^whoa
I'd DEFINIETLY go to that concert ;)
If kumi ever comes to the US/Canada, I'm going 100%.

When I see pictures of Kumi like that, and then listen to songs like Ashita e... I can't help but think what a versatile artist she is. I love all the sides of my Kumi-Kuu.

I agree :yes

Sorry about that! The link is: http://www.mediafire.com/?a7vny0ud904rs :D Also updated old post with the right link! If there is any not there that you want let me know and I'll see if I have it somewhere!

I also did a tutorial on how to buy instrumentals from ClubDAM is anyone wants to, here: http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114369 (Beware, it's a lengthy read.)

It's her Cherry Girl performance at Rhythm Nation 2006 :3 You can download it here: http://www.nautiljon.com/lives/koda+...7.12.2006.html You need an account but I would recommend it (only takes 2 secs) as they have a lot of kumi lives, and update with her new lives, too. They DID have ALL of her lives before Megaupload was put down, but they are starting to re-upload them all now. :)

I love her hairstyle during that performance so much. One of my favourite Kuu looks

Thanks so much for the link!
They have some lives I haven't even seen. Awesome stuff :D

Thanks a lot for posting this! (:

Ah thanks for that :)! I havent seen a ton of her lives!

I wanna buy Beach Mix even more now, seeing as I haven't seen the majority of her a-nation lives.

I thought this performance is exclusive to Beach Mix DVD, but now after lookin at the screens I remembered - it was also on Live Tour 2006~2007 ~Second Session~ 2nd DVD. HOT n AWSM performance.

Guh, it just hit me tonight that I really miss my Kuu baby! :(

You're welcome! I'd love to upload some of the Kuu lives I have but most of them are above 200mb, which is Mediafire's upload limit. D: baaahh

the only exlcusive performance in Beach Mix is D.D.D. at Rhythm Nation'06.

thank you once again for the instrumentals, Ayu_Love ^^

can't wait for the new single !!

Beach Mix DVD iso, rips etc. are up at ilovekuu

kuu is looking radiant in recent (playroom) pictures, she seems so happy because of babykuu :3

http://i.imgur.com/lFA2f.jpg

How recent exactly is this? She can't be this skinny already :thud

^Maybe she went through a special diet if she got that skinny this fast. :o

Well its been a month already, I wouldnt be suprised if she'd been on a controlled diet during her pregnancy too. To be fair she didnt seem that big anyway. With the right diet and intensive exercise - and breast feeding! - it's not suprising. She looks lovely <3

she's a bad b&&&&, no muzzle. She'll never be fat again TBH.

Models have gotten back into working shape within a month or two of a pregnancy.

She probably really didn't gain much weight anyway. Her clothes could also help hide anything.

Japanese moms don't get fat @____@
I've seen lots of skinny moms with newborn babies *gene???*

I'm sure Kuu was working out & eating right during her pregnancy, plus been working hard to lose any weight she did gain.

Now that shes already back in shape I hope doing some TV performances in 2 months or so won't be a problem. I've missed seeing her perform.

When I go to Fan Expo, I might get Black Cherry. Yume no Uta is so worth it. And Juicy. And Cherry Girl. But Yume no Uta, man. Only Koda Kumi ballad I will ever 'stan' for.

I have never understood the dislike for Kuu's other amazing ballads. I love Yume no Uta a lot too, but it's not my favorite of hers. Personally my #1 Kuu ballad will always be Kiseki, closely followed by you and Promise because these songs made me her fan after all so they have to closest place in my heart. :heart

Aishou and you are my favourite Kuu ballads. She's a lot better at mid-tempos and up-tempos imo.

My favorite Kuu ballad is Suki de, it's absolute perfection.

Old Kumi-wise, I love hands, Promise, Yume no Uta, Futari de.. :heart she has so many good ballads though.

I honestly don't think I liked yume no uta...

is that the one that's the same as futari de?


