To be honest, I don't think it's just to do with bad sales in Japan any more, I think for both Kuu and Ayu, their sales are declining because, as much as I don't wish to say it, people are not as interested in them now as they used to be? Not that they don't love them but, I think Kuu and Ayu have always kept their old style and have become more like national treasures now, like Madonna and Christina aguilera (only comparing based on fame and sales). I say this because despite the declining sales for Kuu and Ayu, Namie isnt declining at all, and she's been around longer than both (1995). If you look at her sales, she's selling more each year with albums, and tends to fluctuate between selling the same or selling more with her singles. Namie is still very much in fashion, I think. Her recent single has done very well.

I think if Kuu were to look at the most recent of who and what is in fashion, and based her sexy style around that, she would be of more interest. I mean, when Namie came back in 1998, between 200 to 2004, her sales declined heavily, but when she re-invented herself in 2005 with 'PLAY' as the hip-hop queen, her sales have gone up ever since, never to the peak of 1999 and below, but since 2000, Namie's album sales have been climbing with each release. But I don't think Kuu will changer her image much. She does what she wants, what she feels she wants to do to grow as an artist, and as a singer. I think Kuu needs a new snap, and I think Kenji is kinda the muse that has begun to give it to her, but I think as long as she follows what goals she has, I think shell find a new one. It would be awesome to see Kuu kinda re-design herself for her comeback.

I do sometimes feel that kuu styles herself quite older now sometimes, even though she's only 30. I adore how she is styled in Lay Down, she should keep a younger look like that! And sometimes I think she tends to go too modern electro-poppy like with Okay and Lay Down, which tends to be my least favourite fast tracks. I love electro-pop, especially in KPOP, I just don't feel like Kuu picks the right songs for her, sometimes? I do think when Kuu does good old R'n'B, Jrock, Dance like Driving, Taboo and ESCALATE, and Jpop that is really her forte. :)

I would die if she did another cover album, put instead it's like a rock or r'n'b album instead of ballad. D: AND YAY FOR DRIVING HITS 4!!

^ Actually Namie's sales are declining year after year..
if you look at her Best fiction era (Total Reported Sales: 1,840,088)
to Past Future (Total Reported Sales: 575,501) to checkmate (Total Reported Sales: 484,336)

Also though, even though Namie has been around longer, she almost flopped out with the album STYLE and I think it also helped that Namie basically reinvented herself...

But I agree that Ayu and kuu really dont reinvent themselves very well.. they change, slightly, but it stiff the same stuff I believe...
Also it doesn't help that they have totally saturated the market every since coming onto the scene.. (more kuu than Ayu however)

Making of JAPONESQUE pic:
http://i44.tinypic.com/tlav.jpg

Thanks to kinot@weibo and her FC


JAPONESQUE song credits

I'm kind of speculating that the lower-than-usual sales may be because some people are not aware that the release was actually pushed forward... Their minds still say 2/1, but the album is being released a week earlier to 1/25...

That's true, although in terms of studio albums 'PLAY' sold about 540,000 and Past < Future actually outsold it slightly more with an increase to about 600,000. It's small but still an increase. :) STYLE was in that period between 2000 to 2004, where her sales really dropped, until 2005 where they begun to pick up again, after she re-invented herself.

You are right though. Kuu is my #1 fav artist of all time, and always will be. Ayu is also a old favourite of mine. But they do need to reinvent themselves. They've tried all sorts of different styles between albums, and different genre's, I think. But in terms of image, how they produce their albums and singles etc they haven't changed that much, in my opinnion. Like for example, I love every one of Kuu's albums, but when it comes to Kuu you can always tell what kind of tracks will always been on there. If you think about it, At least for UNIVERSE, Dejavu and JAPONESQUE, I would say (Even though JAPONESQUE is certainly a step forward in terms of songs and production) they have similar layouts in terms of songs, and genre, as well as production. There will always been a few cute songs and ballads, maybe 1-2 rock songs, then some dance and r'n'b. And while I LOVE about Kuu that her albums has a mix of genre, I think she has stuck to the same formula to produce her albums over the years. I think people have just come to expect it? I think what people need is a breath of fresh (sexy) air, and for Kuu to produce things slightly differently, like even in DEJAVU tour, she mixed up the setlist, so it didn't end on 'Walk' anymore, and it was an amazing show. I remember it fondly just because of that small change, and the fact she produced and sang it AMAZINGLY.

I have to say though, I think JAPOESQUE is a good step forward, Kenji has been a good muse in a different direction, even though she's still stuck to the same formula. The production for JAPONESQUE's theme is probably one of the best if not the best for an album Kuu has done. I love the covers and the design, the production is top quality. I think if she can keep that, but just change how she produces or chooses her songs for the next album to something a little different, that would be awesome. :love

And that's a good point, Bigtop...

