WOW. I'm shocked we're not getting just a regular album release. A double album with a great concept. I like the covers and the preview of W FACE as well. Very excited.

The preview on the site won't load for me for some reason. Anyone got a mirror of it?

there you go

Thanks. Not impressed tho, the track sounds pretty boring and I find the pandering of Western fans in the form of "yass bitch slay" so tacky

My expectations for this album will be low but I do like the cover

Releasing a new album is 1 thing but 2 albums on the same day ? :luv2

I like the concept Kuu has gone this time round for her upcoming 2 new albums . I'm intrigued to see which 1 I will like more but of course it will be great if I like both equally

@ maze / Edu , shouldn't you update the 1st post on this ?

OMG I'm dying!!! The concept, the title, the covers, THE PREVIEW. Everything is on point. At first I was meh about the covers, but that font and placement. The pics just looks so mature and edgy. And the title was horrid to me at first, but the explanation makes me love it.

Those lyrics kinda made me cringe a bit too, but I love the production/sound of the track and her voice sounds so clear and soothing.

As someone who loves Ru Paul's Drag Race those lyrics are right on par with everything in life I enjoy lmao. She should have added YAAAAAS MAMA or something lol

EDIT: Random, but the preview uploaded onto YouTube sounds no where near as good as the one posted on her website. All that beautiful bass is gone.

I agree that the 'yes bitch slay' is a bit tacky, I do like the actual song though, sounds good so far.
Looking forward to this release, you dont see double albums much. The last one I remember was Nelly's Sweat and Suit in 2004 haha.

So, alright, I'm compiling every information abou the albums (this just sounds great, haha).

W FACE ~inside~
(pronounced "double face")

http://imageshack.com/a/img921/9687/3TB0Rr.jpg

Tracklist:
＜CD＞
01 BRIDGET SONG
02 Bring It On
03 喜びのかけら (Yorokobi no Kakera)
04 Stand by you
05 好きでして (Suki deshite)
06 君想い (Kimi Omoi)
07 On my way
08 What's Up
09 Promise you
10 My fun

＜DVD/Blu-ray＞
6 PVs (same in both albums)

W FACE ~outside~

http://imageshack.com/a/img921/3489/49WuM3.jpg

Tracklist:
＜CD＞
01 W FACE
02 Ultraviolet
03 insane
04 Damn real
05 Heartless
06 Bassline
07 Shhh!
08 Bangerang
09 WickedGirls
10 Cupcake

＜DVD/Blu-ray＞
6 PVS (same in both albums)

The theme is:
Two-sidedness or Duality
-ふたつが重なり私になれる。-
Two overlapping sides of me become one.

Release date: 2017/03/08
Both albums come in 3 editions, CD Only, CD+DVD, CD+BluRay

W FACE ~inside~ contains songs from ballads to light pop songs, the emotional side. W FACE ~outside~ contains a variation of sounds, from dance tracks to Hip Hop/R&B and also one ballad sung with a simple piano - the aggressive side.

The albums have 3 tie-ins:
- Bring It On is the official song of the Sagan Football Club
- On my way is the theme song for this drama:
http://tokai-tv.com/mahirunoakuma/
- Promise you is the song for the Eyeful Home TV CM

According to the FC shop, all versions have the same covers.
There's FC goodies for every version at the FC shops.
If you buy one of the bundles, you get three of the goodies.
The FC goodies aren't revealed yet.

Promo:
http://imageshack.com/a/img924/3289/M4AXqY.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img922/5506/9AhwXV.jpg

I am so excited, it's even better than I though it would be!
And it's coming out in pretty much just a month! :heart

sounds awesome:D

The covers that're already released are the CD + DVD versions for both

http://rhythmzone.net/koda/discography/

Her staff shared the preview for W FACE on Twitter with the quote, that it's a start.
Hopefully that means, we will get a new preview every few days.

And it's interesting - March 8th is International Women's Day!

I really love the preview, I missed Kuu so badly!
Can't wait for more!

thats because its not official, its ripped/uploaded from a fansite on facebook

OMG THE PREVIEW :luv2
Hope its for a full song and not an intro os something...I think her albums intros are better than the songs lol Hope not for this time.

previews was okay...wanted something more japanesy...but hey, we get two!

I don't think there will be any intros or interludes this time.

