It’s been a big couple of weeks for Japan’s favourite Kawaii Metal group. It began with the release of their long anticipated second album on April 1st, followed by a sold out performance at the UK’s Wembley Arena, where they broke the record for most merch sales by any group to ever perform there in its long and impressive history.
But they didn’t stop there. Only a few days later, they were in New York on the stage of the legendary Ed Sullivan Theatre, where they made their U.S. television debut. Stephen Colbert’s intro “I don’t know what I’m about to see, but I’m pretty excited about it” perfectly sums up the feeling most of the audience must have had as the lights went down and the band started to play. The immediate eruption of applause that followed the performance was a sure sign that they enjoyed what they saw, even if they still weren’t entirely sure what it was.
The performance led to more exposure in North America than they’ve had in their 5+ years as a band, and was covered on just about every major music site in existence. The video of the performance is already in the top 20 most viewed on The Late Show’s Youtube channel, and could very realistically be the most popular of the hundreds of videos on the channel in just a few weeks time.
But the accolades haven’t stopped there. In Billboard’s most recent Top 200 albums, BABYMETAL have become the first Japanese band in over 50 years to crack the top 40, where their new album Metal Resistance debuted at number 39. The last Japanese album to make it this close to the top was Kyu Sakamoto’s Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits back in 1963. BABYMETAL’s first album, released in 2014, only made it as high as 187.
If you still don’t know what BABYMETAL are all about, get ready to see a lot more of them. Their U.S. tour kicks off in May, and their quest for world domination is just beginning.
