Make Believe Mailer #101: BABYMETAL songwriter/producer Yuyoyuppe shares the songs that helped shape the group (2015 Interview)
Surprising New Angles From An Old Interview
BABYMETAL served as a bridge between two eras of internationally minded J-pop. To date, no project out of Japan has been as successful on the global stage as the idol-meets-metal group. The outfit has racked up millions upon millions of views, held sold-out shows in large arenas all over the world, appeared on big festival lineups, landed an album on the Billboard charts and just generally appeared everywhere since debuting in the early 2010s. The trio has undergone member changes and leaned into their core concept for more than a decade now, yet they are still selling out big spaces and appearing on fest posters around the world. Until Atarashii Gakko! appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently, BABYMETAL were the last group to appear on American late-night TV.
The group have always felt like benefactors — and thus examples of — the period when most Japanese artists went viral online via how outrageous the sounds and sights of their work was. They took off after Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s decade-defining slice of Harajuku surrealism, and for a bit existed in the same “YouTubers React To *Perceived Weird Thing1” that all Japanese entertainment at this time did. They found a dedicated fanbase that took them further than just meme-ry, but it still felt very telling of the time.
Yet I’ve been thinking more lately how BABYMETAL relate to the current generation of world-minded J-pop. Luminate shared its 2023 year-end report this week, and once again the company focused on the growth of J-pop internationally. In conjunction with that, Luminate focused on how Gen Z listeners embrace pop in foreign languages…and are generally “superfans” of the acts they love. The trio catapulted to attention via a very 2010s era “such funny, much wacky” YouTube mechanism…but after that, BABYMETAL’s story and success leans closer to what’s happening now.
There’s another puzzle piece making this link clearer. Central to BABYMETAL’s sound — especially when they were really emerging on the global stage — was producer Yuyoyuppe. He emerged from the world of Vocaloid, a community that has in the last few years proven to be the starting point for J-pop’s current generation of stars, from Kenshi Yonezu to YOASOBI to Ado — all of whom draw sonic and artistic inspiration from this background. Yuyoyuppe was much more Warped Tour than Nico Nico Chokaigi while working with BABYMETAL, but I do think it’s telling that he came from this world and helped shape the most globally successful Japanese act to this point of the 21st century. It helps one look at BABYMETAL from a new angle.
He also plays bass in this band now
To put a little shine on Yuyoyuppe, a little before the ten-year anniversary of BABYMETAL’s debut album — and, honestly, because the interview I’m transcribing now is taking so long and uhhhhh will need to go out next week — here’s a 2015 feature I did for MTV Iggy where I asked the producer about the music that influenced his work on BABYMETAL.
BABYMETAL are the most successful Japanese pop group going in 2015. The teenage trio of Su-metal, Yuimetal and Moemetal have become one of Japan’s most talked about music units since forming in 2010, their blend of perky idol-pop and heavy metal earning them sold-out shows at some of the larger arenas in their home country. Yet what sets them apart is their global presence. Whereas other idol outfits of similar status can only count domestic success, BABYMETAL managed to go viral with the video “Gimme Chocolate,” allowing them to play solo shows and festivals around the world. They are currently on their second world tour, which culminates with an appearance on the main stage at the Reading And Leeds Festival in August.
Most of the attention from abroad has been on the trio themselves. That makes sense, considering BABYMETAL rose in popularity via a YouTube clip (one helped a bit by a “wacky Japan” attitude many bring to all entertainment emerging from the country) that probably had many thinking “whoa, what are those girls dancing too?” For many listeners and publications, that’s the hook, and it’s a good one. And the three girls at the center of BABYMETAL deserve it, as they are skilled at bringing the projects concept to life...not to mention managing constant life on the road as an adolescent.
Yet there are many more players involved with Babymetal who have been overlooked. Writer Ryotaro Aoki pointed this out on his Don’t Cross The Streams, highlighting the many Japanese artists creating the music for Babymetal. They include Narasaki, the lead singer of the band Coaltar of the Deepers, and Takeshi Ueda, the bassist for The Mad Capsule Markets and writer of “Gimme Chocolate.2” Part of BABYMETAL’s success comes from having such talented musicians working behind the scenes, and bringing years of hard rock experience to the project.