I think my favorite ballad is still believe...even with her crazy vocals.

Oh man I forgot about believe... I love how she cries in the studio recording :laugh

Believe is indeed one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. She hasn't ever sung it live, has she?

I dont think so.... I WANT TO SEE IT THOUGH! Its an amazing song!

I like this song but it's kinda awkward since 'suki' (especially pronounced with 'u' which the Japanese normally omit) in my language means "bit**es"

^ That would be a really good new Kuu song. The dirty-dance version of Suki de.

Bit**es, Bit**es, Bit**es.

me too:innocent
+Aishou

I think she kept to a certain diet. many girls do it now during pregnancy

LFMAO at Suki de dirty version XD That would be so amazing haha. :heart

Need this in my life like NOW :laugh :laugh :laugh

I don't know which is my fav Kuu ballad, but the most scrobbled one according to my last.fm is Suki de... But I hadn't the account when hands, you and Yume no uta were released, so it's kinda unfair :P Aisho would be a great candidate for my favorite ballad for sure

LOL

maybe that's why I subconsciously like it. because I'm a *****.

Omg B****** :laugh , i love suki de now even more :laugh

My favorite is Feel . the song is perfection . Sexy , Calm and not boring , it can't be boring , maybe i love how sexy she looks the PV , not like her other ballads PV which kuu has one role since ever , to stare at her phone and keep waiting and moaning over her dead and **** boyfriends :laugh

Well, my favorite Kuu song is Gentle Words, so it goes without saying that its my favorite ballad. But, I have a thing for Ashita e... I think its her most mature sounding ballad. Its not pop for the sake of pop. Its on another level. True artistry. At least, as far as Kuu is concerned. To me, it just sounds like she wanted to really make a true ballad, not sell records with that song.

^ Same feelings for Ashita e... I love Alive like this also, but Ashita e... is still better for me :)

Hana and Yume no Uta. Also Unmei. Love when she get super dramatic at the end.

Promise and feel are my faves. Followed very closely by Aishou and you.

I was thinking the same thing about alive after I typed that post! Even the part about Ashita e... being better.

I'm not sure of my fav kuu ballads, since I like most of them for different reasons! Most people's favourite seem to be Yume No Uta or You but I don't listen to those two much, although re-listening to Yume No Uta I have realized how awesome it is again! I think it was because I hadn't listened to it for a long time...I really like Pearl Moon, Come Back, Kiseki, Hands, Moon Crying, Ai No Uta (Ashita E...And Alive because of their classical sound)....Believe because of it's gentle acoustic sound...And Aisho cause of it's cool rock sound and sexy lyrics. :D No Way is beautiful as well.

But yeah, Come Back and Pearl Moon, and have always been two of my fav Kuu ballads. 0-ji mae no tsunderella is a def fav song of mine as well, or in Japanese, Ichiban no uta! :D (I think..LOL)

I may have to put 1000 Words as my number 1 though, because it was the first Kuu ballad I ever heard and with Real Emotion got me into Kuu. :D

My favorite Kuu ballads are:
-Moon Crying
-come back
-Ashita e...
-Alive

I also LOOOOVE Your Love but I think that's more of an R&B ballad type track. Are we on the topic of ~epic~ ballads? Lol. Oh and i LOOOOOOOVE Himitsu! OMGGGG <3

^ omg Come back is so flawless basic Japanese ballad :weep

so guys everytime you mention a ballad i'll come and cry over how amazing it is , eventually Kuu is an epic ballad artist :laugh

^ Would you even cry over Ai Wo Tomenaide and Brave?

omg amen gurl! When I heard it on BOUNCE & LOVERS, I fell so hard for it. Kuu just sounds so emotional.

I swear we have a Kuu ballad chat at least once a thread, lol.

Also, I really love Rain. Its a mature ballad, but also kinda sexy in a non-raunchy way. I'm currently obsessing over Joy. Her vocals are sublime.

