Seeking reassurance in 'Believing'

Doesn't seem to be an official video for 'Believing', so I've linked fancam footage (hope they don't mind) of the performance I was at in KL. I'm standing slightly left and back of where this cam is, FYI.

The evening started strong, and now, we're pacing. 'Believing' is a lyrical number with complex rhythms that give SU's vocals a chance to stretch and soar, while MOA and MOMO provide supporting harmonies which we can now hear and appreciate. This one is for the ears to savour, so the lighting and colours on the Jumbotron/cyclorama are more muted, while the choreography has slowed down a notch. Focus. Listen.

The verses are electronically enhanced, though I'm not sure 'enhanced' is the right vocab. Rather, SU's voice is suppressed with an echo-y, reverb-y effect. The individual words are delivered more mechanically than normal speech. Perhaps the verses represent internal monologues, the subject being 'I', who does not want to be 'confused' and 'afraid anymore'. The chorus restores SU's natural voice as she is now consciously engaging her Other, the one who, like the seasons has changed and is 'not the same' anymore. And as such, 'we are not the same' either. So when she says, 'believing you', she is seeking some reassurance of stability and consistency despite these changes.

Perhaps this song is meant to reassure us that despite the changes the band has undergone in terms of composition, style, aesthetic, and obviously age, they're still the same BABYMETAL that we remember from 13 years ago.

The lyrics of this song are entirely in English, so I hope nothing's been lost in translation.

In the meantime, is SU actually singing 'live'? I am pretty reassured that she is. At the end of this rendition, the mic picks up an uncharacteristic vibrato in SU's usually clean, spot-on vocals. It's this tiny imperfection that proves that what we are getting is the real deal.

Mesmerizing masterpiece

Iine was fan service, reassuring us that the band they used to be over 10 years ago is still more or less the band performing for us today, although MOMO has since officially replaced* YUI. The remaining songs in this KL set list feature their more grown up aesthetic, starting with 'Shanti Shanti Shanti' in which BABYMETAL goes Bollywood.

Right from the beginning, the melody and rhythm are identifiable as classical Indian. SU's vocals kick in, singing of love (or the feeling of being in love?) from the perspective of concepts from Hindu philosophy, according to these translated lyrics. The way SU vocalizes certain inflections without breaking into an accent suggests she's had some training in this type of traditional singing as well.

The dance is also inspired from classical Indian dance, and perhaps more than inspired, they have probably received some very professional training in executing the movements just right. Just look at the fine detail, like finger placement to make specific hand shapes, and the intricate footwork. It takes a lot of study and practice to get that confident and precise. Still, I've watched clips of these girls at dance practice, and they learn incredibly fast, like music is hard-coded in their DNA.

This performance isn't just a tip of the hat to Indian culture. It shows a deep appreciation for a culture they took effort to understand, and repay with a tribute of a respectful, beautiful piece of art done in their own unique style. And a mesmerizing masterpiece it is too.

*Disclaimer: That's not MOMO in the video, though. YUI had a rotation of replacements before one was finally made permanent.

Iine -- how many songs can we squeeze into one?

Iine was the third song on the KL playlist. It is both a throwback to the band's earliest days, and also to immediately bring the party to us as soon as the intros are out of the way. It's not canon, but I like to think this dance club is where the girls emerged out of the pit in 'Doki Doki Morning', explaining their difficulty waking up for school. They are, after all wearing the same clothes from the rave the night before.

Early BABYMETAL -- free from constraints of expectation -- experimented like crazy with a variety of sound mixes, styles, and instrumentation. Crude, compared to the band's current genre-blending sophistication, Iine mixes specific genres sequentially, beginning with a manic electronica rave, transitioning to 80's hip hop, then reminding us that death metal is still at the core of its music, and back to the rave party we started with. It's like listening to several different songs one after another, though it's really just one song. That's one way to get value for money, I guess.

More importantly, this performance shows how versatile the girls and the band are in owning each genre in terms of vocal quality, body language, and choreography (behind the scenes too, with camera work, and lighting) like they actually belong. Already we see full and total commitment to their craft even in these early stages. I can only imagine how much work they had put in to develop this level of confidence and stage presence at this young age.

And can I say that, normally, kids irritate the heck out of me? Playing and pretending are what they do, and they do it so badly! I'm like ewww... get them away from me! Not these kids. They aren't playing. They are absolutely respectable artists in their field and this, to me, is what makes them truly adorable. This is also why I don't and never will have kids of my own. My standards are too high.

