Culture

Artist Perfume Celebrates 25 Years with an Exhibition, New Album, and Tour

On August 8, Perfume members unveiled a retrospective exhibition in Toranomon Hills, their new album "Nebula Romance: Part I," and plans for a Japan tour.

Published

3 weeks ago

August 22, 2024

Arielle Busetto

Perfume members pose in the first room of the exhibition celebrating their 25th anniversary at Toranomon Hills (© JAPAN Forward).

Perfume, one of Japan's best-known trios, is pulling out all the stops to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The artists call themselves a-chan, KASHIYUKA, and NOCCHi. They are just in their thirties but they started their musical careers as teenagers in Hiroshima.

They have since become one of the most popular Japanese groups of all time, selling out world tours, an the first J-pop band to perform at Coachella in 2019.

In honor of the milestone anniversary, they have an exhibition called Perfume Disco-Graphy: 25 years of History and Miracles (25年の軌跡と奇跡 in Japanese). It is in Tokyo from August 9 to October 14, 2024. The venue is Tokyo Node, which is on the 45th floor in the trendy downtown complex Toranomon Hills by Mori Building Company.

On August 8, the future-pop sensation spoke to reporters ahead of the opening of the exhibition dedicated to their career.

Reflecting on their success, a-chan expressed her gratitude to fellow artists during a group interview. Dipping slightly into a playful local dialect, she said: "The main thing I'd like to say is: this team is truly awesome (honma ni sugoi hito)."

KASHIYUKA also looked back on their career, explaining at the media event: "When we first started in Hiroshima over 25 years ago, we never guessed that we would be here so many years later."

*Perfume Disco-Graphy: 25 years of History and Miracles promises an all-immersive experience (© JAPAN Forward).*

25 Years of J-Pop: Exhibition Highlights

As the Perfume members hinted, it's rare for a J-pop group to have such wide-reaching success for more than 25 years.

The retrospective exhibition offers the chance to look back on key moments in the artists' careers.

Tokyo Node uses its over 1,500 square meters of venue space to take visitors through the musical journey of Perfume.

Upon entering, visitors are welcomed by statue-like representations of the artists. Several meters in height, each figure is made out of 1,200 white golf ball-sized spheres. Laser rays are projected on the balls, resulting in a mosaic of color and lights.

The second room projects a video recounting the group's top performances. In the middle of the room, shelves display hundreds of high-heeled shoes worn during performances over the years.

*A room featuring high-heeled shoes Perfume used during their performances. (© JAPAN Forward)*

Memorabilia and Memories

KASHIYUKA reflected in the group interview that those shoes felt like a physical representation of their career, and held a special emotional significance for them. "They [the shoes] became so tightly connected with our image that we would never do a live performance without them. Looking at the heels now, it's moving. It makes me feel the passage of time, I can remember what shoes we used at different periods."

Perfume has a reputation for introducing technology in their performances, including the innovative use of light, streaming, and more. Appropriately, a middle room offers an immersive experience of feeling like a Perfume stage. It is filled with projections, lasers and platforms where visitors can imagine they are singers themselves.

*Memorabilia from Perfume's first years. (© JAPAN Forward)*

Another room presents plenty of memorabilia, including pictures and old posters. This is where fans can relive the group's early days and follow its path to success.

In the preceding press conference, KASHIYUKA highlighted that the exhibition offered a rare opportunity for the performers to see their careers from a different perspective. "When we perform, we can't enjoy what the event looks like from the outside. So it was really exciting for us too to see for the first time so many moments of our past."

*Perfume has developed over the years a reputation of linking music and technology. (© JAPAN Forward)*

New Album

A highlight of the exhibition includes a room where visitors can enjoy a pre-release first-listen to the group's new song, "IMA IMA IMA." Its upbeat, futuristic sound is quintessentially Perfume.

The song will be part of the album Nebula Romance: Part I, which will be released digitally on September 20 and on CD on October 30, according to the announcements.

Once again, this latest album is the work of producer Yasutaka Nakata, who has collaborated with the trio since 2003. Looking back at the creative process, KASHIYUKA explained that it was the first time producer Nakata had such a clear idea for the album. "He came to us with a clear vision of creating a two-part album. And the songs were already prepared. I was so surprised," she said.

NOCCHi also sent a message to fans that there is much to be excited about with the new album. "It's a really interesting concept album, so I hope you will all listen to it."

Tour Ahead

Together with the exhibition and the new album, the artists also announced a new domestic tour. It's called Perfume 10th Tour Z0Z5 "Nebula Romance" Episode 1. Starting from December 2024, Perfume will be touring 11 regions and performing 23 concerts around Japan.

Perfume members said they were particularly excited about the countdown live performance on December 31, 2024, in Kanagawa Prefecture. "It's always an honor when fans decide to spend such an important moment with us, at the end of the year," said a-chan.

*Perfume members KASHIYUKA, a-chan and NOCCHi speak to reporters on August 8 (© JAPAN Forward).*

A Message for Overseas Fans

Nothing has been announced regarding an international tour. Yet, Perfume said they are enjoying their performances abroad and hope to do more.

Following the group's recent tour of Asian countries, KASHIYUKA said: "We have just come back from our tour in Asia [Perfume 'COD3 OF P3RFUM3 ZOZ5' Asia Tour 2024]. We hadn't been in Hong Kong for more than 12 years. For Shanghai, we hadn't performed there in 5 years. We were told 'Please don't wait that long again!'"

She added, "We all agreed that we wanted to perform more regularly abroad."

Furthermore, a-chan reflected the confidence they gained in their performance style from performing abroad.

"I feel that overseas fans have made us realize more strongly how beautiful the Japanese language is. Fans want to learn it, and they sing it along with us. There are parts that we would sing English words in katakana [the Japanese phonetic alphabet], and fans think that is beautiful."

The artists have since started producing T-shirts with Perfume written in katakana, a-chan added.

NOCCHi also exuded confidence gained from the artists' experience of performing abroad. Comparing it with the initial uneasiness of performing when it wasn't clear if the overseas crowd knew their songs, now they knew what to expect.

"I feel that we have finally got the hang of how to communicate with our foreign audiences," she said with a smile.