──Here’s a question fitting for an anniversary year.
Perfume is often praised by the public for being “amazing because you never change.” But after 25 years, I imagine you must feel changes within yourselves. Looking back, what do you think has changed the most?
Nocchi: Since we formed the group when we were still in elementary school, I’d say the biggest change is that as we’ve grown up, the bond among the three of us has become stronger and stronger.
A~chan: That’s true. In our case, Perfume really is our whole life, so maybe it’s less “change” and more “growth.”
Nocchi: I think part of it is thanks to our staff not treating us like kids. From early on, they engaged with us as adults, and that helped us quickly develop the stance of “the three of us should take the lead.” People who don’t know Perfume very well sometimes assume we’re “controlled, not even allowed to change our hairstyles,” but fans who know us well understand that no one’s making us do anything—it’s our own choice. That difference in perception is pretty interesting to me.
A~chan: But because Perfume was always there as we grew into adulthood, we ended up spending a long time being a little too serious. We could have been more relaxed, but maybe all three of us were chasing after the idea of “Perfume should be like this.” For example, even when we were on tour, instead of going out to eat at restaurants, we’d just buy food at a convenience store, then each of us would go back to our hotel rooms to review choreography or lyrics, or study our performance videos. Even asking for something felt like a burden, like we’d be causing trouble, so we thought it was normal to live modestly.
──That stoic image definitely came across.
A~chan: But at some point, I realized, “We can’t keep this up forever.” That’s when our goal shifted from things like “We want to stand on the stage of Nippon Budokan” to “We want the three of us to stay together for a long time.” And then our way of thinking became, “Okay, so what do we need to do to stay together for a long time?”
──Was there some specific trigger for that change?
A~chan: The words we received during our talk with Ken Shimura on NHK had a huge impact. He told us, “You three are already complete as you are. You don’t need to grow by centimeters. As long as today you can lift your gaze even a millimeter, that’s enough.” Hearing that made me think, “Oh, so we’ve already reached the ‘Perfume’ we were striving for.” Of course, I still often feel that anxious “I’m not there yet” feeling, but it allowed me to shift the angle of my goals. After that, on tours we started thinking, “Since we’re going to different regions anyway, let’s stay somewhere with hot springs, and enjoy delicious food together as the three of us!” That way, we could enjoy the actual concert day even more. For years, we had only been outputting—so much that when I tried to draw something out of myself, there was nothing left, and I thought, “Wow, I’m such a boring person.” But then, I finally felt like I was taking things in again. Maybe I realized it too late, but that’s the moment I truly felt we had “changed.”
Kashiyuka: Of course, in order for the three of us to stay together for a long time, we also need to think about “why people want Perfume to exist.” And the answer is, it’s the music. People look forward to “What kind of song will they release next? What kind of visuals and what kind of live performance will it be?” Because fans have that anticipation, we can keep going as Perfume. So while we try to live up to those expectations, I personally also look forward to it myself.