Megitsune: BABYMETAL is Borg

For want of anything better to write about, I'll be running through the BABYMETAL setlist as performed 'live' @ZEPP KL, 4 June 2023. I already reviewed the opening number, 'Death' in an earlier post, so I'll skip it and go into 'Megitsune', which is an apt follow up.

Where 'Death' is a statement of identity for the band, and its members, 'Megitsune' details its purpose, like its corporate statement.

The song pays homage to the trickster fox of Japanese mythology, whose totem the band has adopted. Behind the fox mask, nothing is as it appears. The mask is the stage on which the girls and the band perform in front of their audience. The band dresses as spooks, possibly ancestral spirits, and as the Kami band, they are almost gods of their craft -- although in this MV, the band is very enthusiastically played by actors wielding traditional Japanese musical instruments which obviously could not make the metal backing music we are hearing. The presence of spirits in this Japanese house(?) brings a spooky vibe, but YUI and MOA are clearly having so much fun in this haunted house, like it's Halloween. Meanwhile, SU, who is older, is pensively preparing for her transition into womanhood, which is yet another mask protecting her private self from her public facade. Even the microphone SU holds is a mask hiding another surprise.

So what exactly are we looking at in this MV? Well, it's a metal band wearing an idol-pop face. Or is it the other way around? The integration is so tight, we can't tell. It's metal, but the band will assimilate any genre it can wrap its musicality around. Here, it's incorporated 'Sakura', a popular Japanese folk song, and metallized it with repurposed lyrics. The band will go on to assimilate music from many other cultures worldwide in their later tracks, giving the band constantly fresh material, and an unpredictable repertoire of things that should not go together, but somehow they do, and you'll love it! BABYMETAL is Borg at their most delightful. Resistance is futile!

BABYMETAL is itself an impenetrable mask as the girls are only seen in public in their METAL (and their earlier SG) personas. Their private lives are intensely private, which is as it should be.

Jumping with them at the concert, yelling sore together with the crowd was something I never thought I'd enjoy up to a couple of months ago, but

Check-it-out BABYMETAL. I can have a bit of BABYMETAL, can’t I?

But my dignity worries me a bit these days

However, BABYMETAL. I can have a bit of BABYMETAL, can’t I?

Such guilty pleasure. 

Hearing protection

Going to a metal concert at my age means taking safety precautions. If I'm voluntarily getting myself blasted with heavy duty sonic waves, I'm going to be protecting my ears. I found this set of Alpine earplugs online, quite reasonably priced, and shipped over within 8-10 days via Lazada.

The plugs themselves are very soft, light silicone. They sit comfortably in the ears like there's nothing there. The magic is in the three sets of filters graded bronze, silver and gold, in increasing order of decibel reduction. The gold filters can be seen inserted into the earplugs, which I opted for, while the remaining two sets can be seen as the pairs of tiny white and silver coloured circles nested within the carry case.

The entire set comes with an extra earplug, a lanyard (stuffed in the mesh pocket), and a vial of cleaning fluid for after.

How did it sound? The music from the performance was perfectly clear, even with the most conservative filters in place, but probably because I was standing right in front where the speakers were. Perhaps further back in the stands a lower grade filter would have sufficed. Oddly, it was the crowd that sounded muffled, and when we engaged in audience participation, it sounded like I was the loudest voice in the venue. 

Awesome concert, no ringing in the ears afterwards. A highly satisfactory purchase.

BABYMETAL World Tour @ Zepp KL 2023

I was there. 'Live'. In person. VIP section. Weird, as the people who paid the most got to stand right in front of the stage where, in Shakespeare's time, the poorest people would have been standing. And the VIPs then would have been comfortably seated at the back, where today, the cheapest tickets are.

Unfortunately, this was the best shot I could get of the three in one frame. While SU and MOA are relatively clear, MOMO is blurred out due to movement. Photographs are literally shots in the dark, when lots of factors have to precisely align: Lighting, moments of stillness (which are far and few as they move around constantly without any signs of fatigue), and no random 'fox signs' or other mobile phones obstructing the view.

MOMO (Edit: nope, that's MOA. I didn't notice the dimples earlier) at least gets one good shot here, and probably my best one for the night. And what a night! Well worth the 6 hour bus ride up north, well worth the 90 minutes I spent on my feet waiting for the show to start, well worth cramming shoulder-to-shoulder in a crowd of 2000+ other BM fans (a.k.a. The One) when standing so close to people actually makes me uncomfortable.

