Perfume (Japanese band)
Perfume (パフューム, Pafyūmu) is a Japanese pop techno girl group from Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, consisting of Ayano Omoto ("Nocchi"), Yuka Kashino ("KASHIYUKA") and Ayaka Nishiwaki ("a-chan"). The group has been signed with Amuse, Inc. since 2003 and with Universal Music Group since 2012.
Perfume
The group was formed in early 2000 inside the Young Talent Academy Actor's School Hiroshima and debuted with their first Hiroshima-local single "Omajinai Perori" released on March 21, 2002. A year later they moved to Tokyo, started to work with Capsule's producer Yasutaka Nakata, and released their first nationwide indie single, "Sweet Donuts" on August 6, 2003. In 2005, they made a major contract deal with Tokuma Japan Communications and released their major debut single "Linear Motor Girl" on September 21.
It was not until 2008, when the group's seventh single "Polyrhythm" was chosen as the theme song of a recycling campaign by NHK, that they started to receive major attention in Japan. The single peaked at number seven on the Oricon charts, becoming their first Top 10 single in Japan, and since then, all of their subsequent works starting with their eighth single "Baby Cruising Love" have debuted within the Top 5 of the charts.
Perfume's first original studio album Game, released on April 16, 2008, became their first number one album in Japan, and "Love the World", released on July 9, 2008, became their first number one single. With roughly combined sales of both singles and albums, the group has sold over 5 million records.
The group was formed with an original post-Shibuya-kei sound and later transitioned toward contemporary electronic dance music that incorporated elements of synthpop, bubblegum pop, dance-pop, techno, and house music. The group is also known for their heavily processed vocals, making clever use of autotune, Harmony Engine, and vocoders. Over the years, Perfume has been one of the most successful acts in Asian music. The group's musical structure has been identified as technopop.
In 2012 the group announced that they had signed a global contract with Universal Music Group,[2] and that they expected to expand their horizons and "go global". Their sixteenth major label single "Spending All My Time", released on August 15, 2012, was seen as a dedication to fans overseas.[3][nb 1] Their fourth studio album Level 3 was released on October 2, 2013, and was soon followed by "Sweet Refrain" a month after, serving as the lead single for their fifth studio album Cosmic Explorer, which was released on April 6, 2016, and selected as one of "20 Best Pop Albums of 2016" by Rolling Stone.[4] Their sixth studio album Future Pop was released on August 15, 2018.
History[edit]
2000–2003: Formation, early career development and local recognition in Hiroshima[edit]
In 2000, Nishiwaki, Kashino, and Kawashima voluntarily formed the group inside young talent academy Actors School Hiroshima (ASH), which was run by TSS Production, a subsidiary of TSS-TV Co., Ltd. (formerly called Shinhiroshima Telecasting), and also had a deep relationship with the Tokyo-based management company Amuse Inc. Before the group could even debut, Kawashima decided to pull out of the project to focus on her studies (and later formed another group called Pinkies).[9] Nishiwaki set out to find a replacement, and Ayano Omoto ("NOCCHi") joined as the third member. The three girls attended ASH as part of the inaugural class of 1999. While Kashino, Kawashima and Nishiwaki were all in the beginner's class, Omoto was in the advanced class for her vocal abilities.[10]
In March 2002, Perfume debuted in Hiroshima with the single "Omajinai Perori". They followed up the release with "Kareshi Boshūchū" in November of that same year. Both singles were sold in Hiroshima under Momiji Label, which was operated jointly by ASH and Amuse. Around this time they also met Mikiko, the choreographer who would go on to coordinate all of the group's dances from this point forward.
2003–2005: Bee-Hive era in Tokyo[edit]
In 2003, following their graduation from Actors School Hiroshima, the trio moved to Tokyo. There, they became a part of Bee-Hive[11] and met Capsule's Yasutaka Nakata who would become their music producer. Between the years of 2003 and 2004, they released "Sweet Donuts", "Monochrome Effect", and "Vitamin Drop" under the indie record label Bee-Hive Records. It was also during this time that they had their first three live performances. Though none of their releases became a hit, their management company chose to give Perfume a major debut.[12]
From 2004 autumn to 2005 summer, Perfume temporarily set Akihabara as their home ground. They collaborated with voice actress and singer Haruko Momoi providing vocals to her song "Akihabalove", which was produced by her under the alias DJ Momo-i.[13] The song was released on a DVD along with the promotional video. They sometimes held surprise live street performances there,[14] and they used to be considered as "Akiba-kei idols" until the release of their debut album, GAME.[15]
2005–2007: New record label and Complete Best[edit]
On September 21, 2005, Perfume made its major label debut under the label Tokuma Japan Communications. They released "Linear Motor Girl", which charted on the Oricon charts at number 99. Two singles, "Computer City" and "Electro World", followed in 2006. On August 2, 2006, Perfume released Perfume: Complete Best along with a new track, "Perfect Star Perfect Style". The album reached number 33 on the Oricon charts (later climbing up as high as number 25 with the release of Perfume's second album, Game).
