English Translation of Ongaku to Hito 2013. 04. 音楽と人2013年4月号英訳
This is what I translated in 2013 on Perfume City Forum.
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This is an article about Perfume's first single in 2013, Mirai no Museum.
The article consists of personal interviews of A-chan, Kashiyuka and Nocchi.
For today, here's the interview of A-chan.
Perfume
Their new single “Mirai no Museum”, is the theme song of “Doraemon the movie, Nobita & the Secret Item Museum”.
My impression for this song is, that they approached popular side pretty much, with techno-pop elements still remaining.
What do the 3 think about releasing this track at this timing? From 3 personal interviews of A-chan, Kashiyuka and Nocchi, we searched the present status of Perfume. They are still on their way of the dream.
A-chan
I wonder, “Why do you guys get excited at a person like me? I don’t have enough caliber or confidence to receive your loves. I have nothing.”
- It might be a bit old event to look back, but can you tell me about your impression about the world tour?
A: Well…, I was so happy to archive what people had been telling us like “Come on! You should do that!”. For me, it was something so faraway that I didn’t think I could make it. But many people gave us a lot of supportive pushes saying “Perfume can make it in the world!”. So, Being able to make it was such a happy thing to me. And I could also realize that there’re a lot of people who believe in us. That also made me thankful.
- One of your dream came true?
A: I think we could take one step ahead. Dream is unmeasurable, but what I feel now is Perfume became bigger than what I had dreamed to be. Perfume-san is far beyond my imagination, LOL! So recently, I feel we’re working on our activities to archive what I would feel grateful for Perfume to do if I were a fan, rather than doing what I want to do.
- That means?
A: Well, as I often say, we’re nothing but 3 clunky dumbheads. We were able to go global because we could work with a lot of talented people. But when people like us went global, so many people felt happy saying “They made their dreams come true!” and there also were people who doesn’t even understand our language waiting for us. The more they need and love us, the more anxious I become and I sometime feel that I’m not a great person aworthy to receive those things.
- So you feel as if Perfume is beyond your imagination.
A: Yes. Since I was in a primary school, I’ve been told that I have to have a big dream without knowing what it was really like to be a singer . So, I was determined to be a famous, leading entertainer. I thought that was the right thing. The more I find people who try to know about Perfume, the more thankful I become. But at the same time, I wonder, “Why do you guys get excited at a person like me? I don’t have enough caliber or confidence to receive your loves. I have nothing.”
- Your strength to believe in dream is something great enough. And people feel something about that point, I think.
A: It’s my pleasure if people feel so. That’s why I want to give something back to them. As I don't write lyrics and things like that, I can’t reflect my emotions on that point. So my feeling I’d like to convey just overflows from me and spills out. No wonder MC part becomes longer and longer.
- That’s right.
A: When we sang in small venues, there was no problem with it.
- Because all you aimed was to be famous, mega-sellers.
A: But after being allowed to sing in large venues, the number of people who works with us started to increase. Each of them have their different images of Perfume and they all love the images they have. So, I’d like to respond to those loves, and I want everyone who works with us to enjoy working with us. But nowadays, what I'm required to do is so varied that I’m quite puzzled. I’m like “Oh, something is wrong. We used to be headed in the same direction together. Why did it become like this now?” In this kind of points, I feel that Perfume has became something big. So I’m a bit scared to speak. Sometime, I wonder whether I shoul prepare what to speak. Well, for now I’m talking just as I want to, though, LOL!
-Thanks.
A: Up until now, I’ve been thinking that speaking freely is the best thing. But now, I think like “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t talk about this”, “it might not sound as I meant”, “Maybe there’s better way to talk about this” and so on. With those thoughts, I can’t speak at all. Maybe I’m worrying too much. But for me, worrying too much might be moderate. But in Asia tour, I thought I wouldn’t have been able to convey anything if I hesitated. So I watched the videos of our shows again and again and again.
- You thought you had to show the best image of Perfume?
A: Hmm… It was our first Asia tour, so it was like our self-introduction concert. To show what Perfume is. I wanted the live concert to be something they can understand everything about us by simply watching it. So I brought back to my memory and watched the videos of “GAME” era and the concert in Astro-Hall.
- So you harked back your memory.
A: Yes. In some parts, I felt like “It would have been better if we did this part like this” or “Oh my god, was I really OK with that costume!?” and so on, LOL! But the video was full of pure passion to entertain audiences. So I tried not to forget that passion when I stood on the stage. But the excitement of audiences were far more amazing than I imagined, so we were desperate to simply reflect it, LOL! So, the world tour was not only a new challenge, but also the shows to look back our past.
- That’s why you realized how big Perfume has became now?
A: Yes. It’s such a delightful thing, though.
- So, in this timing, you released “Mirai no Museum”. You might be able to realize the bigness you mentioned with how max-out this song is.
A: Yeah, max-out to the pop song side, right? A popular pop song played in a living room♪.
- I am so interested how you felt about the song.
A: I think it’s quite a waste if Perfume is only headed for hard-core kind of direction. So once again I realized that I want Perfume to be at the center of J-POP.
- Yes. This song is the theme song of Doraemon movie, which is famous in all over Japan.