The show comprised 14 songs, altogether lasting about an hour and a half. Each song was performed exactly the way it was always performed in their official and unofficial 'live' shows on YouTube, so perfectly coordinated, rehearsed, practiced, and polished. The only difference being that I. Was. There.

I even survived a couple of impromptu moshes. My research into metal concerts indicated that waivers had to be signed if I wanted to participate in a mosh pit, but no documents had been presented to me for my autograph. Yet, I knew that where I was standing was prime location for a wall of death, but as the crowd was well behaved, I thought nothing of staying where I was. But when 'Gimme Chocolate' came on, that's when the pushing and shoving began, without warning. So I leaned into it, nearly getting knocked off my feet a couple of times, but leaning on other people kept me upright as I carefully edged my way out of the pit. It may not have been my intention to get involved -- considering my age -- but I got what I paid for and consider surviving the experience a bonus. So I knew well enough to stay at the periphery during 'Road of Resistance' and the closing number, 'IDZ' during which moshing was expected.

I really admire these three women who brought so much life, talent, energy and joy to this small KL performance, when they've been performing almost every other night in a different city each time around Europe and Asia, and they have yet to start on their US leg before returning to Europe to close out the year. Just look at their tour schedule for 2023 alone!

The souvenirs I'm bringing home include a lanyard with VIP pass, an official promo poster, and an official bandana used for audience participation during 'Pa Pa Ya!' which I believe is the most fun song in the entire repertoire.

Finally, I can't believe I saw BABYMETAL in person. Yes, anyone can see them in person as long as they have a ticket. What I mean is that I found something that I really wanted to do, and I didn't let my laziness, inertia, excuses, apprehensions, and doubts stop me from planning out this little trip and seeing it through to the end. Not often I can say this to myself, but 'mission accomplished'!

My own Headbanger

My hair in a Kcuts utilitarian style

I lament that what I have left on top will soon disappear fruitlessly

Clutching my cheap bus ticket in my hand

I head north, north

Where I hope to find a good spot close to the front of the stage...

This special night of my mid-fifties.

Leg day

A healthy staff Wednesday with a contingent of colleagues taking a morning walk starting from campus and making the return loop at Potong Pasir, with a brief stop for a hot drink at the kopitiam opposite the Hindu temple on Meyappar Chettiar Rd.

The highlight for me was this stretch of park connector following the bank of the Kallang River. Such lush greenery supporting local wildlife. There were tortoises and fish in the water, and someone mentioned a monitor lizard, though I didn't see it.

While the kids take a day off from work just before the summer hols fully kick in, it's nice for us staff to take a little break for ourselves too, just before grading madness begins again.

One in a million

This is the tree I planted with colleague Win. Some of us staff joined the Outdoor Activities kids in this tree-planting exercise, organised by NParks under the OneMillionTrees movement.

It was a good day for planting trees. Overcast with a distant possibility of thunderstorm, but the weather remained dry and cool throughout. Still, wielding a changkul and fully putting our backs into digging a hole deep and wide enough to support a sapling taller than myself got us in a sweat real quick.

Since the nation started this project in 2020, we're by now just over the halfway mark with the number of new trees planted islandwide. And this one is mine. And Win's. It's location is directly in front of the letter 'Q' of the name of the building in the background, TechQuest.

The tree itself is of the genus Lagerstromia floribunda Jack, and though it's listed as a myrtle, the flowers are reminiscent of the Japanese cherry blossom. So, according to the NParks lady, it's a local version of the sakura. Ok, that makes me happy since I've temporarily gone Japanophile, digging deeper and deeper into the BM foxhole.

Diablo VI Server Slam, as played on a 7 year old PC

Spent the weekend alternating between grading assignments and participating in Blizzard's Diablo VI Server Slam preview event. This event is a try-before-you-buy sample of Diablo VI (releasing June 6), and was open to everyone, no purchase required.

There were two similar free events earlier this year to stress test the system as we approach commercial release. I missed out on the first event but participated in the second, and discovered the game was practically unplayable on my PC, which I haven't upgraded in the last 7 years. I kept getting logged out, if the game didn't freeze, requiring a CTRL-ALT-DEL call for the Task Manager. Even with the graphics turned to minimum quality, the instances I could play were juddery, shuddery, experiences, and I was resigned to shop for a brand new PC with all the latest bells and whistles. I wasn't looking forward to shelling out for that kind of expense, but it didn't seem like I had a choice, since like an idiot, I buy-ed before I tried. Hey, I loved Diablo III, and wasted many hours dungeon crawling with it, while waiting 11 years for D4 to arrive.

