User:KittehWarlord/sandbox

Views of music industry workers
Yuzo Kayama, a famous musician, actor and songwriter in Japan has stated he is a fan on several occasions. Kayama said of the song "Gimme Choco", “I think it’s hard to sing, but the pitch of the song is accurate. The rhythm is new, there are some Japanese points, the dance is innovative, and it’s crisp.”

Reiko Yukawa, a well known music critic in Japan, Has also stated she is a fan. In an interview with Junichiro Koizumi at “Pia Special”, stated, “BABYMETAL is pretty cute with singing and dancing, they have charisma like Himiko, and glittering that no one can replace."

YOSHIKI of X JAPAN On July 7, 2014,visited BABYMETAL's performance held in London while staying at work. “It was great that we were able to witness the disappearance of the border between Eastern and Western music.” On the backstage, X JAPAN's "X Pause " and BABYMETAL's "Fox Sign " are photographs on both official Twitters. Later in the interview with "Metal Hammer" he stated, "I really liked the idea of ​​the fusion of cute girls and metal", and "Someday (X JAPAN can play with BABYMETAL)", and stated if an opportunity presented itself he would be happy to have a collaboration.

Music Media Views
Babymetal was heavily featured in the Japanese Heavy Metal magazine "BURRN!"

BABYMETAL went largely unnoticed in the early days until the beginning of 2017. Editor-in-Chief Hirose Kazuo said, “If you do a promotion, we will interview you. More specifically, we will interview the three girls." Masao Fujiki of the editorial department criticized the lack of sales and commented "Does BABYMETAL even have a good song?" comparing them to other idol groups. BURRN Editor-in-Chief Hirose told the magazine “Weekly Shincho” released in April 2016 that they were "welcome as a completely new entertainment from Japan in the UK regardless of whether it is heavy metal or not."

Shinko Music Entertainment (publisher of “BURRN!”) In 2013, the heavy metal-centered magazine “Hedbang” launched, featuring Babymetal. The reason for the launch was that Naomiyuki Umezawa, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, saw BABYMETAL live in 2012. Umezawa felt that BABYMETAL “Stares metal in the face” and “creates extremely precise sounds which attracts fans and requires admiration”

“YOUNG GUITAR” (a long-established guitar magazine centered on heavy metal) The guitar score of “Ijime, No, Zettai” was published in the April 2014 issue. In the May 2016 issue, BABYMETAL was featured on the cover and guitar performance explanation was featured.

From 1st album release to Sonisphere Festival appearance decision
In March 2014, just after the release of the first album and the release of the music video for “Gimme chocolate!!” on YouTube, the US online media “The Daily Dot” wrote “But, for those of us whose musical tastes fall somewhere in the middle, Babymetal is kind of like a magical, leather-clad, fire-breathing, sonic unicorn.” According to brittain's "The Guardian", "This is Japanese pop music, created behind-the-scenes by some fiendish Machiavellian genius who almost certainly had a sudden "Eureka!" moment in the middle of the night and realised that Japanese audiences were certain to unquestioningly embrace such a seemingly incongruous mish-mash of cutting-edge musical ideas." According to America's "Time" magazine "Whether they can impress metal-heads (or, instead, draw enough of their own fans to Sonisphere that that’s unnecessary) will be a major clue about which direction they’re heading."

After Sonisphere Festival
After the sonisphere festival, music news site "Gigwise Stated, "Booking Babymetal for a festival exclusive was a stroke of genius."

Metal or Not?
There is much discussion on the US based news site "Blabbermouth.net" 、And the "Los Angeles Times" stated, "Babymetal is a Japanese concept group, and they’re the most divisive thing in heavy music right now."

"MetalSucks"stated after the Los Angeles performance, "Babymetal isn’t metal. It’s theater, the Japanese pop industry deconstructing post-millennial metal and modern pop tropes and reconstituting them into a fully realized, 360-degree entertainment experience." The American musician, Kim Kelly stated, "Babymetal’s very existence could be seen as an affront to a subculture and genre of music that quite a lot of people take very seriously and love very much", however in a later interview stated "I’m still cheering for them from the sidelines."

After “Metal God” Rob Halford performed with Babymetal in July 2016 he stated "BABYMETAL is the future of metal."