Usually, I stay up late on weekdays doing all sorts of work (read: watching YouTube), but last night I decided to read a few chapters of a Joan Didion book and go to bed at a reasonable hour for once. Turned out I missed a deluge of Perfume news – guess who won’t be sleeping in the near future – like a bunch of important stuff. So, let us break this down one item at a time:
News: Perfume stars in new Kirin ad – Watch a making-of video below, which also features the ad 25 seconds in.
Views: I drank that new flavor yesterday, it was alright. Lemon is better, and really why isn’t there a permanent lime flavor?
News: New Kirin ad features 10-second snippet of new Perfume single “Spring Of Life.” – Did you watch the video above?
Views: It’s tough to pass any sort of judgement on a tiny sample of music, so I’ll reserve judgement/gushing until the full thing comes out. From what is available, though, this sounds…like a springy (har har) Perfume. This isn’t immediately bad like “Kasuka Na Kaori” though, so that’s good.
News: Perfume transfer from Tokuma Shoten to Universal Music Japan. – The trio switched from Tokuma, where they have been releasing music since 2005, to Universal.
Views: OK, now we are hitting the big stories. This is a huge step up for Perfume, as working under the Universal name gives them all sorts of new opportunities…and resources. They probably didn’t need it in Japan, but by now being in the Universal stable they will probably get an extra boost in promotion for future releases. More importantly, being backed by Universal makes the next news item possible.
News: Perfume launch new global site and YouTube channel – Visit the trio’s just-launched global site (which is just a fancy countdown right now, but has a pretty social-network design) here, or Perfume’s new YouTube channel.
Views: So Universal will try to push Perfume internationally. At the start, they are at least approaching this push the right way. Whereas some Japanese labels work overtime to remove YouTube videos featuring their artists, Universal at least has established a YouTube channel gathering the group’s music videos in one place and a global website that could serve as a hub for international Perfume fans. The next step…
News: Perfume to release last year’s JPN on the iTunes store in over 50 countries, including America, on March 6.
Views: …is to release the music internationally.
OK, lets drop the glorified bullet points for a second and focus on why Perfume might be pushed internationally now and if they have any chance to succeed. The timing makes sense – thanks to an appearance in Cars 2, some year-end list love and just an increase in people writing about the group online, Perfume has a decent fan base in place in America. Not huge, but definitely high for a group from Japan that is mostly unknown. Universal probably also sees the current wave of K-Pop groups trying to make inroads overseas and see a chance to sort of hook themselves to that scene – considering no J-Pop acts are actively courting American audiences outside of anime expos, Perfume would be smart to sort of hover around the Korean artists gunning for foreign success. Not to mention that the American charts are dominated by maximalist dance-pop songs, the sort Perfume have been releasing for half a decade now.
Now, do they have a chance of doing well? Well…how do you define success? Like Wonder Girls and Girls’ Generation, I don’t imagine Perfume reaching Lady Gaga-like levels of popularity. Yet I think all of those groups could attract niche audiences, the sort of fan base that no Asian pop act has managed to draw in the States to date. Paired with the potential of becoming the sort of hyper-pop embraced by critics (writers love Max Tundra, and Perfume aren’t that different than him) and the eternal “if it’s from Japan, people will be interested” clause, I could see Perfume having moderate success. All hinges on how they are promoted internationally, though.
It’s also nice to any Japanese pop act shooting for foreign success, instead of playing it safe with domestic sales. This should be fun to watch.
“It’s also nice to any Japanese pop act shooting for foreign success, instead of playing it safe with domestic sales. This should be fun to watch.”
Jin Akanishi is releasing an American album on March 6. Last time I checked, he was Japanese.
I hope you’re right and Perfume do attract a respectable audience stateside. They (and I mean the creative machine, too, including Yasutaka Nakata and Mikiko) deserve it and US pop would be better for it.
I do fear that America simply will not come to terms with Perfume’s music (or anyone’s, actually) being studio-based. That is to say, not reproducible live without studio input (backing tracks). Perfume have carefully honed their live presentation to astounding, diamond-cutter-like precision without – for the most part – singing live. And Japanese fans (and those with similar sensibilities) are content with the trade-off. I’m not sure Top 40 America can do the same.
As long as Universal’s expectations are reasonable and they’re in for the long haul, Perfume have a chance. Having worked for major record labels, I’d have to say that is extremely unlikely. I’d love to be proven wrong.
Love this blog post and the honest views. Indeed, one sleep and there are four major announcements from Perfume…
I do agree that it depends how you view success. The Ting Tings or The Cardigans were successful, but were they iconic and in-your-face like Lady Gaga? Nope. What I am hoping for is that they garner *respect* and *credibility* in a very, very niche audience that is not just a) otaku and b) not just horny males hot with an Asian girl fetish. I personally think they can gain this respect precisely because the current best-selling artists — with the exception of a few — seem to have totally abdicated the responsibility to make good original music. Good original music is the one thing YSTK has going for him. As long as he doesn’t run out of inspiration juice, Perfume will be revolutionary by being a hot but LISTENABLE (i.e. not immediately ridiculous like AKB48) pop group. In all honesty I’ve listened to 2NE1, SNSD and with no anti-Korean bias, do think Perfume has the edge on quality, even if they slip behind on hotness.
I would like Perfume to be like Pretty Lights or Seu Jorge; well-known and accessible but not for and by everyone. They should not do any stupid swimsuit shoots and should definitely not go around talking in Engrish. Seu Jorge barely ever talks in English and he gets by just fine, I expect Perfume to remain who they are.
What I am worried about is most americans will not accept them because they are foreign and their music is in japanese. Living here and being a huge perfume fan, i have come across many of my fellow americans that cannot accept japanese music because they cannot understand it. Yet, majority of those people listen to Rammstein without knowing a single thing he says. It’s probably because of how hard his stuff sounds, compared to perfume’s bubbly sound. And it is a real shame, and that is what has me the most worried. Other than that though, I do hope they find success, big success, but like said in the article, it probably won’t be anything grandeur than moderate.
Americans will love them. It doesn’t matter if you can’t understand the language the music transcends that. Music has always transcended barriers. To say Americans will not accept them because they are foreign is a terrible thing to say. I am American and I love their music. You make us sound like some uncultured ignorant people.