Starlight (Babymetal song)

Last updated
"Starlight"
Babymetal Starlight digital single cover.jpg
Single by Babymetal
from the album Metal Galaxy
Language
ReleasedOctober 19, 2018 (2018-10-19)
Genre
Length3:37
Label
Composer(s)
  • Megmetal
  • Metal Skywalker
Lyricist(s) Metal Saints
Producer(s) Kobametal
Babymetal singles chronology
"Distortion"
(2018)		"Starlight"
(2018)		"Elevator Girl"
(2019)
Music video
"Starlight" on YouTube

"Starlight" is a song by Japanese heavy metal band Babymetal. It was first released as a digital single on October 19, 2018.

Contents

Background and release

"Starlight" was first teased on October 4, 2018, as part of a trailer for Babymetal's first graphic novel, Apocrypha: The Legend of Babymetal (2018). [1] [2] The song was briefly made available on the band's official YouTube channel on October 18, 2018 before being made unavailable. [3] The song was officially released the following day, [4] along with the official announcement of Yui Mizuno's departure from the band. [5] [6]

Su-metal has stated she enjoys singing the high parts in the middle of the track, linked to the choreography. [7]

It is widely speculated by fans that the song is meant to be a tribute to Mikio Fujioka,[ citation needed ] a former live guitarist for the band who died earlier that same year.

Composition

"Starlight" was described as "pretty djenty" by Greg Kennelty of Metal Injection. [8] Scott Munro of Metal Hammer commented that the song "starts off slowly but soon kicks into a frantic pace, complete with catchy chorus, thundering drums and slabs of crunching guitars", [9] while Billboard called it a "ferocious and heavy melody that explores their signature hybrid of metal riffs and infectious vocal attacks". [10]

Reception

"Starlight" debuted at number 41 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the week of October 29, 2018, with 1,150 first-week equivalent units. [11] The following week, the song rose to number 24, with 1,637 equivalent units. [12] Due to being released exclusively in a digital format, the song charted at number nine on the Oricon Digital Singles chart for the week October 28, 2018, with first-week downloads of 8,666 copies. [13] In the United States, "Starlight" debuted at number seventeen and four on the Billboard World Hard Rock Songs and Billboard World Digital Songs charts, respectively, for the week November 3, 2018. [14]

Music video

A music video was released to the official Babymetal YouTube channel on October 19, 2018. [8] As described by Marina Pedrosa, of Billboard , the video representing "another step in the group's expanding storyline about an unknown dark side and the legend of seven metal spirits, The Chosen Seven", depicting a "post-apocalyptical scene, the band's members are seen running, dancing and screaming on a desert mountain in between flashy and kaleidoscopic visuals." [10] However, the characters seen in the video are not band members. They are actors potentially representing Chosen 7 characters. At the very end of the video, Sumetal and Moametal do make a brief appearance signifying the continuation of Babymetal with these two as the core.[ citation needed ]

Track listing

Digital download [15]

Charts

Chart (2018)Peak
position
Japan ( Billboard ) [12] 24
Japan Download Songs (Billboard) [16] 6
Japan Digital Singles (Oricon) [13] 9
US Hard Rock Digital Songs (Billboard) [14] 17
US World Digital Songs (Billboard) [14] 4

Release history

RegionDateFormatLabelRef.
JapanOctober 19, 2018Digital download
 [15]
Europe earMusic [17]
Australia
 [18]
Canada [19]
Hong Kong [20]
Indonesia [21]
Latin America and the Caribbean [22]
Mexico [23]
Philippines [24]
South Africa [25]
South Korea [26]
United States [27]
Vietnam [28]

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References

  1. ↑ Z2 Comics (2018-10-04). "Apocrypha The Legend of BABYMETAL Trailer". YouTube . Retrieved 2018-10-18. Featuring part of a brand new song order the book below
  2. ↑ "Starlight - BABYMETAL | Shazam". Shazam. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  3. ↑ "Starlight". YouTube . 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  4. ↑ "BABYMETAL | TOY'S FACTORY" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  5. ↑ Chapstick, Kelsey (October 19, 2018). "Babymetal announce Yuimetal's departure, debut cosmic new "Starlight" video". Revolver . Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Important Announcement from BABYMETAL". Babymetal. October 19, 2018. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  7. ↑ "BABYMETAL Talk 'Metal Galaxy', 'PA PA YA!!', Metallica & Glastonbury 2019 - Videos". Rock Sound Magazine. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
  8. 1 2 Kennelty, Greg (2018-10-18). "BABYMETAL Streams Pretty Djenty New Song "Starlight"". Metal Injection. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  9. ↑ Munro, Scott (2018-10-19). "New Babymetal single Starlight is everything you hoped it would be… and more". Metal Hammer Magazine. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  10. 1 2 Pedrosa, Marina (2018-10-19). "Babymetal Announces Yuimetal Departure, Releases 'Starlight' Video: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  11. ↑ "Billboard Japan Hot 100". Billboard. 2018-10-27. Archived from the original on 2018-10-27. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  12. 1 2 "Billboard Japan Hot 100 | Charts | Billboard JAPAN". Billboard JAPAN (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  13. 1 2 "オリコン週間 デジタルシングル（単曲）ランキング 2018年10月15日～2018年10月21日". ORICON NEWS (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  14. 1 2 3 "Chart Search | Billboard". Billboard . Archived from the original on 2018-10-30. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  15. 1 2 "BABYMETALの「Starlight - Single」". iTunes Store (in Japanese). 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  16. ↑ "Billboard Japan Top Download Songs | Charts | Billboard JAPAN". Billboard JAPAN (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  17. ↑ "'Starlight - Single' van BABYMETAL". iTunes (in Dutch). 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  18. ↑ "Starlight - Single by BABYMETAL". iTunes . 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  19. ↑ "Starlight by BABYMETAL". iTunes . 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  20. ↑ "Starlight by BABYMETAL". iTunes (in Chinese). 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  21. ↑ "Starlight - Single by BABYMETAL". iTunes . 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  22. ↑ "Starlight - Single de BABYMETAL". iTunes (in Mexican Spanish). 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  23. ↑ "Starlight - Single de BABYMETAL". iTunes (in Mexican Spanish). 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  24. ↑ "Starlight by BABYMETAL". iTunes . 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  25. ↑ "Starlight - Single by BABYMETAL". iTunes . 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  26. ↑ "BABYMETAL의 Starlight - Single". iTunes (in Korean). 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  27. ↑ "Starlight - Single by BABYMETAL". iTunes Store . 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  28. ↑ "Starlight - Single by BABYMETAL". iTunes . 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
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