^It's true, LOL!!
But again, my fav. kuu ballads are Yume no Uta, Suki dex3 and Ai wo Tomenaide, the rest are boring for ME.

Lol well yeah I'll cry , But it's for a total different situation :roflmao , Well Ai wo Tomenaide isn't that bad but it's cheesy basic jpop ballad :laugh


IKR!? , I can't stop but singing with her "I WANNAAAAA COME BACK FOO YOOOOOOOO :weep " Well somehow it sounds more like I wanna Candle/Camel :laugh


@happiholic OMG IKR!!!?? :roflmao , i always feel like "omg i've seen these posts before" :laugh

Well today i saw her wiki page , man it's so different how she was 5 years ago and the amazing sales , I wonder what the main reason of her sales decline , absloutly it's not her scandal , I know the whole jpop is declining but look at Namie and her sudden boost since 60s70s80s and she keeps selling more , I dont really care about sales since Kuu still able to make a flawfree album like JAPONESQUE , but it's depressing too the album deserves millions . Shall I stop ? :laugh

I'd say her scandal just caused the wide gap between Kingdom and TRICK sales, and from then it just declined normally. The scandal definitely hit her hard at the time since pretty much EVERYONE heard about it - my uncle who lives there said he hardly ever listened to music related news etc but he still heard about it and they spoke about it at his work place... And he just drives trucks for deliveries etc lol.

I think the decline would be happening anyway regardless of the scandal, but, i think it would have taken another 2 years or so for it to have reached this stage imo

I think it's because of the scandal too. I mean Kingdom sold decently, but it didn't have any longevity and only sold half as much as Black Cherry.

Well recently both Dejavu (earthquake affecting longevity) and JAPONESQUE (no promotion due to pregnancy) had setbacks that affected her sales.
Hopefully things start getting better this era as she returns from pregnancy and gets some hype going. I'm going to remain optimistic and hope for the best. :D

I just miss my Diva Kuu and that superb voice no one has :)

{how the heck do I make youtube videos work? =/}

http://youtu.be/Vn-MiMTJEKs
http://youtu.be/oxkBx7efr5c

^ [youtube]*the letters and numbers of the video[/ youtube] (no space between / and youtube)

EX: [youtube]Vn-MiMTJEKs[/ youtube]

I LOOOOVE her vocals in the first video. They sound so... enka. I love it!! Makes me think that maybe its just her singing in JOY, because the other voice I was hearing sounded like that, but I'd never heard it from Kuu.

The second video... dat dress!!! F♥♥♥ing loved it!! Also, I see that a member here has the top rated comment on that video! Wonder what the comments for the other video said, as they were all in Japanese.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1...pboard02it.jpg
Top commentary makes me feel so good. Haha :D

I hope her next album would outsell at least JAPONESQUE. It would be sad if she didn't. I really wish she could sell like UNIVERSE did again. It was so awesome to see her sell over 370,000 copies. I wish she could reach that again someday because Kuu is the one who deserves all those numbers for her hard work. So flawless. <3

Lol, why not? Ai wo tomenaide is a masterpiece. I cried a lot when I heard it for the first 100 times. :D And Brave as well though I haven't personally listened to it so much yet but those lyrics are so beautiful.

Holy hell, I've never seen this performance before. So amazing! Perfect! Epic! jhdkgkdhfj!!!!!!!!!! :heart Luckily I downloaded it yesterday so now I can watch it whenever I feel like. XD

Yeah, I've been really obsessed with Kuu lately. Last week all I really listened to was Kuu and I think this week will be spend the same way as well haha. XD I'm so happy~ <3

When I'm not in a total Kuu phase she is still my go-to singer. Like, if there is no song that I really want to listen to I just listen to Kuu. Although, I'm like that with Miliyah Kato. They are like my number one (Kuu) and two (Miliyah).

This has been my all time fave Kuu performance.