There are many reasons for JAPONESQUE low sales, and I agree with all your ideas. Especially what ayu_love said about her formula for albums, which imo is being the same since secret.
I dream of Kumi making a temporary unite with a band [BACK-ON would be the best one for many reasons]. This would add much more to her style and make her grow as an artist. Her voice is getting more powerful through the years, so I think that giving a bigger attention to her rockish side would be the best bet that they could do, and looks like she's already giving a try to it, looking at BBBoys, No Man's Land and even Poppin' love cocktail you can see a bit of it.
Also, I think she's aware of this need of changes, and now that she's completed 10 studio albums, she will renew a bit her "Koda Kumi" image. She feels she needs to change, and as a proof she hasn't released a summer song like Lick me and 674 other similar tracks since 2010. I think she said it on a magazine interview, that she felt she should change her summer tracks style, and both tries [Lollipop and PLC] were quite successful. Next step is changing her ballads style now hahaha :D I'd love Kuu to release some songs like No way to say by ayu or Believe by Maki Goto.

There's a lot of non-Japanese people in her staff !

Most of those people aren't part of her staff! :laugh
They're the songwriters.
Kuu always had western styled music and the matching image, but in the last years they adopted more and more western demos in her discography.

I love her staff and songwriters, gives us such an interesting mix of sounds.

I personally was hoping for at least 100k in the first week. I think it will have a very hard time reaching 200k. Her sales decline like 20k every album lol

And this album had little promo...and shes not very popular...She could always do much worse.

I'm glad I'm not the only one~

her sales may be low,but I wouldn't call Kuu unpopular or not very,she is still super famous maybe not the most in trend,but there are plenty of famous Japanese singers who are famous but don't sell too much and some that do sell a lot but aren't popular,like those 48s sub-nits or JEs that have too many faces

My dream would be for Kuu to make a RnB album,like completely one style:love
kinda like a BENI or Crystal Kay album

ummm love the lyrics for Love Technique,and her sales are better than I thought tbh

I'm sorry but I really doubt that this is the main reason for her actual lower sales :) I'm more with the idea of "japan is tired of her style, no matter if this time the overall of the album is better than the past ones, it's still the same formula".

splendid intro
a couple of rockish songs
a couple of cute songs
a couple of dance songs
a couple of r&b songs

And believe me, I really love JAPONESQUE, because this time, that formula is nice (So Nice hehe) 'cause the songs are good! But despite of that, the image is nearly the same as Secret was, and that doesn't produce a big impact in people anymore.

kumi doesn't deserve these sales )=!

Yes I love Kuu songs , maybe because i love everything she does , but she really has to change her style leaving the ero-kakkoi because it's not working anymore , And the jpop really changed by years it's not like it what used to be , and most of successful artists in 2005 and backward aren't that popular now , so it's amazing that kuu still selling decently

Kuu has to change to the style that works in Japan and make it more Kuu-ish ! , I really hope that Kuu try to work on something new during her break .

I'd be worried about her popularity if it got to the stage where she had to do Dejavu style hall tours.
Last year was an 'experiment' by her to be closer to fans ... and a load of dates had to be added, and even then I'm sure more could have easily sold.
She has a core fan base who'll buy the album and then go buy tour tickets and as she is with that fan base could still easily pull off a multi-date arena tour.

When it get's to the stage that she can't sell out a 1000 seat hall then I'd be worried with these 'losing popularity' theories.

Well, yesterday's sales dropped to 5,460
around 75k in total..
I guess it'll be hard to reach 100k in the first week, except the the sales boost on the weekend.. o well, as long as her concerts are still in demand..

Are you sure? I thought those don't come out until tomorrow.

Ayu and Kuu have formulas that they tend to sick to now and days. Back in the day they experimented more, but now that they've been around for a while I guess they have "found themselves". This could be because they are just getting old, or perhaps they know who they are and know their strong points. If they wanted to, or avex wanted to, they could re-market them in the vein of 'idols' like high selling AKB48 or something. Maybe Kuu will have a "comeback" too like Namie and do some sort of reinvention and become Best 1 & 2 era popular.

Regardless of the formula, I'm loving JAPONESQUE.

Now my favorite Kuu album!!!

I always liked bits from all her albums but never a majority of songs like this album.. there are only 2 or 3 I'd skip or play less often. The album just runs so smoothly!!! And the production is wonderful!!

I love the kodas formula. I even love her concert formulas. You always know she has her specific sections, but you never know what shes gonna do....