^ There comes ai no uta :P

yesterday Kumi was recording at the studio, and also this user on twitter reminded us we haven't get this song yet. I guess it's safe to assume there's still more to come this year.

Tokyo Music Festival always has the 100 strong songs, so I'm hoping for another medley like 2018 and 2019. Maybe Ai no Uta & Lucky Star.

EDIT

It seems that the government in Japan will relax some of the restrictions on holding events from 19th on, so events can have around 50% attendance. Kumi's concert was filled with 30% capacity, but in the article is stated that the tour will stay with this amount of attendance restriction. Since Tokyo's dates are not available yet, I guess they are waiting to see if things get better so they can have more people, but I don't expect the production to change.

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZ...10C20A9EA1000/

Next month's KODA KUMI 20th ANNIVERSARY TOUR 2020 MY NAME IS... dates in Fukuoka & Aichi , Nagoya will also be streamed via mu-mo LIVE

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...97897472970754

That's unexpected, but awesome!
And they even stream all 4 performances on those two dates!
Guess all the streams did well, so they continue to sell them.
Well, with only 4000 attendance of the full arena capacity they originally wanted to use, this makes sense.

Kuu also shot something already again yesterday.
Maybe just a performance, maybe something more.
Her hair is gray again here, just like for My Name Is... album, the XXKK PV and the tour promo.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/QLrXBc.png

It would be nice to record all the performances but I'm not doing that, the price is around the same of two months of rent. lol Only if it had any substancial changes, but I won't expect that.

Do they think we are made out of money??? Hahah tho I’m glad it sold well!!! Hopefully more em people will watch her given the recent favorable news!

Amex Japan is giving away the long white jacket that Kuu wore at last month's a-nation online 2020 (which she signed at the back) as 1 of the many lucky draw items provided if you sign up for their credit card plan

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EiLott_U...jpg&name=small

https://twitter.com/anation_navi/sta...62721674010629

I was watching the MY NAME IS... DVD and the tracklist is actually pretty good. Watching all together made me have some thoughts:

then maybe MY NAME IS... it's an album that represents her with songs that may seem random but at least when I saw the list, I thought the album talked about her and somehow had songs that were the best of the best.

We still dunno why she chose those songs right?

We usually get interviews with background infos when she releases the DVD.

@kaled kalil:
It's funny, I still remember you hating the ballad section of The Artist, disliking her vocals there. Now you already said a 2nd time you like it.
Did that change?

-----------------

Kuu is shooting today.
Her manager shared it on her account.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/k55wpW.png

Yeah, I started liking The Artist as a whole concert a lot more with time. The vocals are still not great, in that case for the ballad section it was more of how slow she was singing the songs, like she was one beat behind the track, but I got used to. The visuals for that section are really good: you had that cool projection, On and On as a whole was gorgeous, and it had costume changes and all.

I feel like I set in my mind that the anniversary concerts are going to be an specific way and I end up being disappointed by my own expectations lol. Even for FANTASIA I had problems with, the day it happened, now I like a lot more. Watch me loving MNI... Tour in 5 years, it will probably happen. haha

Ai wo Tomenaide



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFvN-8gJG0s

You are not alone



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H9qSPZ0Dng

Ai wo Tomenaide covers are still some of my favourite of Kuu's after all these years

Ai wo Tomenaide is a great mature ballad.
PV is quite sexy too!

omg, the new OMG remix used in this tour (before PARTY performance) is on FIRE!!! maybe DH10 is coming soon??

I think it's the OMG (Kiyoshi Sugo Remix) found in re(MIX)

I love 愛を止めないで.
One of my favourite ballads and PVs!
Hope she's performing it again one day.

@kaled:
I see, can happen.
You know, I loved the ballad part from the start.
The Artist actually is the only (Kuu) concert I prefer the ballad section over the upbeat.

I'm a big fan of Ai wo tomenaide as well, I hope she'll perform it on the ballad section of MY NAME IS in any of the future dates.

