Babymetal, stylized in all caps, is a Japanese kawaii metal band formed in Tokyo in 2010. It consists of Suzuka Nakamoto as "Su-metal", Moa Kikuchi as "Moametal", and Momoko Okazaki as "Momometal". 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 the heavy metal and Japanese idol genres. 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. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babymetal) under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)
