2020 FNS Kayousai Day 1 offshot photos

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...32719429722112

https://www.instagram.com/p/CISMtfqjKc4/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIS1LDRDcyz/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CITBKn1j4ma/

:love

I was thinking the same thing yesterday. I believe one of the factors is that she often keeps old demos and release them later, with that she keeps being like 2 years behind on the "current sound".

For example: Big Boys Cry (Namie) and SWEETEST TABOO (Kumi) demos are from the same record session, the credits are the same except for Namie's song where you have the japanese writer as well:

SWEETEST TABOO - Anne Judith Wik • Ronny Svendsen • Harambasic • Jan Hallvard Larsen • Eirik Johansen • Hayley Aitken
Big Boys Cry - Kanata Okajima• Anne Judith Wik • Ronny Svendsen • Harambasic • Jan Hallvard Larsen • Eirik Johansen • Hayley Aitken

One was released in 2013, and the other 2018. So the song is dated from the get go, same thing happens with a lot of different songs that she releases lately.

To be honest I never felt that Kumi had the current trends in her music, maybe her remix albums had more because it was outsourced (with dubstep when it was a thing, DHits 7 having the tropical house style, etc.). Before JAPONESQUE, the american/european demos felt distinctive enough to not feel dated, BUT for example doesn't really have the sound of 2007, it still feels fresh, but after that it was pretty much on the nose when the song was originally created.

Latin beats had their boom in 2017, OMG came out in 2019. Tropical house was a thing in 2016/2017, No One and Alarm came out in 2020 and so on.

^nah, I don't necessarily think that makes them dated if they are released later. That actually happens quite a lot. At one stage, it is just a demo that gets polished and besides certain trends, music overall is timeless. If you release a dubstep song right now it would be dated, because that was a certain sound at one point - but if a song isn't trendy from the get go, it probably does not sound old because it does not throw back to a certain year of music that scrams "thats so 19...." in your head.

Your example also caters to that. I don't think BBC was very 2013, nor do I think it sounds dated now. Its just a pop song. I also don't think SWEETEST TABOO sounded dated when it came out, nor does it now.
Overall J-Pop certainly does not follow trends to start with. If they do, it mostly sounds funny.

I think it's a mix of what Kaled said plus Kumi always looking forward to release songs that her fans will like. So, let's say she tried a new genre, and their fans liked it. So she'll make a similar one for her next album, and also for the following one. In the last couple of years we can see that with BRIDGET SONG > ALL RIGHT, and also Put Your Hands Up!!! > Lucky Star. And in a couple of years she'll have a throwback to that style yet again. So she keeps on repeating that genre cause it's a safe zone for her fans, and will already probably fit into a certain spot in her concerts setlists. But one day that style will become dated, and she will still be revisiting it.

I don't think it's a bad thing in itself, this playing safe, cause at the end of the day what Kumi wants the most is to connect with her live audience more than score a #1 or become a trend-setter. But I do wish that once in a while she went for doing whatever she likes without considering how her fans will receive the songs in question. It doesn't seem like something she does a lot, and it could bring some freshness to her material. But, again, that's just not what she wants to do, probably.

Yeah, outdated or not-trendy doesn't really apply to a music scene like Japan, where trends are pretty different to the rest of the world to begin with.
OMG e.g. also doesn't fit as an example as it was newly written.

Besides I personally believe it wouldn't matter what music Kuu makes, she wouldn't be popular either way today.
Or she would have to change her sound pretty drastically or follow the idol route to come on top again - and that's just not her anymore.

I don't think it's a matter of popularity, it's just songs that she chooses to record. No one is saying that it's a bad thing and that the songs are bad, it's just that, at some point, they start to sound too much alike and not fresh enough, but basically she liking a style and sticking with it for more time than necessary.

The girl tries so many genres that, at some point, it was about to happen. Even back in the day I remember people saying this about she releasing the "same" song multiple times (SHAKE IT, Get It On, Candy, Amai Wana, So Nice).

Also, a song sounding dated is a matter of your own references as well.

It probably has more to do with your own expectations.
She already tried so much as you say and that in 20 years of a career.
So what exactly do you want her to make sound-wise?
Circulating more?
You really have to hate genre artists, who are sticking.to one type of music, lol.
In the end it always comes down to your own taste and Kuu generally does what she enjoys.

It might not sound like she's sticking to one type of music because her releases have many genres in one, but when 3 to 4 releases in a row sound alike you can see that she in a "genre artist", or whatever you wanna call it. She has her regular formula, she's sticks with it, so whatever. If she keeps doing the same thing, maybe people might feel she's not evolving. To where? I don't know.

I often say that most of her releases has tracks that I can keep it, that are interesting and fresh sounded, or sometimes even the dated part is enjoyable (right now I enjoy all the corniness that PARTY has), so I'm not the one creating expectations because I know something will stand out anyway.

If I could point to one direction that I believe it would be evolving, or moving forward, or whatever, is try to do what she did with Eternity but with her own material. It was a mature album, it had a very put together sound and it was nicely produced, with most of the tracks with lower registers where her voice really shines. Maybe put some enka in there. I don't expect her to do something like this, ever, but it's an idea.

