's concerts in her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball 2014 tour in August along the Western United States. Babymetal also released their second live album Live: Legend 1999 & 1997 Apocalypse on October 19, 2014, featuring their live performances at both the NHK Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo and at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba, Japan from 2013.
In August 2014, it was announced the band would play another show at the O2 Academy Brixton in London, England on November 8, 2014, their final European show of the year as part of the group's "Babymetal Apocalypse" phase. It was later announced the band would also return to New York City, which they had visited earlier in the year without giving an actual performance, performing at the Hammerstein Ballroom on November 4. At their Brixton performance, the band debuted a new song titled "Road of Resistance." Later revealed to be a collaboration with Sam Totman and Herman Li of British power metal band DragonForce, the song was subsequently released as a bonus track of their first live album Live at Budokan: Red Night, released simultaneously along with the band's third live video album Live at Budokan: Red Night & Black Night Apocalypse on January 7, 2015, and later released as a digital single. In 2015, they re-released their eponymous album via earMusic and RAL/Sony Music Entertainment. Ahead of their performance at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards on June 15, the trio made a surprise appearance during DragonForce's set at Download Festival at the Donington Park in Leicestershire, England performing "Gimme Chocolate!!", despite event organizer Andy Copping stating he would never book the band.
2016–2017: Touring and Metal Resistance
During the band's headlining shows in December 2015 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan, they announced a second studio album to be released on April 1, 2016, as well as a world tour starting at the Wembley Arena in London, England and concluding in Tokyo, Japan with a debut at the Tokyo Dome. On January 15, 2016, the album's title was revealed to be Metal Resistance.
Their second album had shown differences from their debut album. Yuimetal stated that "compared to the first album and definitely the second album they challenged themselves to a lot of new, different types of genres of music, even more than before". Another difference was more use of positive lyrics than ever before. The band made a point to provide a wide variety of styles to attract a wider audience and performed a full song in English.
The band came up with the album title Metal Resistance because they believed it represents who they are and what they do as Babymetal. Su-metal said, "It's about them exploring new, different aspects of what they can do." On March 13, the band's producer, Kobametal, received an Excellence Award from the Association of Media in Digital (AMD) in Japan for his success in promoting the band internationally. On April 2, one day after the release of Metal Resistance, Babymetal became the first Japanese act to headline Wembley Arena, with the largest sale of merchandise for a single day event in the venue's history, coinciding with the highest ever entry for an album in the UK charts for a Japanese act. The Guardian gave their Wembley performance a rating of five out of five stars. On April 5, Babymetal made their U.S. television debut, performing "Gimme Chocolate!!" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Babymetal were added as a character skin in the Wii U video game Super Mario Maker in 2016.