Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
BABYMETAL didn’t make enough people deceased with their “KARATE” music video release, so they decided to drop another music video, this time going back to filming their epic live performances for “THE ONE“.
Oh hey, “THE ONE” is a power ballad I actually enjoy, mainly because the heavy metal instrumental pulled off by the Kami Band isn’t boring and terrible. For a brief moment, I feared that the piano would take over throughout the verses, but nah, the Kami Band came back in at just the right time and helped it build to the hook. The way they let the vocals (and the English) shine solo for that brief moment was executed well, as it all still seemed to be in the flow of the track.
Still, even with the band’s assistance, the song was always going to be dependent on how SU-METAL pulled off the vocal performance, and it’s safe to say she absolutely killed it. While I’ve been a fan of BABYMETAL, and thus knew SU-METAL had vocal chops, the degree to which she’s seemingly taken it to the next level in “KARATE” and “THE ONE” has been undeniably impressive. It’s not only the strength, control, and versatility she’s shown, but it’s also the fact that she can do it all live over a seven-minute performance. Not sure where they found Nakamoto Suzuka, but she’s definitely a star.
As if that wasn’t enough, the actual music video was superbly shot and edited, with an appropriate mix of wide shots of the crowd, the performers, and the stage itself.
The music video did what it was supposed to do in serving as an effective supplement to the song and magnifying the sense of epicness that “THE ONE” was striving for. As such, it’s difficult to find much fault with this release, and it’s not even the single.
