Perfume: Electro-pop Trio

Perfume (パフューム, Pafyūmu) 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 Actors 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 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 electro-pop or technopop.