This morning was kickstarted with a nice surprise from synth-pop trio Perfume, announcing the launch of their all-new “All Time Favorites” playlist on Spotify. While streaming services such as Soundcloud made it easier than ever before for me to hear what my favorite indie musicians are listening to, thanks to the inclusion of repost functionality, it never really dawned on me that I didn’t know what my favorite major musicians were listening to.
The entire playlist is filled with a number of different songs, the earliest added of which would be Hikaru Utada’s incredible story of first love, “Hatsukoi”. Unsurprisingly, the playlist is largely filled with a number of top-performing Western releases, with both Ariana Grande and Bruno Mars receiving multiple spots on their playlist. Described by Perfume as “what we listen to backstage before a show”, the selection sees the inclusion of a majority downtempo grooves.
While it’s uncertain as to whether or not Perfume will regularly be updating this playlist over time, it’s cool to see the trio put something like this together. While I’ve always mindlessly listened to the group on Spotify, I almost had to do a double-take today when I checked over their profile to see if their entire catalog was available for streaming — by the way, it totally is, and anyone who has tried listening to major artists on any streaming platform will understand my surprise.
We’ve been seeing curated playlists from a handful of creators in the West for quite some time, so it’s definitely exciting to see Perfume jump on board. While I don’t know how much I’ll be listening to the playlist as it stands right now, I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on it to see if there’s anything that really clicks. After all, you really do have to believe in your favorite musicians’ recommendations. Those interested in keeping up with the “All Time Favorites” playlist, be sure to check it out here.