Original subtitles

[footsteps approaching]

When you heard about covering Disney songs,

how did you feel?

I was surprised.

All of us love Disney songs so much,

that we often sing them in karaoke.

But I never imagined that we would cover their songs.

This was our dream come true.

We also have many favorites.

- [Kashiyuka] Right. - So, it was hard to pick songs.

It really was. It was so hard!

- A life-long debate! - I like this and that.

Over two days

Five original performances were produced

At two locations

This process tells

The story of PERFUME's music

- Hello. - Hello.

[A-chan] I never imagined that Perfume

would continue for 20 years.

Hello.

We've grown up together

and are still together at age 30!

When I think about it,

it's a miracle that

three of us are still able to perform together.

[people speaking indistinctly]

I'm hoping this miracle continues

until we become grandmas.

[Kashiyuka] You're ambitious!

[laughter]

We'll probably be together, won't we?

[A-chan] Sure!

[Nocchi] Still dance in high heels?

[A-chan] In high heels?

[Kashiyuka] It may be a bit...

- It'll be low heels. - [laughter]

[man] All right, let's begin.

[whirring, beeping]

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

[music playing]

[music continues]

Four, three.

Five, four.

Six, four.

One, four.

Four, three, five.

Four, six, four.

[vocalizing]

[music continues]

[singing]

[music playing]

[music ends]

Perfume's encounter with music

[A-chan] Music...

It must've been a long time ago.

In preschool, we sang at open house.

We kind of learned that music was about singing.

From Disney songs,

I may have cultivated

the feelings of what my favorites are.

The songs that you want to sing...

- [Nocchi] Mm-hmm. - That's what I felt.

A-chan, you soaked up a lot of Disney songs

during your childhood.

You even know songs that are super rare.

Everyone in your family had their own favorite.

That's right!

[A-chan] I remember! I loved Winnie the Pooh.

Everything was.

My little brother's favorite was Mickey.

My little sister's was Chip from Chip 'n Dale.

That's right. It's amazing!

[A-chan] Since my preschool or so.

Your first Disney movie

- My first... - I wonder which one it was.

[all] The first one?

My first one? Disney movies were there as far as I remember.

[both] Yeah.

The most memorable one is probably Cinderella.

- I see. - [Nocchi] Is that right?

[Kashiyuka] I watched it over and over, so I remember it well.

I've watched others, but my favorite was Cinderella.

Oh, it's cute.

I loved the scene when the mice and birdies

- make a dress together. - [Nocchi] Hmm.

[Kashiyuka] I watched it many times.

[A-chan] That scene is cute.

There's one mouse so greedy,

he carries stuff more than he can. Like this.

He tries so hard but drops all of them.

Yeah, it's Gus who did that.

It's Cinderella for you.

Yeah, I think so.

How about you?

I had a picture book at home!

That was Cinderella.

I clearly remember reading it.

- It's rare, isn't it? - Yeah.

How about you, A-chan?

I thought about it,

it's Aladdin.

[Kashiyuka] Aladdin, huh!

[A-chan] I dreamed about the magic carpet.

We had a little carpet at the entrance of the house.

- It was thick and similar. - [laughter]

I used to tap it and dreamed that it would fly.

Fluffing like this,

I wished it to move.

Then I was singing on the carpet.

Touched by the magic of music

- Hello. - Hello.

The girls dreamed about becoming artists someday

All singers on TV looked so shiny that

I wished I could become one.

My goal was to be a singer.

We all met at Actor's School.

We happened to be in the same school in Hiroshima

as its first students.

That's how we formed a unit.

[A-chan] Rapunzel!

So cute!

♪ And puzzles And darts and baking ♪

♪ Papier-mache, a bit of ballet And chess ♪

♪ Pottery and ventriloquy ♪

Cute!

♪ Candle-making ♪

♪ Then I'll stretch, maybe sketch ♪

♪ Take a climb, sew a dress ♪

[Nocchi] We loved all songs, so it was really, really tough

to pick our songs.

We wanted to sing this song,

but others wanted Perfume-like songs.

We still wanted our favorites.

