secret
Before, when I started listening to Koda Kumi’s work, I was more drawn to her modern work and her grow into one album due to its success through a game I had, Final Fantasy X-2. I was never really drawn to secret despite the constant compliments done by fans, I felt like it was too noisy. When I was looking at her secret tour, I fell in love with Chase because of its really pop energy mixed with a beautifully incessant saxophone that plays through basically the whole song. I looked more into her secret era and it was more of time in Kumi’s career when she was revealing her image as a controversial singer, wearing less clothes and making her music videos more provocative, while her concerts went beyond that, even. She even created a new style, the ero-kawaii style, literally meaning erotic-cute, as she named it herself. This made her stand out to the audience, but not only for her clear sex appeal, but also for her talent as a performer and singer. For secret, Kumi also revealed another talent of hers, that of songwriting! Making her fans more than satisfied.
Before, the only two songs I listened to were キューティーハニー (Cutie Honey) and 24, キューティーハニー being a pop song, it grew on me easily but grew out of me just as easily and I left it alone for a while. 24 is a beautiful R&B ballad that I fell in love with from the start. It’s really romantic, her voice is soft and beautiful, displaying her vocal range. Now, my two favorite songs off the album are 奇跡 (Kiseki; Miracle) and Chase. This album was quite a discovery for me, since at first listen it was so noisy to me.
奇跡
At first, I found 奇跡 to be just one more of these boring ballads, but being a huge ballad fan, I had to take a closer listen. The song didn’t impress me much until the first verse and chorus. The backing vocals are amazing, really completing the song with its softness, and the growing range of instruments and sudden explosion of beautiful sound just made me fall in love with it.
While I was getting used to the song, something that completely wow-ed me was the use of the whistle register for the song. I’m a huge fan of the whistle register because I think it’s so beautiful, and when I heard Koda doing it, I just fell in love with 奇跡. It became my favorite ballad of the album, followed by 24. Kumi certainly has the ability to create many ballads and still have them be really distinct, beautiful and always refreshing to listen to.
Chase
Chase, on the other hand, is a really good pop song, almost like a mixture of Butterfly (But Butterfly has a more “polished” feel, with less going on through the song) andキューティーハニー. The music video is really beautiful and fun and makes the song have a really good vibe because of the pink tones and the fun choreography.
I love saxophones, and whenever I listen to songs that include lively, melodic saxophones, I fall in love with it. It’s what happened to Mandy Moore’s I Feel The Earth Move and Chase was no different, beginning with a beautiful, fun saxophone and ending with it even more lively and beautiful. The song blends elements of pop and jazz to make a mixture that I’ve never listened to before outside Koda’s work.
At first, I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the song since it had many intruments at once and it contributed to my first impressions of secret, but as I saw her performance for her secret tour, I noticed that it was a really good pop song, I just didn’t give proper attention to it, and the video adds an extra vibe to it that makes it just so much more fun.
奇跡 and Chase might be really different but they go really well together because of that contrast in a really good pop album, secret!
To kick off the year with an interesting post about an interesting young lady, I present the one and only miss Koda Kumi, creator of the ero kawaii (Erotic cute) fashion style and the woman responsible for the rotten amniotic acid scandal. She will be releasing her 7th studio album, TRICK, on January the 28th, nearly one year after her 7th studio album.
Last year, on January the 30th, Kingdom was released, Koda Kumi’s 6th studio album. After the success of Black Cherry, Kingdom was expected to be quite promising, but unfortunately, while some fans loved it, others didn’t like it that much. I happen to love Kingdom for its variety of genres and Kumi’s vocals are amazing. It’s also less bubble gum than Black Cherry.
After the 2008 scandal, when Kuu-chan revealed that she wanted to have children before she was 35 because the amniotic fluid that surrounds ovaries of women above 35 is rotten, it got a lot more attention than anything else she would have said. This caused many of her fans to stop purchasing Kingdom and stop liking her. After this, Kumi had to pick herself up, and after many apologies, she came back to the studio and her first single since the scandal was Moon Crying, a sad ballad. Pretty appropriate for what was going on.
The single had lukewarm feelings from fans, but most listeners appreciated that she took her time to release a ballad, and not another single like BUT or FREAKY. From then, she started becoming her old self and released TABOO then another ballad, stay with me. Both these singles received very good fan responses and both are very good, distinct singles that show very different genres, but still connected by Kuu-chan’s awesome style. These singles originated a glimpse of TRICK.
