Great video and analysis again, thanks. I laughed so hard at "That's enough of that..." you are not alone in how you feel about growling vocals. They're fine with context and in short bursts (the way BABYMETAL use them), but just constant, non-stop and no variation for song after song - not knocking it and some people really like it, but its just not my thing either.
Great online lecture again & I appreciate it 有難うございます💛。 I have only a few things to talk about this song. It's hard to interpret the lyrics. In the newly published book "10 BABYMETAL LEGENDS" authored by Koba, he writes : (1) Distortion was supposed to be premiered (but eventually not performed) in Legend -S-, which includes a story of Dystopia and the brave (勇者) Su who descended to it [page 96 -97] (2) Darkside, which was premeditated story, represents dichotomy or two-facedness of BM. While BM we had looked at was light side, there should have been a dark side BM existed in another world which we did not know. In this parallel world story, there should not be any bias something like either towards "Baby" or "Metal". The two worlds consists of BABYMETAL. "Distortion" depicting Dystopia is the song represents the dark side and made BM step forward to the next stage after casting off its old shell. [page 97-98].
That's great, thank you, and makes me think that my sense of the song is right, though I arrived at my reading somewhat fumblingly :) Appreciate the insight.
@@AndrewHartley Professor : One more info from the book. BABYMETAL fundamentally uses only 3 colors for stage lighting ; Red, Blue and White. That has been their basic policy since the stage at Meguro Roku-Mei-Kan (目黒鹿鳴館) in 2012. They never mix the colors in order to make shows look more dramatic with green, yellow, pink and etc. Lighting in BM shows should not be addition but subtraction. They think it is important to create some area on stage instead of spots after scraping off something. [page 32]
When I read the translation of this song for the first time, the impression I got was that these lyrics were sort of a statement. I can't be sure, of course. However, if it was written in 2018, I have a feeling that it sounds like them saying: our whole life was turned upside down by fate, the world was cruel and mangled our unity, but if our bodies can dance, and our voices can be heard, then even if our bond was broken, those who remain will keep our oaths to renew metal music and will power through. It might be that I'm seeing allegory when it's just applicability (in Tolkienian terms), but I guess authors can't help but to bring their own lifes into their creations from time to time.
It might be worth noting in this connection that this song was going to be debuted at Legend S. This has been mentioned in a couple of recent(ly translated) interviews. Most likely some aspect of Yui’s inability to be there led it to be scrapped. But it also means that nothing in this song was originally any kind of reaction to Yui’s departure.
@@paulwaysonyourside Yes, the lyric doesn't convey anything from within the band or their troubles at the time to me. As is usually the case, I can imagine how those troubles might influence the mindset of the band when they came to perform it, but I suspect we over estimate such things because they are fan priorities. We fasten on the things we know about, assuming that they are massive, shaping forces for the artist, but the artist is experiencing all kinds of other things which are probably more pressing for them but we know nothing about.
@Paulways Onyourside I hadn't have that information before. Thanks for letting me know. I guess it falls into the applicability then, and it helps me see the point Andrew has made on the video about how connected the song is to the Metal Resistance album.
Thankyou Professor, another absolute masterclass. I never know where you are going to go. You find so many themes and meanings in Babymetal songs that I have to watch your videos several times just to follow and understand your thoughts. This is a brilliant series and I sincerely hope Babymetal release new music soon. Not just because I love them, but because I can't wait for more of your insightful dissections.
Wow, thank you! I confess I neatly quit doing these because I didn't think I was really contributing much that people would care about, so I really appreciate the support.
He's back! Thank you for this walk through. As always I found it very insightful and thoughtful. Best 30 minutes of my day. Distortion is probably the Babymetal song I listen to the least, simply because I don't really know what to make of it.
I enjoy your videos in their entirety, but my favourite moments are always the little outbreaks of pure joy, like here at 20:08. BABYMETAL are unique in many ways, but the girls' ability to make us happy by just being themselves and enjoying themselves is almost magic. I'm so grateful to them for this.
Ha. Yes, I sometimes get so sucked in to the analytical part that I mute my enjoyment (occupational hazard) but I'm glad you get glimpses of it in spite of myself :)
It's probably worth keeping in mind the time in which the video was produced for context. The whole Dark Side stuff going on, and also the uncertainty of Yui being able to resume performing. That's the fairly obvious explanation why the girls don't appear in the video, and they went with the whole random people fighting thing. As with a lot of the BM lore, there may be some meaning hidden deeper in there, but it's probably Koba making stuff up on the fly as usual.