The theme is great and applicable to more than one situation.
They mention there will be intersections in the albums, as those two sides are overlapping. There isn't a Black and White.
And it's great, how you can apply it to the women's situation in Japan - the side, how women traditionally should be in the public eye and the side, they like to pretend doesn't exist to put it strongly.
Btw. On my way is dealing with the theme of inner conflicts, fitting to the main character in the drama.

i searched through Phrased Differently's catalogue and there's only 1 song that matches with the song titles and that's Bassline:
https://soundcloud.com/phrased-diffe...bassline-final

don't like voice in the demo, but with kuu it will sound better for sure if she uses this song

I loved the concept!

It reminds me Beyoncé's "I am... Sasha Fierce"

I really want more PVs... 3 for album is not much for me, But it's ok comparing with ayu last releases...


Wellcome W face era!!!!!!!! :)

@ahtka-chan Considering that most of the time they actually "buy" the theme without knowing the song first, since they show the artist the concept of the dorama and the artist just create a song for them. But as for Kumi songs that are dorama themes, I feel like most of them fit pretty well, even KO-SO-KO-SO.

Love everything we got so far! I prefer the inside cover more than the outside one,but the tracklist for outside seems better to me, because the titles there sound interesting

UHQ Covers:

http://i.imgur.com/5QGSfZ2s.jpg http://i.imgur.com/BJUqoUEs.jpg

Yes, Kuu wrote the song for the drama and she read the plot before. The drama is an adaption of a Scorsese movie.

Here are the full comments from Kuu and the director:

東海テレビ プロデューサー 遠山圭介コメント
倖田さんの「On my way」が放つ世界観は、その主人公の心の叫びを見事に表現していて、ドラマのイメージにぴったりな曲だと 思っています。息をもつかせぬ展開で、主人公の悪に翻弄されていくサスペンスドラマに、素敵なエッセンスを 加えていただけることを期待しています！

田中麗奈コメント
歌詞が大河内葉子の言葉のようでした。
歌詞を聴くと不思議と心がザワつきこの人の心は一体どこにあるんだろう？！と考えさせられまし た。
心理サスペンスにぴったりの怪しく色気のある倖田來未さんの歌声がきっとドラマを盛り上げてくれると思いま す！
もしくは、心理サスペンスにぴったりの怪しく色気ある曲調がきっとドラマを盛り上げてくれると 思います！

倖田來未コメント
実際に原作や脚本を読み込ませて頂いたうえでその世界観を表現できるようにしました。
人なら誰しもが持っている外側の自分と内側の自分の葛藤に近いものを、どう聴いている人に前向きに届けられ るかを本当に考え制作した楽曲です。歌詞が悲観的であるのでメロディや歌声・歌い方で希望を見いだせるよう に、そして光を差し込ませてあげるように作り、歌い上げました。それぞれの解釈や意味をもって聴いて頂けれ ば嬉しいです。


Sorry, I'm just too lazy to translate all of this right now. :p

omg two new albums :heart

So 'W face' is pronounced as 'double face' right? That's very creative!


EDIT: The preview :heart :heart :luv2

Thanks for compiling the information! :heart I think I'll wait for them to announce these goodies to decide where to preorder my copies. Hoping for a poster with the promo pic!

Yes i was waiting for detailed information like the one corvina provided. Thank you! For some reason i love the covers now

I made some simple cellphone wallpapers with woml shots in case anyone wants. They are 1920x1080

https://i.imgur.com/kOcFi9vm.png https://i.imgur.com/2xAmMrwm.jpg

I just sum up now, what Kuu is saying about On my way.
Basically she says, that the whole song has a duality: The lyrics are pessimistic, but the melody and her way of singing is hopeful and uplifting.
Kuu wants to express, how everybody facing outer & inner conflicts can nevertheless look positively in the future when listening. She's happy, if everybody can bring their own interpretation and meaning into the song while listening though.

So it's meant to leave you in a positive mood as it's sounding happy (even though you're maybe not), which is probably the reason why it is on ~inside~.

Oh, and you're welcome guys!

Already using it, the B&W one is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

Just saw while preordering my copies, that you'll get three FC goodies with each bundle. Each one has a different special goodie.
Corrected my inital post.
The price for the bundles is the same like buying the versions seperately, so the extra goodie is the only difference.

