Metal idol groups were not something that historically existed until Babymetal producer Key Kobayashi, aka Kobametal, sensed an opening. "In the past, the metal scene has a lot of different bands, and it was rich with all sorts of different types of metal," he says (like the girls, he was interviewed by email). "But I noticed that lately there are a lot of bands that are very alike musically, that it feels almost like the scene is in a rut. The name Babymetal means the birth of a new type of metal which is a fusion of metal sounds with J-pop sounds which are unique to Japan. Babymetal is doing something that other metal bands are not, and is striving to be the only one."