Perfume - Spice
Spice - Fun (featuring Missy Elliot)

A song called “Spice”, and a song by an artist called Spice. It’s a strange coincidence that two of my favorite pop jams of 2011 share this common theme of spiciness, considering I’m probably one of the least spicy people on the planet. Nevertheless, that’s just the way things worked out!

As someone who’s not familiar with the J-pop scene, the production on Perfume‘s “Spice” sounds thoroughly bonkers. It’s unlike anything you’d hear on mainstream US radio stations, more akin to the current crop of “indie” electro-pop. Imagine if Passion Pit, or more recent bands who’ve occasionally been known to rip off of Passion Pit (ex: Foster The People, The Naked and Famous), were given their own girl group to work with. That’s what “Spice” would sound like! Or, more likely, that equation would just result in something like this or this, which makes producer Yasutaka Nakata‘s work all the more impressive. Long story short? This is brilliant.

Meanwhile, Spice‘s “Fun” could easily be dismissed as a less-than-revolutionary, mindless booty jam. To which I ask, is that necessarily a bad thing? This is, without doubt, the most exciting thing Missy Elliot‘s done since Trina‘s “I Got A Bottle”, even if it leaves something to be desired in the lyrical department. These may all come off as back-handed compliments, but I cannot stress how much “Fun” makes me want to dance like this. Seriously! You should check your pulse if you don’t want to break it down whilst listening to this song. You are probably dead.

Now that I’ve implied anyone who doesn’t enjoy Spice is a walking zombie, I encourage you all to click through and watch the music videos for these two songs:

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