But overall I don't think I've enjoyed her ballad sections lately, it feels like it's all the same thing. WALK OF MY LIFE had a interesting take with things going on in the stage and some mid-tempos in the middle to spice it up a bit. Dejavu tour as well. THE ARTIST was just ok to me. But nothing will ever be as boring as FANTASIA's ballad section lol

Suki de x3



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hu8ccJ0gGI

Anata Dake ga



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9GWbBz3FwU

walk ~to the future~



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKbQvoxazLE

I still really like Suki de x3 / Anata Dake ga after all these years

===

Kuu as guest on this week's TOKYO SPEAKEASY radio broadcast

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eic3RcbU...jpg&name=small

https://twitter.com/TokyoSpeakeasy/s...74993914314752

She's wearing both the 20th anniversary tour buckle choker & face mask in the photo

I got so emotional the first time I watched walk ~to the future~ haha. The dog scene is soooo precious, I can't watch that and not remember the pictures of Kumi and Misono playing with the dog when they were kids.

https://i.imgur.com/L2EOOcZl.jpg

I also love Ai wo Tomenaide. I like how mature the song and PV are. In comparison to the over dramatic Suki de, Suki de, Suki de, it really felt like a step up in the mature side. That swing bench scene from Suki de, always gets me, the way that she goes to the floor crying lol.

Both singles are very good tho.

あなただげが, one of my other favourite ballads! :heart

Kuu is on Tokyo Speakeasy with Shinji Saito, a Japanese comedian (the guy in the back of the photo).
He talked about how his wife (talent Saori Seito) is a big fan of Kuu and a part of her FC and that he became a fan as well.

Over dramatic much?? Lol
Totally agree I always cringe when I see that scene haha
Still I find the PV cute to watch, some of her expressions are so sweet.

I love Suki de. The song is so nice to sing. Especially love the dramatic last chorus!
The cover of the single is still part of my favorites. Especially the +DVD one. So much sadness in one pic!

I cant look at the covers of suki de and not remember the fandom wars cause ayu's crossroad was released in the same week lol Good old times :laugh

Suki de x3 and Ai wo tomonaide really are among her best covers

Hey guys I ripped kumi's MY NAME IS... tour from the TV version to mp3. In case anyone wants it here it is. DL (I only skipped, the clip before puff, the dance part, and the MC).

That single is still a triple threat... suki de is good, anata dake ga is straight FIRE and walk to the future is amazing...

Anata dake ga will never get old :heart

I always have a special spot towards Suki de x3 / Anata Dake ga cos all the PVs inclusive of the B-side had PVs made and it was a nice story put together from all the 3 videos

Suki de x3 / Anata Dake ga obviously wasn't the 1st Kuu utilised a drama story plot for her singles but it was quite rare that both A-sides of hers were ballads as normally if you put out double A-side singles , they tend to contrast each other but not for this

The whole Suki de era was fun. The legendary Ichikami commercial where she's rocking a wig is so good.

Thanks!

Is someone planning to get the tickets for the mu-mo streams? If anyone wants I can give some tips on how to record the concert, so maybe it can be shared with everyone and stuff.

I may get the ticket for Fukuoka's first performance, 'cause it's going to be on my birthday here and it might be a cool way of celebrate, but I'm still not sure.

New song used as theme song for the TBS news show Good Luck! is called I'm Lovin'!

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1086190

It's starting to air coming Monday, September 28!
With that title I hope for a R&B track.

Random Kuu sighting:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/kVKp0k.png

This model/shop clerk of 3 Coins (a Japan-wide 300 Yen shop chain) is wearing the DNA Tour shirt while showing off a new product!
Love spotting Kuu in daily life like that. :laugh

Sounds like it could be a What's Up-like song from the title to me or a smooth mid-tempo song. We won't get the full song on Monday tho, will we? From what I got with google translate the proper release of the song has not been decided yet.

Queen of releases!!

They say we will get more info about the song later.

And we already got a preview here!
https://mobile.twitter.com/kinotrump...10086438051841

Sounds like a feel-good song.

The chorus sounds a little similar to Roulette by Red Velvet, kinda has the same beat. Sounds like an alright song so far.

I love the DNA Tour t-shirt design, I wish I had one.

I'm kinda miss hyping a song
I like her music, and I know it's an old topic but the songs somehow don't feel as special to me anymore (most of them, that is). That does not make them bad and I know she developed and stuf... but oh well, I still get more excited by having some of the old songs in the setlist than the newest.

I'm Lovin' sounds cute!

Indeed it also reminds me of the R&B based pop sound Red Velvet has.
If this proves true for the full song as well, I'm all here for that!

