On July 7th, the J-Pop band LADYBABY released their debut music video, “Nippon Manju” a treasure trove of happiness and Japanese pride. On October 11th, they played their first concert in the US. Mingling death metal growls with the peppy, eclectic beeps that frame typical J-Pop, it was already a bit of a standout among the pastel idolatry that the J-Pop scene is. However, that wasn’t the real talking point; bands like Babymetal have done this before to great success.
LADYBABY’s lineup consists of two teenage girls, Rei Kuromiya and Rie Kaneko, 14 and 17 years old respectively. Their third member is a gigantic bearded Australian man who goes by Ladybeard, an ex-professional wrestler and metal vocalist. Asked his age, Ladybeard insists he’s a five-year-old girl, and dresses as such, wearing twin pigtails and polka dot dresses. Their tagline is “change the rules, smash the boundaries”, and thus far, despite having a two-song discography, I’d say they’re doing a damn good job turning heads. I’ve showed them to a few friends. The common responses are “WHAT YES” and “THIS IS RIDICULOUS” and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s ridiculous. It’s very WHAT YES. However, I’ve also heard from one specific Facebook friend that LADYBABY is entirely a gimmick. In the age of “social justice assholes”, according to their messages, “are willing to do anything to make a quick buck, and this f*** and his two little girlfriends” are no exception to the rule. I can understand the sentiment, but where that person's suspicion and anger comes from is unclear. And for the record, I’m no longer Facebook friends with this person.
Genderfluidity is not a gimmick. It’s an identity that society doesn’t acknowledge well, and representation is so, so important. I can still remember a time where a man in a dress was considered comical across the board. I hiked up a mountain in a dress once just for kicks, because I thought it would be interesting, and wince every time I tell the story and remember a younger self thinking “this will be funny.” I am a cisgendered man. I don’t pretend to “get it.” I don’t understand the struggle. I can’t empathize entirely but I can try, and I desperately avoid appearing like I’m seeking affirmation or consolation for any sort of reformed insensitivity. I read a Gabe Moses poem very recently. In it, he says: “Realize that bodies are only a fraction of who we are/They’re just oddly-shaped vessels for hearts/And honestly, they can barely contain us/We strain at their seams with every breath we take”. I think clothes are the same, in a much more artificial way. They are a representation of the person wearing them, they are something we care about very much, but they are removable and alterable. I would compare them to gender in a kind of way: you can remove them, interchange them, mingle different looks and fabrics and appear however you’d want to, but they shouldn’t be restrictive, they shouldn’t be labeled unless the wearer desires that, and they should be honest representations of whomever is under the fabrics.
In their interview with VICE, Ladybeard was asked, “How do you bring out your inner five-year-old girl?” to which he responded, “It’s there all the time." This shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a genuine, valid expression of the self. I don’t think LADYBABY has any intention of holding back on their ultimate goal of “complete and total world domination," and I, for one, welcome our fearless new overlords.
Listen to their debut song, Nippon Manju, here.
