Single arts & tracklist: Perfume - Relax in the city / Pick me up

Perfume - Relax in the city / Pick me up | Random J Pop

For Perfume's 21st single Relax in the city / Pick me up, fans have already drawn comparisons to their 13th single - double A-side release Laser beam / Kasuka na kaori and it's not difficult to see why. Whilst the "Relax in the city" and "Kasuka na kaori" connection is blatantly obvious. "Pick me up" isn't such a copy and paste job of "Laser beam", but instead looks like a cross between "Fushizen na girl" and "Glitter" with a touch of the "Sleeping beauty" intermission for their LEVEL3 4th tour in dome gig. If the song itself happens to be as good as any of the aforementioned, then we'll be in for a treat. Hopefully Perfume's choreography Mikiko will put them to work for the dance routine, because I'm not expecting anything noteworthy from "Relax in the city". Although I would love to be blindsighted and made to eat my words.

I've set myself up for pinning all hopes on "Pick me up", so if these girls roll out with "Pick me up" and it's some bullshit, I will have very little faith in their 5th studio album. Faith being something I lost by the sack load when Cling Cling dropped. I've not wholeheartedly loved a Perfume single since "Spending all my time".

Perfume - Relax in the city / Pick me up | Random J Pop Perfume - Relax in the city / Pick me up | Random J Pop

  1. Relax in the city
  2. Pick me up
  3. Toumei ningen
  4. Relax in the city (Instrumental)
  5. Pick me up (Instrumental)
  6. Toumei ningen (Instrumental)

I really hope when the time comes for Perfume's 5th studio album to have its track list finalised, that somebody is as brutal as hell and leaves off some of the B-sides and even a couple of the A-sides. If all of the songs featured across "Sweet refrain", Cling cling and Relax in the city / Pick me up were to be featured then that would mean we have heard 9 songs off of the album already, and I would not care one bit if all 9 of these songs didn't make the cut. Even our beloved "Display", unless it got album mixed to high heaven, because the original version is far too sparse and way too repetitive. The same goes for "Hold your hand". I've grown to really like the song ever since the girls started performing it, but it sounds too similar to "Sweet refrain". In fact, I wouldn't mind if one song or the other got cut. I don't feel particularly strong about one song over the other.

This era hasn't been all that great. The singles have been underwhelming and in each and every case the songs have only caught traction once the girls have performed them live. This is great on one hand because it goes to show how important the visual and choreography element is to Perfume as a whole. But the songs need to be strong enough to stand on their own, and there hasn't been one song in the past two single releases from Perfume which has done - at least not for me. There has also been a real lack of distinctness in the sound of the singles Perfume has released since "Sweet refrain"; almost as though Nakata doesn't know what Perfume's sound should be. I for one am tired of the Chipmunk vocals. I could have been on board with "Cling Cling" and "Hold your hand" if the girls were allowed to sing in their normal voices or if Nakata had taken both songs down a key or two. But the vocals took what were two great pieces of music and shitted on them. Originally, I thought Nakata was a general rut. But Pamyu Pamyu's singles have been continually decent, and Capsule's Wave runner is a much stronger and more consistent album than I thought it would be. So what exactly the hell is going on with him in regards to Perfume?

Comments

  1. PREACH! after cling cling and display i erased my perfume playlsit on my phone. i felt extremely betrayed. i think i'm crossing that love/hate line.
    when i listened to the preview of walk in the city i immediately flared up! It's been TEN F*CKING YEARS!!!!! RE-IVENT YOURSELVES ALREADY!
    same vocals same dresses same hair same everything. i appreciate them for not dying them and keeping true to theirselves but for for anybody's sake do smth different for once!
    even in wardrope! ANYTHING!
    i always dreamed of an anniverssairy acoustic album featuring past hits. but not. we get the same song.again.
    i know when smth does good, don't change it, but they already built smth here and they can afford some changes.
    i sincerely hope they reach bottom at sales with this one so they can finally realise they need to work with someone else, besides nakata. i think a-chan is already suspicious about kyary's hotter songs. pls girls if by any chance you read this blog and suddenly you understand english and reason, work with someone else and re-invent yourselves. i'm going crazy here!

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  2. Utada COLORS all up in this betch.

    And Ciara looks like Jennifer Hudson her.

    That's 3 people she stole from.

    And the gyrating towards the end came out of nowhere and felt odd as h311

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  3. "pls girls if by any chance you read this blog and suddenly you understand english and reason....."

    LOL!

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  4. Their poses on the blue cover, specifically Kashiyuka's and Nocchi's, seem so bad. Like they aren't making it look natural and comfortable like they normally do. It looks awkward and unpleasant.

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  5. ..........Wow. I'm sooooooo buying his album when it drops.

    This song is amazing and I love the chill retro yet modern vibe it gives. Giorgio Moroder needs to produce music for Kylie so she purify her her tainted discography with his glorious productions. I haven't enjoyed anything Kylie has done in many years. Good job Giorgio.

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  6. I
    think this is (finally) one of her better songs again. I don’t like the
    ‘Pikapika Fantajin’ singles, besides ‘Kira Kira Killer’, as much as ‘KISEKAE’,
    and ‘Mondai Girl’. The mv is very Pamyu-ish, lol. I really like it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I
    didn’t know about them until today. Thank you for introducing me to them. Those
    two songs are really nice.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jolin, and Namie slayed me from inside out with this music video. Both look so gorgeous. I
    like the idea behind the music video. That it’s based on a story from the
    Taiping Era, Jolin and Namie being two sisters. Nice to see them have some fun dancing/moving next to each other as well. Wished that Namie would dance more, but that's my same wish for 9 years now, so nvm, lol. She still gave me enough life to enjoy, while laying on a sofa waving herself some fresh air. Anyway, they both did a great job. The stories behind Jolin's music video’s for the album are interesting. You can find the explanation from
    all the music video’s on here: http://jolinjeneration.canalblog.com/

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  9. wow lots of eyes and triangles and she's even shown sitting on some sort of brainwash chair! The illuminati are so fun and original. Not! brainless garbage. Sad to see this shit is now mainstream with japanese music too. If she decided to suddenly not exist that would be great

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  10. Sorry J, they're competent enough dancers, vocalists and on-stage performers but I just cannot get into their music at all. It just typical J-pop fare that sounds generic, samey or hardly inspired enough to warrant more than a passive listen. Come to think of it, there aren't any all-female groups, foreign or otherwise, I'd cop a whole CD or see in concert these days...save for a miracle surprise Diana Ross & Supremes reunion!

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  11. I'm definitely copping any and all things Bjork, including this, since she's the definition of the avant-gaurde and always inmovative, even if her music isn't always relatable or palatable to mainstream audiences!

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  12. starlightshimmers31 March 2015 at 04:02

    I like Relax In The City. I don't know why so many Westerners have such a problem with cute songs. Life must really suck if you can't appreciate the gentler side of life.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Khyarypamyupamyusucks5 July 2015 at 17:35

    Yeah Kyary Pussy Pamyu Pamyu's videos never make sense, she stinks POOOOOO big time.

    ReplyDelete

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