OMG! Wasn't expecting all of this :O Love the concept, covers, preview! COME MAMA

(Just realized the 60th Single wasnt announced, maybe they left it for the summer?)

I only got to read about the album now. It's exciting that we're getting six videos! Titles are mostly awkward, as expected, and the covers are boring (they remind me of Winter diary a little bit), but maybe the pictures inside the booklet are interesting. :)

Thought the same...

Ooohh, I knew they looked familiar but couldnt tell why! ahahahah It's basically the same pose, just ayu was looking upwards

I keep waiting for a new koda kumi album to convert me into a big fan of hers and after hearing that preview, I don't think this album will be it. SO much cringe in less than a minute. But it is only one song after all.:shakehead
I may like the ballad one more once I hear it.:think

after the album announcement i realized the 60th was probably meant to be for the next tour, cause she always hint something for the next tour when she ends with walk...
so probably her 60th/summer single this year and that's why we never got this 2016…

Corvina, are you sure the covers are the same for all versions? Or is it some kind of slipcase

I've ordered the Blu-ray ver of Outside and the CD only ver of Inside!

Yes, I'm expecting to be cringing when I hear the song too haha!

Oh, I figured. I just wanted anyone who hadn't heard the song to base assumptions off of a crapy rip :P


I honestly don't even see what's so cheesy about the "yes, bitch, slay" part. At the very least, this isn't the first time Kuu has had some questionable Engrish in her lyrics. Bling Bling Bling, anyone?

I don't think it's the engrish that people are talking album, but how tacky it is for them. I really like, to be honest.

Another album with not a lot of collaborations... Maybe they will announce later? AKLO for Cupcake is still probably there yet.

Hopefully these albums won't follow the music style of cup cake.

No, I'm not, but for the bundles on her FC shop, all versions have those two covers listed. The seperate links for the CD only and Blu-Ray versions havent though.
I just figured that as we normally get all covers at the same time.

YAS BITCH SLAY!!

Where can I hear that song?

She performed it at her The Artist concerts.
Just google it.

The covers are very ayumi hamasaki's Winter Diary, but I hope the CD Only and Blu ray ones will be different. I think they are because in the official site the covers are in "now printing status".

I was hooked on Cupcake when THE ARTIST was released. Still love it. if the rest of the songs on "outside" sound that way, I'd be happy. What I do find weird is that it closes the "outside" album. Doesn't sound like a proper closing song for me, but i guess that's what "inside" is for.

Also, I'm wondering if this is/will be marketed as a joint "13th album" or kumi's "13th and 14th albums" respectively. Since they're being released separately it could go either way.

I wouldn't rely on the official site. The Shhh! covers e.g. are still in "now printing" there.

Yesss can't wait for the tour now! Hope she doesn't just perform the new songs during the show and includes some older ones

I would love a part 2 bonvoyage.

OMG THIS IS EXCITING!! 18 new songs?!?!?

The covers may look similar to Ayu's Winter Diary, but it's more like Kuu recycled herself, cause she had a similar concept for the Best ~third universe~ and UNIVERSE album shooting.
If you want, you can see a progression - back then it was like that she's aware there are two very different sides of her, but they always just existed next to another ( which is why e.g. the two Kumis seem to look at another or at least at their surroundings as if they're insecure on the booklet back covers). Back then the main colours were black and white. For W FACE it's grey.
Now she's accepting that duality.
Or you just call it lazy, rofl.

And I also have a theory, why the aggresive side is ~outside~. It fits, if you connect the new album cobcept to herself as well. As the public, especially her critics and haters, often only seem to reduce her to her direct, sexy side, also calling her rude and so on ( you know the happenings in 2008). The strong side she also has to show outside. But she of course also has this emotional side ( the soft and happy side, but also conflicts, if I think about what she said about On my way), mostly happening inside and most probably shown the most to her family.
Just some thoughts though, as we don't have the full thing yet.

Some info for the covers:
On amazon.jp all editions have the same covers.

But on amazon the CD Only Inside is missing, so they will upload later on. I'm hoping for more covers, at least one for the CD Only.

Do we know if it has any kind of first press exclusive? Otherwise I won't bother to buy it right now

Her "first press" exclusives nowadays are more for the FC than the regular sellers. And usually it's just some random things like stickers for Bon Voyage.

