Perfume give their first televised performances of “Flow”

Perfume hit up Music Station to perform a couple of songs, one being “Flow”, and another being something classic that most who know Perfume will know. Perfume are fortunate enough to have a sizeable bag of classics, and yet they always pick the same damn songs. On this occasion, we got “Dream Fighter”, which I’m not mad at. It’s a great song, and one I still play regularly. I know a lot of fans are sick to the back teeth of it, but I still really like it. It hits that sweet spot that I think Perfume’s music nowadays tries to go for, but keeps misses the mark on, which is something that bangs, goes hard and sounds cool, but still is bright in sound. And chile, with the way life be, I think the message of “Dream Fighter” is a needed one.

Whilst I was fully expecting one of Perfume’s first performances of “Flow” to be in those cotton candy looking-ass dresses, we instead got it with the fashion ensembles. Well...fashion in the case of Nocchi and Kashiyuka. I still don’t know what’s going on with a-chan’s look. That coat be killing the whole look dead. a-chan’s always been conscious of her weight and her body though, so perhaps that’s why. Maybe she was having one of THOSE days. And I relate. I be wearing oversized black sweatshirts A LOT these days.

Perfume perform Flow on Music Station | © TV Asahi | 📺 Perfume Multiverse

Perfume perform Dream Fighter on Music Station | © TV Asahi | 📺 Perfume Multiverse

Nocchi in this look is giving me everything. I think that this is an image that Perfume should show more often, given that SO many of the ‘younger’ girl groups in Japan go the cutesy matching outfits route. Of course this isn’t exclusive to Perfume, who actually started wearing these outfits from JPN, at a time in their career where Perfume became fully commercialised. But they are so past that point now. So I’d like to see their style evolve, seeing as their music can’t.

But of course Perfume performed “Flow” in those damn dresses. CDTV got that dishonour.

Perfume perform Flow on CDTV Live! Live! | © Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. | 📺 Perfume Multiverse

I feel similarly about the “Flow” dresses as I do the “Time Warp” dresses, which is that they look better in still shots than they do in motion. In the promo shots the dresses AT LEAST give some sense of couture and texture and flow. But in motion, they look stiff, cheap and don’t really accentuate the movement of the choreography. I will give Perfume’s style team props for switching up the shoes though. I was fully expecting Perfume to step out in a dead black pump.

The change in clothing really does change the energy of the performance and how Perfume carry themselves. This isn’t a strange thing, or even much of a revelation. How we all carry ourselves differs based on what we wear. But it’s something I hope Perfume and their team are aware of. Because some performances and songs would benefit from some looks versus others.

---

🎚️ A mashup: Whitney Houston x Perfume
🎛️ Perfume megamixes: Cosmic Explorer megamix | LEVEL3 megamix | Game 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