Many listeners are curious for her new album and I believe she’s back and she’s rockin’! She looks wonderful (Especially with short hair), she sounds wonderful, and she talked about how TRICK will be promoted with a great tour, that she was thinking about how she would present herself on stage while recording each track.
For my birthday, I’m ordering her entire discography, just like last year with Utada Hikaru, but this time, I’m ordering it with expresso shipping so it won’t arrive 2 months after its actual planned arrival date. I’ll also pre-order TRICK (That will be released one day after my birthday) and be checking out her PVs (Music videos) and a few of her concerts. I’m really excited!
Filed under: About Me, Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, Pop Culture, Tila Tequila, Utada Hikaru
Hikki Promoting HEART STATION
Japanese Music
My favorite music genre is R&B, even when it comes to Japanese music! I love the versatility of Japanese artists, though. They’re not afraid to experiment with their voices and sing to different genres, but when an R&B-inspired song shows up, I melt. Of course, I love ballads, some rock, electronic music, and the distinct style that each of the Japanese artists adds to their work.
Of course I don’t stick to only one genre, the versatility of Japanese music always bring freshness, even when it’s not in my area of interest, and while I love songs like Fight The Blues, by Utada Hikaru, I also go crazy over 本能 (Honnou/Instinct) by Shiina Ringo. They’re really different artists, but each of them have their style.
Utada Hikaru: Hikki is my all-time favorite singer, Japanese and American. There isn’t one song by her that I don’t love and I’m sure I’ve listened to all of them enough times to memorize parts of the song, even though it’s in Japanese. Her voice is really strong and different, and so is her music. This is what made her one of the most accomplished artists not only in Japan, but also in the world. Her style ranges from electronic pop to ballads, from rock to R&B, and I love it, it’s always refreshing. Her latest album, HEART STATION, is incredible and, according to Rolling Stone magazine, her most heartwarming record. For being all that she is (Beyond words), she’s in my heart!
Koda Kumi: Kuu-chan is very different from other JPop singers. She is known for her really urban music, and her voice is also really distinct and amazing. She has always been quite controversial in Japan with her lyrics and performances, but she’s trying more styles now and has many ballads out along with her original style. She always has lots of upbeat songs and her dances are very elaborate and fun. I’d label her as the Japanese Britney Spears. Her songs are also really refreshing!
Ayumi Hamasaki: Basically, the Madonna of Japan. I think that these days, Ayu has been sticking a lot to rock songs, and that’s not quite my style, but songs like talkin’ 2 myself and Mirrorcle World are just amazing. I’m still adapting to her style, and while there are a few songs that I don’t enjoy that much, there are some that I can’t stop listening to! Lately, she lost her hearing for her left ear, but she says that she’s going to continue singing!
Shiina Ringo: She’s really incredible. Her voice is really high-pitched and her music ranges from jazz to rock. She also sings some enka (Enka is traditional Japanese music). Her 本能 single has to be one of the best I ever heard in my life. While 本能 itself is a great song, with rock and jazz mixed together, the other two songs in the single (あおぞら [Blue Sky] and 輪廻ハイライト [Rebirth Highlight]) are all about the jazz and have beautiful arrangements with the saxophone, piano, and are really relaxing and addicting. I love her style.
Ami Suzuki: Ami Suzuki is a singer that is really different from any other I’ve listened to. She has her own distinct style, and doesn’t sing much R&B, actually, she sticks to ballads and more electronic pop music. Normally, it’s not what I’d listen to, but her voice and everything about her is amazing. I love her albums CONNETTA and DOLCE, they’re the best for the distinct music they contain, with many different genres per track. I also love where she’s heading with the single can’t stop the DISCO.
American/European Music
Xtina Promoting Keeps Gettin' Better
R&B was brought in the United States, so I couldn’t not love the originators of this type of music. Yesterday I was listening to Wonderful by Aretha Franklin, and it’s so good, I love it. It’s a pretty recent song (From 2003), and I wish that this type of music would be created more often.
Christina Aguilera: I love versatility, and Christina Aguilera always brings it. She always seems to change her image for every album she has released, and along with this change, she brings a new genre, a new style. This is what happened to Stripped, Back To Basics, and it’s what’s happening to Keeps Gettin’ Better. She focuses mainly on R&B, but lately she’s been experimenting more with electro-pop, her music is similar to Ami Suzuki’s, even. It’s only natural when her inspiration this time is Tokyo. I’ve been loving Christina’s music ever since 1999, but have considered myself a fan since 2005.
