, better known by his pseudonym Kobametal, is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

music producer under the talent agency

Amuse, Inc. is a Japanese entertainment company that provides artist management services. The artists include idols, musicians, and so on. Amuse produces TV and radio programs, commercial films, and movies. Other interests are in publication, music software ...

He is best known as the producer of the

kawaii metal Kawaii metal (also known as idol metal, cute metal, J-pop metal or kawaiicore) is a musical genre that blends elements of heavy metal and J-pop that was pioneered in Japan in the early 2010s. The genre combines both Eastern and Western influence ...

group

Babymetal (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese kawaii metal band consisting of Suzuka Nakamoto as "Su-metal" and Moa Kikuchi as "Moametal". The band is produced by Kobametal from the Amuse talent agency. Their vocals are backed by heavy metal instrume ...

Biography

Kobayashi's interest in

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

started around his sixth grade in elementary school after listening to the band Seikima-II. He joined Amuse in 1996 and spent the early years of his career doing media promotion for

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Som ...

bands such as

Siam Shade Siam Shade (stylized as SIAM SHADE) was a five-piece Japanese rock band, formed in Tokyo in 1991. The classic line-up of Hideki on vocals, Natchin on bass, Kazuma and Daita on guitar, and Jun-ji on drums broke onto the visual kei scene alongsid ...

and

Cascade Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science *Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls * Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex) * Cascade (grape), a type of fruit * Bioc ...

. On March 14, 2009, he accompanied , a

patissier A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, bi ...

-themed

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

formed by Amuse in cooperation with the Japanese

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may refer to: * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Cambodia) * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) * Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue) * Depar ...

, in their appearance at the farewell concert of

Karen Girl's was a Japanese three-member girl group formed in 2008 by the Amuse talent agency. The group performed songs for the anime ''Zettai Karen Children'' for the duration of the show. History Karen Girl's was formed from elementary school children as ...

, of which

Suzuka Nakamoto , known by her stage names Suzuka and Su-metal (both stylized in all caps), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and model. She is best known as a member of the kawaii metal band Babymetal. She is represented by the talent agency Amuse, Inc ...

was a member. After watching Nakamoto's performance, Kobayashi planned to launch a new musical unit combining

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

and heavy metal with her as the lead singer. Future Babymetal member

Yui Mizuno is a Japanese musician, singer, model, and actress. She is a former member of the kawaii metal group Babymetal and the idol group Sakura Gakuin. In October 2018, she left Babymetal due to an undisclosed illness. She is managed by the Amuse, Inc. ...

was also present at the concert. In 2010, the idol group

Sakura Gakuin was a Japanese idol girl group formed in 2010 by the Amuse talent agency. The group's membership fell within the age range of Japanese compulsory education, typically containing between 10 and 12 members at a time who fall between the ages of ...

was formed by Amuse with a theme of school life and club activities. One of the sub-units formed within the group was the Heavy Music Club, produced by Kobayashi, and Mini-Pati was also absorbed as the Cooking Club sub-unit. In February 2011, Amuse announced that the members of Heavy Music Club, namely Nakamoto, Mizuno, and

Moa Kikuchi is a Japanese musician, singer, model, and actress. She is represented by the talent agency Amuse, Inc. She is a member of the kawaii metal group Babymetal and a former member of the idol group Sakura Gakuin. Biography Moa Kikuchi was signed ...

, would perform under the name Babymetal. On March 13, 2016, he received an Excellence Award from the Association of Media in Digital (AMD) in Japan for his success in promoting Babymetal internationally. In June 2022, Kobametal was appointed as a director of Kulture, Inc, an Amuse subsidiary which would handle the integration of new technologies such as the

metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

and

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the ...

into the entertainment industry.

References

Heavy metal producers Japanese record producers Amuse Inc. artists {{Music-producer-stub