Yui Mizuno

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Yui Mizuno

| image = Yuimetal at 2015 GQ ceremony.jpg

| image_size =

| landscape =

| alt =

| caption = Mizuno in 2015

| native_name = 水野由結

| native_name_lang = ja

| birth_name = Yui Mizuno

| alias = Yuimetal (in Babymetal)

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1999|6|20}}

| origin = Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

| genre =

{{flatlist|

}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Musician|singer|dancer}}

| instrument =

| years_active = 2010–2018

| label = Amuse Inc.

| associated_acts = {{flatlist|

}}

| past_member_of = Babymetal

| Website =

}}

{{nihongo|Yui Mizuno|水野由結|Mizuno Yui|born June 20, 1999}}, formerly known by her stage name Yuimetal, is a Japanese musician, singer, and dancer. She is a former member of the kawaii metal group Babymetal and the idol group Sakura Gakuin. In October 2018, she left Babymetal due to an undisclosed illness. She is managed by the Amuse Inc. talent agency.

Biography

On August 2, 2010, at the age of 11, Mizuno joined Sakura Gakuin, an idol group managed by the talent agency Amuse Inc. She joined at the same time as another future Babymetal member, Moa Kikuchi. Sakura Gakuin had not yet released its debut single.{{cite web |title=水野由結 - アミューズオフィシャルウェブサイト |url=http://artist.amuse.co.jp/artist/mizuno_yui/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325022404/http://artist.amuse.co.jp/artist/mizuno_yui/ |archive-date=2014-03-25 |access-date=2014-03-15 |publisher=Amuse}}{{cite web |title=菊地最愛 - アミューズオフィシャルウェブサイト |url=http://artist.amuse.co.jp/artist/kikuchi_moa/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317020310/http://artist.amuse.co.jp/artist/kikuchi_moa/ |archive-date=2014-03-17 |access-date=2014-03-15 |publisher=Amuse}} During their audition, Mizuno and Kikuchi performed a duo dance cover of "Over The Future" by Karen Girl's, two former members of which, Ayami Mutō and Suzuka Nakamoto, had also recently joined Sakura Gakuin.{{Citation|last=Mila Puspita|title=Sakura Gakuin Yui&Moa Sakura Gakuin Entrance exam Over The Future]|date=2013-09-25|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dLoimjaeOs|access-date=2017-12-26}}

Besides performing as a whole group, Sakura Gakuin members were also divided into smaller subgroups known as "clubs". Each club had its own musical group that recorded its own songs. Mizuno and Kikuchi first became members of the "Baton Club" and its musical group Twinklestars. As backing singers and dancers, they were later teamed with lead singer Suzuka Nakamoto in a "Heavy Music Club",{{cite news|title=Did Babymetal invent 'cute metal' and what is it?|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/28217125|newspaper=BBC|last=Hudson|first=Alex|access-date=2014-12-06|location=UK|date=10 July 2014}} with the associated music group being named Babymetal. Before the formation of this club, none of the three members knew what heavy metal was.{{Cite web |last=McQuistan |first=Colin |date=2014-07-14 |title=An Interview With Babymetal - Bow Down to Your Kitsune |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/colin-mcquistan/babymetal-interview_b_5578189.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211213522/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/colin-mcquistan/babymetal-interview_b_5578189.html |archive-date=2023-12-11 |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=Huffington Post UK |language=en}}

In 2012, Babymetal became an independent recording group.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-cast.com/2011/12/16116731.html |title=12～13歳女の子の「ヘビメタアイドル」「さくら学院 BABYMETAL」に世界が大注目 |trans-title=12 to 13 Year Old Girls World's Hottest "Heavy Metal Idols" – Sakura Gakuin's BABYMETAL |language=ja |website=J-CAST |date=2011-12-16 |access-date=2013-04-18}} Mizuno "graduated" from Sakura Gakuin in 2015,{{cite web|url=http://natalie.mu/music/news/146332|date=2015-05-07|publisher=Natasha, Inc.|location=Japan|language=ja|script-title=ja:さくら学院が転入生6名迎え12名体制に、生徒会長は磯野莉音|trans-title=Sakura Gakuin welcomes 6 new members, bringing total to 12. Rinon Isono becomes Student Council President|work=Natalie|access-date=2015-05-07}} and from then on performed with Babymetal exclusively. Mizuno and Kikuchi have a writing credit under the name "Black Babymetal" on the first Babymetal album in 2014, having written "Song 4" together during a bus trip.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGWnW95cZFw|title=K-bleJungle intervista BABYMETAL (KJ on the Road)|work=Associazione Ochacaffè|date=2015-06-15|access-date=2015-06-22}} The second Babymetal album, Metal Resistance, was released in 2016.{{Cite web |last=Childers |first=Chad |date=2016-04-01 |title=BabyMetal, 'Metal Resistance' - April 2016 Release of the Month |url=https://loudwire.com/babymetal-metal-resistance-april-2016-release-of-the-month/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227031546/https://loudwire.com/babymetal-metal-resistance-april-2016-release-of-the-month/ |archive-date=2024-02-27 |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}