Amy Winehouse: It’s impossible not to love Amy’s music. She brings a different kind of R&B, sometimes mixed up with reggae, others with a darker vibe, but always incredible. Her voice is never mistaken and now she’s one of the world’s most accomplished artists! She has only two albums out and they’re both super good. Songs like Valerie, You Sent Me Flying and others are the best ones in my opinion, but there are so many great songs that it’s hard to pick.
Tila Tequila: Tila Tequila isn’t the ordinary singer. She might be many things, but she does put her musical career in first place. I love her music. She might not be an Utada Hikaru, or a Christina Aguilera, but she has her style, her outspoken lyrics and her manner of being, and I love that. It’s always fun to listen to. Some people might not understand, but I still love it. I’m certainly buying her debut album that comes out this December. So far she has 3 singles out and they are really good!
Britney Spears: Anyone who can fall so low and get back to her old status in her career with only one single (Womanizer) deserves all the credit. Again, her voice isn’t like Christina’s or Hikki’s, but it’s really good for her type of music and she has the attitude. I admire her for all she’s gone through and how hard she’s trying to get back on track. Her older songs are the best and I’m going to continue being a huge fan (I have been one since her first single)!
Mary J. Blige: I haven’t been exposed to her music as long I have been to Christina’s or Britney’s, but I know that it’s really good. I still can’t stop listening to Just Fine, and she has many great fans (Including my idol, Hikki). She has a really original style and I love it. It’s very different, kind of urban but also kind of soulful… It’s really distinct and I like it a lot. I’ll be listening to more of her latest album, Growing Pains.
Of course, these are only some of the artists that I enjoy, but these are the ones I have mentioned here on HEART STATION before. If you have any thoughts, be sure to comment!
Two days ago, I felt a little Kuu-less, so I decided to go to her Brazilian fansite and take a look at what she’s been up to (I love Brazilian fansites because they have so much stuff, from news on the artists, to exclusive information and media) and I found out that KumiBrasil (The Brazilian website I look at for information on Kuu) had uploaded the television version of the Kingdom tour! I love concerts, especially those by Japanese artists that I love so much. The television version of the tour contained an interview with Kumi (Divided into parts through the show) and the complete concert (Except for the interlude videos, unfortunately, they’re one of my favorite parts, especially Kuu’s).
Yesterday I had a chance to watch it, and it’s fantastic. Koda Kumi was able to pull it all together after causing some controversy due to a public statement that she gave, this tour had been cancelled, her official website was brought down, and nobody knew if Koda Kumi’s career was done for. After some time, the Kingdom tour was back! Even though Kuu didn’t want it to. avex (Kuu’s record label) would lose a lot of money, so the show had to go on! The tour followed a heartfelt apology from Kuu about her previous remarks, and it really wasn’t her fault, she, herself, stated that she had heard about what she had said in television before. The tour continued, and it was so great that 4 more dates were added to the tour. After I watched it, it really was that great, no doubt about that, and Kumi was fantastic. No wonder it was so popular.
I’m huge a fan of her Kingdom era, and this tour was all about her Kingdom album, (Released on January the 30th of this year [2008]) and a few of her previous hits. It really was amazing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ballads that she sang, some were great, and a few weren’t, but overall, in my opinion she surpassed the amazing Black Cherry tour of 2007.