With the first day of the tour Good Luck also aired some footage and a short backstage inerview with Kuu. She said there she picked the theme song between 2-3 songs she's working on.
Wonder what she's planning to do with all the new songs and if we ever get to know the plans she had to cancel this year or postpone.
But the most likely scenario probably is a new original album next year.


It's been a while, so here's a Spotify update:

01. Guess Who Is Back - 9,947,083
02. 愛のうた - 7,634,905
03. you - 2,403,959
04. Moon Crying - 2,218,469
05. キューティーハニー- 2,204,086
06. Butterfly - 1,889,097
07. め組のひと - 1,471,360
08. real Emotion - 1,239,107
09. 言えないよ - 1,191,752
10. 好きで、好きで、好きで。 - 1,115,774
11. 恋のつぼみ - 1,001,541
12. TABOO - 874,979
13. 小さな恋のうた - 871,553
14. 夢のうた - 850,006
15. あなただけが - 704,903

There are some surprises: No Regret is at 500k plays and Bling Bling Bling at 440k, higher than songs like Crazy 4 U and Lollipop e.g..
Overall she's at around 564k monthly listeners right now.

On different platforms it also looks a bit different.
youtube e.g. right now:

01. め組のひと - 1,1 million
02. Crazy 4 U - 745,381
03. you - 737,649
04. 愛のうた (album version) - 685,558
05. Someday - 596,420
06. It's all Love! - 558,805
07. ピンクスパイダー - 469,152
08. 恋しくて - 469,709
09. キューティーハニー - 444,612
10. Love Me Back - 402,463
11. BUT - 400,613
12. puff - 372,313
13. Butterfly - 358,512
14. BE MY BABY - 327,356
15. Cherry Girl - 289,525

Tho ofc uploads are not done at the same time and not all songs have videos.

For another comparison here's the current ranking on AWA:

01. you - 1,771, 668
02. 好きで、好きで、好きで。 - 1,443,465
03. 愛のうた - 1,248,110
04. Moon Crying - 1,033,809
05. 0時前のツンデレラ - 987,539
06. あなただけが - 909,384
07. め組のひと - 882,251
08. ふたりで... - 674,690
09. 言えないよ - 629,334
10. 恋しくて - 625,539
11. 小さな恋のうた - 520,910
12. Butterfly - 508,771
13. TABOO - 494,324
14. 恋のつぼみ - 480,854
15. Someday - 458, 289

Tho on AWA songs being released on different releases count seperately, so e.g. Moon Crying on the Moon single has 344,918 plays right now, so altogether the song actually has over 1,4 million plays.
For LINE Music there sadly is no way to check plays at all.

And because I think re(CORD) is a great album I also wanna update its Spotify plays! :P

re(CORD) Spotify ranking

01. STRIP - 215,490
02. again - 191,162
03. GOLDFINGER 2019 - 132,214
04. DO ME - 130,026
05. OMG - 118,358
06. Rich&Famous feat. Sean Paul - 117,449
07. プチョヘンザッ!!! - 112,113
08. SHUTOUT - 108,676
09. GET NAKED - 103,966
10. Summer Time - 100,380
11. k, - 68,455
12. Merry Go Round - 31,406
13. Eh Yo re(cord) edit - 29,830
14. Livin' La Vida Loca - 26,761

Eh Yo (single edit) - 179,172

re(CORD) ranking on AWA (album & single plays combined):

01. STRIP - 63,469
02. GOLDFINGER 2019 - 54,836
03. again - 49,974
04. OMG - 47,082
05. GET NAKED - 39,683
06. DO ME - 38,505
07. Rich&Famous feat. Sean Paul - 36,935
08. k, - 32,103
09. プチョヘンザッ!!! - 29,749
10. SHUTOUT - 27,223
11. Merry Go Round - 23,690
12. Ey Yo re(CORD) edit - 20,565
13. Summer Time - 19,839
14. Livin' La Vida Loca - 15,856

Eh Yo (single edit) - 73,024

It really is an album with good and popular album tracks.
Too bad chances to hear Rich&Famous and SHUTOUT live are very slim.

And a sad news just announced:
The NAIL MAX magazine is ceasing publishing.
They gonna continue doing stuff on social media though.

