The QCD axion is a well-motivated candidate for dark matter. For one of the two cosmological histories for this candidate, the pre-inflationary scenario, the PQ symmetry is not restored after inflation and the abundance depends on the initial value of the axion field. Depending on the inflationary Hubble rate, this scenario can be constrained by the strong limits on its (isocurvature) perturbations on large scales. I will discuss how this constraint is naturally evaded when the quartic coupling of the complex U(1)_PQ field is small and its vev is enhanced during inflation, and how this solution is not jeopardised by parametric resonance over a significant portion of parameter space. The common lore, that isocurvature is a potential downside of the pre-inflationary axion, might be less stringent than what is commonly thought.