is a Japanese pop girl group from Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, consisting of Ayano Omoto ("Nocchi"), Yuka Kashino ("KASHIYUKA") and Ayaka Nishiwaki ("a-chan"). The group has been signed with Amuse, Inc. since 2003 and with Universal Music Group since 2012.
The group was formed in early 2000 inside the Young Talent Academy Actor's School Hiroshima and debuted with their first Hiroshima-local single "Omajinai Perori" released on March 21, 2002. A year later they moved to Tokyo, started to work with Capsule's producer Yasutaka Nakata, and released their first nationwide indie single, "Sweet Donuts" on August 6, 2003. In 2005, they made a major contract deal with Tokuma Japan Communications and released their major debut single "Linear Motor Girl" on September 21.
It was not until 2008 when the group's seventh single "Polyrhythm", which was chosen as the theme song of a recycling campaign by NHK, that they started to receive major attention in Japan. The single peaked at number seven on the Oricon charts, becoming their first Top 10 single in Japan, and since then, all of their subsequent works starting with their eighth single "Baby Cruising Love" have debuted within the Top 5 of the charts.
Perfume's first original studio album, Game, released on April 16, 2008, became their first number one album in Japan, and "Love the World", released on July 9, 2008, became their first number one single. With roughly combined sales of both singles and albums, the group has sold over 5 million records.
The group was formed with an original post-Shibuya-kei sound and later transitioned toward contemporary electronic dance music that incorporated elements of synthpop, bubblegum pop, dance-pop, techno, and house music. The group is also known for their heavily processed vocals, making clever use of autotune, Harmony Engine, and vocoders. Over the years, Perfume has been one of the most successful acts in Asian music. The group's musical structure has been identified as technopop.
In 2012 the group announced that they had signed a global contract with Universal Music Group, and that they expected to expand their horizons and "go global". Their sixteenth major label single "Spending All My Time", released on August 15, 2012, was seen as a dedication to fans overseas. Their fourth studio album Level 3 was released on October 2, 2013, and was soon followed by "Sweet Refrain" a month after, serving as the lead single for their fifth studio album Cosmic Explorer, which was released on April 6, 2016, and selected as one of "20 Best Pop Albums of 2016" by Rolling Stone. Their sixth studio album Future Pop was released on August 15, 2018.
Name
Because Ayaka Nishiwaki ("a-chan"), Yuka Kashino ("KASHIYUKA"), and Yuka Kawashima ("Kawayuka") had the same Japanese kanji character for in their names, they named the group "Perfume" ( in Japanese). The original name was "ぱふゅ〜む" or "ぱふゅ→む" written in hiragana with thirteen strokes. Nishiwaki stated that they wished to follow the success of four-member dance group Speed (thirteen strokes in uppercase), who trained at Okinawa Actors School.
Due to Kawashima's exit and Omoto's entry, they gave a new meaning to this name. When asked why they chose it, Nishiwaki replied, "The fragrance of perfume can soothe your feelings or make you feel happy. We aspire to be such artists."
In spring 2003, they moved to Tokyo and joined the management agency Amuse, Inc. Then the management changed the group name to English. They wanted to keep the hiragana name associated with their heroines, Speed, but eventually acquiesced. Omoto later said, "The powers-that-be are scary."
History
2000–2003: Formation, early career development and local recognition in Hiroshima In 2000, Nishiwaki, Kashino, and Kawashima voluntarily formed the group inside young talent academy Actors School Hiroshima (ASH), which was run by TSS Production, a subsidiary of TSS-TV Co., Ltd. (formerly called Shinhiroshima Telecasting), and also had a deep relationship with the Tokyo-based management company Amuse Inc. Before the group could even debut, Kawashima decided to pull out of the project to focus on her studies (and later formed another group called Pinkies). Nishiwaki set out to find a replacement, and Ayano Omoto ("NOCCHi") joined as the third member. The three girls attended ASH as part of the inaugural class of 1999. While Kashino, Kawashima and Nishiwaki were all in the beginner's class, Omoto was in the advanced class for her vocal abilities.