Enka might be something for her to try, but probably only in her older years. She did say in the recent interview she wants to make it to her 40th anni like Seiko Matsuda (she's the eternal idol to the Japanese tho).

This Japanese guy is doing a piano version of WORK IT!

https://mobile.twitter.com/shaaan_03...38320331317251

Sounds really awesome.
His favourite songs from the minis are WORK IT, for.. and RUN.

I’m so in love with FNS performance!
Kumi is so gorgeous and I’m so happy she performed you.
Classy performance! Didn’t know innocent Starter, it’s a nice song too.

Loved seeing my two queens Kuu and Nana together on the stage together! This slowed down ballad version of Innocent Starter sounds so good and Kuu’s voice on it so good!!

In regard to the two minis, I honestly really like both. monsteR is def better for me and I see myself bopping to it for a longer time than (re)CORD. killer monsteR, fliCkey, No One, and RUN are my faves and for me are better than a majority of her last three albums. I do agree with kaled’s comments that, while her albums are fairly diverse in the song on them, it is starting to come across as the same diversity since w FACE. I am not complaining as I enjoy this style, but Eternity and Color the Cover are some of my favorite albums in Kuu’s discography so re-evolving back to that mature sound I would be more than happy with that.

my fave mini is angeL by far... RUN is one of her best ballads in years for sure

I think exactly the same :love

Angel + monster is a great project. I loved monster the tracks are so different. No one is a Damm real - pt 2, and I can enjoy it. Flicky is my favorite. Sing the truth is FUN!!!
About Angel I also liked, RUN is definitely my fav... The song I dislike are puff and Lucky star.... overdose of Cutesy for me...

The CD+DVD version is 18# today, way less than 5k (top 3). Bye bye TOP 10 debut. https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2020-12-02/p/2/

https://usercontent.one/wp/www.cants...yscottlee2.gif

They have a new campaign for recochoku and line music https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1087845

From LINE MUSIC you get a special video (everyone who submit what they are asking for, to add I'm Lovin' or Killer monsteR as your BGM).
From recochoku you have a chance to get an oversize jacked signed with your name in it.

Agreed, I love MonsteR, and RUN is an amazing ballad! I expected to not really like No One but like Sing The Truth from the previews, but hearing the full version it's actually the other way round for me. (I still like Sing The Truth though.)
I think Killer MonsteR is my favourite from MonsteR just because that bridge gives me such an epic feeling and there is a good contrast between it and the chorus, but I love the album as a whole and think that they really got the good melodies down for this mini. I really like the spooky melody in the bridge in WORK IT!, it really fits with the album theme. The melody seems deliberately out of tune in Sing The Truth as well, I wonder if that was a choice to fit the album 'monster' theme as well.

I like all the songs from AngeL, although cutesy isn't really my thing so I will probably only listen to songs like Alarm, I'm Lovin and Puff when I am in the mood for them. I had to smile when I listened to For... because it really reminds me of her 2000's R'n'B ballads. :yes It has a nice melody as well which is easy to remember. Alarm has an older 2000's sound to it as well.
RUN and Lucky Star are deffo my favourites from AngeL.

Personally, I like it when she revisits certain song genres but does a different spin on it each time. I'd really like another song like SHAKE IT/Candy/Get It On/So Nice etc. I like the direction her music has taken in the last few years, but asides from a couple songs in each her cover albums are her least favourite for me, so it's just personal taste really. :)

I so wish I could get the FC edition and get the photobooks. :(

Me too! I've bought every single Koda Kumi studio album and compilation up until SUMMER and WINTER of LOVE; none of the albums after that interested me much until this one, mostly for the FC version. So it's definitely disappointing.

You can order the FC version through the playroom shop even if you’re not an FC member :) Just need to use a forwarding service to get it sent to you.

Guess Who Is Back Lyric Video



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-ROgEvfkqE

KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2018 -DNA- footages were utilised in the lyrics video

She also made a playlist of songs that "made KK's 20 years" - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0d...EFnexZei7CLC2X

Showing taste with Rhythm Nation, I see you.

Some of the artists there: P!nk, Jessie J, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, No Doubt, Lady Gaga, Kelly Rowland, Alicia Keys, Keri Hilson, Janet Jackson, Little Mix, Lil' Kim, and a bunch more.

Curious thing, I recall she mentioned somewhere recently (on that interview some weeks ago) that She loves rock and listens to that genre a lot since her begging but marketing wise wasn’t the direction Avex wanted her to go. I honestly think Kuu doing rock would be so great. In fact I think her voice is perfect for that.

^ Same. She could even pair up with Kenji fro a project, or maybe the whole of back-on, I'd kill for that.

Most of those songs were not surprises to me, I mean D.D.D. is basically the Japanese Lady Marmelade lol I think the only surprise to me was Fifth Harmony. Could also say Donna Summer not being there was a surprise as well. Interesting to see Boom Boom Pow there, iirc she did perform it with BEP on TRICK Tour the same day she performed That Aint Cool with Fergie, didnt she? Would love if some kind of covers project is on its way~

They gave the info for the CWGB video, that because it's so popular and Japanese FC fans as well as overseas listeners asked for a video for it, they mad this one now.