We had many discussions.

"How about this song?" "I know the lyrics."

"This one goes like this..."

We could sing them all.

I'm glad we could decide.

- That's right. - Hmm.

♪ And so I'll read a book ♪

♪ Or maybe two or three ♪

[Kashiyuka] "When Will My Life Begin?"

It's the song from Tangled.

All three of us love this song.

[A-chan] That's right.

[Kashiyuka] It was a tough pick,

but it's a Perfume-like song.

[A-chan] It's a song about Rapunzel,

confined in the tower, she thinks of how she will spend the day.

"Brushing my long, long hair..."

"Despite many hobbies, I end up doing the same thing every day."

"How long will it continue? Can I see the lights on my birthday?"

It's a great song.

Doing the same thing all day, everyday, for so many years.

Would you be able to sing a fun song like that?

- You're right. - That's true.

Disney definitely gives us positive feelings.

Extremely cheerful feelings.

Even boredom can turn into a song.

Throwing her hair all around and swinging it and all!

[vocalizing]

♪ And puzzles and darts and baking ♪

♪ Papier-mach, a bit of ballet and chess ♪

♪ Pottery and ventriloquy, candle-making ♪

It was a different distance from the practice.

Yeah? Did she say that?

- The first verse, right? - [Mikiko] Yes.

How about the depth?

[Mikiko] To unify the depth, I asked Nocchi to step out.

If so, she'll be further back.

MIKIKO Director and Choreographer

Then, Nocchi, stay there.

- [Nocchi] Okay. - It was about the depth.

[A-chan] Ms. Mikiko was the first dance teacher

for Kashiyuka and me.

She taught all of our dance classes.

Because of her, we came to love dance.

Her teaching style made us want to become better and better dancers.

We've been affected by her so much.

[Mikiko] One, two, three, four.

Five, six, seven, eight.

[singing]

Open the window.

You can smile, A-chan.

Here goes a mop.

Scrub, scrub...

Do the same part again.

[singing]

- [Mikiko] You guys are looking great. - [laughter]

[A-chan] Nocchi, when did you meet Ms. Mikiko?

[Nocchi] It was one or two years after I started to learn dance in school.

- [A-chan] Is that right? - [Nocchi] Yes.

[Nocchi] I used to just follow the choreographs

that I memorized.

After I started to learn from her,

I realized how much I couldn't dance.

I wanted to dance cool.

She made me realize that I love dancing.

[A-chan] Dance gives us a unique sense of accomplishment.

[music playing]

[Mikiko] From the beginning,

they had a dream to be successful in Tokyo.

I remember them practicing really hard.

Since they were 5th graders,

they've learned the basics of dance.

Their dance looks easy, even in their high heels.

But they have acquired all the skills

that professional dancers would have.

In addition, they can express their gentleness.

In that sense, professional dancers would approve of them

even through their strict eyes.

They have techniques that awe other dancers.

[all] Right hand, left hand, and tap, tap, tap...

So fun!

[A-chan] Did we have any difficult parts or

try to be creative?

[Kashiyuka] Unlike Perfume's ordinary choreography,

this dance was expressing a Disney heroine or princess.

It was fun having tomboyish choreography.

Like this move before doing laundry, it's not typical for Perfume.

Drawing like this...

It's showing her everyday life.

We make sure that our dance expresses the lyrics.

But in addition to that,

we expressed joy with our whole body this time.

I really enjoyed the dance.

[A-chan] Yeah, it was fun.

Seriously, I love Rapunzel!

So cute.

- Watching you guys is fun, too. - So great!

[woman] The lyrics, choreography, and the video in the back are in sync.

- Right. - So, it's wonderful to watch.

[Mikiko] There are things like dialogs

during the song.

I thought it would be fun to make a musical-like performance,

not a regular musical but in Perfume style.

I produced it with the image

of them being in the room from the movie.

[Nocchi] I love the hook of the song.

The music is the same,

but I love the second verse where we sang "I'm tired of it."

Right.

- It's dramatic. - Yeah.

She's repeating same routines in her life, which is fun yet boring.

