—When the original member left and you invited Nocchi, what kind of feelings did you have toward Perfume at that time?
a-chan: When one person left at the very beginning, it was a huge shock. First of all, just auditioning for an Actors School unit is incredibly hard. Most people fail—especially young kids. Among all that, we were accepted despite being so young. It really felt like a miracle. And yet, we weren’t especially praised for being good singers or cute or anything like that—we were called “miscellaneous types” (laughs bitterly). The only thing we were confident in was practice. We practiced harder than anyone—8 or 9 hours a day, every day, constantly in front of the mirror.
Looking back now, we were still in our growth phase—our arms weren’t even fully grown yet—but our mothers would stand behind the mirror, crossing their arms, and say things like, “Yuka higher!” “Ayaka lower!” while giving us directions (laughs), adjusting angles and movements. That’s how intensely we practiced, and that dedication was what got us accepted as a trio. So when one member left, it was truly shocking.
When we consulted a vocal teacher from far away, they immediately said, “Wouldn’t Ayano be good?” Nocchi’s name came up right away. “She sings well. She’s late sometimes—but she’s a genius,” that kind of thing. So we scouted her. We asked, “Nocchi, do you want to join Perfume?” And she said, “Yeah, I’ll do it! Yay! Let’s start practicing tomorrow! Bye!” (laughs).
—That really sounds like Nocchi (laughs).
a-chan: We immediately told our mothers. “How was it?” “She said she wants to do Perfume!” “That’s great! Let’s work hard again!” “Okay!” It was so light and easygoing (laughs). I don’t even remember when exactly it happened. At that point, I never imagined we’d continue for this long.