The playlist is like the title suggests full of songs Kuu listened to in her 20 years, to go on as an artist.

And more info was released.

A new karaoke campaign - this time with Joysound for angeL & mpnsteR.
Running from December 6 - Januray 31 through the whole country (list of stores on the site).
Offering two special drinks for every mini (1 of 6 postcards with every drink order) and a menue with 8 dishes including 3 hours of karaoke.

https://shop.joysound.com/campaign/kodakumi/

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1087855

The Lawson point card is now available with a Kuu angeL&monsteR design! Same time frame as the karaoke campaign.

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1087856

Kuu was on J-Wave radio again yesterday.
And tomorrow she's on the TBS' morning show 王様のブランチ, together with NiziU e.g., that's great!

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/schedule...ge=&id=1086326

Kuu will perform on next week's Buzz Rhythm 02

#160 ラインナップ【12月11日放送】

トークゲスト

DECO*27
松丸亮吾

歌ゲスト

倖田來未
NiziU
JO1
ニガミ17才
majiko

https://twitter.com/ongakutv/status/1334905149525950470
https://www.ntv.co.jp/buzzrhythm/

Sweet , no word what song Kuu will perform , yet

That explains why she would always have a rock song on her albums, (and rock sections in lives) that was also a genre she would often visit with every album. I've always assumed she's been a bit of a rock fan, as I think she goes to see artists like X Japan and Fall Out Boy live a lot?
I love that she's such a genre chameleon, cause her rock songs are some of my all time favourites! We haven't had one since 'DNA', so I'm hoping for another good rock song on the next album. :yes

No surprise to see Janet Jackson, P!nk and Christina on that playlist since I know they have been big inspirations for her. Really cool to see Little Mix on there though! I know they have quite a lot of Japanese fans and even sing some parts of songs in Japanese when they tour there.

Excited to see Kuu perform more, I hope she sings either 'Killer MonsteR' or/and 'RUN'.

nice clash of generations here. glad to see she's still keeping herself out there and promoting her music. I love it!

Welcome to Koda Kumi World has upload some photos of both photobooks:

http://www.welcometokodakumiworld.co...News?p=1&i=637

They're so gorgeous, one of her best photoshoots for me in years. I just love the colours and the swimsuit and jacket combo. <3

Seriously tempted to pay an arm and a leg to get this edition through Tenso haha.

Kuu is launching her own skincare brand tomorrow called Hemmy K!
She took about 2 years to develope the whole thing.
First two items are for aging skin, a moisturizing cream and a replenishing mask.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/pGJpqd.jpg

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1087868

First day of the tour final in Tokyo starting now.
They brought the wall from the Killer monsteR PV for photos!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/URKpom.jpg

Photo by twitter user @pon111cubers

Honest to god I hate every single thing about that Hemmy promo pic. She’s one of the most gorgeous women in the world and they made her look like THAT?

Aoi Shouta today attended Kuu's concert in Yoyogi

https://twitter.com/shouta0811aoi/st...15096364777472
https://twitter.com/shouta0811aoi/st...16255917838337

Aoi also sent a bouquet of flowers to Yoyogi today

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

Left - Sora's Senpai Club
Right - Aoi

https://twitter.com/imsora_desu/stat...12926730993667

KODA KUMI 10th Anniversary ~FANTASIA~ in TOKYO DOME Digest Ver.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq-Z6-YZk4s

I know, right? It's like the picture was taken as she was talking or something.

The Killer monsteR wall looks really cool there, way better than in the studio with the bad lights ruining the colors.

Looks even better at night.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/lMFjYi.jpg

Pic by twitter user @cd_maco

The replica ticket for the Tokyo dates is also really gorgeous!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/bR0WL5.jpg

The image used on the other ticket design for today is also very pretty

https://scontent-xsp1-1.cdninstagram...fd&oe=5FF41457

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIay6ZAJURU/

Outside Yoyogi

https://instagram.fsin9-1.fna.fbcdn....f1&oe=5FF4D856

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIaps9xHfsp/

===

Happy 20th anniversary to Kuu & Mizuki Nana :spazzed

the mini's are awesome shame that sales are 45 units to date

The tickets are gorgeous! Ooh I would love to buy something from her skincare range!

Happy 20th anniversary! Made this TAKE BACK stage mix to celebrate, can't upload on youtube because of the first section https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vO7...ew?usp=sharing

---

The video without the intro:

someone have the song with PARADOX LIVE for download?
I find the EP at Hikari no Akari but it's exclusive for its forum ; ;

I'm a forum member but I'm unable to download due to this :

:x

It's real annoying , it applies to other selective CDs the forum uploads too , not just this

WOW I love it! Thank you kaled
Happy 20th Anniversary!

KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2020-2021 MY NAME IS... COUNTDOWN EDITION will still go ahead as planned on year end , for now

playroom mobile fanclub members can ballot for tickets from 9pm Japan time onwards later on

The countdown live will start about 10pm Japan time

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1087895

Sora's Senpai Club Ep 01 is out!



It's a great interview!

I 2nd that

I think there will be 3 more parts of the Sora's Senpai Club interview they did with Kuu since she's featured for the entire month of Dec on their show

1st part of the interview Sora's Senpai Club did with Kuu is great , you have light hearted moments , serious moments , the works

Although overall my favourite answer from Kuu is what she spent on with her 1st pay cheque , totally relatable xD

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

https://twitter.com/imsora_desu/stat...77232601858048

Oh! Well. Thank you so much for trying :heart :heart

The interview with Sora Senpai is so great! She's so cute!

was the setlist of the yoyogi concert the same as the others?

Loved the album, my fvorite is the monsteR side, can't get enough of Killer monsta! I really loved the work they put in this album. The video for RUN is amazing, to the point but very well produced.

anyway, I never knew how much covers of "Guess who is back" there are in youtube, in spanish, English, it's a very popular song from the anime, tho I don't think she gains a lot of fans from there, otaku fans, only obsesses over one song from each artist. haha.

Really nice interview.
It’s great to be able to understand an interview at the first release!

I remember, they announced few months ago the diffusion of a documentary for Kuu’s 20 years anniversary. Do we have any update about it ?

^ True True.

I'm watching the interview as well, I like the part where she says "Then I realized there were no singers with a sexy concept, so I started building a sexy image for koda kumi".

Gosh I love her!!! Smart woman!

Also: I love that she mentions the being bullied by avex (MAX) th*t bastard....

I was surprised about the fact she mentioned it! (Even if for fans nothing new).
I even wondered if she would talk about the 2008 scandal. For sure she wanted to drop everything at that time.

As a person she is so lovely, I love how she reacted to compliments hahaha



I noticed something, she usually thank/promote directly on insta when people speak/do something about her. She never reacted to Miliyah’s TAKE BACK cover. It’s surprising!

Photos taken during the weekend at the tour final



https://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000193415

Lots of newspaper and online article about the finals.
Mezamashi TV, Sukkiri, Abema etc. also showed news and footage on TV about it, you can find people posting them on Twitter.
Official photos from the last two days:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/eayczC.jpg


(just missing one used on the newspaper from the Lucky Star performance, can't find it online)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/ysiSRC.jpg

Pics thanks to twitter user @ume0655

As a surprise yesterday all her old dancers joined her on stage.
Shun, Shinnosuke, Jungle, Shintarow, RionRion, s.o.
Kuu said she wants to dance till she's 50 years old!
And right now she's feeling as fit as being 20. :laugh

She played before 5000 people each for all 4 Tokyo dates (so 20k out of 26k full capacity for the 2 original planned dates).
Altogether 44,000 people went to see the tour, despite Covid and all the measures they took against. A good number all in all!

EDIT:

Shun shared the stage plan for the dancer surprise in his stories!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/4Z5fWv.jpg

25 previous dancers altogether, names are all there.

LOVE that Dance In The Rain shot.

omg I hope they include the ex-dancers part in the DVD release, I wanna see this sooooo bad!

I wonder if for the CDL Kumi will add angeL + monsteR songs to the setlist? I don't feel like she'll tour soon after this and I'm afraid those songs won't get a chance to be properly performed...

Sora Senpai was really cute, I love how she talked about her childhood and first steps in her career. Can't wait for the following episodes!!

And despite all odds, she had an amazing 20th anniversary. I am so happy her efforts paid off... I mean, it's not common for you to reach 20 years in the industry being active, even less to hold an arena tour to celebrate it, and even less in 2020 lol She's truly a legend!

Now I hope she gets some rest for 2021 after her CDL, since she already released a new "album" and touring might not happen again till after the Olympics.

It's a pity Midori wasn't there, I know she dances with Ayu now but it would be cool to see her there.

@Gustavopc It was during WIND's performance. She was quite shocked to see everyone. haha

Even if I'm not 100% happy with everything from this year, much more related to concepts and stuff, we can't say that she didn't work hard this year at all and did as much as she could. While most had a very lowkey effort to do stuff, which is understandable, not even miss rona stopped her. A queen for sure!

I loved that Sora Senpai interview, I can't wait for the other parts. It's so nice to finally see a Kuu interview with English subtitles!

Does anyone know on average how much it costs to ship an FC edition through Tenso, for people who've done it before? I assume it based on weight, just wondered if anyone had any rough idea on the cost. :) Thank you!

EDIT: That was such a lovely TAKE BACK stage mix, I think she would be really touched if she saw that!

^ When I bought AND, which is vinyl-sized and comes with 4 discs an a photobook I paid 4060 yen for shipping fee plus 1020 for their handling fee. I guess L+R would be around this too.

Depends on which country you're having it shipped to as well...right now for those of us in the US we can either choose from surface mail (noooo thank you) or DHL, and I paid around 5,000 yen to have the FC version of re(CORD) shipped to the states that way.

