Perfume dance and sing...like ACTUALLY sing on their episode of Disney's My Music Story


Perfume had their own special air on Japan's equivalent of Disney+, where they shot the shit with one another (i.e. a-chan talking whilst Kashiyuka nods and Nocchi stares into the abyss with an occasional laugh). But they also gave us performances of "Polyrhythm", "Story" and "Challenger", as well as performances of Disney princess bops "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid and "When Will My Life Begin" from Tangled.

With the Disney songs, there was none of that Nakata preferential style singing that we get on Perfume records. Chaka Ka-chan and Nocchiah Carey jumped out.

Perfume performing "Part of your world" from The Little Mermaid
Disney: My Music Story on Disney Deluxe | © 2020 Disney

Perfume performing "When Will My Life Begin" from Tangled
Disney: My Music Story on Disney Deluxe | © 2020 Disney

Their performance of "When Will My Life Begin" was a standout for me. I'm biased, because I adore Tangled. It's such a good film that I didn't watch until years after it released in cinemas. I couldn't believe how good it was, because I don't remember it being raved or really talked about. And, yes. It's better than Frozen. So much better. And I've heard great things about the series too.

But "When Will My Life Begin" genuinely really suited Perfume. I actually like their rendition of it more than the Mandy Moore original. The musicality of the chorus is so reminiscent of J-Pop due to its chord progressions. I could imagine a Superfly or a Sayuri Sugawara song having a hook with a similar melody. So put Perfume on it and the whole thing ends up sounding like it was always intended as a J-song. And the inclusion of the "Chocolate Disco" melody was a nice touch.

Aretha-chan went for it as she always does when she's given the chance to sing in her normal voice. And Nocchyoncé Knowles shone too. Kashiyuka...

I will die on this hill of constantly moaning that I want Perfume to sing with their natural voices on songs, knowing it will never happen until they're in their 50s and doing a dome reunion tour. And even then they'll probably still just have one of Mikiko's Elevenplay dancers press play on P Cubed backstage.

Perfume singing in their natural voices would actually make songs better. Even those that I'm not overly keen on. I would have actually really liked "Hold Your Hand" and "Star Train" if the girls had sang them in their natural voices.

Too many of Perfume's songs are sounding comparable to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's and becoming far less distinct. Changing their singing style would help reduce the overlap, because Kyary can't touch Patti La-chan and Nocchney Houston's natural vocals.

I know a-chan is sick and tired of not being able to sing how she wants and that Nocchi is done with being made to sound like she has the crustiest vocals in the group and can't sing. The only one who probably doesn't care is Kashiyuka, because she don't sound no different either way.

Anyway.

If you're in Japan with a Disney Deluxe account, you'll probabaly already watched this whole show. If not, then you can watch the full un-subtitled documentary here.

📝 Perfume album reviews: Game | | JPN | LEVEL3 | Cosmic explorer | Future pop | The Best "P Cubed"
🔊 Playlists: The Rest "P Cubed" | Perfume Pussy Poppers
🎛️ Remix: Nananananairo (featuring Khia)

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