This final Beta test before release, I was expecting more of the same glitchy nonsense since I hadn't got round to PC shopping yet. But this time, the difference was like day and night. Minimal waiting to get logged in, incredibly short wait time to load into a game, the cut-scenes played smoothly, and the game ran on my 7 year-old PC perfectly well -- granted with the graphics again tuned down to minimum, and yet, it still looked fantastic. And I was finally able to co-op with other players to take down the 'world boss', the ultimate objective of this preview experience for a sweet cosmetic reward I can display on my horse when I get to play the game for real.

It's a steep learning curve, especially since D3 offered a much simpler equipment and fighting system. D4 is deeply complex in comparison, requiring more strategising and optimizing than I want my filthy casual brain to engage in, but if D5 takes another decade to arrive, I have all the time in the world to learn. Regardless, any small upgrade I can build into my character makes combat so much more satisfying, with hoards of monsters blowing up everywhere under my ever-increasing might.

It's a simple reward cycle: kill monsters and level up with experience, or get lucky with an item drop that increases your power level sufficient to take on tougher monsters that offer even better item drops to take on even tougher monsters. Plus a crafting and a multi-layered ability upgrade mechanic that allows us to continuously tinker for even better performance. But knowing me, I'll just look at what the experts on YouTube are building and try to keep up.

But the best takeaway for me from D4 Server Slam is I'm not buying a new PC! My bank account breathes a sigh of relief.

GotG Vol 3: Parent terrible

In Vol 3, the Guardians are finally free of Mommy and Daddy issues. But without our parents' guidance, who are we? The Guardians, individually and collectively discover that they have to find out on their own.

This adventure mainly focuses on Rocket's (Bradley Cooper) backstory. Making a statement against the cruelty of animal testing, this movie takes us into the labs of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a being who believes his manifest destiny is to evolve all life to its maximum potential, making him the ultimate out-of-control control freak of a parent who is constantly dissatisfied with the monsters he makes out of his 'children'.

In his experiments on Rocket, which Nebula (Karen Gillan) describes as 'worse that what Thanos did' to her, the High Evolutionary creates some true horrors, including some who eventually become Rocket's friends whom he had to tragically leave behind to escape HE's intended fate for 'Batch 89'. All this exposition is told in flashback, as having sustained a life-threatening injury when Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) attacks Knowhere early in the movie, Rocket's life literally flashes before our eyes.

The Guardians spring into action to save the life of their friend, which means having to infiltrate HE's base of operations to obtain Rocket's tech specs without which any attempt to operate on him would prove immediately fatal. Of course, parent terrible HE takes not too kindly with corporate espionage on his most prize creation, Rocket, and enacts his own counter-plan to retrieve what he considers to be stolen property.

Hope that recap wasn't too spoiler-y. In between, as always, are glorious action sequences punctuated with internal squabbling among the Guardians, including a massive hallway set-piece that sets the bar way up high if you like Netflix's 'Daredevil' hallway punch-ups. I'll need to watch it again to see if it was all done in a single take, but if it was... wow!

Amidst the fighting and the relentlessly escalating crisis that they face, some Guardians really come into their own, while others feel the need to go find themselves, or reforge long-lost connections of their own. As parents, we really should learn to let go and let the children develop into their own beings, rather than force them into some predetermined blueprint of perfection, which will ultimately disappoint you, and screw them up for life. Either that, or die.

Anyway, the Guardians group, as put together by Director, James Gunn, go their separate ways, ending the three-story arc that turned a bunch of largely unknown Marvel properties into some of its best-loved characters today.

Unexpected act of mercy

Early BABYMETAL songs tell stories that are easy to follow, even if you didn't know the language. In 'Karate', three imposing death's head figures square off against our three METAL protagonists, although there is only one male aggressor who engages them in battle. In a back-and-forth contest, he lands a powerful blow, knocking the three girls down. Big sister, SU, struggles back to her feet and helps MOA and YUI up. Together, they gather their strength for one last strike. However, the antagonist who downed them has disappeared. SU's sonic blast hits the three masked figures, breaking their masks to reveal... themselves. It's quite true that we are often our own worst enemies. Having defeated their fearful, rageful, aggressive parts of their personalities, the girls are finally at peace. Easy story.