- It's interesting. - Yeah.

There's a part where we sing, "And brush and brush my hair..."

We danced like brushing our hair, but your hair...

- Mine is short. - [A-chan] Not long enough.

So I was air-brushing.

Air-brushing?

I did it with real care.

I really want everyone to take a look.

When Will My Life Begin?

[music playing]

♪ Seven a.m., the usual morning lineup ♪

♪ Start on the chores And sweep till the floor's all clean ♪

♪ Polish and wax, do laundry And mop and shine up ♪

♪ Sweep again and by then It's, like, 7:15 ♪

♪ And so I'll read a book Or maybe two or three ♪

♪ I'll add a few new paintings To my gallery ♪

♪ I'll play guitar and knit And cook and basically ♪

♪ Just wonder when will my life begin? ♪

♪ Then after lunch, it's puzzles And darts and baking ♪

♪ Papier-mache, a bit of ballet And chess ♪

♪ Pottery and ventriloquy Candle-making ♪

♪ Then I'll stretch, maybe sketch Take a climb ♪

♪ Sew a dress! ♪

♪ And I'll reread the books ♪

♪ If I have time to spare ♪

♪ I'll paint the walls some more ♪

♪ I'm sure there's room somewhere ♪

♪ And then I'll brush and brush And brush and brush my hair ♪

♪ Stuck in the same place I've always been ♪

♪ And I'll keep wondering And wondering ♪

♪ And wondering And wondering ♪

♪ When will my life begin? ♪

♪ Tomorrow night ♪

♪ The lights will appear ♪

♪ Just like they do ♪

♪ On my birthday ♪

♪ Each year ♪

♪ What is it like ♪

♪ Out there where they glow ♪

♪ Now that I'm older ♪

♪ Mother might just let me go ♪

[man] Cut! Thank you.

[applause]

This is it for shooting.

Oh, it's done!

- [all] Thank you. - [indistinct chatter]

[Kashiyuka] Rapunzel wants to see and

step into the unknown world.

She expresses her feelings of courage.

- The song really expresses Rapunzel. - [A-chan] That's right.

[Kashiyuka] Our everyday dance gives us

courage to take the next step forward.

In that way, we share a similar sense.

Like Rapunzel escaped from the tower

From Hiroshima then to Tokyo

[A-chan] When we started to perform in Tokyo,

we were so confused.

We had live street performances

- in various places... - [Kashiyuka] Hmm.

...where we performed in front of people who had no interest in us.

From the beginning, we were tough in that sense.

We were toughening up.

During the time in Hiroshima, we grew stronger then.

- [A-chan] Right. - Already.

It was ordinary for us to perform for people

who weren't interested in us.

We had a tiny shred of hope,

like, being on the edge.

We were young but knew those things.

Each of us must've felt it.

Now we can think back and talk about it.

But at that time,

nobody said anything negative to each other.

Nothing.

Right.

We kept saying something positive...

to each other.

We discussed how to make things better.

If we said anything negative, even a word,

I felt that it would break us.

We were really standing at the edge everyday.

During a live performance, we recognized that one person was watching us.

Although there was nobody then, next week, there were two people watching.

The following week, three sat and watched us till the end.

While surely feeling this small joy,

we talked over what we could do next time.

We kept looking up and stayed positive.

That's right.

[laughter]

- Hello. - Hello.

- This studio is awesome. - I know.

Looking too cool.

The bathroom was too far.

Hello.

Oh, my God!

- [man] Hello. - [all girls] Hi.

Wow!

[man] Can you see the blue letters?

It's such a high ceiling.

[laughter]

[Nocchi] The turning point for Perfume.

[both] Hmm.

It's definitely... "Polyrhythm."

- Yeah. - Right?

It's no doubt. That song made us big.

[man] Here we go. Let's rehearse.

[music playing]

[Nocchi] We got various chances from that song.

Not only at the time of its first release,

but we got more chances many years later.

This song triggered us to be seen by many people.

It gave us many encounters.

[Kashiyuka] We were first on TV with this song, too.