^I only ordered the cd only editions and all regular shipping options to Canada have been suspended from Japan so I had to use FedEx or DHL myself. Just both side track parcels through the US first and everything coming from the US gets charged customs.

I miss her old dancers so much lately! Shinta and Shin haven't aged a day. And Kaichou! But why put UG on the end?! And no OH GIRLS! reunion? Ah. This was good enough. It was good to see some of her first and best dancers again.

Really hope they include something about this, either this clip or them preparing the surprise, on the video release <3

Yeah, you know... the tour was pretty stripped down compared to normal, but it's 2020 and she still toured. She still made music. She's amazing. I'll never forget all the stuff she did for us all in quarantine like the HOW TO DANCE videos.


(Also...Those FC ship prices aren't so bad! I'm still waiting on YesAsia's painfully slow ship of my reg. L+R, but I might just go for the FC anyway while I have a chance.)

angeL & monsteR 1st week position + sales

2 CDs + DVD - #12 l 6,975

https://tieba.baidu.com/p/7137971076

Only the Top 100 been updated for now

So the separate minis might show up at the bottom Top 100 tomorrow or not :s

Hmm. I expected a lot better, this was such good work. >.< Hopefully the minis show up.

Are digital sales tracked?

What a disaster. It makes me wonder if the fans treated the mini albums like singles. The Re(Live) DVDs sold well earlier this year.

I know Kuu will be discouraged but I hope it makes her and her team make some changes and put in more effort in the promotion.....

I don't think so but I could be wrong about it

I do know that fanclub / both versions of the release are not counted towards Oricon

===

Some footages from Sun's tour final

Jijipress



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyJaPG3tFEc

Very sad. But what can be expected tbh. Her music direction has been nothing but questionable lately. This new style of hers which incorporates songs mostly rapped( if that’s what you call it) and somewhat sung isn’t working for A LOT of people. At first it wasn’t that bad, but now is just too much. If we’re gonna boast about kuu’s “ changing style” and “ I’m glad she abandoned ero kakoii”, we must understand that she’s headed for very low sales.

People, her sales are not going to go up again.
Physical sales are going down every year, except for artists having their breakthrough/peaks.
The only things still rising every yesr are streaming numbers and concert ticket sales.
So why should it be different for Kuu fans?
More of them will stream and buy less, too.
But as she's not an especially popular artist anymore, it looks worse than it is.

The number for the minis is a bit lower than I expected, but minis usually sell less than full albums and they're divided here.
And Kuu knows exactly where she's staying.
Last thing she talked about charts wise was that she's ckecking preorder numbers with her staff.

I expected a lot worse tbqh.
Milyiahs cover album only showed up in the top 30 on one day. Thats bad.

The problem was dividing the release, in my opinion. In this case each version got a different position, so it messes up the count. 2CD+Blu-ray wasn't counted as well I believe, since it's only for the FC, even tho I doubt it moved many copies anyway.

After the top 50 the releases sold less than 1500 copies, I wouldn't be surprised if both CD versions sold less than 1.000 copies each. Counting all together (2CD+DVD, CD only, Blu-ray, FC 2CD+DVD) would be around 10k I believe, not very different from last releases.

Edit-

Spotify's numbers:

angeL
1 Alarm - 3532
2 I'm Lovin' - 52859
3 for.. - 3314
4 RUN - 12935
5 puff - 160753
6 Lucky Star - 90000

monsteR
1 Killer monsteR - 49863
2 WORK IT! - 3448
3 FliCky - 5399
4 No One - 3191
5 Sing the truth - 2663
6 XXKK - 96619

Total - 484.576

Even the streams are not that great, only one song that wasn't released before got over 5k (FliCky), and this counting worldwide streams.

I was thinking the same thing, tbh. I think nowdays most of Kuu's fans (except for the die hard ones that will also buy physical releases) probably stream nowadays, either on Spotify or Line music (which is evident from her stream numbers). I remember her thanking everyone in an Insta story last year because Re(Cord) was #1 on Line Music.

It may not be Oricon but that's still a number 1 to me. :yes

Kpop is the same. I think the only reason they sell physical still is because they offer a lot more goodies with their CDs because they know people won't buy the CD without them, they'll just stream it. The goodies they offer for standard editions are often more than what much more expensive JPOP FC editions have, as well. I recently bought CLC's 'Helicopter' single and it had a photobook inside, a bookmark, little random member cards, I think stickers as well and more.

Obviously not trying to compare since Kpop is a lot bigger nowadays with more money behind it, but it could also be another reason why not many people are buying physical JPOP sales each year. Especially with the pandemic hitting everyone, people have less money than before, and it's cheaper to use a streaming site than to buy lots of CDs of artists you like.

I could be wrong, but that's how it seems to me.

EDIT: Thank you for my responses to my Tenso shipping question, that helps a lot!

I still prefer apple music, but sometimes I wonder if I should move to Spotify to make my listens count.

I still wonder when apple music will make numbers public like spotify.