My first thoughts on watching this video was that all this Karate fighting seems to be at odds with one of the band's definitive messages of 'ijime, dame, zettai' (commonly abbreviated as IDZ) or 'no more bullying forever' and is one of the tracks in their self-titled debut album. I guess I was thinking 'Karate Kid' initially. But this fight is more of an inner struggle to defeat the worst parts of ourselves that keep us down and out, rather than directing violence against another person.

SU and YUI demonstrate strength in breaking things, but my favourite sequence is when MOA uses her heightened senses to pluck an insect in mid-flight out of the air. It had disturbed her meditation, and having caught it, she could have crushed it out of existence so that it would never bother her again. Instead, she gently releases it in an unexpected act of mercy, letting it rejoin its companions and go on its way. Her celebration of and respect for life no matter how seemingly insignificant packs the strongest gut punch. It truly embodies the spirit of IDZ, and watching it greatly uplifted my spirits.

With BABYMETAL, the positive emotional payoff is refreshingly different, in comparison to the cathartic release of angst and rage when listening to, say, Linkin Park, which I did listen to quite a bit back in the day. I'm all for it.

SU-METAL solo: 'No Rain, No Rainbow'

SU-METAL solos offer a change of pace within BABYMETAL's 'live' performances. Slower, slightly softer, the focus is often on the emotional delivery of someone longing for human connection. Perhaps it's also that SU is bereft of her supporting vocalists, MOA and YUI, that her voice sounds so completely alone, and lonely. It's a vocal quality that offers more variety than just headbanging for the audience to experience and appreciate.

For 'No Rain, No Rainbow' I chose to feature above a more recent version of the song as SU's voice has since matured, and as such carries a sense of loss with more gravitas. Her younger voice still makes for a beautiful rendition, but an older voice suggests having had more to lose, and more to regret.

I don't have the musical vocabulary to describe what I hear, but I feel this song is particularly effective in hitting the emotive elements through the way the chorus is structured. I don't know if it is accurate to say, but the chord progression sounds like the way water falls in tiers (yes, clearly an English pun, and probably unintentional), but that's what it sounds like to my ears. It then picks up, only to fall again, so I am constantly experiencing a sinking feeling every time the chorus comes around.

Then there's this breathtaking staging effect as a beam of white light appears to emanate from the grand piano, lighting a path to SU's feet. With poise and dignity, she walks to the piano while the band plays an instrumental bridge. The band cuts out so we can just hear her play the piano accompanying herself as she sings a couple of lines of verse...

But then there's a sudden, inexplicable length of silence that cuts in mid-verse. It appears to be a mistake or a glitch, perhaps in the audio recording, but in other performances, the band does pick back up and continues until SU comes in once more with the chorus. But in this performance, we next see SU at a different part of the stage, illuminated in a circle of light, dead centre within ripples of tears falling into perhaps a pool of tears, and she continues the verse where she left off. Guess you had to be there to know what really happened. Regardless, 'No Rain, No Rainbow' is still a beautiful song, beautifully rendered.

Great job!

Today being Labour Day is as good as any to introduce Black BABYMETAL with the song 'GJ!"

As we've seen, a BABYMETAL 'live' show is a full-on high energy effort that often goes on a few days running. The concept of Black BABYMETAL has a lore to it which I won't get into as it is confusingly inconsistent, and much is probably lost in translation. Regardless, to give each other a break without disrupting the momentum, parts of the performance are taken by SU solos, and some are MOA and YUI duets under the Black BABYMETAL label.

GJ likely stands for Good Job, as the phrase appears in the chorus. The opening beat is a cheerleader rhythm of encouragement for the team to put in extra effort, but done in metal with a bass guitar assist, the sound is heavy -- more like the beat of galley drums, getting the slaves working together to pull the oars.

Picking up from the instruments, YUI and MOA launch into rhythmic verse about the daily grind of sheeple going to work, comparing the daily commute to a 'wall of death', a term describing the commencement of a mosh when people from opposite sides of the pit run headlong towards each other and collide in the middle. Pretty accurate description for rush hour at the MRT station. During the verse, their movements are punchy sharp, imitating the pushing and shoving on jam-packed trains. For the pre-chorus, they revert to cheerleaders egging on the crowd. But their gestures are from their fingers and below their shoulders while leaning slightly back, which suggest less encouragement and more taunt, as if to say, 'is that all you got?'

