We can finally listen to Perfume's damn “Mirror Ball” song

With Perfume’s Live 2021 Polygon Wave gig now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video, we finally get to heard the previously unheard song that they’d close out the show with.

It's so wild that Perfume performed this song to a packed venue twice, and that the song did not leak for 4 whole months. Not even a raggedy sound recording. 

As I post this, the song still has no official title. But the fandom has dubbed it “Mirror Ball” due to it featuring in the chorus of the song, in conjunction with Perfume’s mirror ball themed outfits and all of the mirror balls present during the performance.

The song is fine. The intro is great, the first verse is great, and then the whole song just steadily slides downhill from there. I don't know what it is with Nakata's insistence on not giving Perfume full songs, and giving them middle 8's and bridge sections in the place of second verses.

Whilst this “Mirror Ball” song is a step up quality wise from the singles we’ve been getting over the past couple of years, it’s still not the big impactful song that Perfume need, and it doesn't give me confidence that Nakata actually knows what to do with Perfume's sound. As cool as it is that Nakata is finally acknowledging that Game was that bitch by throwing Perfume's sound back to it, Perfume's sound should be moving forwards not backwards. Give us electro dance bangers by all means. But don't have them all sounding like weaker Game material. Even Perfume's B-sides from the Game days hit harder than this. “Seventh Heaven” throws “Mirror Ball” under a shinkansen.

In the context of the show however, and given the lyrics of the song, the “Mirror Ball” song works here. And I do think it’d make a nice new encore song for Perfume so that they can finally retire “My Color”, although it does need some work.

It’s easy to say ‘WOW THIS IS AMAZING’ when the bar for Perfume’s music has been so low for the past 7 years. We can't just ignore the fact that this song and “Polygon Wave”, albeit steps in the right direction, are still a ways off from where Perfume's music should be at this point in their career.

If fans are okay with this, then good for them. But I want more from Perfume, because I know that they and Nakata are capable of better. And I also know there are other producers out there who are capable of helping Perfume deliver better. These phoned-in songs really aren’t washing in the wake of Nakata pulling a hat trick of genuinely great singles for Capsule AND turning in a good album with Kyary.

“Mirror Ball” is cute, but it doesn’t give me much to get excited about. Then again, given the approach Perfume took with the release of “Polygon Wave”, putting out an EP, and even performing a brand new song with no plan to even release it or include it on an album, it’s difficult to know how them or Nakata will approach a new album at all, and if these songs are a sign of how it will sound. One thing is for sure though; they might have to leave “Saisei” and “Time Warp” off of it if they want actual consistency. But given the shambles that was the setlist for their Polygon Wave gig, the quality of their last two albums and the messy sequencing of LEVEL3, they’re so not going to.

🎚️ A mashup: Whitney Houston x Perfume
🎛️ Perfume megamixes: LEVEL3 megamix | Cosmic Explorer megamix
🎧 Playlists: The Rest "P Cubed" | Perfume Pussy Poppers
💿 Album reviews: The Best "P Cubed" | Future Pop | Cosmic Explorer | LEVEL3 | JPN | Triangle | Game | Complete Best