Personally I stopped caring about physical CD sales a long time ago cos every year the no.s kept going down gradually

Most if not all of my favourite artistes I support , they can't sell well anymore except if you're Johnnys , the whole AKB family tree

Kuu has been in the industry for so long already . I'm sure she herself knows her selling power is not there as compared to before

But if there's still demand for her to continue to perform , release non concert goods & all that , then why not ?

The music industry has changed drastically over the years . Now musicians cannot rely solely on physical CD sales any longer , they have to diversify whether they like it or not

And Ayu_Love made a good point & at some point in time , the novelty items giveaway that's included in a music release tend to be a big factor to trying to push sales up

If not some artistes wouldn't do extensive release events to get the word out of their new releases out cos if not for them , their sales would tank big time on Oricon

Can she sells signed copies? I'm not sure if it's a thing or people care in Japan about it, but this is one the things that has been moving copies in UK and US, besides bundles. Vinyls are also selling good numbers, but again, not sure how this would be received by the japanese audience. Both are more collectibles to be honest.

Also, besides Go To The Top she never had tour bundles anymore. That moved a lot of copies for the single, it even managed to go number 1.

---

Just now I noticed that they have footage from her first concert ever, in the interlude for MY NAME IS... Tour (walk and Go Together are shown). I'm really shocked that this was recorded, even tho in a VHS for what is looks like. Is it too crazy to want the whole thing even if it is just one angle?

In 2002 she did two dates for a concert called プレミアムワンマンライブ (Premium One-man Live) http://www.koda-family.com/repo_021005.html, on AIR OSAKA and Velfarre, both dates have footage judging by the interlude.

This was the setlist:

omg........... It's too late on that setlist.............................. I'm gonna die brb

im sure that if that live was on my name is best, it would have sold 2 million copies

I get that everyone streams nowadays, but I think digital purchases need to count if streaming counts as much. People still buy their music, digitally and, I guess less so, physically. But I know a lot of people who hate streaming, and they're not just older twenty-somethings - or older - like me. Sigh. Whatever.

As Karen said, all that matters is that she's still in demand. People went out in a pandemic to see her. That reminds me of how older singers in America will do year-round shows in Las Vegas, and they will pack the house every night but their sales aren't nearly as grand. And if Kuu wants to keep dancing til she's fifty lmao, I say let's let her.

And I know she's not as popular, due to age, music trends, and her newer style, the only reason the numbers bother me is that I hope it doesn't demotivate her or encourage thoughts of retirement. I have no idea what her opinions on either are, but I just don't want to fathom it.


Also.

No. Not crazy. I keep track of what songs have PVs/lives and there is NO record of "Go Together", "feel me" or "It's too late", apparently outside this show. I would kill just for the MC, hell. I have a very soft spot for the affection/R&B days.

I do think she is in peace with herself.
She is releasing songs she wants to sing even if only die hard fans will enjoy.

She is not focused in sales anymore, it’s been a while already and I believe until she can keep filling hall / occasional arena, she will be grateful.


Couldn’t agree more!
The figures are quite impressive considering the COVID.


I would love for 2021 if she would do 2 new (re)LIVE Tour.
I would especially love to see TRICK or UNIVERSE.

TRICK and UNIVERSE would be amazing, but I'll take TRICK if we have to go with one. It's the standard I measure all her tours by ♥ If, like re(LIVE) 2019-20, we're going to add up to '21 though...hmm. There are a few interesting combinations lol.

Honestly I have no idea what her next tour could be. These new mini's were part of the MY NAME IS theme... If she doesn't release another album, some kind of themed tour would be cool, like in the vein of FANTASIA, a selection of her best songs from each style. Or maybe a more comprehensive version of BEST SINGLES '16. It would be five years since then, and she didn't do all her singles/b-sides/etc.

As Corvina pointed out some pages ago, Kumi was talking about trying to do kinda the same thing from reLIVE with two performances per day, one for monster and other for angel, so that's probably in the plans if things get better with the covid situation:

As for reLIVE, the other two options she picked were TRICK and Kingdom (it was a the backup for Black Cherry, in case she couldn't use the water tank), I remember she said something on IG about having two days to decide, after getting the green light for the tank, or something like this. The reLIVE concerts are one of my favorites, I love everything about them basically and I would love it to happen again.

I'm actually surprised Kuu did not mention any further plans on what she planned to do during Sun's tour final

Maybe she will save it for the year end countdown live ?

Rainbow141 made a good point in that despite the current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic , fans still went to see Kuu to give her moral support during her 20th anniversary tour

You can see how overwhelmingly touched Kuu was in the 1st 2 dates of the tour & of course during the tour final too

Kuu has been in the industry for so long already & I feel she's already at a stage in her life that she feels content and she also did said in the part 1 of the Sora Senpai Club interview she still wants to continue to try more new things too

From Oricon regarding the separate minis

angeL - #123
monsteR -#129

https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/259698/products/

Baidu will update the rest of the sales figures from below the Top 100 later on today

Also for the record I'm also the rare few that do not like streaming sites either . I never get why others like using them but to each his own

Digital sales are going down every year, too.
From the numbers in Japan from the first half of the year, surprisingly the pandemic even made it go down faster.
It indeed looks simple - people are not buying music anymore, they stream it, either for little money on apple music/Line/Spotify or for free like on youtube e.g..
Probably as Ayu_Love mentioned cause lots of people earned less money this year and times are so insecure.