I hope this album isn't a digipack. I hate these things...

I really love your explanation for the album titles! It makes a lot of sense. And it also fits with the "yes bitch slay", too. Likes she's got to slay as that it what everyone sees. Loving this concept so much. I'm beyond pumped.

But why put only the CD+DVD ones if all the covers will be the same?

With Shhh! was a different situation, the singles were supposed to be collected, even the back picture still not there on her website. I still think we're getting other covers.

I think it was mentioned that there would only be one cover for all 3 versions of each album.

This I agree with :yes

I love digipak's! Haha. Much more than the standard jewel case.

lol, i think i will try to forgive her for release double album to money milking, i believe she having hard time to figure out where to put her "old songs": Bring It On (2013 Fanclub Tour), Kimi Omoi (2014 pachinko limited cd Fever Legend Live), Cup cake (2015 The Artist) and Shhh! (2016 tour limited single).

Yeah, me too actually. Was hoping we could leave all that extra shit in 2016. Lol

It's there:
http://imageshack.com/a/img924/4504/sTgMes.jpg

^amazon (and others) sometimes using the same picture as a placeholder, so let's see what will happen...
but i hope it's the same for every version, because i plan to buy outside with bluray and inside cd only...
like multiple versions of one album isnt money milking itself... :rolleyes
the music industry isnt here to wipe your butt, debby
after 2 years with not much music this is a nice move actually...

Shhh! is a single for the album... whats your point? lmao
Kimi Omoi is just fan service, thats why it was on the single and is actually on the album, the fever songs never meant to be released outside of that pachinko stuff
Cupcake was intended for her 13th album, but she went with 2 best ofs and a single collection tour instead
Bring It On is old and i wouldnt be mad if it wasnt there, but still nice to get a studio version unlike the full version of TRICK...
it's not like artists recording bazillion of tracks and never using them lol

Plus it's just four songs that arent new, she could have made an usual 15 track long album lol Cant see the point tried to be made here

The fact is sell two albums with 10 tracks by album with the same price of an album with 15,16 or 17 tracks. But looking back to ayu's Colours, A ONE and M(A)DE IN JAPAN albums they included less songs compared to her previous albums and them have the same price of the albums with more tracks.

If the covers of the CD and Blu ray will be different I imagine them with the same photo but with different face expression. And if they will be the same covers, I understand that is for complete the face image if you buy both Outside and Inside albums in any edition.

I will love to have other cover, I don't like too much this covers. I hope they are a slipcase and we get a different cover inside. But cdjapan don't say nothing about first press edition and bonuses.

I already preordered the CD+DVD -outside- ^^

W FACE doesn't have the same price of her regular 15 tracks album, so why are people complaining anyway? They know what they're doing.

CD Only:

Bon Voyage - ¥3,240
WALK OF MY LIFE - ¥3,240
W FACE (inside or outside) - ¥2,808

I was about to post that. All editions are a bit cheaper than usual.

Maybe they don't sell it as a bundle officially, cause they wanna know, what's selling better for Kuu nowadays?
All her digital hits from the past would be on inside . But so far outside is selling better - it's ranking higher than inside on amazon and mu-mo.

People just love to complain.

Just rewatched Best Singles Collection and once again I am blown away. I love the reworking of the songs.

Covers on mu-mo also aren't there besides CD+DVD. Hopefully we'll get the other covers (if there are any) and bonus goodies from FC soon so I can pre-order...

Kuu is back finally !!!
The little preview was really good.

W FACE was amazing judging by the small preview. Sorry. :)

I just see if the older albums have the same price, I'm not complaining, but if people here like to tell that somebody is complaining for nothing serious I just don't understand it but ok xD

Walk Of My Life CD+DVD is 3.800¥ and W FACE is 3,500¥ there's not too much difference, I can't see now the other album prices but I think there is not too much difference between they.

It is still overpriced for a CD either way through my eyes.:laugh
I wish Japan would lower their prices.

WALK OF MY LIFE - 2 new music videos
W FACE - 6 new music videos (or 5 if they are reusing Kimi Omoi).

The content is there, and there is a difference.

And the problem is not complaining too much or whatever, it's just that it doesn't make any sense since you're getting the content that you're paying for.

