In the run-up to Fuji Rock Festival, the event's digital team will post video messages on YouTube from performers that are slated to play at the three-day gathering in the mountains of Niigata Prefecture. They tend to get, on average, around 1,000 views. This fact has held true for this year's batch of clips, which find domestic staples such as Denki Groove (1,923 views) and non-Japanese headliners such as Sigur Ros (548 views) wishing the festival all the best on its 20th anniversary.
One brief message, however, has racked up just over 27,100 views since going up two months ago. Babymetal's video for Fuji Rock — which finds the three teenage members of the group talking about how much it rains at the event and the quality of food — easily eclipsed any other artist video, and acquired more clicks than the much-anticipated first lineup announcement video from this spring (21,730 views).
It's fitting for a trio that has spent 2016 establishing itself as the most globally successful J-pop group of the past decade. Babymetal took a pop-meets-metal formula built for ephemeral "Weird Japan" novelty and parlayed it into appearances on American late-night TV and sold-out shows at venues such as London's Wembley Arena.