Perfume is a Japanese pop girl band from Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, consisting of Ayano Ōmoto (“Nocchi”), Yuka Kashino (“Kashiyuka”) and Ayaka Nishiwaki (“A~chan”). The band was formed in the year 1999 with Kashiyuka and A~chan (both Actor’s School Hiroshima students at the time) plus another ASH student named Yuka Kawashima (“Kawayuka”).

In 2001, Kawayuka left Perfume to focus on her studies, being replaced by Amuse Audition 2000 grand prize winner Nocchi (another ASH student at the time) and resulting in the band’s current long-lasting lineup. One year later, in 2002, Perfume’s first ever singles – “Omajinai Perori” and “Kareshi Boshuuchuu” – were released to local audiences in Hiroshima Prefecture, with all three members moving to Tokyo and signing with Bee-Hive the year after, where they started being produced by Yasutaka Nakata for all releases from the “Sweet Donuts” single onwards.

In 2005, Perfume got signed to a major label named Tokuma Japan Communications, under which “Linear Motor Girl” (the first single in the band’s “Near Future Trilogy”) would receive a nationwide release and peaked at #99 on the Oricon weekly charts. Perfume’s breakout, however, would occur with the 2007 single “Polyrhythm”, which was used in an NHK campaign promoting the use and purchase of recyclables the same year – since then, most of the band’s releases have peaked within the top 10 of the Oricon weekly charts, with “love the world” especially becoming its first ever single to peak at #1 on those charts.

MTV Iggy has said: “There are a few reasons why Perfume is one of Japan’s most thrilling pop acts. For one thing, there’s the music, which is an infectious batch of chart-topping melodies built upon a foundation of intricate maximal house production that would give Daft Punk a run for their money, with heavily processed vocals that stutter robotically yet always sound 100 percent human. On top of that, they have an impeccably designed retro-futuristic image and punishing, innovative choreography that they nevertheless render effortless. Where all of this truly comes together, of course, is on stage.”