The Japanesw music market still is physical dominated (like 70% last year iirc, mainly from idol sales I'd say tho), but it changed faster than expected the last three years.
Covid probably had a bigger impact this year as well.
I also still remember one number regarding the rise of concert ticket sales. It went up 25% (!) in five years in Japan 2019 iirc.
So that Kuu loves performing and doing tours so much is a really good thing looking at the market ( and not so good for somebody like Utada who likes performing not so much).
Though in Japan physical will most likely never go away and it's going to settle down on a certain number definitely higher than in the rest of the world in the next decade.

Ah, yeah, here's a good and recent English article about it:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Bus...e-of-discovery

EDIT:

Just found somone unboxing angeL & monsteR, including FC edition.

I miss the information.
It’s a good concept. It could be the occasion for her to perform gems she rarely performed live.


I love TRICK Tour, it’s been a while I watched it since she didn’t update it in her YouTube this year.
I was lucky to assist to this concert, the only thing I didn’t like was the atrocious haircut so she would probably improve it for a (re)LIVE.

Kingdom Tour is lacking something in comparison probably because of the scandal at that time. The design stage was amazing but the ballad section was too long and boring (with the exception of hands :luv2). Glad she stucked with Black Cherry Tour instead.

Separate position and sales for angeL & monsteR

angeL - #123 ; 442
monsteR -#129 ; 428

https://tieba.baidu.com/p/7137971076

Oricon count the minis as albums , not singles

Ouch, that's rough. 7845 copies besides FC versions.

Funny enough it wouldn't matter if it was together, it would still be less than 8463 copies, which was SEVENTEEN's number on top 11.

Low numbers even for a 2020 release... Sad, but there's no effort to promote her new music, avex is basically a Live Nation, selling tickets is all that matters.

Listening to Alarm was driving me crazy, because I could swear it was from something else. I thought it was in a Pitch Perfect movie, and I finally figured it out. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, but maybe I missed it. The notes are almost identical to this.

The albums are both available for download here, if anyone is interested.

https://www.jpopsingles.eu/album-kod...er-my-name-is/

https://twitter.com/imsora_desu/stat...59585307922434

This's not mentioned but Kuu is the 1st female solo artiste that Sora Senpai Club interviewed

Before her , they interviewed some male seiyuu's , Sako Tomohisa & GARNiDELiA

===

KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2020-2021 MY NAME IS... COUNTDOWN EDITION will be streamed online via Thumva

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...74306228617216

Guys, the countdown streaming live is available also for overseas? Please help me :(

No it's not :x

https://info.thumva.com/html/help.html
https://thumva.com/events/cXpxMBqrw6NpExb

I never heard of Thumva prior to this so I also don't know if the video quality you watch online will be good or bad

So far ZAIKO is the only 1 I've seen that its video quality is fantastic ie. Blu-ray quality

Kuu posted in her stories, that they're currently working on a dance version of the Killer monster PV cause they got so many requests about it!

It says in the FAQs they don't support oversea viewing.
The app is only available in Japan, tho the site works.
But mu-mo also states it's a Japan only service and it works nevertheless. :shrug

thank you guys for the clarification! So bad that we could not watch it, there is a possibility to sent a email to the staff all together and ask for also a overseas streming service?

It is just like mu-mo, you can try watch the trial video and see if it's available where you live. It's available in Brazil, so I think it is worldwide.

- Please be sure to check before purchasing.
Please watch the Thumva experience movie before purchasing, check whether it can be watched in your own environment, and check the recommended environment before purchasing.

Thumva experience movie
https://thumva.com/others/trial_movie

* Even if the Thumva experience movie can be played without problems, the video may not be viewed smoothly depending on the device you are using and the network environment. Please note

The quality of the video is definitely better than mu-mo, it's pretty much like the one used for a-nation 2020, but don't expect much since the tour is heavy based on those big screens and even the TV broadcast was low quality looking because of it.

Thank you @kaled kalil !

Seems to work for me, hopefully this means we may be able to watch it like the Mu-mo lives!

I managed to get the FC edition of AngeL X MonsteR, I'm so happy! This will be my first Kuu FC edition I've been able to afford, so I'm super pleased I was able to finally get one on her 20th anniversary! <3

I'm very excited to have a look through those photobooks a million times lol.

Just watched the Sora interview today--one of few interviews I've been able to enjoy thanks to subs--and it seems we the fans really motivate her more than I thought. The love she's felt this year and during this tour and the fact that we still care about her now, combined with everything she said in that interview, as long as we can keep showing her that "people want Koda Kumi" (paraphrased) I have faith she'll keep going strong. :love

Even if someday she just performs and doesn't hammer out new albums every year I'll be grateful just to see her.

Thankfully I'm not the only one here lol! It's just... I listen to really obscure 90s and 00s anime and J-pop music that I can barely even find on Suki, and of course Spotify has never heard of it... So I guess I'll do streaming for her major releases in the first week to bump her numbers, but otherwise, I'm still into digital.