[A-chan] We got to sing at several TV stations at that time.

- We felt grateful. - [Kashiyuka] Yeah.

The song was originally made for a commercial.

Yes, it was for recycling.

That's why the word "repeat" was in the lyrics.

The different rhythms slowly scatter yet come back to one.

[A-chan] Hmm.

Mr. Nakata came all the way

to our office.

YASUTAKA NAKATA Musician, DJ, Producer

He conveyed to us how this part of the song is cool.

That's how the interlude, "polyloop" and "polyrhythm," was created.

Because of that,

it made the song fresh.

- At first, I felt strange. - [both] Hmm.

I was shocked at first.

I can't get the rhythm.

Da-da-da...

Wait, which rhythm do we follow?

- That's how it went. - I know.

Now we can get it perfectly.

POLYRHYTHM

[singing]

[song continues]

[song ends]

[man] Cut. We'll review it.

Looks good. Thank you!

[A-chan] We have many memories with the song.

[Kashiyuka] It made us go into the world.

[A-chan] This song became featured in Cars 2.

We were really grateful for it.

Yes, I was surprised.

I never imagined that our voice would be in a Disney movie.

I was so thrilled.

I know. It's not like we asked them.

The director thought that

this song suits this particular scene.

It's a feeling, right?

It was fun to see how Japanese sights were seen.

- Yes. - Right.

The toilet flush scene was funny with the water spray.

[Kashiyuka] The director was most surprised by the toilets.

- [both] Right! - [laughter]

[Kashiyuka] Yeah, he said that!

[screaming]

When this song was decided for Cars 2,

we walked on the red carpet.

People called our name, "Perfume!" They said, "Kawaii!"

They also called each of our names over the fence.

How did they know that we would be there?

They asked us many times to come perform.

They said, "Please come to the U.S."

It was the most shocking thing ever.

Seeing them...

If they want us,

we need to perform abroad.

Then we decided to focus abroad, too.

[crowd cheering]

[A-chan] At the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin,

Rhizomatiks was to present their technologies.

They wanted to do it with Perfume.

That beat makes me nervous.

[Kashiyuka] When the intro plays, it makes us very nervous.

[A-chan] We do this song when we really need to win the audience.

[Nocchi] So, this one is very unique.

It's a unique nervousness.

[crowd cheering]

[A-chan] This is becoming our signature.

It's a new performance with technology.

[Kashiyuka] Not only us, but we performed with these transparent screens.

So, the location becomes important.

This is on top of what we do perfectly.

[man] Cut. Thank you.

Please review and make adjustments.

[Ishibashi] This system is for the song "Story."

Using these kinds of mobile screens made of mesh,

we project images and stage them.

MOTOI ISHIBASHI from RHIZOMATIKS Engineer, Artist

We can move this anywhere. This pink rectangular image stays

on the screen at any angle.

The images come from the projector over there.

Here's the mechanism.

You see the three balls there.

With those balls,

the motion capturing cameras on the ceiling track the movement.

Right up there, there are 24 cameras.

The infrared lights are shot from above,

which people can't see but the cameras do.

Using those 24 cameras, we can get the silver balls' locations.

That's how we detect where those mesh screens are.

Projection mapping is usually for walls and floors,

which don't move.

Images are projected fine once it's set.

I thought it would be fun

to do project mapping for moving objects like in their performance.

So this is how we do it.

[A-chan] We really love challenges.

We're fortunate to have many team members who enjoy these things.

So we get to try new things every year.

That's right.

[singing]

[A-chan] We were shocked to hear about Coachella.

You could say it was our dream.

We were too surprised and went like "Ohhh!"

We got so psyched!

We had an audience in the beginning.

But as our performance continued,

I could see more people gathering toward us,

drawn by our music.

[A-chan] It was such a precious experience.

What we think is cool also works in the world.

That experience made me realize that.

"Challenge" from now on

This is the first time CHALLENGER will be on TV.

Yeah.

Great.

[Kashiyuka] The song CHALLENGER gave us

the chance to meet Mr. Nakata for the first time.

Our manager was looking for a producer for us.

