Listen to Perfume’s “Flow” in full. Or as full as Nakata can manage these days.

Perfume’s first single of 2022 isn’t released for another few weeks yet, but the whole thing has already found its way online as a result it receiving radio play. If you want to be surprised come March 9, then do not press play on the below. Otherwise, knock ya’self out.

Perfume - Flow (Radio Rip) | © 2022 Universal Music Japan / Perfume Records | 📺 Mikie Tsang

I’ve always wanted Perfume to give us something else in the vein of “575”, but never for a second thought that they would and that it’d ever be a single. So this is a nice and welcomed surprise. But this song isn’t as good as it could have been. And as it too constant a theme with Perfume’s music these days, it’s just not memorable, has this oddly rushed structure, and the cool factor that the song could have had is sapped by Perfume sounding like Chipmunks.

It wouldn't have taken much for “Flow” to be something great, which is another theme with Perfume’s music these days.

I don’t know what it is with Nakata and song structures when it comes to Perfume’s songs. I truly do not. “Polygon Wave” is good, but the structure is lazy as all hell, and the original mix doesn’t fix that. The second verse of “Mawaru Kagami” sounds more like a bridge section. And then here with “Flow” there’s just this sense that Nakata doesn’t know where to take the song, so it just goes nowhere. The second run of the chorus brings in musical elements which blossom the song really nicely. But they should have been reserved for the final run of the chorus, to not only add variety, but to make it sound more special and give a sense that the entire song was building to it. But nope. Maybe we’ll get an album mix, where Nakata will pull a “Sweet Refrain” and place the builds and drops in the correct places.

Also, ‘♪ Flow, flow, flowing clouds ♪’?

Bring back Emi Kinoko or some new songwriters.

“Flow” releases on March 9th, 2022 and will include the song “Mawaru Kagami”, which Perfume debuted as the encore for their Polygon Wave gig in 2021.

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