I love that Guess Who Is Back gets all the love it deserves! It’s been stuck in my head for a while now!

And noooo!! Not Nail Max! I loved seeing her on the covers :(

^
^
Thank you!

No more NAIL MAX?!? TT___TT omg end of an era

For the next few months , both BS SKY PerfecTV! & MUSIC ON! TV will respectively broadcast footages from last month's a-nation online 2020

The a-nation online 2020 both channels will broadcast are spilt into 2 categories , Volume 1 & Volume 2

For Kuu , her performance falls under Volume 1

BS SKY PerfecTV! tomorrow will broadcast the Volume 1 footages

Next month :

MUSIC ON! TV - 4th & 11th Oct

Nov :

BS SKY PerfecTV! - 14th Nov

https://twitter.com/anation_navi/sta...93578745024514

The songs that were broadcast from her a-nation set:

01 TABOO
02 CHANCES ALL
03 Lucky Star
04 LOADED

The image quality is kinda bad tho.

Kuu will perform I'm Lovin' on this coming Fri morning's live broadcast of TBS' Good Luck morning programme

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...33356056653825

I'm Lovin' being played on Good Luck!, it's a typical feel-good song, it's very b-side ish, like the b-sides from Kingdom era. https://twitter.com/kinotrumpet/stat...76271399055361

But it actually fits the intro pretty well:
https://twitter.com/tensaiKEN1122/st...27413009281033

Yeah, I do get the b-sideness of it, but there's something about it that sounds a bit more uplifting and... solid, idk. It probably won't be my favourite song ever but it'll sure be a good one.

2 video commentaries

a-nation 2020

https://twitter.com/MUSIC_ON_TV_PR/s...76313616236547

Tele to Ongaku Sai 2020 Aki which Kuu is giving away 1 signed tote bag

https://twitter.com/teretoongakusai/...00818182537216

Kuu wore the buckle choker in both clips

Kuu is going to sing a medley on Wednesday.

Two weeks have passed now and nobody got infected with Covid at Kuu's Osaka dates.
They thank everybody following and taking the measures seriously.

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1086281

December dates for KODA KUMI 20th ANNIVERSARY TOUR 2020 MY NAME IS... will now proceed on as planned

Fanclub ticket balloting will open tomorrow afternoon 3pm Japan time

12月5日(土) 国立代々木競技場第一体育館

（1部）

開場11:30
開演13:00

（2部）

開場17:30
開演19:00

12月6日(日) 国立代々木競技場第一体育館

（1部）

開場11:30
開演13:00

（2部）

開場17:30
開演19:00

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1086279

Yes, they say in the news they waited till they knew everything went fine with the Osaka dates.
Great to see they'll hold the December dates as planned.

Hi Kaled, I am going to buy the ticket for Oct 4, could we talk privately?

Great to know this, makes me feel like she'll move on more confident and less troubled with the tour. And also congrats to her staff on making this possible, surely it wasn't an easy task!

I'm so glad that no one got sick! Congratulations to Kumi, her staff, and the fans for being able to pull it off. I hope it gives her more confidence going forward, because you could you see the nerves during the Osaka shows.

Kuu will perform on tonight's live broadcast of Tele to Ongaku Sai 2020 Aki

She will perform on the show from 8pm Japan time onwards

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjIRBXHU...jpg&name=small

https://twitter.com/teretoongakusai/...38698742779905

EXILE's YouTube uploaded ATSUSHI & Kuu's joint duet performance of WON'T BE LONG + Osaka Tokyo at last year's EXILE ATSUSHI SPECIAL NIGHT IN OKINAWA



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pNlEZ6p4lA

Kuu is now starting the "cool artist" segment with her ero-kakkoii style!
She's wearing a short silver dress and will be performing Butterfly and XXKK, a special ero-kakkoii medley!

Tele to Ongaku Sai 2020 Aki performances

Butterfly

https://twitter.com/ongaku_tv/status...67258707050496

XXKK

https://twitter.com/ongaku_tv/status...67900297154560

Tele to Ongaku Sai 2020 Aki video commentary

https://twitter.com/teretoongakusai/...63269584338944

She had all of her current tour dancers with her, all 7, how unusual for her.
I'm so happy she performed XXKK on TV, love the look especially and the vocals were nice.

