Alright, Let’s Talk About This Song That Screams “I Don’t Want Your Baby” for Two Minutes
You ever hear a song that’s so fast, so loud, so unapologetically pissed off that it practically punches you in the face before you even know what hit you? That’s Otoboke Beaver. And their song “I Am Not Maternal” is a fucking masterpiece of controlled chaos.
Let me set the scene. Four women from Kyoto, Japan. They’ve been at this since 2009. They’re named after a love hotel in Osaka because of course they are. They play punk rock that sounds like it’s been shot out of a cannon, with tempo changes that’ll give you whiplash and gang vocals that feel like you’re being yelled at by a very angry, very righteous choir.
Now, the song. It’s two minutes and five seconds of pure, unfiltered refusal. And here’s the thing, the title is in English, so you already know what you’re getting into. But the lyrics? They’re mostly in Japanese, and they’re a direct assault on the cultural pressure Japanese women face to start a family, to be maternal, to tick that box that society keeps shoving in their faces.
The lyrics are brutal and brilliant. Let me translate the meat of it for you:
“I don’t believe in my maternal instinct
It’s not none of my business! Child abuse!
I love dogs, I love dogs, I love dogs
I deliver a puppy, not a baby”
And then there’s this gut punch:
“Having let my parents meet their grandkid
Their grandkid, their grandkid
I immediately put it back in my belly”
That’s not just protest. That’s a goddamn middle finger to centuries of expectation. It’s “I see what you want from me, and I reject it entirely.”
The official music video only amplifies the message. It’s an animation of the band members performing reverse births to a sea of placid, middle-aged onlookers. They’re literally putting the baby back where it came from. It’s absurdist, it’s hilarious, and it’s devastatingly on point.
And here’s the context that makes this even more significant. Frontwoman Accorinrin has talked about how she’d always wanted to write this song but didn’t feel like she had the courage until the band’s 2022 album Super Champon. She had to build up to it. And when you hear the song, you understand why, it’s not just a song, it’s a statement. It’s a “fuck you” to a culture that still expects women to be wives and mothers above all else.
The band’s guitarist Yoyoyoshie put it pretty bluntly when asked about their reputation for feminism. She said they were living these lives and having these thoughts before anyone labeled them anything. There was no big revelation, they just are who they are, and they’re not apologizing for it.
The protest nature of this song isn’t subtle. It’s not a gentle critique. It’s a scream. It’s “my life is mine and I’ll give birth to a fucking dog before I give birth to a baby if that’s what I want.” It’s about autonomy, about rejecting the scripts you’re handed at birth, about saying “no” in a way that cannot be ignored.
And let’s be honest, that’s what punk is supposed to be. It’s not supposed to be polite. It’s not supposed to be “can we have a conversation about this?” It’s supposed to be “here’s my truth, deal with it.”
Otoboke Beaver, in their bright-colored minidresses and their manic, hilarious, rage-filled performances, have taken the riot grrrl spirit and made it their own. They’ve taken the pressure cooker of Japanese gender expectations and turned it into fuel for some of the most exciting punk music being made right now.
“I Am Not Maternal” is a protest against the idea that a woman’s purpose is defined by her reproductive system. It’s a protest against the invasive questioning, the side-eyes, the “when are you going to settle down?” It’s a protest against a society that still can’t quite figure out what to do with women who refuse to be what they’re “supposed” to be.
And that’s why it matters. That’s why I’m sitting here in my studio talking about it. Because in a world where women’s bodies are still policed, still debated, still owned by everyone except the women themselves, a song like this is a necessary grenade.
It’s loud. It’s fast. It’s pissed off. And it’s exactly what we need.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go listen to it again. And maybe adopt another dog.
Side Note: I came across this band as part of KEXP’s session videos on YouTube, and this band is just a delight. I’ve posted the full session below because this is such a great band.
Of Protests & Polemics 