BABYMETAL’S YUI&MOA – BEST FRIEND’S FOREVER 2010
Yui Mizuno (水野 由結, Mizuno Yui, born June 20, 1999),formerly known by her stage name Yuimetal, is a Japanese musician, singer, and dancer. She is a former member of the kawaii metal group Babymetal and the idol group Sakura Gakuin. In October 2018, she left Babymetal due to an undisclosed illness. She is managed by the Amuse Inc. talent agency.
On August 2, 2010, at the age of 11, Mizuno joined Sakura Gakuin, an idol group managed by the talent agency Amuse Inc. She joined at the same time as another future Babymetal member, Moa Kikuchi. Sakura Gakuin had not yet released its debut single. During their audition, Mizuno and Kikuchi performed a duo dance cover of “Over The Future” by Karen Girl’s, two former members of which, Ayami Mutō and Suzuka Nakamoto, had also recently joined Sakura Gakuin.
Besides performing as a whole group, Sakura Gakuin members were also divided into smaller subgroups known as “clubs”. Each club had its own musical group that recorded its own songs. Mizuno and Kikuchi first became members of the “Baton Club” and its musical group Twinklestars. As backing singers and dancers, they were later teamed with lead singer Suzuka Nakamoto in a “Heavy Music Club”,with the associated music group being named Babymetal. Before the formation of this club, none of the three members knew what heavy metal was.
In 2012, Babymetal became an independent recording group.Mizuno “graduated” from Sakura Gakuin in 2015,and from then on performed with Babymetal exclusively. Mizuno and Kikuchi have a writing credit under the name “Black Babymetal” on the first Babymetal album in 2014, having written “Song 4” together during a bus trip.[8] The second Babymetal album, Metal Resistance, was released in 2016.
Following a leave from the show Legend “S” Baptism XX, Mizuno was absent from Babymetal’s tour of the United States in May 2018, with no advance warning. Amid fan speculation on Mizuno’s status with the group, a representative of 5B Management, the American management company representing Babymetal, replied to an inquiry from Alternative Press Magazine: “Yuimetal remains a member of the band, but she is not on this current U.S. tour.”However, she was also absent from Babymetal’s European tour in June 2018. On October 19, 2018, Babymetal officially announced that Yuimetal would not be joining the band for the next phase of their tour and would no longer be a member of the group due to poor health. Mizuno released a statementshortly after about her decision to leave Babymetal, explaining that she may go on to pursue a solo career in the future.
Moa Kikuchi (菊地 最愛, Kikuchi Moa, born July 4, 1999), known by her stage name Moametal, is a Japanese musician, singer, and dancer. She is represented by the talent agency Amuse Inc. She is a member of the kawaii metal band Babymetal and a former member of the idol group Sakura Gakuin.
Moa Kikuchi was signed to the talent agency Amuse Inc. at the age of 8, after winning Semi-Grand Prix (becoming a runner-up) in the Ciao Girl Audition 2007 held by the company.[1]
On August 2, 2010, at the age of 11, Kikuchi joined Sakura Gakuin, an idol group also managed by Amuse Inc. She joined at the same time as another future Babymetal member, Yui Mizuno. Sakura Gakuin had not yet released its debut single.[1][3] During their audition, Kikuchi and Mizuno performed a duo dance cover of “Over The Future” by Karen Girl’s; two members of that group, Ayami Mutō and Suzuka Nakamoto, had also recently joined Sakura Gakuin.[4]
Besides performing as a whole group, Sakura Gakuin members were also divided into smaller subgroups known as “clubs”. Each club had its own musical group that recorded its own songs. Kikuchi and Mizuno first became members of the “Baton Club” and its musical group Twinklestars. As backing singers and dancers, they were later teamed with lead singer Suzuka Nakamoto in a “Heavy Music Club”,[5] with the associated music group being named Babymetal. Before the formation of this club, none of the three members knew what heavy metal was.[6]
Babymetal became an independent recording group in 2013.[7] Kikuchi “graduated” from Sakura Gakuin in 2015,[8] and now performs with Babymetal exclusively. Kikuchi and Mizuno have a writing credit under the name “Black Babymetal” on the first Babymetal album in 2014, having written “Song 4” together during a bus trip.[9] The second Babymetal album, Metal Resistance, was released in 2016. A third album, Metal Galaxy, followed in 2019.
Babymetal (Japanese: ベビーメタル, Hepburn: Bebīmetaru) (stylized in all caps as BABYMETAL) is a Japanese kawaii metal band consisting of Suzuka Nakamoto as “Su-metal”, Moa Kikuchi as “Moametal” and after Yui Mizuno’s depature: Momoko Okazaki as “Momometal”. The band is produced by Kobametal from the Amuse talent agency. Their vocals are backed by heavy metal instrumentation, performed by a group of session musicians known as the “Kami Band” at performances.
#jpop #heavymetal #pop #music #babymetal #idol