I'm so happy we got a TV performance of XXKK omg :heart She looked stunning, loving how she's into high boots lately. She was a bit out of breath in the beginning but she sure delivered in the end. Also I'm glad she's popping up a lot on TV this year (:

What happened with Kumi vocals? Since 2018 it appears that she can't sing like before...I hope she cares about her health, specially with vocal chords...

Maybe is because of lot of concerts...But is a little annoying hearing these current vocals... Jeez...

Is that a subject among the japanese fans?

During Black Cherry re(LIVE) she sang songs from 2006 and sounded strong. I think it's a combination of long tours, nerves, and just age. Kumi is pushing 40 and it isn't easy for a lot of singers to hit certain notes after 35.

Whitney, Mariah, and Celine all sounded different after 35. It can't be helped when you're singing live every night and touring. The fact that she isn't afraid to see vocal coaches and be aware of the challenges says a lot about Kumi.

She looked great and she sounded solid. It has been great seeing her embrace television again. After 2013, she kind of backed off of it, which was frustrating but understandable.

She looks so good? Did she change something about her make up? She looks different

I think she sounded fine. TVs tend to be more shaky (probably the mic rather than the singer) and a voice does not function the same every day. There could be a lot of reasons one sounds stronger or weaker (sleep, sickness and so on...) + it naturally ages - everybody is bound to sound different. One uses it - even if you don't sing it changes.

she looked great, wird medley tho with 0 effort in transitions (unlike Kpop who get better remixes and stuff...something japan is slow on)

^ Ever since she did that procedure/treatment to slim her face last year, she looks quite different. Not bad, but different.

@Marurosu It is quite a sensitive topic for fans, I believe. The general audience doesn't have much good things to say sometimes. I remember some comments when she did the Cutie Honey~Butterfly medley on Music Station last year, and how her voice was different in not a good way. It wasn't even a bad performance, but the high notes were not good and she seemed somehow nervous (doing the wrong choreography for the beginning of Butterfly).

A couple of pages ago I talked about this, how I believe the BSC and W FACE tour dates back to back might have damaged her vocals chords. After that, she started "experimenting" with higher notes resulting in AND and DNA having some very high notes for her (OUTTA MY HEAD and Pin Drop), and then she started the DNA Tour singing both at the same date, not sure if it was a smart decision. To be honest she started using higher notes in studio right after the vocal coach came in, so I don't really know what to think.

She usually sounds better at tours, I was surprised on how good her voice was on re(LIVE) live mu-mo stream and also DNA countdown live. The same can't be said for MY NAME IS... in some parts, specially for the second performance of the day, but I believe she was very nervous because of the situation of the tour and not knowing if it was going to be alright.

@RainbowFive I sent you a PM. :)

The performance was alright, Butterfly has been a struggle for quite some time now, XXKK was a nice surprise for sure! And she looked gorgeous, love the outfit.

I liked her energy there, even though the new song is not really my cup of tea. Has she also performed Lucky Star on tv?

Not yet, only on a-nation online 2020 and MY NAME IS... Tour.

I really like the images for the MY NAME IS... album, they're simple but beautiful. Unfortunately as much as I would have liked to buy the album, I couldn't really justify the expense with only 3 new songs and after it cost me 3x as much of the price of the buckle choker just to get it shipped to me. It was worth it though, I love this choker, it's gorgeous. :D

First Kuu tour good I've been able to buy so I'm super happy with it. <3

I'm really happy to see her perform XXKK, although she seemed a little shy and uncomfortable in the performance, I hope she's feeling ok!

I also missed the Mu-Mo live for the Osaka performance, so happy to see i'll get a second chance to view the show!

Her voice was awful during XXKK omg girl gotta see her vocal coach for real. Marutosu is 100% right she used to slay live performances. I feel bad hearing her voice live now. Loooool @ lovethatkuu&ayu i mean you chose the 3 singers that are on a «pretty pony~godlypretty pony~» level with their voices. They may have less good voices now but trust me they are still 100% amazing, they were just too damn perfect to start with lol. I could talk about Bey as well who’s almost 40.. her voice is literally LIT every single damn time...

I saw another performances from that show by another artist...and god, its clearly the mics fault. they did not even turn it on for her and its so badly adjusted.

