Storming in with a rallying cry of ‘Let’s go!’, from me to u starts proceedings with a bang. It was released as a single in April, the first ever team-up between Japanese kawaii metal juggernaut Babymetal and chameleonic singer-songwriter Poppy, and a taster of Babymetal's upcoming new, collaboration-stacked album, Metal Forth. The entertaining as hell video showed Poppy turning into a kaiju-like monster.
“This song was created with the image of a futuristic city in mind!” Babymetal's Moametal told Metal Hammer. “It depicts a utopia where Babymetal exists and a dystopia where Poppy exists – facing each other while somehow co-existing.”
The song's lyric ‘Kimi ni todoke’ is actually the name of a well-known manga and anime series, with Harvard University music lecturer Liam Hynes-Tawa revealing to us that the official English translation of the manga’s title is, indeed, ‘From Me To You’.
That doesn't quite explain what the song is all about, though, so we asked Poppy herself what was going on.
Who wrote the lyrics to from me to u, and what’s the song about?
Poppy: “I wrote the lyrics, Babymetal wrote the bridge. I had written ‘kimi ni todoke’ in a journal I had a couple years ago; I liked the way it felt to sing. I thought, if I ever spoke Japanese in a song again [Poppy used Japanese on 2017’s Moshi Moshi, 2019’s Voicemail and I Disagree, and 2021’s Eat], I’d like to use it. Then when this collaboration came about and Jordan [Fish, producer and formerly of Bring Me The Horizon] and I got into the studio, I was trying it out and it felt fitting. To me, the song is quite literally about passing the power from me to you – from me to Babymetal and back again.”
Did working with Babymetal allow you to express a different part of yourself, compared with your own songs?
“I listened to a lot of Babymetal’s songs while we were writing it and
I knew we wanted to make something fast-paced and exciting. From there, we got this!”
You transform into a monster in the video! What’s that all about?
“To me, it reflects how I feel inside sometimes.”
Babymetal started in 2010, and you started in 2011. You’re also female artists who have broken into metal. Do you feel a kinship with them at all?
“Babymetal inspired me a lot while I was working on some of my older projects and I think they’re great, and very talented. I’m happy with what we made together!”
You’ve studied Japanese, right? What really interests you about Japanese culture?
“Yes, I studied for four years in a classroom setting. I was initially fascinated by the fashion, and subcultures. After visiting a few times, the musicians I met from Japan were really proficient and inspiring. One of the first times I went to Japan, I performed on a revolving cake at a cafe. It was a wonderful experience at the time.”
Read more about Babymetal's new album Metal Forth in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, out now