The second verse is about the opposite of going to work, and that is going shopping. Likewise, shopping is yet another mosh pit as everyone tears through malls looking for the best discounts and offers of free extras. The movements here have become more combative, showing finger guns in the short instrumental break, and some defensive shielding amidst more pushing and shoving in the verse.

In between, the chorus hits with contrasting melodic lightness, incredibly catchy as their choruses usually are. Their movement also lightens up a little. They keep their sharpness, but throw in more fluid, rapidly flickering movements as they sing of escaping the crush and grind of the work-consume cycle. Being "happy-go-lucky" is the way to go: 'aiming too high brings us no good' so 'take it easy' instead.

Easy for these girls to say. It's clear they work very hard at what they do, and aim for the stratosphere with their ambitions of changing the world for the better with BABYMETAL music. The big difference is that they found their ikegai (the intersection of passion and competence in supplying what people need and are willing to pay money for) while they were still relatively babies, and went ahead to pursue it. The rest of us will just be grateful for Labour Day when we can put up our aching feet for a while, and hopefully not squander it on meaningless shopping. Take it easy, folks!

Cat-apple mutant drummer

On my YouTube feeds, this pops up. No surprise since the Google algorithm is overheated with my current BABYMETAL foxhole trawl. There's nothing I can say about this clip, other than that it demonstrates the chaos when a supporting cast decides to upstage the performance -- except that this character in the foam suit IS the performance.

Introducing Nyango Star. Apparently, this insanity stems from a dead cat whose spirit is reborn inside an apple. Visually, the suit is, in fact, a mashup of a cat face forcibly grafted on an apple, but where do the mad drumming skills come from? First, apple in Japanese is 'ringo', and the sound a cat makes, 'meow' in English, is 'nyan' in Japanese. So the fusion of Nyan-go for the first name. But Star? There's a big mystery around who the person in the suit could be, as that's never been revealed. While I have no guesses as to who it might be, I can guess the inspiration behind the name and how it all fits together. Do any non-boomers remember the drummer for the Beatles, Ringo Starr? Now think of him as a cat-apple mutant heavy metal drummer. There you go!

Oh, theory confirmed!

Death chant

I watched a different version of the video I'm sharing here. The one I did watch disturbed me for quite a while because it seemed so dark. We hear the crowd chanting "death" over and over again, and I couldn't fathom any reason for their rabid fanbase to wish them such ill. In the video I watched, SU gets crucified at some point in the item, much to the delight of the audience, and all I could do was stare, mouth agape. What. The. Heck.

The song, if that's what it is, begins with a sombre dirge over a disconcerting projected narration for which I have no translation. The girls enter wielding Sith lightsabres to a sped up execution drum beat. They take strategic points on stage and cheerlead the crowd in spelling out B-A-B-Y-M-E-T-A-L, commencing the "death" chant.

The girls then introduce themselves in turn: "SU-METAL desu", "YUIMETAL desu", "MOAMETAL desu", and then the realization hits. The whole thing is based on a terrible dad joke of a pun. "Desu" (I am) is pronounced "des", and when lisped, "death". That explains MOA's odd way of introducing herself in interviews sometimes, when instead of saying "desu," she sticks her tongue out between her teeth, turning the "s" sound into a "th" sound, which I thought was a bit strange.

It turns out that this song is usually their opening number, and it fulfills a number of functions. First, there are no melodic vocals, which gives focus to the band and its instruments, leaving no doubt that we are at a metal concert featuring blistering metal music. Right from the get-go, the crowd is amped up and already interacting with the performance, setting a pace and rhythm that is easy and compelling to follow. The chant of "death" sets a horror tone invoking the sort of fun, Halloweeny atmosphere this show thrives on.

The girls aren't just introducing themselves with their names, but are ritually casting off their everyday forms of Suzuka Nakamoto, Yui Mizuno, and Moa Kikuchi, and transforming themselves into the powerful beings of SU-METAL, YUIMETAL, and MOAMETAL respectively. Think of it as a dark Sailor-Moon type transformation sequence. Their final pose is crossed forearms over face, fingers of both hands making the fox-sign. Megitsune masks on, they are ready to engage their fans in another butt-kicking 'live' performance.

And in case you are still curious about the crucifixion thing, long story short, it's SU celebrating her 16th birthday like a drama queen. I mean, why not?