In the beginning, all her dancers and Kumi are wearing a leopard-print shawl and the dancers are wearing hoods. and the setting is a scary castle, with images of Kumi as a vampire appearing on the screen, and whenever she looked somewhere, (The vampire Kumi) there would be an explosion while everyone danced. The tour kicks off with the song Under, and later on, the shawl is dropped to reveal Kumi wearing an Arabian-like outfit for her dance numbers. The TV version’s (Brought by WOWOW) tracklisting for this segment is the following:
<OPENING VIDEO>
Interview: Part 1
Under
FREAKY
Interview: Part 2
Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー)
Interview: Part 3
Himitsu (秘密)
MORE
LAST ANGEL
Interview: Part 4
Then, after the dances and the haunted house setting, Kuu once agains lures us into her mermaid world by coming out from the ground on top of a beautiful white sea-themed piano while a man plays a beautiful masterpiece. Her mermaid dress changed since the last tour and it’s really beautiful now. This is the ballad segment of her tour, and it’s used to distract us from the stage that’s being changed around for the next segment following this one. Kumi sits on a couch placed on the catwalk of the arena and finds a “Special Invitation” on the couch, or as she cutely pronounces with her awesome Japanese accent, “Specharu Inbitation.” She asks one of her dancers to give the “Specharu Inbitation” to one of her fans in the audience so she can sit next to Koda Kumi and choose a ballad for her to sing and sit with her while she sang it. The fan chose you, a ballad off her you single and BEST ~second session~ album. This segment is a lot more personal than the rest, she sits with all her musicians and they play while she sings with her backing vocalist. The songs she chose have a really warm feeling by the way she sounds with all the acoustic instruments. The tracklisting for the TV version is as follows:
Ai no Uta (愛のうた)
Someday
Interview: Part 5
Futari de… (ふたりで…)
you
Kiseki (奇跡)
Interview: Part 6
WIND
Interview: Part 7
After the ballad segment, Kumi changes clothes once again and the new setting is revealed, the creepy castle turned into a beautiful wonderland-like castle and suddenly, we see a cute, bubbly, rag doll-like Kuu come out of the castle. There are little plushie teddy bears sown to her skirt and at one point, as little gifts for her fans, she takes 3 of them and throws them to the audience! The segment begins with WONDERLAND as the first song, then goes to the widely known It’s a small world (It’s a small world, after all.) sang comepletely in English by Kumi and it’s comepletly the soulmate of the segment, the childish and popular song blends right in to the wonderland setting. But then again, Kumi is quite the remixer, so the song has some remixed additions to it that make it really fun! This part of the concert features my favorite songs and my favorite parts of the concert. When Kuu performs Koi no Mahou (恋の魔法), she interacts with the screen behind her, and you can only believe it if you see it, it’s perfect sync, and through that, she fires a cupid’s arrow at one of her male dancers, she kisses a virtual boy represented in the screen and it’s really cute! She also tug-o-wars with one of her dancers! I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s incredible. When she sings girls, it’s amazing how her fans are so committed to her! The trademark of the song it waving a towel, and all her fans were doing that! Kumi then throws her own towel to them when the song ends. This segment is beyond amazing. The tracklisting is as follows:
WONDERLAND
Interview: Part 8
It’s a small world
Rehearsal Scenes
Interview: Part 9
Koi no Mahou (恋の魔法)
anytime
Run For Your Life
Interview: Part 10
Come Over
girls
Interview: Part 11
The next segment has Kumi in a baggy outift, just like like every artist at the end of their concerts. They just love a baggy, comfortable outfit. She looks uber cute with her fashionable pink pumps and her baggy striped blue shirt and overalls and a cute pink hat. Here, she sings dance songs and walks around the catwalk with her dancers greeting her fans and then moves on to a remix of many songs together. After all the remixed goodness of her songs, and a dance-off between boys and girls, she moves on to two sentimental ballads, Moon Crying and walk. She cries in Moon Crying, and it’s really cute, once again, because of the sentimentality of her remarks and controversy. It’s a great ending to a fantastic, beyond words concert. This segment has the following tracklisting:
SHAKE IT UP
BUT
real Emotion
Butterfly
Crazy 4 U
Dance-Off
Dance&Band Member Scenes
Interview: Part 12
Moon Crying
walk
<CLOSING VIDEO>
The outro video includes a behind-the-scenes view of Kumi after the concert and she was crying so much, but it ends when one of the people from her staff cheers her up and she smiles. The concert is amazing, and everything is fantastic. I recommend it to anyone and it’s a concert worthy of 10/10 stars.
If you wish to take a look a it, here it is! Uploaded on D-Addicts, and it’s the torrent download! It’s worth every second of your time!
KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2008 ~Kingdom~ (Torrent Download)
Soon enough, Kuu will be releasing her new single, MOON, and I couldn’t be more excited. From the previews, I can expect an 8-tracked single that’ll blow my mind. The songs all sound magnificent and I’m not just saying this because I love Koda Kumi.
Speaking of great singles, Prisoner of Love, Utada Hikaru’s lastest single, was released today, and Prisoner of Love is already a marvelous track on its own, but the version that come along with it in the single are to make it perfect. I’m going to download it as soon as it’s available and enjoy it whenever I can. I bet this single is going to have great sales because of its popularity between the fans of the dorama Last Friends.
But now, coming back to MOON, to be released on June 11th, 2008. The single will feature American singer Fergie in a collaboration with Kumi for the the song That Ain’t Cool. Moon Crying is the only track from the single that has been released now and it’s an amazing ballad, one of the best I’ve ever heard in my entire life.
