Of all the music to come out of Japan in recent years, only one band has conquered the language barrier and gone on to become a global Internet sensation. That band is none other than the Japanese idol group Babymetal, a metal band fronted by three young girls.
The band saw huge success with its music video for the song "Gimme Chocolate!" (the video has more than 45 million views), and since then has only continued to grow in popularity. Babymetal's new album, Metal Resistance, released on April 1, and to promote it, the band is set to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight, April 5.
Initially, there was doubt that the band would ever make it on the show. After the band's upcoming appearance on the show was announced in February, the group's American distributor removed the appearance from the Babymetal website. Thankfully, it looks like everything worked out, and America will see what the phenomenon is all about.
America will no doubt be more than a little confused by what they see. Mainstream American audiences aren't exactly metal-friendly to begin with, and Babymetal's three young stars will likely confuse and shock older viewers even more than the loud and relentless drumbeats of the music itself.
However, that's likely why the band is set to appear on Colbert to begin with. There's no denying the band is a viral hit, and as such, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Babymetal draw in fans to the show. If nothing else, the next-day video of the on-show concert is sure to get thousands upon thousands of views when it hits YouTube.
If American audiences can look past the Gothic getup and aggressive metal overtones, they might find Babymetal's music to be surprisingly catchy. There is a reason the band's music videos have millions upon millions of views each, and it's not just for the spectacle of seeing little girls rock out to death metal.
Babymetal's latest world tour began on April 2 in London. The American leg of the tour will begin on May 4 in New York, with Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Concord and Philadelphia also listed as tour stops.