On December 20, 2006, Perfume released an exclusive download song, "Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow". The song later appeared on their single, "Fan Service: Sweet". On December 21, 2006, Perfume had a live concert at Harajuku Astro Hall which was later recorded and released as Fan Service: Bitter.
2007–2008: Commercial success and Game era[edit]
While almost all of the other Bee-Hive members were getting dropped by Amuse Inc., Perfume was given the opportunity to release another single. In February 2007, they released "Fan Service: Sweet" featuring the fun dance track "Chocolate Disco". This was a turning point for Perfume in which their luck began to change. Although the sales for "Fan Service [sweet]" were not stellar, "Chocolate Disco" did catch the attention of an already well-established artist in the J-pop industry, Kimura Kaela. Kimura then played Perfume's music on her radio show consistently.[16] While listening to Kimura's radio show, a commercial director named Akira Tomotsugi noticed Perfume and decided to use the three girls in an upcoming TV ad.[17] On July 1, the commercial for NHK's national recycling campaign aired, featuring Perfume and a new song, "Polyrhythm". The commercial gave Perfume exposure they could have only dreamed of before. Subsequently, their next live show sold out, and Perfume became the first idol group to perform at the Summer Sonic Festival.[18][19] On September 12, 2007, Perfume officially released their tenth single, "Polyrhythm". It reached number 4 on the Oricon daily single charts and climbed as high as number 7 on the weekly charts.[20] This is noted as the beginning of Perfume's national fame.
In 2008, the group followed up the success of "Polyrhythm" with "Baby Cruising Love / Macaroni". The single reached number 3 on the Oricon weekly charts and sold 50,000 copies. On April 16, 2008, Perfume released their first original album, Game. Game reached number 1 on the Oricon charts upon its release,[20] making Perfume the first technopop group to achieve this since Yellow Magic Orchestra's Naughty Boys in 1983.[21] At the time of the album's release, Perfume: Complete Best, "Polyrhythm", and "Baby Cruising Love / Macaroni" all re-entered the Oricon charts. The album went on to sell over 450,000 copies and is certified double platinum. After the album's release, Perfume First Tour Game was announced. The group toured 10 cities and sold out all tickets.[22] On the final date of the tour, Perfume announced that they would be doing a 2-day show at the prestigious Nippon Budokan in November 2008 as well as the release date of their next single, "Love the World".[23]
Musical style and image[edit]
The group's music, on several occasions, has been identified as "technopop".[3][132] It was around 2005 that the group's original post-Shibuya-kei sound began making a transition to electronic dance-pop music, influenced by 1980s synthpop and incorporating vocoders.[132][133]
Perfume has worked with producer and songwriter Yasutaka Nakata since 2003. "We don't really have any input when Nakata is writing and the ideas behind Future Pop, and all our music, are his," the group told Forbes. "Nakata's been writing songs for us that match the specific time of our lives so that the music has actually matured with us."[134]
MTV Iggy said "There are a few reasons why Perfume is one of Japan's most thrilling pop acts. For one thing, there's the music, which is an infectious batch of chart-topping melodies built upon a foundation of intricate maximal house production that would give Daft Punk a run for their money, with heavily processed vocals that stutter robotically yet always sound 100 percent human. On top of that, they have an impeccably designed retro-futuristic image and punishing, innovative choreography that they nevertheless render effortless. Where all of this truly comes together, of course, is on stage."[3]
The group has influenced acts like Aira Mitsuki, immi, Mizca, SAWA, Saori@destiny, Sweet Vacation, 80_pan and former labelmate Vanilla Beans.[135]
Fandom[edit]
Some musicians have said that they are fans of Perfume. Marty Friedman named Perfume "the group that has the largest influence on the Japanese music industry in 2008", and covered their 5th major single Polyrhythm in the album Tokyo Jukebox.[173] Musicians such as Kreva, Pierre Nakano from the band Ling Tosite Sigure, and Aya Hirano are all fans of the group.[174] Utamaru from a Japanese hiphop group Rhymester and Okite Porsche from a new wave band RomanPorsche., who are both enthusiastic idol fans,[11][175] declared that they were Perfume fans in the early stage of activities of the group and made a "25000 letter dialogue" over Perfume phenomenon on Yomiuri Shimbun Pop Style blog.[176] Kimura Kaela played Perfume songs in heavy rotation in her radio program "Oh My Radio!" (J-Wave 81.3), which led them to appear in NHK and AC Recycling Ads.[16] After their cameo in OK Go's video for "I Won't Let You Down", lead singer Damian Kulash revealed he was a fan via Instagram.[177]
On Nico Nico Douga, the most visited Japanese video sharing site (similar to YouTube), MADs featuring Perfume songs and The Idolm@ster videos, were created, which led the album to number 1 status on Amazon.co.jp's music bestsellers. Some Internet media consider this as one of the factors for Perfume's net-based popularity at first.[178][179]
On the July 2007 ranking of Niconico Ichiba, or Niconico market, where users can introduce and buy goods related to videos, Perfume: Complete Best was ranked as number 1 and "Fan Service: Sweet" as number 7.[180]