Every now and then YouTube recommends these '[Type of folk] react to [something]' videos to me. And if they're music related, I'll occasionally watch them for some light-hearted chuckles (and because I know they'll be some accidental shade). So, imagine my shock when I hopped onto YouTube and saw one featuring Perfume! I thought it was lies, deceit and clickbait. But it's legit. There is a video of Perfume reacting to teens reacting to J-Pop.
It goes exactly as you'd probably imagine. Nocchi pulling faces and constantly going 'EEEEEEEEEHH!', a-chan forcibly smiling at the laptop and Kashiyuka pointing and judging. But we also get a drop of tea. Just a drop.
Perfume's music video for "Laser beam" was shot after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
We had to wait for quite some time for the full music video to "Laser beam". I'd always thought that the music video was shot prior to the Tōhoku disaster and that they held it back because of it. But it seems that they shot the additional scene with the Polar bear afterwards and cut it into what they had shot prior; which I imagine was just them walking through hallways. Nocchi and her honest-ass-self divulges that none of them know what the hell the video means, and low key shades the director as a result.
Perfume do not see themselves as J-Pop
Not really tea, because it's something that Perfume have always said.
Perfume not seeing themselves as J-Pop always made sense, because from Game onwards, they really weren't for the most part. It makes more sense now with albums like Cosmic explorer and Future pop, which go to lengths to distance their sound from anything remotely J-Pop sounding. But the problem is that as their sound shifts into something far more West leaning, J-Pop as a whole is effectively doing the same thing, which means that they get grouped with J-Pop by proxy. Also, outside of Japan they're always going to get lumped under J-Pop, because any music that comes out of Japan, even if a song has a clearly definable genre, gets categorised as such. So it's not something they'll never shake.
Perfume didn't think they'd still be Perfume in their 30s
Bitch. Same. When I first heard Game I never thought they'd still be here, touring and releasing another 5 albums. It makes you realise that Perfume not only have more mileage than anybody had anticipated back in 2008, but that they've set a precedent for a pop group. It's rare that any group outside of rock bands stays together for 20 years and retain the same members. I bet Kawa-yuka is either pressed as fuck or relieved that she didn't have to dedicate 20 years of her life to all this shit.
a-chan is still scarred by the struggle
Perfume started out performing wherever they could. Malls. Schools. Car parks. a-chan recalls those days and watching her recount those times is like watching the cupcake dog. A bitch is still scarred. Perfume really did have to fucking hustle and it's something that isn't often talked about, despite being really remarkable and unprecedented for most Japanese acts. Nobody believed in them. And even when they made it, they still had to prove themselves. Even now, they're still having to prove themselves, and Perfume have been doing the damn thing for 20 years, had hits, number 1 albums and have sold out domes. It's something that even I often forget.
Perfume low-key think that J-Pop idol culture is harsh
The topic of Minami Minegishi from AKB48 comes up. And whilst the girls don't say much on it, their faces say it all. And you can tell that Ayano 'Nocchi DGAF' Omoto and Yuka 'Bitch, Imma tell u' Kashino aren't here for any of this J-idol mess. I bet they were going awf on Line messenger about how fucked up it all was and how they would die before they let anybody shave their head.
Perfume's interviews these days seem far more restricted and limited than they did when they started out, which is a shame; because they're full of character and talkative. Well, a-chan and Nocchi are. The group has reached the point of now being a full-on brand. And when artists reach that point, we get more of them as the brand and less of them as people. This is understandable. If you are at a point in your career where you can cordon off your private life and no longer have to rely heavily on press, then why wouldn't you take advantage of that? But it's a shame that Perfume are often placed behind this curtain where we get literally nothing. Even Beyoncé at least still gives us Instagram pictures on a regular basis.
It's always interesting seeing the dynamic between the girls. I've often felt that Nocchi and Kashiyuka are the closest two in the group, due to being similar in character. And you can see in this video that they are very aligned in their opinions and the way in which they answer questions. They seem more reactive and instantaneous, as opposed to a-chan who seems to think long and hard about what she says and how she reacts. And whenever a-chan talks, Nocchi and Kashiyuka look like they've switched off mentally, because they know it's going to take her forever to get to the point, and that even when she does, she probably won't have made one.
Comments
Post a Comment
HTML tags for bold, italic and hyperlinks are allowed