The BABYMETAL team features no dominant songwriter or producer, but the artist Yuyoyuppe appears the most in the credits across BABYMETAL’s debut album. His background is a little more varied than the others working behind the scenes on the group -- he started out as a Vocaloid artist, uploading aggressive, guitar-backed songs featuring the digital voices of Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka to Japanese video site Nico Nico. His popularity increased, and since then he’s made more music with the singing-synthesizer software and his own voice (while also being part of the throat-shredding outfit My Eggplant Died Yesterday). His work with BABYMETAL also features contemporary3 EDM touches, primarily the Skrillex-esque drop.
Yuyoyuppe caught up with MTV Iggy to talk about the songs that helped develop his love of loud music, and accordingly helped shape BABYMETAL.
Saosin - “Seven Years”
“This song still continues to inspire me. It taught me what screamo music is. This style of music wasn’t very popular in Japan when I first encountered it. When I listened to it for the first time, I was shocked. After that, I got really into hardcore and screamo music.”
System Of A Down - “Chic ‘N’ Stu”
“I think I found this one at a CD rental shop while I was in high school, and I picked it out just by chance. At that time, I wasn’t quite absorbed by loud music. But this song left me extremely surprised. All the peculiar details in it shaped my musical world view immensely, and still does.”
Flyleaf - “I’m So Sick”
“I’m pretty sure I heard this song around the same time I came across Saosin. I was seeking out new bands to quench my thirst for more loud music (laughs). At that time, it cut me like a knife, it was so shocking to hear. The first part of ‘I’m So Sick,’ from when the vocal starts playing out over the riff and eventually gets to a sudden scream, that really got to me.”
Attack Attack! - “Stick Stickly”
“When I told a foreign fan I liked this song, he told me he didn’t like it immediately, it was a little off-putting to him. But I can still proudly say I like this song. Back then, there wasn’t much music where a band could work in the nuances of trance music with a band sound. It got my attention because I like new things. Since hearing ‘Stick Stickly,’ my sound grew, to incorporate more synthesizer work in my music.
Memphis May Fire - “The Sinner”
“The above four songs were the songs that inspired by taste personally, but this is the first song that really influenced the BABYMETAL style. This song’s speciality is the evil guitar sound, and a very strong drum and bass sound. I’m always hoping I can make a sound like the one’s here. I spent so much money and time on making ‘Megitsune’s’ drum sound resemble this closely.”
Protest The Hero - “Bloodmeat”
“It was a really hard decision to choose between this and Periphery’s ‘Icarus Lives,’ but I’m going with this one because it’s more of my roots. I learned about the ambiguity of music -- in a good way -- from this song. Like, ‘oh, creating music gives me so much freedom.’ When I made BABYMETAL’s ‘Akumu no Rondo,’ I got some hints from this song’s drawers. Specifically, irregular rhythm, darkness and complicated chords from this band.
Woe, Is Me - “[&] Delinquents”
“I can say that this song has everything I like. Emotional vocals, a proper amount of screaming, a very thick rock sound, a good balance of synthesizer sounds...every single piece of this song works, I think it is brilliant. I listened to this song around the same time I also listened to the Memphis May Fire song I mentioned, but this one was especially shocking to me. Most of the time when I make BABYMETAL songs, I hope it approaches this one.”
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
To everyone’s credit, BABYMETAL took part in a meta response to all this
Really can not be understated how loaded the people working on BABYMETAL’s music were.
again this was 2015
I remember this interview ! Sadly very few looked into the songwriters of Babymetal (they are also kind of hidden behind aliases so probably understandable and for western journalists their was the obvious language barrier - these days, outside of fan sites, discogs seems to be the best source).
Their used to also be a MTV81 video interview with this legendary young man: Artists to watch -> Get Your Scream On With Beatmaker Yuyoyuppe – Segment 1 and Segment 2 from June 18, 2014 ( stuck behind some flash player if I remember correctly). In Europe and US those pages now redirects to the home page of their respective countries. I worry, it's sadly lost to fans.