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Happy 20th Anniversary Koda Kumi!

My favourite Japanese singer Koda Kumi (Kumi Koda in Western terms) is celebrating her 20th anniversary in the music business this month! She released her debut single TAKE BACK on 6th December 2000. I've mentioned before that I was a bit confused because she started her celebrations last year. But I think that she was celebrating a 19th to 20th anniversary event. 

To date Koda has released 16 studio albums, including her debut Affection (2002), Grow into One (2003), Secret (2005), Black Cherry (2006), Kindom (2008), TRICK (2009), Dejavu (2011), Japonesque (2012), WALK OF MY LIFE (2015), W FACE- INSIDE/OUTSIDE (2017), DNA (2018) and re (CORD) (2019). She has also brought out quite a few compilations, remix album and EPs, plus two cover albums.

Her 57 singles include TAKE BACK, So into You, Real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba, Chase, Himitsu,  feel, Butterfly, feel, Love Me Back, Fance in The Rain, STRIP  and Puff. She has collaborated with several artists including KM-MARKIT on the single Hot Stuff , with Korean boyband Tohoshinki (Dong Bang Shin Ki/TVXQ) for Last Angel, her sister Misono for It's All Love and Mr Blistah twice, on the songs Candy and So Nice.

Kumi's latest release is the double EP angeL (MY NAME IS) and monsteR (MY NAME IS).

I first discovered her music around 2005. The first album I got was Secret (2005), and I have several other, including her first 2 BEST collections (greatest hits) and Black Cherry. They come with DVD discs, since Japanese record companies (at least Avex) don't tend to release a lot of full music videos online. In that case you're more tempted to buy the album version with the DVD! It used to be that Japanese albums were hard to get hold of in the UK, but things are easier these days with iTunes and Spotify.

So, in celebration of her 20th year, here is a round-up of Kumi posts on the blog, plus some new videos. :)

 

Top 10 Koda Kumi Songs: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/06/top-10-koda-kumi-songs.html

Features MONEY IN MY BAG and Dance In The Rain trailer, both from WALK OF MY LIFE (also a Namie Amuro post): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/04/new-koda-kumi-and-namie-amuro-songs.html 

That Ain't Cool with American singer Fergie: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/04/weekly-music-video_29.html

Features HUSH and LIT: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/10/new-koda-kumi-video-bonus-vid.html

Includes PARTY from the album AND: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/02/new-j-pop-releases.html

Features STRIP from re(CORD): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/10/j-pop-and-k-pop-round-up-2019-new-videos.html

Includes Baseline ~ 20th Year Special Full Ver ~: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/04/new-ish-j-pop-videos.html

Features DO ME (KATFYR Remix) -Live Performance Video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/09/selection-of-j-pop-videos.html 

Also check out the full version of Trust You here (the short version is No. 2 in My Top 10 post, linked above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNI0qxMF0H8


Now here are some songs I haven't previously shared. :) 

First here is the video for TAKE BACK, Kumi's debut single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zxfdUnPxMw 

 

Note: Avex videos are blocked from being shown on third party applications. If you click on the video, you can watch them fine on YouTube. :)

 

Butterfly ~20th Year Special Full Ver~ 

This is the full-length version of Butterfly, Kumi's 16th single. It was the lead single from her first hits album,  ~Best ~first Things and released in June 2005. 

 


 

you

you  (written lower case) was Kumi's 19th single, and the first from her 12 Single Collection back in 2005, released in December. As part of the project, she released one single a week for 12 weeks. It was her second single to debut at No. 1.

The video for you is part of a series of interconnected videos, involving 3 men in a bar discussing problems with the women in their lives (all played by Kumi). The others are Candy,  Lies, feel and Someday. I didn't realise before that Candy was part of them, since it has a different format to the other 3. I've previously shared feel, Lies and Candy in my Top 10 Koda Kumi Songs post. I'll link to them individually below as well, if you want to watch them in order. :) Also there are full versions now, so you'll be able to watch the whole thing.

This is the 20th Year Special Full Version. If you don't watch the intro (I can't understand Japanese but I like to watch it anyway), the song starts about 40 seconds in. If you speak Japanese, please let me know what they're saying! :)

 


Candy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrnlxWbrydc

you (see above).

Lies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrTqhoVyX3s

feel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA7jFTie9mw

Someday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yz_1FRHB5M


D.D.D feat. SOULHEAD

DDD (not to be confused with Korean group EXID's DDD!) was the 3rd single to be released as part of the 12 Singles Collection, in December 2005. It also appears on BEST~ second session. The song features Japanese sister duo SOULHEAD.

 



TOUCH DOWN (Summer Trip)

TOUCH DOWN was a double A-side from the single Summer Trip, released in July 2013. The other track was LALALALA and the b-side was Is This Trap?

Apparently, an English version of TOUCHDOWN was originally written for American singer JoJo, and was intended to be on her 2012 album Jumping Trains, which never got released. I remember waiting for that album to come out! Kumi ended up with the song instead. I can see it suiting JoJo.

TOUCH DOWN  is a hip-hop style song with a good beat. It's my favourite on the Bon Voyage album (2014).


Check out LALALA here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWueWKREVEk

 

Killer Monster

Finally, here is Killer Monster, one of Kumi's latest singles. It's from the new double mini album angeL + monsteR (My NAME IS) which came out on 2nd December. 

There are two parts to the album, angeL and monsteR. I'd imagine that they showcase the different sides of Kumi, her sweet "Kuu" and more reflective side, and then her sexy, edgier side! angeL is available to listen to on Spotify, but not monsteR as yet.

Killer Monster is from monsteR. The video premiered in November. 


Watch the video for RUN from angeL here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn5BajLlOag


Hope you enjoyed the post! Happy 20th Anniversary Kumi! Look forward to hearing more music. :)

What is your favourite Koda Kumi song?




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