Yeah, that's kind of my take. It's fun and fill of rich imagery, but I don't think the lore generally makes a lot of sense in the long run. I have a theory Koba used to write for LOST :)
Hmm I don't remember in which one exactly, but I read not so long ago that Koba hinted in some recent interview that this song could work as an intro to the trilogy, so maybe there is something in-lore about it. I can guess it was tied to that comic and series they intended to do in 2018, so we might be missing a lot of references to understand what is going on. This stuff from 2018-19 is so cryptic. Or maybe Koba is just pretending to look interesting and there is no deeper meaning in here, just some idea he came up with to continue doing things with all the Yui uncertainty.
Yep, I think the lore has more weight for other fans than it does for me. For me it's kaleidoscopic: images and impressions rather than coherent/consistent narrative ideas. That's fine. I like it. I just don't expect it to really help me understand the songs themselves.
excellent content Professor Andrew-Metal, I kinda think of Distortion as the intro to the Trilogy of Lights, and Su has said herself that Distortion is related to Starlight, I think only a distorted world would allow such tragedies to happen to such a positive force as BABYMETAL, for example Mikio and Yui.
⚡ 💕 / ☀ Nicely done, as usual. No harm, no foul in not having definitive answers to ambiguous source material like this song. Still a really interesting exploration. For me, the best thing about the official music video is that it makes a great background when you throw a red filter on it and have it on a big screen when they play this song in concert. : ) One point of clarification. Alissa White-Gluz is the featured guest artist on the 'Metal Galaxy' album track of 'Distortion' (October 2019), but that's not her voice in the official music video (May 2018), or the original single (May 2018). Although with all of the distortion on those vocals, it's pretty hard to tell the difference. "Distorted body screaming. Pain slashing through". And avenger Kano having the time of her life on stage with Su and Moa. : )
Hello. I really admire the way that you... dear professor, can find interesting meanings out from this diverse, wide and deep work that is thought around explaining a timeline around the musical project which has clearly been subject to changes over the changes already projected ... difficult to process and analyze, while it is rewarding insentitive the glad to learn more about this intricate galaxy of information. Thanks for sharing your vision. It was a good time of learning 🦊🤘MTFGBWY 😋.
Mr. Hartley we come here for clarity and understanding, stop raising more questions than giving us answers. Hahaha But seriously thanks for trying to help on this one. I have tried to interpret the video from the first time I saw it and I just put it down to battling with and overcoming internal demons.
I remain disappointed that the characters in the video weren't explained better. The comic book would have been a good place for that to happen. They obviously were the answer to the mysterious pictures that were posted where a small but distinctive piece of their costume was shown. There are seven of them, so back then you may have imagined that they were the Chosen Seven, who were also the figures in the hooded robes. I believe that the Starlight video features the same seven characters, who had been defeated and were in torment on earth. So, the characters took on two different forms, light and dark. Since they teased the Chosen Seven all through the US and European tour in 2018, you had to think these characters would have been involved in some way. At the time, I was sure it was going to be a new seven piece band that would be able to accommodate their expanded touring schedule after all the girls had graduated from school. In 2019, it was the Western Kamis that filled that role. I think my theory ties all the clues together better than what actually ended up happening. With all the turmoil that happened in 2018, I wonder if perhaps Koba had a different vision that was never realized.
Yes, or that they were working on the fly, trying stuff out and trying to see what worked in the new post-Yui reality. But I also think that a lot of the stuff in the lore is really only intended to resonate in the moment, rather than building a coherent story over time. That fragmented quality feels very Japanese to me.
SU having bad dreams again, since Rondo of Nightmare 😳! Distortion clearly was meant to open the Dark side era. As much as I love the song (and I definitely do), I think this is the less effective collaboration in Metal Galaxy, I'm not a fan of growling too, but I'd have loved something more balanced between SU singing and Alyssa's growling. Something closer to Kingslayer for example. That's probably because the song was already written way before having AWG as a guest. The lyrics are the harshest ever in a BM song, I think to mark the beginning of a new era, for many different reasons, the girls entering adulthood, the unfortunate events in 2017/2018 and the new challenges they brought. It can be that the "power" to overcome, was indeed the discomfort they experienced facing the hardest of their choices then: keep going on or withdraw? 🤘🦊⚡
Yeah, that's plausible. I'm a bit skeptical of the idea that the song was specifically self referential when it was composed because it was in the works for a while, before the various difficulties they faced, though I'm sure that it got added relevance when they came to perform it.
