♪ (rock music) ♪
♪ (ragtime music) ♪
- ♪ Nippon Manju! ♪
♪ (kawaii pop music) ♪ - They're so cute.
- There was two girls, but the middle one was not a girl.
- ♪ Welcome to Nippon! ♪
♪ (screaming vocals) ♪ - Oh, that's cute.
♪ (screaming vocals) ♪ - What is this?
♪ (fierce growling) ♪ (Jon chuckles)
- He's got ribbons, and he's got a beard.
♪ (hardcore music) ♪ ♪ (rapping in Japanese) ♪
- This is Japanese, isn't it?
♪ (rapping in Japanese) ♪
♪ (screaming vocals) ♪ (laughing)
- I don't get this.
(laughing)
- I wonder how they found a guy who's willing to do it.
I guess anything for money.
♪ (singing in Japanese) ♪ (chuckles)
♪ (bubbly singing and throaty growls) ♪
- (laughs) He's got some good legs, huh?
♪ (screaming vocals) ♪
♪ (kawaii pop music) ♪
- This is great. This is just freaking awesome.
♪ (guttural screaming) ♪ - What in the world?
- Oh my god. Now it's a horror movie.
- So wrong.
- This is heavy metal stuff, isn't it?
- (in video) ♪ Nippon goo ♪
- Oh my god, it's flashing plaid and polka-dots.
♪ (in video: screaming) ♪
- This is fun.
♪ (wicked guitar solo) ♪
- Very strange.
- The music isn't bad. It's kind of infectious.
(laughing)
♪ (bubbly singing mixed with throaty growls) ♪
- I don't get it. Is it popular in Japan?
♪ (cheerful singing and screaming vocals) ♪
- It's kind of a fushion.
- Hate that.
- (in video) ♪ LED! ♪ - Oh my goodness.
- "Ladybaby."
"Change the rules, smash the boundaries."
Okay, they did do that.
- Very entertaining.
- I don't even get the title 'cause he's not a lady.
- This is the most weird-ass thing I've-- what is this?
(movie reel clicks)
- (Finebros) Have you seen anything like that before?
- No.
- Thank god, no.
- Never. It's weird.
- I don't know. I've seen so many strange things here. (laughs)
- Not really. (laughing) And hope to not again.
- (Finebros) And how would you describe the music genre?
- Um, techno.
- Rock 'n' roll, I dunno.
- Hello Kitty meets Slayer.
- It didn't sound like music at all.
- Like a trendy Japanese song, but yet sorta like heavy metal.
- (Finebros) Would you say you liked it? - No.
- No.
- No, I don't like it.
- I thought it was okay. It was amusing.
- I thought it was kinda weird.
- I kinda liked it, yeah.
- It's catchy. It's musical.
- Yeah, I did. It's entertaining.
- Yeah, it was cute.
That was much more pleasant than metal by itself.
- I find it phenomenally silly, which of course
always is my favorite thing.
To have him continue to growl and dress him up
and work him in and have these perfectly fresh-faced,
little teeny-tiny voices with the growling.
If that's an actual band, awesome.
- (Finebros) So they are for real. - Oh, really?
- (Finebros) And they call themselves Ladybaby.
- (cracking up) Okay.
- (Finebros) And the band is two teenage Japanese pop singers
and then an Australian adult white metal singer.
- What do you think about that combination? - It's different.
- It kinda works for them.
- It works as far as I'm concerned.
- They're very cute, the girls, but I don't really understand
his role in it at all.
- I think it's very unappealing visually.
I see nothing that has longevity to it.
- A little scary, a little offensive, a little, you know--
I hope-- (laughs) you start wondering
what they do after the music is over.
- (Finebros) So the guy in the band calls himself Ladybeard.
- "Ladybeard." Okay.
- Yeah, he's weird.
- He has no appeal whatsoever.
- (Finebros) And we have a few pictures of Ladybeard to show you.
What do you think of him?
- Oh, you-- (laughs).
I think he's nuts.
- I don't approve of it. I don't like it.
- He looks like he's posing for some porn sites.
- He's a great entertainer. Gotta give it to him.
- He might do it because it turns him on?
- I just love him. He's awesome.
- Oh, he's cute!
I like him better as a nurse.
- I love men in drag.
He looks better in every one of those outfits than I would.
- (Finebros) So this is a genre in Japan that started
gaining popularity with another band called Baby Metal.
Why do you think this type of music is working in a place like Japan?
- Because you got a lot of young people who wanna see something different.
- They want it to be something modern like us.
- The Japanese are kind of weird anyway, being like I'm Japanese.
- They're so controlled, so this is just an expression.
They are able to let go and do things like that
and pushing the limits.
- I really don't understand.
I don't think anyone who's into heavy metal or even rock
would bother with someone like this.
- (Finebros) So what do you think about the evolution of music overall,
that even now there's new genres of music forming?
- It's just changing of the times.
- Coming up with something new is creative.
- I really don't like it.
I'm the more old-fashioned romantic.
- I don't like it. I think it's a flash, you know, and out.
- Who knows where music is going to evolve to after this?
- I think things are getting weirder and stranger
and weirder-- and if my poor mother was here, oh my god!
What she would say when she thought Frank Sinatra was kinda daring.
- (Finebros) So another interesting thing about this band is that
they are financed by a costume company.
- Oh, okay!
- No wonder. All the clever outfits.
- Why would a costume company want a guy to wear those things?
- (Finebros) Do you think that will work?
Is that an interesting way to sell costumes?
- Absolutely not.
- No, I think I'd run the other way.
- I think it works very well.
- It's a very interesting idea.
- I suppose some guys would do it as a joke.
- Yeah, could be.
Because if it looks good on him, it could look better on me.
- I think it would help sell costumes in Japan.
I don't think that would do too good here in the United States.
- (Finebros) So finally, do you think an act like this
could work with American music-- pop and metal together?
- No, I don't.
- I really don't see it catching on.
- I think it's culturally too different for me.
I don't think it would be very good in the United States.
- I don't know.
I mean, we got some crazy stuff going on over here too.
- Absolutely. We're a very strange culture ourselves.
- I don't see why not.
I don't see Justin Bieber dressing up in a French maid outfit,
although there is a thought there.
- Will it become as popular as in Japan?
I don't know.
(laughing) Everything seems to work here these days!
- Thanks so much for watching this episode of Elders React.
- And hit the subscribe button 'cause we have new videos every week.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye!
Goodbye and goodbye.
♪ (ragtime music) ♪