I saw that too, poor Yui Asaka was pissed. All for the comeback after a whole Rizap campaign.

^yeah, kobokuro too sounded bad. i really think it was a lot of the sounds problem this time.

This. A bit harsh but true. Those double shows have done nothing but destroy her vocals. Maybe some rest will do her some good.

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who feel sad for her. Her live performances for the past years have been quite hard to watch.

She’s too confident in giving crazy amount of lives. And those 2 lives a day for literally a month is not good for her.

Just like last month in Osaka Jo Hall , some goods will be sold this Sun at Marine Messe Fukuoka

- Face mask (medium & small sizes)
- Penlight
- Sports towel

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1085830

This Sun's concert is not sold out , fans still can buy tickets at Marine Messe Fukuoka

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1086389

Yeah...the “Butterfly” performance was pretty hard to watch. The “XXKK” performance used too much backtrack so it was hard to actually hear her.

I understand the two shows a night because of COVID, but I have no idea why she wanted to put that much strain on her vocals last year. She’s a workaholic but she’s gonna kill her voice if she keeps this up.

Kumi performed I'm Lovin' on Good Luck!


https://youtu.be/hpvf6GHQisY?t=4285
(starts at 01:10:29)

Also, there is also going to have an after talk for both Fukuoka and Nagoya's MNIT date. Same price, 1,500 yens, and start after the the second concert of the day.

It's a really sweet song, reminds me of some cute tracks she released around the Dejavu era, and I love the rap/break part!! And she sounded much better as well, guess it really was a problem from that performance, be it microphones or her nerves.

I'm lovin' is so much better than lucky star and puff... I'm lovin' it

COLOUR OF SOUL PV



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l7zZ2SvM-c

^ An underrated track and same applies to It's too late, one of my fav b-sides of hers ever!

Her infamous "fat" PV that was almost an animation. I'll never understand that.

A whole scene of the video wasn't used with her sitting down with the Dior yellow tank top. Basically all scenes with that outfit were cut, only few seconds with the image so squished that it hurts.

https://i.imgur.com/af338Lf.jpg https://i.imgur.com/IuQkOTX.jpg

I loooove the cover and the song, one of my favorites from that time.

^ What , are you serious ?!

The amount of fat shaming Kuu had to endure years ago , it was and is still not acceptable :no

I'm really glad she stuck it out cos showbiz can be very unforgiving & for women they have to work twice if not even more harder than men +_+

@ Gustavopc COLOUR OF SOUL is indeed great & extremely under rated afer all these years without a doubt

Also one of my favourites! :heart

Regarding her vocals...
Yeah, all voices change over the course of a lifetime, some more, some less. And it also depends on the day, the overall lifestyle and outside conditions.
Kuu's voice already changed once between her debut and her peak, loosing the rawness.
Apart from that her workload did have the effect that her voice gets tired more easily at the moment, but I hope that will get better again with time.
So some performances are great, some not so much right now.
As I already mentioned her stage fright seems to have gotten bigger in recent years as well.
The thing she said after the XXKK performance when they cut out? She said: "I was so nervous" again.
Guess all the negative stuff within her career didn't leave without a trace.
I'm just happy that I still like how she sounds after 20 years.

omg baby Kuu in that yellow Dior top :heart

^ I know, right? ♥

https://i.imgur.com/yMHIYby.jpg

@KarenPang Yeah, she said in her Koda Reki book and some interviews, as well in that Kinsma 3 parts episode with the TV adaptation of the beginning of her career. During the run of her first singles she put on 8kg (from the 45kg she had during her debut time) so by the time she was doing COLOR OF SOUL her team threatened her that, if she didn't start losing weight, the PV would to be an anime.

I wouldn't be surprise that she developed an eating disorder before/around feel my mind' era, because she was very skinny on Crazy 4 U, and feel... DVD.

https://i.imgur.com/Wqi2maD.jpg

Holy SHIT. I have never seen this and I am so disturbed.