After hearing this song by Mr. Nakata,

we decided to ask him to produce it.

This song was our encounter.

So that was 16 years ago,

or maybe older.

It's about 16 years ago.

Now as for our new song,

he rearranged it and rewrote the lyrics.

So this song represents our beginning with him.

After 20 years since forming our unit,

I felt like being pushed forward or being kicked in the butt.

"You're still challengers. Go get it!"

I accepted his message like that through this song.

This song will definitely be a turning point for us.

- [woman] Is this a rehearsal? - [man] Yes.

[woman] Let's do it.

[music begins]

[man] Good. We'll review it.

[music playing on monitor]

[A-chan] The positioning looks bad.

There's more space this side.

Let's go measure it.

It's not equally spaced.

- You're right. - A little bit.

The center on the screen is different from our marks.

[Nocchi] You're right.

Can we get an iPad?

- Camera Five. - [Kashiyuka] Which one is it?

[man] This is the lower one.

[Nocchi] I see.

We stand on the mark,

but the spaces don't look equal.

[man] Oh, I see.

[Nocchi] Let's adjust the mark for the camera.

[man] Sure.

[A-chan] We look better being in the center of the LED.

[man] I agree.

The camera is adjusted to the LED.

So, it looks better if we position ourselves in accordance with it.

[man] Okay.

[A-chan] Do you have a measuring tape?

[man] Yes.

[speaking indistinctly]

[man] It was Camera Five.

- This line stayed. - Right.

- [Kashiyuka] About a fingernail size. - [man] Yeah.

- Let's adjust to it. - Sure.

[Kashiyuka] This time we made adjustments to the marks.

We couldn't help it.

It's usual for us.

We really care about details in live performances.

When it comes to videos, we want the spaces to look perfect.

We're supposed to stand evenly with the beautiful choreography.

So we want to look nice.

We were really detailed about it.

[A-chan] That's right.

This sync accuracy is our policy.

We don't want to spoil it since people work hard to make us look good.

We are the only ones on stage, but so many people are helping us.

We want to show our best performance.

[Nocchi] Right at the center.

[A-chan] Am I in the center?

Yeah, I'm in the middle.

[man] Okay.

Now, in five seconds. Four, three, two...

[singing]

[song continues]

[song ends]

[A-chan] Challenger.

What do we want to do?

We really care about our live performance.

I've been wanting to do live shows abroad

where we offer the same quality as our performances in Japan.

[A-chan] I agree.

I think

what we're performing is really cool,

touring in Japan.

It'd be nice if we could do it abroad.

I wish we could go to various places to perform.

Big music festivals.

Our dreams have grown bigger.

Here we go.

To the world of The Little Mermaid!

Hello.

To the Bigger world

- Hello. - Hello.

This is the song they chose

Triton is mad!

It'll be fun!

♪ Up where they walk Up where they run ♪

♪ Up where they stay all day In the sun ♪

♪ Wandering free Wish I could be ♪

♪ Part of that world ♪

[A-chan] When I first saw the choreography,

I thought she was a genius.

Ms. Mikiko, you're genius!

She asked us about our opinions and ideas.

She was wondering how to choreograph.

But she expressed the mermaid nicely!

In my life of choreography,

this was the most difficult job, taking time to come up with ideas.

It took time to get some answers.

Since they're mermaids, they can't stand and dance.

How can they dance without standing?

This is how the mermaids would be dancing

if they could stand.

Once I committed to this setting, my ideas started to flow.

[woman vocalizing]

[Mikiko] Watching the movie and videos of musicals on Broadway,

I tried to seek

how we can express them being on rocks.

They also need to look like they're in the ocean.

If they look like they're in the air, we won't feel the ground.

That's how I intended it.

Bring our legs over here and make us look like mermaids.

Swimming movements express the ocean waves.

I was really excited.

It was beautiful.

This is how we express it! So cute.

Yet, it was mixed with our contemporary dance moves.

Our usual moves like this...

Perfume-like dancing includes moving our heads side to side

and gesturing our hands.

It was well balanced.

- It was rare to dance barefoot. - Right.