That makes sense, streaming is sadly apparently the future, but the fact that there are so many options and so many people not even streaming or doing a mix of streaming and digital/physical makes it... I dunno. I don't think streaming will ever fully replace the other mediums.

It's funny you mention physical in Japan never going away, because the first thing that struck me as odd about J-Pop was that even singles got physical releases--something not really seen in America for decades. So yeah, I can very much believe physical is there to stay. It's a different market.

Very good to see the numbers increasing. I just learned recently--thanks to COVID--that the truest way entertainers make money is by touring. So if that turnout keeps rising and Kuu keeps on keeping on, it's looking good.

This is great news. I still have yet to see the re(LIVE)'s--working my way through all the ones I haven't seen, currently on WOML Tour--but I heard they were great. And I'd kill for more TRICK Tour. If she can actually improve anything from that show, I'd be amazed. The dancing and stunts were very top notch. Kingdom is one of my least favorite tours for one of my most favorite albums, so I would love to see her make it more interesting.

Omg thank god. That dance is almost simple-looking but super hypnotic. Choreography by not only MAIKO but Fuko too (who was lurking in the video the whole time and I didn't even notice her...) I'll be looking out for it.


I've missed my chance twice now to see her on streaming, so if I can't make it for this one, I'll be bummed but not shocked. :(


And, finally, for anyone who wants a glimpse, I scanned the angeL + monsteR CD+DVD release and preorder postcards. My scanner is about 5 years old so the pictures aren't outstanding, but I did my best to color and level adjust in Photoshop lol >.<;;

Scans album

Here's the postcards for a teaser:

The thought of streaming music online never appeals to me from the very beginning

Why I don't know but I want audio & video files that I can personally keep in my hard disks

People in Japan still will buy physical music releases even though the number keeps decreasing as each year goes by but I still feel physical releases can thrive in the country

CDs wouldn't go obsolete anytime soon just like vinyls which some people still buy to this date

So while physical music releases' sales go down , streaming will go up and that's the new reality in the current ever changing music industry

Kuu related wise , I think the 1 thing that still kept her going on in the industry for so many years is the fans that have supported her through the good , bad & worst times

She’s adopted a very messy sound. It’s unappealing.

From the rehearsal photos for the CDL she's going to add Killer monsteR to the setlist!
Cause that airplane or wing dance move we can see in one of the photos is part of the choreo.

She's also wearing new earrings in the photos and her manager tagged them with "coming soon".
So looks like we get a third round of goods for this tour and the anniversary.
I'm happy about more jewelery!
Still love the 15th anni necklace.

The Buzzryrhtm performance is tonight!

Looking forward to seeing the Buzzrythm performance!

I'd also love to see her re-do the TRICK and Kingdom tours. Kingdom used to be one of my favourites, but I agree that the ballad section is quite long and I never really cared for the cute section either, it was mostly the beginning I loved. I feel like there is so much potential with the Kingdom theme to do something even cooler!

Thank you for the scans, Rainbow! I honestly can't express how much I love this album photoshoot. <3

For streaming, I think it's a case of money + convenience for people. I think for people (including myself) it's cheaper to stream instead of buying a lot of CDs, it frees up the need to store CDs in your house (obvs not an issue buying digital), you can have all your music digitally in one player that will auto-update with any new releases (plus being able to find new music via recommended), and there is no need to rip those CDs first which adds extra time and inconvenience to people who in general have busy lives and not enough money etc (I think more people are switching to tablets and laptops for convenience, and I'm not even sure if most new laptops come with a CD drive nowadays? Mine didn't, so I am going to have to use my partner's PC tower to rip my FC editions CDs when they arrive, if I don't need to buy a CD drive for it first.)

For me it has always been a case of money, although I am in a much better financial situation now so I can buy things like FC editions, I think there are many fans who cannot afford to buy all their fav artists releases. If it wasn't for forums like this when I was younger, I don't think I ever would have been able to listen to as much JPOP or watch as many tours as I did, so I'm always super thankful to everyone here.

I do honestly think physical sales would increase again if they sold more goodies with the standard editions (For example, I think the standard edition of BoA's 10th Korean album comes with a photobook that also has short paragraphs inside talking about each song). I think for people on tight budgets, it's just not worth the money and space to buy a CD when you can stream it. :/ (Unless you really want to support your favourite artists, obviously)

I tend to be someone who will listen to a song I like on repeat (and will continue to listen to those songs for years after), so I would be interested in finding out how many streams it takes to effectively give the artist the same amount of money as buying the album. (just as an interest)

Thank you Rainbow141 for the scans :luv2 :love

How on earth do you manage to get those goods?! Every time I go on GUMI it's sold out the minute I find out about it. TT____TT Like that neon-colored pouch they recently released with her MY NAME IS... image on it. I wanted that so bad lol....

I didn't know there was another performance :luv2 Hope she doesn't sing something like "you" again =___= Something new. So disappointed in that performance, I wish she would have sung "RUN"...