COLOURS was ¥4,104 CD+DVD with 10 songs and 3 new videos (or 5, if you count that low budget animation and the "Verbal" version of Merry-go-round), and it's still more expensive than W FACE. So yeah, CDs are expensive, but this one is cheaper than a lot of CDs being released right now.

^Colours was so high priced. And yes you pay for 6 music videos and 10 tracks, is not a bad price after all.

http://i.imgur.com/OryLuPd.png

The new pachinko is coming - http://www.sankyo-fever.co.jp/special/phk/

In 02.13 we're getting more information about it.

I feel like this is going to have a Disney Princess ver of a Brothers Grimm vibe lmao. She looks hot af though.

True. I'm on the fence about it. I don't know whether I would have liked one 20-track album from Koda or the two 10-track albums.

Please, for the sake of all life, we better not be able to combine all 20 tracks and get the length of a single album. At least have it make sense that there would have to be two albums because of all the songs. :\

Lmao money milking. This is probably the less money milking she has done since she became popular. I mean, same covers for all versions? Same content for the dvd/bluray editions? No fc edition with some special bonus concert like the ones she used to give us? This release is different and it's indeed more focused on her two sides, the strong kuu and the emotional kuu. Like corvina said, it's like a more polished work of what they did with Universe and third universe. Maybe even to compensate all the disappointment that was that "double" album. ( I admit when I heard about this two album thing my brain automatically painted a best + original album haha it was even worse when I saw the promo pic it reminded me of BoA's best & usa. I really got scared for a second :laugh )

Tonight's broadcast of NHK's Utacon

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3fP5FiUoAAZxRj.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...57749285937152

Kumi is singing Butterfly. YAY. haha
--

She will also perform at Good Time Music [TBS] on 02.15 (thanks baidukodabar for the info).

Here is the Butterfly performance online:
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/fh5K0DmhpTk/?FR=LIANe Ita

There's a hidden live performance on the BSC Tour Documentary released today.
According to the Italian FC on fb it's Promise you.

Someone share please!

Oh my, I need this footage ��

that was the most boring performance of butterfly ever xd the outfit doesnt fit either

Can someone translate the password?

链接：s/1kU90N5d
密码：弟弟救喂
除了第三个是阿拉佰之外都是英国历史

Love the idea of the album and I love we can hear a lot of new songs

"喜びのかけら" from W FACE ~inside~ (track #3) is being used in a CM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFQ4...ature=youtu.be

Sounds nice so far!

Wow reminds me of old kuu. Sounds very nice!!

Ueto Aya looks lovely in the CM & I never thought a Kuu song would be used to promote AOKI seeing that it's mainly Johnnys that promote it

Yorokobi no Kakera sounds nice

Cant hear much but sounds good so far. Get those tie-ins, girl!

From an album like WOML with zero tie-in, to an album with 4, this is impressive. haha
And this saturday it's the premier of the dorama with Kumi's theme song. More things to look forward.

I'm not gonna listen to the preview tho, wanna listen to the whole thing when it's released.

Here's a clean 33 seconds preview for 喜びのかけら from Baidu:
http://m.youku.com/video/id_XMjQ5Mjc0MzA0OA==.html

Big thanks to Kyu_Leon_Kumi on Baidu

And Kuu just made a LINE post and she mentions at the end, that there will be instrumental lyric videos for 喜びのかけら and Bassline published today!
So far nothing is up on her Youtube channel though.

I'm so glad to hear they're giving her a few tie-ins for W FACE. I hope it does make a different in the sales afterward. :yes

Yorokobi no Kakera instrumental teaser https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...66289058164737

Bassline instrumental teaser https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...66765988253697

So they're up on Twitter, thanks Karen!
But only 12 secs long, such a tease, Kuu. ;_; :laugh
Bassline totally sounds like my thing!

So the BassLine Phrased Differently demo isn't the real deal, interesting.

That's a interesting way to tease us lol Bassline sounds promising yaaaay

I hope they take advantage of the upcoming release and add (at least part of) her songs on Spotify and also W FACE, it'd a nice move to catchup some buzz

Bassline sounds like Mercedes should've been... it sounds really promising and it fits before Shhh! in the tracklist soundwise…
and i'm glad it's not the Phrased demo...

Yorokobi no Kakera is really sweet, i really like it, nothing omg but let's see how the full version turn out!