Wasn't it our first time?

I think it was the first time.

We were flapping our feet in the dance.

I know they're my feet,

but it was fun to move them as a tail, feeling like Ariel.

Me, too. Disney has changed us.

- We love it so much. - Our feeling may be too strong!

We want to be that character.

So this is the box we used to dance with the Ariel's song.

[A-chan] That's right. We sat on the boxes.

We danced like this.

Don't you think we just sit easily like girls do?

You may think we just sit relaxed.

My leg is actually in the air.

It's been way up in the air like a dancer.

In the end, we show our legs a bit.

Oh, that's nice.

In the end.

Saying that I need feet, and singing, "Street!"

Then we go see the world with legs!

It's very dramatic.

PART OF YOUR WORLD

♪ Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? ♪

♪ Wouldn't ya think My collection's complete? ♪

♪ Wouldn't ya think I'm the girl ♪

♪ The girl who has everything? ♪

♪ Look at this trove Treasures untold ♪

♪ How many wonders Can one cavern hold? ♪

♪ Looking around here You'd think sure ♪

♪ She's got everything ♪

♪ I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty ♪

♪ I've got whozits and whatzits galore ♪

♪ You want thingamabobs I got 20 ♪

♪ But who cares, no big deal ♪

♪ I want more ♪

♪ I wanna be where the people are ♪

♪ I wanna see, wanna see 'em dancin' ♪

♪ Walkin' around on those... ♪

What do ya call 'em?

Oh, feet.

♪ Flippin' your fins You don't get too far ♪

♪ Legs are required For jumpin', dancin' ♪

♪ Strollin' along down a... ♪

What's that word again?

♪ Street ♪

♪ Up where they walk Up where they run ♪

♪ Up where they stay All day in the sun ♪

♪ Wanderin' free, wish I could be ♪

♪ Part of that world ♪

♪ What would I give if I could live ♪

♪ Out of these waters? ♪

♪ What would I pay to spend a day ♪

♪ Warm on the sand? ♪

♪ Betcha on land They understand ♪

♪ Bet they don't reprimand Their daughters ♪

♪ Bright young women Sick of swimmin' ♪

♪ Ready to stand ♪

♪ And ready to know What the people know ♪

♪ Ask 'em my questions And get some answers ♪

♪ What's a fire and why does it... ♪

♪ What's the word? ♪

♪ Burn? ♪

♪ When's it my turn? Wouldn't I love ♪

♪ Love to explore that shore up above?

♪ Out of the sea ♪

♪ Wish I could be ♪

♪ Part of that ♪

♪ World ♪

- [man] And... cut. Thank you! - [applause]

It was good.

[man] This is all for shooting.

Thank you!

Thank you.

Thank you.

It was so fun!

It was so good!

We really felt like we were Ariel.

I know!

We've watched Ariel since childhood,

and everybody knows this song.

We're so grateful to be able to perform it.

Ariel can't go far with her tail.

So, she needs legs.

Well, we have legs.

In terms of seeing the world, we're much closer than Ariel.

So we want to go out and see the world.

Disney really has a special charm.

I've been always dressing in boyish clothes.

That's been my style.

But when we were singing Ariel and Rapunzel,

I started to want to wear skirts.

I found myself wanting to be like a princess

somewhere deep down inside me.

It was such a discovery.

And becoming a new "me" was such a fun experience for me.

I felt that during the performance.

It was fun to discover a new side of Perfume.

It was so much fun!

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it.

I got to work with people who truly love Disney and music.

Working together and creating this kind of work

is really rewarding.

It made us feel more alive.

Over these two days, I realized that

there are so many things we still haven't done.

I realized that we can do more.

There are challenges that we want to do, yet haven't...

We want to try those things.

It's okay to try new things.

Both "When Will My Life Begin?" and "Part of Your World" describe

girls wanting to step out to the new world.

The songs depict a longing towards freedom.

We really gained a lot of power from the songs.

STORY, POLYRHYTHM, CHALLENGER

WHEN WILL MY LIFE BEGIN PART OF YOUR WORLD