Miku Kobato is one driven and talented musician who had a dream and went all out to see it fulfilled. During her time working in a Japanese maid cafe, she began to envision forming a band that juxtaposed the maid image with rock music. She later put together a 5-women band where she features as a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. She has been the driving force behind the success of the Band-Maid today.
Biography Of Miku Kobato
The stunning Miku was born Mika Noguchi on the 21st of October 1991 in Kumamoto, Japan. Details about her family and life growing up have been on a need to know basis and Miku hasn’t been very forthcoming with information in that regard. But we do know that she loved Japanese enka music as a child and Tokyo Jihen led her to rock. She attended a vocal school in 2012.
From what is available on the internet, she has been very hardworking and enterprising from a young age. She worked 3 jobs and got just four hours of sleeping time per day in a bid to save money, go to Tokyo to pursue her dream.
Every Important Thing To Know About Miku Kobato
1. Miku thought it would be cool to combine cute uniforms with cool music and went about recruiting members of the band
She had dreamt all her life about being a successful musician and performing on the big stage. The idea of wearing maid outfits didn’t come until she began to work in a Japanese maid cafe. The concept is about creating contrast. How they look and sound are world’s apart as one is submissive and cute and the other powerful, wild and dominant. This theme is further reinforced by referring to their male fans as “masters” and female fans as “princesses” and their concerts as servings.
2. Their outfit defies all rock ‘n’ roll preconceived costume idea
According to Miku, their aim is to continue to stand out as they dominate the world. So their outfits will now become a part of rock n roll.
3. Miku continues to ‘bend over backwards’ and do all it takes to make their band a success.
Over time as the band became more successful, Miku has had to endure several criticisms as she has been described as the least talented and the weakest link in the band. But how far are these people from the truth? Besides being the one with the idea, she understands what needs to be done to move things along.
Realizing that her voice isn’t strong enough for rock, she got a better singer and took a step back in terms of performance. When the band needed a second guitarist, she learnt to play the guitar even though it wasn’t something she enjoyed. She has been the face and voice for the band and calls herself a one-woman publicity pigeon. She is the driving force behind Band-Maid.
4. Miku Kobato recruited the first band member and they, in turn, suggested others
The band was formed in July 2013. Miku recruited Kanami Tono (lead guitarist) after an Internet search. Tono suggested Akane Hirose (her occasional backing drummer). Akane then suggested bassist Misa with whom she attended music school. After their first live performance in July 2013, they decided to recruit an additional lead singer and they selected Saiki Atsumi during auditions.
One of the reasons they continue to remain successful is there willingness to really work together as a band and let individuals shine in their areas of strength. None of them play the instrument to show off or over sing rather their attitude says ‘listen to this’ rather than ‘look at me’.
See Also: Daisuke Hasegawa: Things You Don’t Know About The Japanese Musician
5. Awards and Recognitions
The band have released six studio albums so far with several chart-topping singles. As a band, they won the 2016 Japan Next Generation Award and also the 2020 ‘Best Musical Act Award.
6. Some of her favourite things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvgJkh4Eew
Miku isn’t the type to overshare about herself. There is a mystery to her personality that adds to her appeal. From what has been garnered about her, she loves horses and horse racing, she enjoys eating dried salmon, strawberries, Green tea and Soy Milk.
7. Social Media presence
Miku is quite active on social media especially Instagram and Twitter. She has over 57k followers on Instagram and 39.7k followers on Twitter where she constantly shares and engages with her fans.