^^ Wow ok , that's just awful :no

I will not be surprised as being called fat when you already weigh so little is very damaging :x

Japan's society is still very sexist to some extent & the amount of scrutiny female celebrities have to go through from being judged about their looks to how they look can be very unforgiving

I'm just glad that Kuu stuck it out & stand up for what she believes in

I was literally thinking the other day that her recent performances on TV in the past year (and even the Black Cherry tour a little) or so she seems to be much more shy on stage. Not dancing as much, dressing more safe etc. It could be that's she's older now and feels subconscious about her image, which might be why she was nervous performing XXKK and perhaps is what inspired the MY NAME IS... slogan, or maybe worried about her voice. I don't blame her, she could be going through things mental health wise in relation to it all, I just hope she takes care of herself and can begin to feel a bit more confident soon. The fact that she is still going out there, giving her best to be true to herself despite her worries just makes me admire her even more. :yes

I wonder if she maybe damaged her voice at some point? Ayu is over 40 now but she still sounds great, so I'm not sure if age is the only factor. It could be many things like Corvina said.

I think Koda has kind of lost her direction, her best work up-do-date for me would be JAPONESQUE. it was cohesive, well done, full of different genres. I think this formula would still work for her, no matter the age, it just suits her well.

lately there's no good music and no budget, and looks-wise I don't think I understand her fashion sense either.

@KarenPang It's a weird situation there because in Japan judging people's weight was considered "normal" 20 years ago, and people still do nowadays. This whole thing is treated more of an overcome situation of how she went from "overweight to skinny", but to be honest it was more like her own team fat shaming her to lose weight.

Ayu has some good days of singing, but that's not always the case and we all know that. She is in such a better place vocal wise now, but let's not act like she's singing great for the past 10 years. Obviously Ayu has her deafness that affects her, so a lot goes into that.

@ayu_ready? That's up to personal taste, as you said that to you it is best work to date, it's not for everybody. W FACE, DNA and reCORD were solid records for me, so far AND was the only misstep.

Also, let's not act crazy like she lost her voice or something like this, she just did a very good performance of Story on FNS a couple of months ago.... And the Butterfly performance on MNIT was totally fine.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14NX...ew?usp=sharing

And yes, lately she seems to be very nervous on TV, more often she's even saying that on stage.

Yeah, I think she sounds fine compared to her peers (especially the mentioned one). She is among the top-vocalists for me. I love listening to her, I jsut can't stand Japanese TV-sound engineering anymore.

Yeah for sure. My point was more that there are singers like Ayu who currently sound very good vocally despite being over 40, so age might not be the main or only issue (and not that she is a better vocalist than Kuu).

I do feel that she seems to experimenting with more higher notes recently like someone else said, so it could just be that, or it could be nerves, or bad microphones. Anything, really. I still enjoy listening to her regardless.

She did sound great in XXKK and when she did that duet with Ai not too long ago, so.

EDIT: Also thanks for sharing the video, she sounds great! Was that recorded from the Mu-mo live I take it?

fat shaming is one of the sickest Asian culture. When you are have a bit fat on your face, then people would say "you are fat".

Someone uploaded this clip a couple of days ago on Youtube, of some BTS from 2002-2003 of Kuu, perhaps from CDs and TV footage? I've never seen this so it was nice to see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCa3...=RareJ-PopZone

She's always looked so pretty!

^ That's so cool, thanks for sharing it here!

Does someone know if there were any changes in the setlist for the tour this weekend? Especially curious about the ballad section.

Yesterday's 1st session at Fukuoka Marine Messe



https://tieba.baidu.com/p/6996987624

Don't know about the 2nd session yesterday

^
^ You're welcome!

I think I'm in the minority but I love 'WHO', so I'm glad she's performing that song.

Is Mu-mo live-streaming this weekend's tour dates as well? I keep missing the tour dates due to my own schedule/time difference, but I'd really like to catch it live if I can. Or if they are streaming December 5th I may wait to watch that one, as I feel that may be a special one since I think that was when TAKE BACK was released?

@Ayu_Love That video is from her first DVD, 7 spirits. And yes, there will be two concerts for this weekend on 10/10, one 13pm and other 19pm both Japan local time.

The only difference in the setlist was:

18. 1000の言葉
19. WALK OF MY LIFE

For the first performance of 09/12 the setlist was:

18. Through the Sky
19. BRIDGET SONG

and the second

18. CHANCES ALL
19. WALK OF MY LIFE

Thanks Kaled and Karen!

I hope 1000 no kotoba ends up in the DVD even if in a bonus disc. At least would be a way to make up for it not being on Spotify lol