Thankyou for another interesting break down. There is a definite theme in many of there songs to keep fighting and going forward. That positivity is my favorite thing about Babymetal. Please continue to fight on with your channel!
Oh forgot to add one of the real pleasures of your videos is that you simply cannot hide your pleasure at watching them perform (a feeling I know only to well. I do that silly smile to lol)
I always thought KILL in the lyrics sheet was a punny romanization of 切り (which is sung in the song), kind of in a similar vain to DEATH / です and "Cry" / 暗い in Kingslayer.
Glad you are back professor. This was my gateway song into the world of Babymetal... so I can't help but to love it. I did think the translations that have been made of the song (even before attempting to learn Japanese) were not hitting the essence of the song. I know understand why that may be the case. (Interestingly, the Japanese/American singer nano has been doing a series on her youtube channel about the differences between Japanese song/lyrical structure (more poetic) and English song/lyrical structure (more personal). Very interesting insight from someone who resides in both worlds). Personally, I always thought this song was about the duality of one person. Or, perhaps, the inner demons one has (or think they have) especially as a teenager/someone moving into adulthood. Lord knows, that is a veritable mindfield for most people. It is why I think Koba wanted to bring in Allisa (or someone like her... Arch Enemy being his favorite band favored Allisa... but it could have been Tatiana from Jinjer or any number of other females that do harsh vocals) in order to have Su sing/react to "her inner demons." (And, thus, the song reminds me most of Rondo of Nightmare) Beyond that, I can see your point about Distortion being the bridge between MR and MG (much like ROR was between the debut and MR)... although I think it would be the heaviest music on MR where it is not the heaviest song on MG (you'll get there in a few songs... and have another video that might add very little to the song to discuss.)
Yes, I could see the growl as an internal voice too, though there are those specific references to the world which make me lean more to the external. But as I said, it's deliberately open enough for multiple interpretations.
Yeah having finished 10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN I moved on to this and actually learnt a lot as I knew little of any of the background you discussed. This song really is an uplifting and fun one with more depth than I suspected (but by now I should know all their songs have hidden depth). Keep them coming Prof. If you make them, I will watch ;)
In a December 4 , 2019 interview on "New Noise" there is a quote from Babymetal publicist Ryan Cunningham. "Distortion is a song about two personalities that exist inside of people , and duality. We needed Alissa as an icon that has a different character from Su-Metal's character. ".
Yeah, I could sort of see that (and of the implicit internal conflict) but the song still frames the darkness as of the world rather than the person. Maybe it's a perspective issue.I will say that, having had publicists, they don't always know the material they are promoting that well :) In the end I trust the content of the song itself more than anything people say about it, but I could see that as a justifiable reading.
You mention the choreo near the end your video. The herky-jerky running in place in the beginning of the song and the relatively graceful choreo that follows it, along with the lyrics reminds me actually of the Queen song Fight from the Inside which is on their News of the World album released in 1977. This song, I believe anyway, refers to punk’s obvious rebellious attitude and says, in effect, you can’t fight the power (that way.) Am I going to vote for/support a candidate I don’t care for in order to help defeat the even worse one he’s running against? Yes. I’ll call this the Queen approach. Candidate A is clearly less offensive than B. I’ll be content enough in knowing that I helped make what would have been a worse situation into a bad one. A lyric line to summarize the song: “You gotta fight from the inside.” No. I’ll call this, since you mentioned them, The Clash approach. Even at the cost of the more terrible one winning I’ll say I’m content enough hoping that maybe next time a less middle of the road candidate will be nominated. There are so many different ways “to fight” and other approaches viewed as being, at best, ineffectual. I guess. Just my impression. The standout memory of this song for me is Su’s (Download Festival) “Show me bigger circle.” Speaking of Su, here’s a question for you: Su said to Mori that her ultimate goal is to be a singer-songwriter. If by some chance the new phase of BABYMETAL includes songs being written by Su what do you think the lyrical content in general would most likely concern itself with? Obviously you have no idea, but it could be fun to wildly speculate about.
Interesting. Yes, I always like that punk sensibility driving a sense of resistance. As for Su, I'd LOVE to hear what she can do as a song writer. If she has some talent in that direction (and I can imagine she does) I'd love to see her name on the BM song credit list.
Songs don't always need to have multiple layers of meaning, and this is a good example of that. It's a simple message, one which has been at the core of Babymetal since the start, and it is matched with some of the simplest music on the album. Having said that, it is an absolute banger that will be part of the Babymetal live set for years to come. It was made to get the crowd pumped and it does it really well. I'm looking forward to Pa Pa Ya next.
