Going beyond the ordinary speed to that place they imagined in their dreams: The popular trio with the cute scent make their appearance! If you feel elated at the sight of these smiles, that impulse is probably love!
Perfume, formed by three girls who enrolled in Hiroshima Actors School out of their admiration for SPEED, have grown into “orthodox idols” who’ve charmed everyone from artists like Kimura Kaela and Ling tosite Sigure to core music listeners, the fashion-conscious and the Akiba crowd. As they sweep the public with an unstoppable force, what must they be feeling right now…?
“We weren’t all that busy in the first half of last year. It was after ‘Chocolate Disco’ [included on the limited release single Fan Service [sweet]] that our situation changed,” A~chan says. Laughing a little, she adds, “Our CDs started to be sold in fashionable shops, and Kimura Kaela-san declared herself a fan of Perfume. We were booked to do the commercial as a result of that, and then we performed at Summer Sonic. It was one thing after another that would’ve been unthinkable for us before.”
The members quantify how they’ve felt that change in their environment by way of explanations like “the three of us meet more often,” “the number of times we see our makeup artist has increased” and “we wear different outfits every time,” which is all terribly charming. But what we really want to know is what do they think of all this fervor around them?
“People around us often say ‘Perfume has hit it big,’ but we’re like, ‘Do you really think so?’ It doesn’t feel real, and even we don’t understand it. We’ve just kept doing everything the way we always have,” Kashiyuka explains.
“We haven’t changed and neither have our staff, so I think it’s just the surrounding reaction that’s different,” says Nocchi.
One could say that a key figure in Perfume’s popularity is Nakata Yasutaka of capsule, who has handled their music since the single “Sweet Donuts” in 2003.
“When people ask us about our lyrics or our music, we can’t really answer. I think they must really look down on us,” A~chan laughs.
According to Kashiyuka, “Nakata-san is really cutting-edge, but we don’t think we need to catch up with him. The distance between us is just right.”
“That amount of distance is like, ‘Wow, so Nakata-san really does eat sushi and yakiniku and stuff!’” A~chan says with another laugh.
Their new single “Baby cruising Love / Macaroni,” of course, has also been produced by Nakata. “Baby cruising Love” is a dance number that has both a cute pop side and a 4/4 rhythm that lets you savor its nostalgic, sorrowful feeling, while the midtempo “Macaroni” incorporates a soul taste. Both A-sides seem to break new ground for the group.
“After so many people heard ‘Polyrhythm,’ we expected that we’d stay the course with a similar tune,” A~chan says. “Then it ended up being a completely different type of song, so we were surprised.”
Reveals Nocchi, “For four years, it was drilled into us that emotionless voices suit Nakata-san’s sound the best. But these lyrics felt more human than any other song we’ve had before, so I put my emotions into it without thinking.”
When I ask them if there’s any chance that they might be produced by another creator besides Nakata in the near future, they answer in unison: “Not at all.”
“It’s true that we resisted the effects applied to our voices at first. But the more we learned about the music that Nakata-san makes, the less uncomfortable it became for us, and lately, we actually feel nervous when he doesn’t use effects,” Nocchi laughs.
“I’d like to try a lot of different things in the future, like singing with visual-kei makeup, for example,” Kashiyuka suggests, “but I definitely don’t want to lose the techno aspect of us.”
“I think if you took techno away from Perfume, we’d probably just be really normal people. Maybe we’ve turned into believers in the Nakata faith already,” A~chan laughs. “Our songs are made by Nakata-san and our dances are choreographed by our instructor from when we were in Actors. We just sing and dance as we’re told. So no matter how much the response around us may change, we ourselves could never change.”
From this series of comments, it occurred to me that the ones perceiving this situation most rationally might be the girls themselves (or maybe they still haven’t comprehended it!?). When I think about the many assertive opinions they shared on the outfits and poses throughout the photoshoot for this issue, you could even argue that their creative knack for carving out their own individuality in the set of circumstances they’ve been given is above average. In addition to that acceptance and tolerance, they possess a level of skill that allows them to output more than is asked of them. It seems a sure bet that we won’t be able to take our eyes off of Perfume going into 2008.