Starlight (Babymetal song)

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

"Starlight"
A bright star among dimmer stars in a black background; the words "BABYMETAL" and "Starlight" appear above and below, respectively.
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

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, 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.

Track listing

Digital download[15]

  • "Starlight" – 3:37

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
Region Date Format Label Ref.
Japan October 19, 2018 Digital 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]

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. 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. 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. "Billboard Japan Hot 100 | Charts | Billboard JAPAN". Billboard JAPAN (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  13. "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. "Chart Search | Billboard". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2018-10-30. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  15. "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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