Awadama Fever: Literal bubblegum pop

To be honest, this song wan't on my list for review, but it triggered an unexpected memory for me from a long time ago that I decided to make a record of it.

This performance of 'Awadama Fever' opens with Kami band's super impressive solos getting the audience hyped and rockin'. Enter the girls, their vocals effortlessly slicing through the thumping beat. The song title translates to 'bubble' (awa) 'ball' (dama), so it's a song about being carried away in a bubble gum bubble. To get around the physics of bubble gum being heavier than air, flight is achieved by unlocking the power of dreams. Quite a Studio Ghibli conceit, and clearly a fun one for performers, musicians and the crowd to create the fantasy together. Ah, yay!

There's a lot more mime I observe in this dance. The girls' arms form the shape of the bubble, their hands shape the secret box, turn the locks, open the door, and I'm sure there a fox and sox in there somewhere too (says the voice of Zeuss). The recurring image is the giant bubble the girls maneuver around the stage, taking it anywhere, or maybe it's taking them as they 'ride on the wind'. They even mime the sensation of being lighter than air during the instrumental bridge.

I'm speculating that 'Awadama Fever' is an updated, upbeat, metallized version of the traditional children's song, 'Shabondama', or soap bubble in English. The two songs have the same idea, of ephemeral bubbles floating upwards on the wind, except that the latter focuses more pessimistically on the fragility of the vehicle and briefness of the flight, while BABYMETAL is more excited about the prospect of flying on dream-powered bubbles, even if it lasts only as long as an hour-long nap. Po! Po!

I'm not sure how far back the 'traditional' song goes, as I believe soap to be a fairly recent invention, but at least old enough for my dad to have learned it as a child, and in turn, he taught it to me when I, too, was little. Learning this song in Japanese school was probably one of my dad's more pleasant memories of the Occupation. It stayed with him at least long enough to pass it on to me, though I had since forgotten it over time. And now I have a reawakened memory, recently unlocked from my secret box of forgotten things. A 'mint-flavoured time machine' indeed.

Throwback to the early days with Doki Doki Morning

Welcome to early BABYMETAL, really a reference point as to how much the band has grown up and into the performers who released their fourth album just a month ago. This video release is ten years old, but even then it already features quite some quality production values for its time.

The concept fusing bubblegum pop with heavy metal instrumentation shouldn't have worked. It's crazy making the headline performers be younger than the legal age allowed at the venues they are performing in (assuming alcohol is being served). It makes no sense to have children's voices leading the brutal accompaniment, and definitely no business turning the whole thing into this addictive, cutesy, feel-good fusion of metal, rap, and pop all thrown into this delicious, incongruous sonic rojak (spicy mixed salad) of a song. It works so well, and the big mystery with BABYMETAL and their penchant for experimenting with genres like a mad scientist pouring test-tubes of multi-coloured chemicals into each other to find the most explosive combos is HOW does it work?

In this video, the Halloween theme does a lot to bridge the gap. In the midst of a face-melting opening riff, the girls emerge from the depths, lurching to a zombie rave before reverting to their 'human' selves, singing about how difficult it is to get up in the morning, yet being all excited to grow up and see what life has to offer. Maybe they shouldn't have been partying all night in you-know-where, then.

Musically, the swapping between the genres should have been jarring, if not for the instrumental transitions that skillfully smooth and blend the disparate styles so seamlessly that each has its time to shine. The metal packs a solid punch, the rap sounds bright and light in contrast to the metal, the pre-chorus builds anticipation (musically and lyrically), and the pop chorus lifts the spirit as much as it lifts the feet. This song deserves to be everyone's wake-up alarm -- who wouldn't want a dopamine hit first thing in the morning?

But the secret ingredient that makes the whole thing work is... work. We know the band is already seriously accomplished, but the girls aren't just freshly picked off the street. SU, MOA, and YUI have been in training to be professional entertainers for years even before this video got put together. Naturally gifted, yes, but also putting in hours of after-school training, rehearsals, and performances both 'live' and on music video as members of Sakura Gakuin, which is whole 'nother rabbit hole to explore.

BABYMETAL works because each component member could very well have their own highly successful solo career, but their choice to synergise their strengths instead, learning and growing together over these years, fully committed to developing BABYMETAL as a legit sub-genre in itself is how something that shouldn't work works. And the world is a much better place for it.

