The remaining members of BABYMETAL have spoken about the departure of their bandmate Yuimetal, who left the group to go solo as Mizuno Yu.
Speaking to Metal Hammer, the band’s Su-metal said: “We’ve been together for a long time — Yuimetal is like a family member to this group,” she said.
“Although she has left, we’ll continue to support her and hope that she can pursue what she’d like to do in the future.”
The band’s manager, known as Kobametal, was also on hand for the interview, and said he was initially concerned about how Yuimetal and third member Moametal would react to losing their bandmate.
“Obviously I was worried about them, but at the same time I respect each member – and both of them have become adults, and each of them are continuing Babymetal because they want to. I definitely appreciate that. There’s a sort of trust between this group and I trust that they want to do it.”
Yuimetal’s departure was officially announced in October 2018, with a statement that said: “We thank her for all of her contributions and wish her all the best in her future endeavors”.
At this year’s Glastonbury, NME caught up with Su-metal and Moametal, where they said that Yuimetal’s departure made their bond “even stronger”.
The band will release their new album ‘Metal Galaxy’ next month. They’ll be supported on their upcoming Japanese tour by none other than Bring Me The Horizon.