Virtual Fantasy
A~chan: Actually, this song was originally written entirely in English. There weren’t any Japanese lyrics at all. When I first saw it, I was like, “Oh no… this is going to be tough,” and sure enough, the recording was really hard. I kept thinking, “You’re really going to cram this many words into a single note!?” (laughs). I just pushed through with everything I had. But then partway through, the idea came up to “add some Japanese lyrics,” so we re-recorded it. When we added those new Japanese parts, the moment the three of us switched to Japanese mid-song, I got goosebumps all over and thought, “This is it!”
──Why was that?
A~chan: When we sing in English, our voices naturally go a little lower. But the instant our three voices shifted into Japanese, it turned into the “Perfume sound” that I think is already imprinted in people’s minds. It made me realize all over again: “Ah, this is where our charm lies.”
──So it was like suddenly hearing the voices you’ve been listening to right beside you for the past 25 years.
A~chan: Exactly. While I was listening back to the instrumental break, tears welled up. I think it was partly because the tension was lifted and I finally relaxed, so the emotions just came out naturally. Also, singing the song an octave lower was such a unique experience. It was still my voice, but so low I was like, “Wait, who is this?” (laughs). And adding ad-libs at the end—that’s rare for Perfume too. All of that together makes me really love this song.
──So recording English lyrics is definitely harder than your usual sessions.
Kashiyuka: Another thing is that our recording style changed this time. Nakata-san no longer sits in on the sessions. Since he keeps churning out new songs, he leaves the recording process to the director. And because this director speaks English, he’s super strict about pronunciation (laughs).
Nocchi: He’s like, seriously native-level. So you can’t fake anything (laughs). He’ll say things like, “You need to distinguish clearly between ‘s’ and ‘th,’ or the meaning won’t come across,” and he was very particular about the difference between “R” and “L.”
Kashiyuka: It was pretty much boot-camp levels of strictness.
A~chan: Honestly, if it hadn’t been him directing, the song probably wouldn’t have turned out this way.