A: SPEED once sang the theme song of Doraemon. It was such a mature, grown-up song. I thought even SPEED sang a song like this when it came to the theme song of Doraemon and I longed to be like them. When I watched them singing, I felt like “Oh, they’re like the lady singers in the kid’s show!”. So, I thought I might be able to help kids in the younger generation realizing their dreams just like I yearned to be like them. Thinking about it got me so excited.
- There’re not many people who don’t like Doraemon.
A: During our interviews, there were a lot of questions about Doraemon, like “A-chan, what do you want Doraemon to take out from his pocket?”, LOL!. When interviewers asked about those questions, they all looked as if they became children again. When I listened to the track for the first time, I thought “Oh gosh! This song really approaches to the world-view of Doraemon so much! Is this really OK?”. But I found Nakata-san was also a big fan of Doraemon, LOL!
-Ha ha ha!
A: He knows so much about those Doraemon movies! Usually, he doesn’t care about those back grounds and coolly gives us suggestions from a different point of view. But this time, the track he came up with was so straight that we were quite surprised like “What the hell happened to you, Nakata-san!?”. I found his stance for this song was to face the theme of Doraemon head-on, rather than fending it off. That rocks, LOL! I was so delighted to see that.
- I see. This song is something people would say “This song is made for Doraemon!”
A: We hadn't have a song as full of beautiful lyrics and pure happiness as this song. I think it’s a message from Nakata-san telling us that Perfume is now capable of singing this kind of song with straightforward lyrics.
- Do you have any anxiety for releasing this kind of song?
A: Actually, I feel this song is close to myself. When I was a child, I often sang a song that has profound lyrics without knowing what it really meant. Everyone does that kind of stuff, I guess. I believe there should be a meaning for us to sing this straightforward song now, after turning to a grown-up and experiencing many things. Like the meaning of Mr. Kazuyoshi Saito(*1) sings a very hopeful song. I feel that Perfume of today can do things like this. I mean, we might now be in a position for doing those stuffs.
But without audiences who knows what we have been through and believes in us, this song will be nothing but a boring song people let go in through one ear and out the other, LOL!
(*1) Popular Japanese singer who collaborated with Perfume in Perfume FES 2013
- Like “OK, Perfume has snuggled up to those plain pop songs, they’re done”? I see.
A: This song has turned out to be like this because a big theme called Doraemon came at the very first step. And then thought went on, “what would Perfume do for the theme song if they take it [conversely]?”, “what if they take the theme [conversely] in a straightforward way?” and so on. Those [conversely] thoughts piled up to make this very, very straightforward song.
- So, you mean it does sounds bright, straightforward song with great generality. But behind that, it retains various emotional swings like A-chan revealed now.
A: Exactly. Because it contains those stuffs, people still feel something about this song despite its straightforwardness.
- And for B-side, the track that is not straightforward at all is recorded.
A: Ha Ha! It’s like Kyary-chan’s song has come to our side by mistake, isn’t it? But we and she are pretty different even though we are at the same age of 23. She’s a kind of person who would say “Daijobanai”, but we’re definitely not the type of people using that kind of vocabularies, LOL!
- It’s the difference between a fashionable city-bred girl grew up in Harajuku and clunky girls from Hiroshima, right?
A: That’s too true! We were called “the Sobersides” when we were in school. We were so strict about school rules that we kept our skirts long enough to touch our socks. And when we had to elected class officers, we were kind of people who went like “Hmm…, …Ok, I’ll do it” while everyone else didn’t want to do that and just kept quiet. Honestly, I’m not used to this kind of phrase so I was just surprised. I wondered if it’s suits me to say this, whether it sounded true when I say this and whether I could get to audience’s heart. But Nakata-san knew how we felt very well. So he said “Oh, the lyrics are like this, but the sound is cool. So don’t worry”, LOL!
- You have just mentioned about Kyary Pamyu-Pamyu, so I’d like to ask you about this. Recently, there’re increasing number of people working on to idol or music activities with an attitude same as what Perfume have been through. How do you think about them? Do you feel any rivalry against them?
A: Rivalry? Well, actually no. I'm more like “Wow! That’s so sweet! I wanna see it more!”. I’m totally watching them from the fan’s point of view, LOL! Well, for recent example, new members have joined to Morning-musume and their new dance routine consisting of insane formation changes is amazing! I was so thrilled to watch it. While watching, I was like “This is awesome!! I wanna do this kind of stuff!!”
- Perfume’s 2013 starts with this single. Do you have any goals?
A: Last year, we had done various things. We experienced our first world tour, too. So this year, I’d like to try something we & Japanese audience can have fun together. As I am a Perfume fan myself, I sometimes tended to think too much about things like “What would I want Perfume to do next if I were a fan?”, “What should I do next?” and “What would I want to see Perfume doing?”. There was a moment I couldn’t enjoy with my head full of those thoughts. Audiences can’t enjoy unless we enjoy. And if I keep on thinking too much about them, they might regard me as a heavy person, LOL!
- Right, you've got to have some fun!
A: I will, LOL! I love that “perform & leave” kind of things at other people’s show, LOL! So I’d like to try various things such as performing at those events, holding joint gigs and doing something with little kids. Originally, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, so I love to involve with kids and it’s makes me so happy. I’m hoping to hold some events or lives with them. Of course, I want to hold lives in Europe & the States. But at the moment, I’d like to enjoy my personal dreams.
-End of Translation-