OMG her dress is fabulous on HD :heart

seriously kuu is so fabulous to handle :cry , my real emotion for kuu can't be described with 1000 words :weep

omg I'm SO tattooing this on me

I could watch this performance the whole day, her dancing and singing are so effortless. She is the total package every artist should be :luv2

I so wonder what Kuu's next album will be, and how much having a baby might affect it. :D

I'm hoping her next album is released sometime next summer.

I hope her next album will be good and not full of somewhat recycled songs or sounds. I want some good ballads and some cool dance songs too. I hope she just stays true to herself. I'm too excited about her comeback! :)

I also hope she releases her next album around summer. All her albums so far have been released between December and March, and Kuu fits summer so good, it'd be epic.

Also I hope she re-announces JAPONESQUE Tour for the beginning of 2013, the album deserves an Asia tour sooooo bad

OMG let's do it together :luv2 !!

Well new album hmmm so if I'm talking about Kumi being music machine I'd say she'll do the following things

1- Go to the top single on 10/24
2- Decent ballad single on late December maybe Double A-side like SSS/ADG
3-Limited single in February before the album release like POP DIVA , So 4 Singles tracks like Dejavu
4-Album release on March
5- Huge promotion for her comback and huge tour supporting both JAPONESQUE and the new album

and that's it :tipsy , Crap ?

^I think that's a good prediction. :D

I'm not so sure she'll release another 2 singles before March, she may start off slow because she won't be able to be as busy now because of her baby...But we do know how Kuu loves to work, lol.

Since there was no summer single this years, I want her to release a summer singles project next year, like 4 maxi-singles in four weeks. I won't accept less than this kthxbye

Noo! I hate March albums and I feel they don't do that well (Party Queen, Dejavu, etc)

I'd love if she did this
1 - GTTT 10/24
2 - Double A-Side Ballad Single 12/26
3 - Triple A-Side Single 2/13
4 - Double A-Side Single - 5/8
5 - Limited Single - 7/3
6 - New Album Release - 7/24
7 - Dome Tour - October

What I'm expecting:

1. Go to the top in October
2. Winter single à lá stay with me in December
3. Upbeat single in March/April, maybe a collab song like It's all Love!
4. Summer single in early July
5. New album in later August
6. JAPONESQUE Tour reannounced, from February to June
7. New album tour starting around October

What I wish for:

1. Go to the top in October
2. Winter single à lá stay with me in December
3. Double a-sided single, one featuring a Japanese artist and the other track an overseas (but still Asian) artist in April
4. JAPONESQUE Tour reannounced from January to April and then extended into an Asia Tour, starting in late June and ending a month later
5. A summer single in August à lá Gossip Candy
6. A double a-sided single like Alive / Physical thing in November
7. New album near xmas+JAPONESQUE Tour DVD
8. New album tour starting in February

But she's just had a baby, I highly doubt she would go overseas in the next two years or more

Let her rest a bit please, XD.

I hope that her new album will contain some lyrics that reflect on how she has changed in different respects after becoming a mother and wife. I'm kinda over love songs from her right now :P

All I want is a consistent album. As much as I liked Kumi's previous albums, they were all messes. All the same thing with filler. Kingdom had fire tracks (Under, But, Freaky, Amai Wana, More, Last Angel, Black Cherry full version) and I didn't mind listening to the album from beginning to end. I can even stand Kingdom's ballads (ai no uta is the best ballad on the album, though).

Oh kumi, when will you grace us with a consistent piece? *listens to Shake It Up*

I always felt that JAPONESQUE was pretty consistent compared to her last three albums in terms of sound. Some tracks weren't stellar, but for the most part it flowed well.

lol saying this while you're listening to shake it up?

Fascinating.

I'm hoping she'll still do a JAPONESQUE tour...

Lol speaking of Shake It up wtf was she thinking with that song? It's a mess. I never understood why it existed.

