Perfume perform “Clap Clap” and “Daijobanai” with NiziU, and give a debut performance of their song “Moon”

Perfume hit up Fuji TV’s FNS Kayousai Natsu for a couple of performances, one of which was with fellow Japanese girl group NiziU. I just know a-chan was behind this, because she was probably the one who made Kashiyuka and Nocchi do those “Clap Clap” and “Step and a Step” TikToks with her.

The two groups performed two songs together, NiziU’s “Clap Clap” and Perfume’s “Daijobanai”, which at this point should get the “Fake It” treatment and have itself a music video with the sheer amount of times Perfume have performed the song now, and how frequently it ends up in their setlists.

I don’t quite know why the Perfume song they performed together was “Daijobanai” though. I like the song. But I can’t imagine NiziU picking it. (Watch it turn out that they did). And I think it’d be such a strange choice to come from Perfume. The only thing I can think of which resulted in it being the chosen is that perhaps Perfume and their choreographer Mikiko felt that “Daijobanai” had the choreo which was the easiest to learn and the easiest to be adapted for an ensemble performance, whilst also being a song which has a vibe which works with NiziU. But then again, if this was the case, I felt they could have also gone with something like “Polygon Wave”.

HENNYWAY.

Video from 香水网络电视 (Perfume Web TV) on Twitter

It’s always fun seeing Perfume perform other people’s dance routines, because you really do get to see how good a set of dancers they really are. This isn’t to say that their own routines don’t showcase this. But Mikiko’s style of choreography is very specific and self contained to a degree. It’s a set style of movements which Perfume have always done the very beginning of their careers, and it’s all we see Perfume do 99% of the time. So it’s always a surprise to see them dance somebody else’s routine, because the movements are so different to what we’re used to seeing them do, but they always nail them. And to add insult to injury, they always end up showing up the other group, who aren’t able to do Perfume’s routines anywhere near as good.

Perfume aren’t just women who can only dance their own unique style of choreo. They are dancers for real.

Perfume also performed their single “Moon”, sporting the same dresses they wear in the promotional shot which came with the announcement of the single release date. We live for visual consistency and follow through. Perfume do it like no other. It’s a shame the shoes didn’t match the way they did in the promo shot. But at least we didn’t get clumpy black boots.

Video from Prfm Multiverse aka Taopriest on Tumblr

“Moon” sounds good. I’m not fawning over it the way I was “Spinning World”, a song that still has me by the neck. But I like how “Moon” sounds.

It’s so good to finally have a Perfume song which isn’t sung horridly high. Perfume sound so different. It’s like listening to a song from another group. And Nakata Yasutaka finally seems to have settled Perfume’s sound into a place which is closer to where it should be and shoulda been years ago. Smooth. Funky. Cool. All things Perfume’s music should have consistently been after LEVEL3. We’re getting there y’all. Slowly but surely. Now I just need Perfume to sing with some tone, and for Nakata to actually arrange and produce the vocals. Give me harmonies. Give me stacks. Give me reverb. Give me delays.

I can tell that Nocchi likes “Moon”, because she put her pussy into this performance.

Perfume | Fuji TV

As for the performance itself, I was really surprised at how fast and sharp the routine was given the style of the song. But I like it. It adds energy to what is a pretty vibey song despite the tempo, which I think is gonna help keep the performances lively and fresh between now and the end of the year. And as much as I do not like the outfits, they worked nicely with the routine, especially during the spins and formation changes. Hopefully this is something the director plays on in the music video.

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🎤 Perfumances with others: Perfume performing with one of those Exile groups | Perfume performing with Daichi Miura | Perfume performing with S**t kingz

🎛️ Mashups: Beyoncé x Perfume | Whitney Houston x Perfume

💿 Album reviews: Plasma | The Best “P Cubed” | Future Pop | Cosmic Explorer | LEVEL3 | JPN | Triangle | Game | Complete Best