Babymetal (Japanese: ベビーメタル, Hepburn: Bebīmetaru), stylized in all caps, is a Japanese kawaii metal band formed in Tokyo in 2010. It consists of Suzuka Nakamoto as "Su-metal" (lead vocals, dancing), Moa Kikuchi as "Moametal" (backing vocals, dancing), and Momoko Okazaki as "Momometal" (backing vocals, dancing). The band is produced by Kobametal from the talent agency Amuse Inc. Their vocals are backed by instrumentation performed by a group of session musicians known as the "Kami Band".

Babymetal was created with the concept of fusing the heavy metal and Japanese idol genres. Initially a sub-unit of the Japanese idol group Sakura Gakuin, which features school-aged members who leave upon graduation, the band became an independent act in 2013 following Nakamoto's graduation from Sakura Gakuin. The band originally consisted of Su-metal, Moametal, and Yui Mizuno as "Yuimetal". In 2018, after Mizuno had been absent from live performances for almost a year, Babymetal announced she had left the band due to health issues. During her absence, the band performed with one or more backup dancers; Okazaki, a former member of Sakura Gakuin who had served as one of those backup dancers, officially joined as the third member in 2023.

Babymetal have embarked on several tours, of which a majority have taken place in Europe and the Americas, and have released five studio albums: Babymetal (2014), Metal Resistance (2016), Metal Galaxy (2019), The Other One (2023), and Metal Forth (2025), though they consider The Other One to be a separate concept album and not their fourth studio album. Metal Forth was released in August 2025, and was the first album to feature Okazaki; it signaled a new approach for the band, with seven of its ten tracks being collaborations with artists from various countries, such as Electric Callboy and Tom Morello.

In 2009, the band's producer and heavy metal enthusiast Kobametal started planning the launch of an idol and heavy metal fusion group. Impressed by the performance of Suzuka Nakamoto (who was then around 11 or 12 years old) with her previous group Karen Girl's, he believed she would be suitable as the lead vocalist for the new group. The band was formed in 2010 in Tokyo, serving as the heavy music club (重音部, Jūonbu) (sub-unit) of the female idol group Sakura Gakuin, which was also formed that year. The band's name is a combination of "baby" (ベビー, bebī) and "heavy metal" (ヘビーメタル, hebī metaru), and the Japanese pronunciation rhymes with "heavy metal". "Baby" here refers to "the birth of a new genre of music". According to Kobametal, Yui Mizuno and Moa Kikuchi were added to the band to complement Nakamoto's "unique stage presence" with their smaller statures, dancing around her "like angels". None of the three members were familiar with metal music before the inception of the band. Mikiko was put in charge of creating the choreography that the three would perform.

Babymetal's first live appearance was on November 28, 2010, at Sakura Gakuin's first solo concert, Sakura Gakuin Festival ☆ 2010. In July 2011, Babymetal premiered the song "Ijime, Dame, Zettai" ("No More Bullying") at a Sakura Gakuin concert, but the song was not released commercially until 2013. The band's first single, "Doki Doki Morning", originally appeared on Sakura Gakuin's debut album Sakura Gakuin 2010 Nendo: Message, released on April 27, 2011. A music video for the song was uploaded to Toy's Factory's YouTube channel on October 12, 2011, and was released as a DVD single in late 2011, under the independent Toy's Factory sublabel Juonbu Records. The music video totaled over 1 million views by the end of 2012.

Babymetal's first CD single was a collaboration with the band Kiba of Akiba, titled "Babymetal / Kiba of Akiba". Released in March 2012 by Juonbu Records, the single ranked at number three on the Oricon weekly indie chart and number one in the Tower Records Shibuya weekly indie ranking. In the summer of 2012, the band released a music video for their next single, "Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!", directed by Hidenobu Tanabe. In August 2012, Babymetal performed at Japan's Summer Sonic Festival, becoming the youngest act ever to perform at the festival. The same year, Babymetal performed outside of Japan for the first time at the 2012 Anime Festival Asia in Singapore.

On January 9, 2013, the band debuted on a major record label with "Ijime, Dame, Zettai". Released under the main Toy's Factory label and Juonbu Records, it sold 19,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number six in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. In the spring of 2013, Nakamoto graduated from junior high school and therefore had to "graduate" from Sakura Gakuin (a group of elementary and junior high school girls). However, their management decided that Babymetal would not dissolve and would continue its activities as a band. The group released its next single, "Megitsune", on June 19, 2013, under Toy's Factory and the band's new sublabel BMD Fox Records. The single also included the song "Onedari Daisakusen" (おねだり大作戦, "Begging Operation") performed by Yuimetal and Moametal under the stage name of Black Babymetal.

On August 10 and 11, 2013, Babymetal again took part in the Summer Sonic Festival, performing in Tokyo and Osaka. Later, in October, Babymetal also became the youngest artists ever to perform at the heavy metal music festival Loud Park. In November, Babymetal released a promo video for the Japanese premiere of Metallica's movie Through the Never, and released its first live music video Live: Legend I, D, Z Apocalypse, which debuted at seventh place in the weekly Oricon Blu-ray Disc charts, and at second place among music Blu-rays. In December, Babymetal performed at Anime Festival Asia Indonesia 2013 and performed for a second time in Singapore.