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If you haven’t heard the name of this Japanese band by now, you have three albums to catch up on, the last one (Metal Galaxy) released less than a year ago. Formed in 2010 by three young women, Babymetal connects the worlds of Japanese pop (J-pop) and heavy metal, of ‘cuteness’ and aggression, of idol culture and its subversion; all within a genre they call kawaii metal [1]. Besides presenting a strikingly new, hybrid sound, the trio – currently duo- and the mixed reception of their work provide a potent ground of theorizing the negotiations of authenticity and diversity among metal fans today. With a few exceptions [1], however, it appears that the Western academia has not yet caught onto the case, despite the group’s global appeal confirmed by their World Tours and 2019 top position on Billboard’s Top Rock charts (as the first Asian group in history) [2]. While metal fanbases question whether Babymetal can be qualified as metal at all and whether it is “authentic”, we can in turn ask: what do such questions reveal about the “rockist ideology” [3] in its diversifying transition of the modern age?
“Rockism” has been described by Philip Auslander, a prolific performance studies scholar, as the rock-centric ideology defining authenticity in popular music. As described in his book Liveness, rock culture establishes its authenticity through dismissing or Othering the inauthentic “pop” products of the music industry: the music that does not tick the boxes of “instrumental virtuosity, original songwriting, social criticism, a stance of anger/alienation”, and primarily, of liveness embedded in the believable “spontaneity” of rock iconography. [3]
Although its aggressive guitars and rapid drums might sometimes make the instrumentals of Babymetal sound hardly distinguishable from its Western metal counterparts, the lyrics, performance, and background of the band prove questionable to anyone assessing them with the rockist lens. The elements criticized most frequently are Babymetal’s association with the (often exploitative) idol industry and produced mainstream popular music more broadly. A number of commenters on metal forums have claimed the band to be “mediocre, barely even. Total manufactured”, an “irritating cashgrab”, “overproduced, soulless modern crap” [4]; while others, including the metal vocalist Rob Zombie and KORN frontman Jonathan Davis, defended Babymetal (“They roll harder than you” [5]; “I thought I'd seen it all, but after I saw them, like, 'Wow! This is pretty intense.'” [6]). In the meantime, some hail the duo as “feminist role models” [7] (with lyrics that “engage with messages of positivity and self-empowerment – especially as they concern girls and young people more generally” [1]) and an opportunity for the positive racial-ethnic diversification of the genre.
Bashed or supported, the discourse surrounding Babymetal encompasses the spectrum of old rockist ideologies of authenticity and today’s increased importance of representation. The questions posed towards the band reflect wider issues that the originally Western-male genres such as metal face in the times when diversity comes to the fore, and when elitist stances of the past are called into reconsideration. However, the discussion is more problematic and complex than what is has often been reduced to: namely, open-minded metal fans versus, in Rob Zombie’s blunt phrasing, “grumpy old f*cks” [5]. While it is certainly true that Babymetal’s image is empowering in terms of their alternative expressions of femininity and the ways they subvert the Western rockism with J-pop influences, the duo remains tied to the Sakura Gakuin idol group and the Amuse talent agency, produced entirely by Key ‘Kobametal’ Kobayashi, with the overwhelming majority of the lyrics and the music not written by the girls, who state clearly that they had no interest in metal prior to forming the band [8]. The concern of possible “inauthenticity” might hence intersect with or diminish the values of “diversity” and subversion. If the duo doesn’t write its own songs, how feminist are their lyrics really? If their artistic direction was determined mainly by capitalist commercial necessities, how non-conformist can it get- and how exploitative could it potentially be for the young girls involved?
Similar questions are often posed in regards to the Western pop music industry, pointing to what Auslander and others called the romantic rock ideology becoming adapted to all popular music [3]. The distinction between art and commerce, apparent in the firm high/ low culture boundaries of the past, has not disappeared completely and continues to be based on whether the primary drive of the music creation is “art for art’s sake” or a function such as entertainment or sales [9]. The combination of a genre normally associated with rockist “authenticity”: metal with the openly produced, commercial J-pop idol culture is bound to spark controversy. However, the mass success Babymetal has been experiencing by far can prove that the discourses of rock/ metal authenticity in its traditional meaning, albeit still alive, are not essential to most (even Western) audiences anymore. Rockism has entered its transitional period, and arguably, nowadays it might be representation, empowerment, and subversion of conventions (in both sound and performance) that encourage listeners to value bands; whether they ‘write their own songs’ or not.
References
[1] Plourde, Lorraine. “Babymetal and the Ambivalence of Cuteness.” International Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, May 2018, pp. 293–307.
[2] Rutherford, Kevin. “Babymetal Becomes First Asian Act to Rule Top Rock Albums Chart”. Billboard, October 2019. Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8540112/babymetal-metal-galaxy-no-1-top-rock-albums.
[3] Auslander, Philip. Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture. Routledge, 1999.
[4] Metal-fi. “BABYMETAL: Good, bad, or holy hell?”. Retrieved from http://www.metal-fi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=434&sid=00661afb997adc299191e3079912a2a0.
[5] Brooks, Mike. “Only Grumpy Old Fucks Could Be Mad about J-Pop Metal Band Babymetal”. Dallas Observer, September 2019. Retrieved from https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/is-babymetal-the-future-of-heavy-metal-11764339.
[6] Blabbermouth. “KORN Frontman Says BABYMETAL Is 'Entertaining As Hell,' Calls Japanese Band's Critics 'Closed-Minded'”. Blabbermouth.net, August 2017. Retrieved from https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/korn-frontman-says-babymetal-is-entertaining-as-hell-calls-japanese-bands-critics-closed-minded/.
[7] Asencio, Jenny. “5 Rational Feminist Role Models in Pop Culture”. Medium, January 2018. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@jennyasencio/5-rational-feminist-role-models-in-pop-culture-74844b423cba.
[8] Robson, Daniel. “Babymetal: 'I've never been in a moshpit. I think I'd get smashed to bits'”. The Guardian, November 2014. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/07/-sp-babymetal-interview-japanese-metal-pop.
[9] Frith, Simon. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Harvard University Press, 1996.