The Singles Jukebox

Jel revisits the Japanese idol metal group we’ve really come around to since 2016…

[Video]
[8.00]

Jel Bugle: Perhaps it’s just me who will think this is amazing and should have been a massive global hit. Two massive metal acts combining for a joyous blast of fun — it’s loud, it’s relentless, who could really want anything more or less? 
[10]

Dave Moore: There’s more than a dollop of Eurovision to this, the sort of fake metal that might clean up in competition with more predictable pop simulacra but only really works in context. Take it away from comparative greatness, and it begs for the inflation it would get as a reprieve from some soulless Swedish pop or maudlin ballad. 
[6]

Taylor Alatorre: Guiltless Eurovision? Yes please.
[9]

Nortey Dowuona: The trio of Su-Metal, MOMAMetal and MOMOMetal are chirrupy and harsh, but Electric Callboy ably handle the synthpop and metal without fumbling, releasing some perfectly serviceable growls and low tenor singing over the bass. A much more fruitful match than one would anticipate.
[7]

Katherine St. Asaph: Started out as a low [5] when I realized that Babymetal’s gimmick here was not mashing up idol pop with metal as I had recalled, but mashing up metal with the weaker pop of 2010-12: “Party Rock Anthem,” “Dynamite,” “Starships.” Bumped to a low [6] when I realized that “Ratatata” was the kind of gargantuan, kaiju-sized rager that those songs not-so-secretly wanted to sound like. Bumped to a [7] — and not a low one — when I realized how much, during this critical process, I was enjoying actually listening to the thing.
[7]

Scott Mildenhall: This song will appear at least once in every Eurovision hereon, and it will never be as good as Käärijä. The borderline Cobra Starship approach to synthpop almost scuttles this iteration, but it does prevail. Perhaps the reason these things work at all is that they go so much further than Cobra Starship or 3OH!3 ever did. With them, the joke always seemed to be told with studied distance and maximum smugness. By contrast, “Ratatata” is just about daft enough.
[7]

Ian Mathers: This had me going for the first twenty seconds, like “maybe this will be bad?” But as soon as the screaming started, I knew I was in good hands.
[10]