Following a leave from the show Legend "S" Baptism XX, Mizuno was absent from Babymetal's tour of the United States in May 2018, with no advance warning. Amid fan speculation on Mizuno's status with the group, a representative of 5B Management, the American management company representing Babymetal, replied to an inquiry from Alternative Press Magazine: "Yuimetal remains a member of the band, but she is not on this current U.S. tour."{{cite web |last1=Pettigrew |first1=Jason |date=10 May 2018 |title=Yuimetal is still in BABYMETAL |url=https://www.altpress.com/news/entry/yuimetal_still_in_babymetal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511002438/https://www.altpress.com/news/entry/yuimetal_still_in_babymetal |archive-date=11 May 2018 |access-date=11 May 2018 |website=Alternative Press}} However, she was also absent from Babymetal's European tour in June 2018. On October 19, 2018, Babymetal officially announced that Yuimetal would not be joining the band for the next phase of their tour and would no longer be a member of the group due to poor health.{{Cite web |date=October 19, 2018 |title=Important Announcement from BABYMETAL |url=http://www.babymetal.com/en/news/?id=28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020053429/http://www.babymetal.com/en/news/?id=28 |archive-date=October 20, 2018 |access-date=October 19, 2018 |publisher=Babymetal}} Mizuno released a statement{{Cite web |url=http://artist.amuse.co.jp/artist/20181019/index.html |title=ファンの皆様へ |date=October 19, 2018 |publisher=Amuse Inc. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029201105/http://artist.amuse.co.jp/artist/20181019/index.html |archive-date=October 29, 2018 |url-status=dead |access-date=August 21, 2020}} shortly after about her decision to leave Babymetal, explaining that she may go on to pursue a solo career in the future.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/babymetal-parts-ways-with-yuimetal-releases-new-single-starlight/|title = BABYMETAL Parts Ways with YUIMETAL, Releases New Single 'Starlight'|date = 19 October 2018}}

Personal life

In third grade, Mizuno was a fan of Karen Girl's, Suzuka Nakamoto's previous group, and had dreamed of joining the group after their music helped her endure the "life-threatening" illness of a family member. The group disbanded, however, and she attended the group's farewell concert and met all three members. During the Legend "D" concert in 2012, Babymetal performed a cover of the Karen Girl's song "Over the Future". Mizuno says that moment was when her "dreams came true".

{{cite web|url=http://ameblo.jp/sakuragakuin/entry-11881291041.html|title=15歳|trans-title=15 Years Old|language=ja|trans-work=Sakura Gakuin Official Blog|work=Sakura Gakuin Ofisharu Burogu|script-work=ja:さくら学院オフィシャルブログ|access-date=2014-06-20}}
{{cite web |url=http://babymetal.net/new-yui-blog-yuimetal-talk-love-karen-girls/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625130612/http://babymetal.net/new-yui-blog-yuimetal-talk-love-karen-girls/ |archive-date=2014-06-25 |title=New Yui blog: YuiMetal talk about her love for Karen Girl's |website=Babymetal}}
{{Cite news|url=https://babymetalnewswire.jimdo.com/2014/08/01/moa-kikuchi-yui-mizuno-self-biographies-before-sakura-gakuin-on-gekkan-entame/|title=Moa Kikuchi & Yui Mizuno Self Biographies before Sakura Gakuin|work=Gekkan Entame|access-date=2018-05-09|year=2014|volume=8}}

She and her family are also close friends with Karen Girl's member Ayami Mutō and her family; Mizuno and Muto were both members of Sakura Gakuin.{{cite web|title=由結的さくら学院|trans-title=Sakura Girls, as Yui sees them|url=https://ameblo.jp/sakuragakuin/entry-10647543601.html|trans-work=Sakura Gakuin Official Blog|work=Sakura Gakuin Ofisharu Burogu|script-work=ja:さくら学院オフィシャルブログ|access-date=15 October 2019|language=ja |date=2010-09-13}}

Mizuno has two brothers,{{cite web|url=https://ameblo.jp/sakuragakuin/entry-11386954978.html|title=祝★５０|trans-title=Celebration ★ 50|date=2012-10-23|trans-work=Sakura Gakuin Official Blog|work=Sakura Gakuin Ofisharu Burogu|script-work=ja:さくら学院オフィシャルブログ|access-date=2018-06-07|language=ja}} one older and one two years younger than her.

{{Cite web |title=さくら学院水野由結への100の質問【完全版】 {{!}} エンタメNEXT - アイドル情報総合ニュースサイト |trans-title=100 questions to Sakura Gakuin's Mizuno Yui |url=http://www.entamenext.com/news/detail/id=717 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509151541/https://entamenext.com/news/detail/id=717 |archive-date=2018-05-09 |access-date=2018-05-09 |website=エンタメNEXT - アイドル情報総合ニュースサイト |language=ja}}
{{cite web |title=100 questions to Sakura Gakuin's Mizuno Yui |url=http://babymetal.net/100-questions-sakura-gakuins-mizuno-yui/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925230629/http://babymetal.net/100-questions-sakura-gakuins-mizuno-yui/ |archive-date=2018-09-25 |website=Babymetal}}