#yuimetal & #hinatasato @ #sakuragakuin #babymetal
Sakura Gakuin (Japanese: さくら学院, lit. ‘Cherry Blossom Academy’)[4] was a Japanese idol girl group formed in 2010 by the Amuse talent agency. The group’s membership fell within the age range of Japanese compulsory education, typically containing between 10 and 12 members at a time who fall between the ages of 10 and 15. With the theme of school life and extracurricular club activities, when the academic year ends at the end of March, the group released an annual studio album, new members “transferred in” to the group, and others who finish compulsory education “graduated”, or left.
Members of the group also belonged to one or more of its sub-units, which are modeled after school extracurricular clubs. Each club performed with its own theme and musical genre, and their music may be included in the main group’s albums or released as a separate single.
The group disbanded on August 31, 2021
Yui Mizuno (水野 由結, Mizuno Yui, born June 20, 1999), formerly known by her stage name Yuimetal, is a Japanese musician, singer, model, and actress. 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.
Hinata Sato (佐藤日向) was the Mood Chairman for the 2013 Nendo. She was an original member and graduated in 2013 Nendo.
Hinata was born in Yamagata Prefecture and was raised there until she was 2 years old. When moving to Niigata Prefecture, she longed to be a catalog model for children’s clothing brand after seeing Ayami Muto, she has been in the industry since she was in kindergarten.
Babymetal (Japanese: ベビーメタル, Hepburn: Bebīmetaru) (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese kawaii metal band consisting of Suzuka Nakamoto as “Su-metal”, Moa Kikuchi as “Moametal” and 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.
The band was formed in 2010, with the original lineup of Su-metal (vocal and dance), Moametal (scream and dance), and Yui Mizuno as “Yuimetal” (scream and dance), with the concept of creating a fusion of the heavy metal and Japanese idol genres. Originally a sub-unit of the Japanese idol group Sakura Gakuin, Babymetal became an independent act in 2013, following Nakamoto’s departure from Sakura Gakuin.
Babymetal have released four studio albums since their inception: the first, Babymetal, came out in February 2014. Their second album Metal Resistance was released worldwide in April 2016. The group released their third album Metal Galaxy in October 2019. Their fourth album, The Other One, was released in March 2023. Babymetal has embarked on several tours, with a majority of their tour dates taking place outside of Asia.
In October 2018, Babymetal announced that Yui Mizuno had decided to leave the band due to poor health, following her absence from live performances since December 2017. After her departure, the band performed with one or more backup dancers at live performances. One of those dancers, Momoko Okazaki (a former member of Sakura Gakuin), joined Babymetal as the third core member in April 2023, under the stage name Momometal.