Kakurenbo with an Oni

Time to give the Kami band some attention. About half this song is taken by the instrumentalists' solos, and each one demonstrates very impressive abilities. Intricate fretwork from the dueling harmonized electric guitarists, and featuring one of a tiny handful of 6-string bass guitarists in Japan, and an incredibly fast drummer double-kicking double bass drums in double time. A very basic but totally skillful metal band without a doubt.

The song is 'Catch Me If You Can', based on the game of hide-and-seek (kakurenbo), except that the girls seem to be playing with an Oni, the seeker, who calls out "are you ready?" in a monstrous growl. The dance is choreographed to be cute and funny. The run movement is exaggerated to look like manga/anime running, taking gigantic steps with the trailing foot high in the air. While YUI and MOA play, SU stands in for the seeker, but when her vocals kick in, she becomes a player too.

Characteristic of BABYMETAL, the J-pop sound over metal is insanely catchy, the chorus yet another of the band's earworms that sticks in the head for days. The combination of feel-good music, plus the entire band's commitment and joy in what they do hits my emotional triggers in ways no other music has before. One song can make me grin from ear to ear, and another brings tears to my eyes, sometimes even both at the same time, and I can't understand why. As SU-METAL likes to say, "don't think, feel". So I suppose there is no explanation for it.

Yet I can't help but think a little deeper. If this were just J-pop, or pop in general, I would have blown it off as cute, but I wouldn't have dwelt on this song as much as I have. It's the metal that puts in the edge, the darkness, giving me a tiny feeling that there's more to this song than it appears.

It makes me reflect on my own mortality. After all, aren't we playing hide-and-seek with Death as long as we are alive? But Death is not scary, just inevitable, and he is patient. He calls out "Ooo... moo ikai, moo ikai?" to which we reply "Madda da yo!", and it's a fun game. As long as we're alive, there's no reason not to have fun. Even if we fall over, we don't cry because we are strong kids, and we can't wait to go another round.

The red shoes SU references are a bit of a puzzler. It apparently refers to a folktale about a child wearing red shoes who got kidnapped by a foreigner and is taken away on a ship, never to return again. To which I interpret as SU's advice to not do anything stupid and invite Death to cut short the game prematurely. An anti-self-harm, anti-suicide message embedded in this cheeky little number, perhaps? Knowing BABYMETAL's positivity, I wouldn't be surprised.

Edit: I hadn't noticed it before, but this song ends on the refrain, "madda da yo", meaning "not yet", and the final movement looks like a beautiful heart seizure over a drumbeat and bass note fading gradually to silence. Nobody is ready to meet their inevitable end, are they? Which makes the point about the red shoes a lot more poignant, now I think about it.

Metalizm (Official) by BABYMETAL: video first impression

Well, the official video for 'Metalizm' dropped today, taking me by surprise. This song is featured in BABYMETAL's latest album, 'The Other One'. It's clear the band has taken a whole new aesthetic and approach to their performances. No longer banking on kawaii, the focus seems to be more on creating this dynamic art form with all the talent they've developed over the years they've been performing.

I feel this art form to be unfortunately limited by the 2 dimensional medium of video it is presented in. This piece of work was designed to be more immersive than just the flat screen I'm watching it on. But the technology needed to fully appreciate this piece either hasn't been invented yet, or is simply as yet unaffordable. The best I could probably do is to strap on an Oculus headset to see and feel the swirling colours and rhythms everywhere I look instead of just straight ahead.

The song itself is hypnotic, trance-inducing. The pace of the music is somewhat slower, less frantic than many of their other songs, while the vocals are calmer, and (dare I say) designed not to test SU's range. In fact, from a quick glance at the translated lyrics, they remind me of descriptions of rather dramatic manga panels -- metal knights and metal kings in flight, bringing hope and light to the world.

The dance is full of sharp angles, perfectly synchronised, as always, creating beautiful patterns with the trio moving together, intricate yet powerful. What I see are depictions of the edginess of metal in the midst of swirling flames. The action to me is more reminiscent of forging rather than fighting, with the rhythmic pounding of hammer on anvil, and not the sharp clash of swords.

Perhaps this song is intended as a sort of palate cleanser within the concert repertoire. An item for a change of pace, and possibly a moment to recharge energy before the next big set piece.

The songs in this new album clearly signal maturity. Their performances of the past were quite literal storytelling theatre pieces. I'm happy they've now gained the confidence to simply play with their unique 3-D, multi-sensory canvas, comfortable in creating more abstract art, and letting their music speak for itself.