One gets the feeling that most Babymetal songs are basically centered around "It's bad, but hang on." As messages go, we've had worse. It takes courage to put one's own confusion on public display. I therefore do appreciate you sharing yours, as it makes mine less embarrassing. As always, professor, thanks a lot.
Thanks for sharing your breakdown on this song. I consider this song just a banger one, a reason to mosh'sh and make those circle pits our queen love to command, that's all i need. \m/
@@AndrewHartley You probably already know this, but according to KobaMetal's book "10 Babymetal Legends", _Distortion_ was set to be premiered at Legend S Baptism XX (SuMetal 20th birthday) the concert Yui couldn't make it, and after the first day he decided to remove that song from day 2, probably because it wouldn't be the same with only the two of them, so this means Yui already knew the choreo for this song and probably she got her voice recording on the chorus. Also it seems that the Darkside theme was already on the table regardless Yui was in or out of the group. I think i read somewhere else about this last two thing i mentioned but couldn't find source, now with the book is pretty much "confirmed" for me. There's more info to come from this book, so i can't wait for translation :)
@@jakemuller8626 I JUST heard this! Yes, I think the book will have lots of back stage insights, though perhaps not quite the whole and unvarnished truth we'd like. I guess there's value in not showing how the sausage is made...
You know, it would be unusual for Babymetal, but I think this song actually just ties *directly* into the Metal Galaxy/Dark Side lore. If you think about Su singing from the perspective of the mortal sacrificing herself to fly off as a goddess and use her voice to put lights into the sky to bring the people together as The One, the lyrics all kind of snap into place around that. Apparently the original plan was to debut this song at Legend S, but they decided to hold it back when Yuimetal had to miss that performance. If you think about how that would have fit into the progression towards the "Dark Side" era, this would make a lot of sense. On top of that, the music video is a lore music video that seems to depict related events, since the figures in the video are supposed to be "Chosen 7" or at least that's the impression I was under. I *really* think that the studio recording (and therefore the backing track for live shows) has Yuimetal's voice in the harmonies, given that it would have to have been recorded before that planned initial live show.
Commented a bit prematurely. To add a bit more detail to my thinking: if you look at this as the song that starts the Metal Galaxy era, there's an interpretation for the song and the music video that fits with the bits of lore we know about that. The music video depicts the Chosen 7 engaged in some kind of vague good vs evil struggle in the Metal Galaxy, and at the end of the song Su's voice has opened the portal to the Metal Galaxy, which is what we see at the end of the video.
I can agree with that, yes. I just don't think the lore is as thoroughly consistent or detailed as we might like, and that the song itself doesn't demand it or reference it directly, though I'd agree that it CAN be seen in those terms. For me, the whole chosen 7 thing always felt like justification of a solution that the post-Yui situation forced, which is fine, of course. I always prefer to read the songs as self-contained in terms of meaning (plus larger language/cultural context) rather than demanding inside fan knowledge/investment, but I get that other people feel differently. I feel this way about all art. But yes, I take your point.
Excellent perspective that you present. I myself was somewhat confused regarding the “meaning” of this piece. I have essentially begun to just enjoy BM’s music for the music itself and made a conscious attempt to not try and understand what it is they are singing about, but I can’t help myself and always start to ponder the intention or subject each song is trying to relate to anyway. I know, I am weak… 🤓
In my knowledge, Alissa wasn't doing the vocals on the original version (the single/12" vinyl) of the song....not that it matters to your thesis of the song.
Yeah, I just don't see it. Similar yes, and the portal symbol at the end for sure, but do you see the same characters and a specific narrative which clarifies the song fun the comic book? I don't.
That's what I was expecting when the graphic novel was announced, but the "Seven Metal Spirits" in the video or the concert lore have very little connection to the three incarnations of Metal Spirits in the graphic novel. Or even to each other. I love the artwork though. And the digital storyline in chapter five was pretty cool.
@@rickwagner- it does show why it's the darkest babymetal song and the fight between the dark and the light that's in the song.and the chosen ones in the other eras in the story were they supposed to be the dancers that joined moa and su on stage and thst was the chosen 7?
@@phillipgregory9671 I believe the "chosen ones" in the other eras were analagous to Su, Yui and Moa. If I'm remembering correctly, they even had the same S, Y & M initials in at least one incarnation.