For the first two songs to ever be uploaded in This blog, I’d like to upload Moon Crying, by Koda Kumi in the name of my wonderful friend, Sofy! I don’t know the lyrics, but I like the mood that the song transmits… So I’m dedicating it to her, since I just heard that she won’t be studying in EAC anymore with Cary and I.
Moon Crying – 倖田來未
As the second song of my first uploaded set, I chose the lovely new ballad by Utada Hikaru, Prisoner Of Love, but this time, to celebrate her perfect new release, I decided to upload the new version of the song only available with the single, Prisoner Of Love -Quiet Version-. It’s an amazing ballad with the perfect blend of instruments like piano and violin with backing vocals and the wonderful vocal range of Hikki! I hope you like this song as well because I love it as well!
Prisoner Of Love -Quiet Version- – 宇多田ヒカル
Thank you everyone for all the support and wonderful comments for my previous post… I really needed all the support and I feel much better, and good enough to write more posts for y’all! Thank you once again!
For two days now I have wanted to watch KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2007 ~Black Cherry~ SPECIAL FINAL in TOKYO DOME, but because the download was very hard to acquire, I only got to watch it yesterday. The hard work was worth it. This concert is one of the best I’ve ever watched because it’s so different. It’s kind of a play involving pirates, the ocean and mermaids. The part after the second video interlude kind of drops the story and it’s pretty much a normal concert. The whole stage and audience had an undersea vibe, (Since the stage was in the shape of a pirate ship and the audience was waving blue glowing shells throughout the concert) and it was something truely amazing.
The concert begins with a video interlude of Koda Kumi as a mermaid and lying (Apparently dead or sleeping) on some sort of a pedestal. Then a terribly ugly witch comes in and removes this key she was wearing as a necklace and throws it onto the floor. A pirate that walks in with the witch takes the key that fell onto the floor for himself. The witch then takes out these fire swords and stabs the pedestal that Koda Kumi is on three times. Koda Kumi opens her eyes and when the witch is about to kill her with the fiery blade, Everything disappears in a white flash and mermaid Kuu is still on the pedestal, but she’s waking up. Her hands move on the screen and the attention is turned to the stage, where an aquarium is placed. The music plays and bubbles cover the water. Just when the bubbles are over, there is Kuu, swimming. She jumps out of the aquarium and starts to sing. It’s a great start for a great concert.
The rest is the real concert and two more interlude videos. Kuu really shows her vocal range and many other abilities through out the concert, like pouring drinks, doing cartwheels and of course, her great dancing abilities. I really liked the song choice, but the ‘rock’ part of the concert was my least favorite part, since it was too noisy and loud. The last part of the concert was a great one, ending with a crying Kuu singing ‘walk’ and the mermaid part was adorable, the songs were chosen very well, with R&B and pop vibes while the costumes were very rich and beautiful.
Overall, the concert was great and one of the best I’ve ever watched. I’d rate it a 10/10, in the beginning, I was a little concerned about the song selection on some parts, but it’s something you grow into to feel the sould of the songs, and the performances make up for everything! I recommend it to anyone who enjoys lots of special effects, pop and R&B!
If you wish to watch this incredible concert, the link to download it is displayed below, but first, it is necessary that you create an account and then download all parts of the file and then join them together! (Using HJSplit or any other file like it will be just fine) The forum is also in Portuguese, so if you don’t understand much, you can use Google Translate as well.
KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2007 ~Black Cherry~ SPECIAL FINAL in TOKYO DOME
Koda Kumi rocks! She’s such an excellent performer and so different from anything I have ever listened to! I love how she incorporates the enka style of singing (Traditional japanese style of singing) into the modern, hypnotizing beats of current JPop! It’s impossible not to appreciate her music, she’s beautiful, she has a beautiful voice and she has so much style! I’ve looked at some videos of her live and she’s got so much energy and dances so much without altering the tone of her voice like so many singers out there do! Her concerts are full of energy and skits! I watched little of the concert, but I watched enough to know that it’s great!
The versatility of her voice and music are also something important to value! She can sing a ballad or a dance mix, but no matter what, she pulls it off and she pulls it off perfectly! After Utada Hikaru, she’s the best singer I know, and everything she does always blows me away! She’s really great in many aspects!
I believe she’s not as much a world-known super JPop princess sensation as Ayumi Hamasaki, but she should be, since all her songs are fresh and new, no matter how many times I listen to them!
If you ever feel like listening to some cheerful music or a very interesting video, go ahead and check out some of her work! I recommend it!