JAPONESQUE is so epic to not having its own tour. hopefully next year e__e

I wouldn't mind another cover album.

Eternity ~Love & Songs~ Part 2 would be so awesome. First one was just plain flawless. Too bad she had so much going on in 2010 that I forgot to overplay that album completely lol. XD

And also a big yes to JAPONESQUE TOUR. I was so excited for this because I thought that I could see Lay Down and ESCALATE sung live but the tour got cancelled. Hopefully, if she won't do the tour, she will sing some of album's songs in her November Tour. Of course, she might concentrate on ballads too, but I really hope not.

A new album... well, I don't know but somehow I kinda wish she releases her next album on December 20, 2013. It's been a while since we had a December album (Black Cherry is the only one, actually lol) and she might as well wish to concentrate on her family and also, she might announce the JAPONESQUE TOUR for the first half of 2013. We never know what she decides but in a way this might be the case. Personally I don't want her to rush with her next album. I'm sure fans will wait for the release patiently. I know I would! :yes

me too :)
I love when she sings ballads and some good R&B :)

It's just a song that I like.
With kumi, I always pick individual songs to listen to. Like with Best Second Session, I listen to Shake It Up, DDD an Candy.
I'll just make a playlist of Kumi songs I like.

Is she singing Whatchu waiting ON or NOW in the song? I keep hearing NOW.

^It's 'ON', but your forgiven with Kuu's Engrish. xD

I think a rock cover album would be awesome, or an R'n'B one, she rocks both of those genres so well. :D And it would be different to hear her interpretations of them! I really want one (both) of those.

She could cover one of Misono's songs like she did in ETERNITY but make it kick ass Jrock instead of punk rock. :D

So it's ON for sure? xD Haha Kuu's Engrish xD

I remember when there was a quiz, dont know how official it was, about future releases and events by Kumi that we would like to see, and one of the options was a western cover album. I'd love to see that, even with her Engrish.

Shake it up remix from Kingdom Tour is flawless, but I'm not a big fan of the original mix either.

I don't know if she's going to do the original JAPONESQUE Tour plans, but I think most of the things are done (well, at least some outfits and the concept).

I would love to see something like this:
- GTTT 10/24
- Ballad single, like you or stay with me 12/19
~2013
- Premium Night ~Love and Songs~ DVD release 03/20
- Double a-side uptempo / ballad, like BUT -- aishou 03/20
- Summer single, 3 tracks: with tracks like Lollipop, IN THE AIR and one collaboration with an overseas artist (massive promo) 07/26
- JAPONESQUE Live Concert at Yokohama Arena (not a full tour, just two days like Dream Music Park) 08/07
- Limited ballad single, double a-side (just one of them in the album) 11/06
- New album - 15 or 16 tracks with three new PVs, CD+2DVDs with the JAPONESQUE Live Concert.
- New album's tour starts in February or March 2014.

I really hope that Japonesque gets its own tour. The tracks would be amazing live. And with a traditional Japanese theme? OMG.

^INORITE. Imagine the kick ass kimono she'd be wearing. D8

^She should sing So Nice in that awesome pink outfit she has on JAPONESQUE covers as a concert opener. XD

I looooove So Nice. Its so sexy and amazing.

Hi everyone...I just wanted to know,is someone here part of Kuu's Playroom?

Well, I actually like the idea of a JAPONESQUE Limited live like Dream music park, usually these concerts are on bigger stages and since I can't attend to her concerts, there will be no difference for me between a tour with a special final and a normal concert :laugh

YES!!!! I agree with everything except with the part about not overplaying it - I definitely did! That's one of her best albums for me, seriously.

Yes, I want gigantic, theatrical Japonesque Music Dream Park.

I'd start crying if I had that. God she has the best ****.

Oh, another Dream Music Park would be so amazing. I really love that huge stadium live and wish that she would make another one soon. She totally owned it. :heart

Japonesque Dream Park would be best, yes :yes