omg it took me so long to figure it out, but I finally got it. Ever since I first heard LALALALALA I thought it sounded kinda familiar, and just now I realized that the composition for the chorus is kind of similar to Jordan Spark's "Tattoo". Only for the first two lines though (I can't waste time so give it a moment, I realize nothing's broken).

I can now sleep peacefully. It's been driving me crazy since Summer Trip came out.

DH6 tracklist is frigging AWESOME!!
XXX, yes!! I'm also so hoping the remix makes me enjoy Whatchu Waitin' On?...

Those sales make me sad, but not nearly as sad as the fact I'm really not that surprised by them...

When I see people making new track lists for Bon Voyage they all make me think of Ayu at once. I don't mean to offend anyone or anything but it just came to my mind. I personally love the track list as it is. I'm not even sad that IS THIS TRAP? And XXX aren't on the album because they give perfect reasons for me to listen the singles again. If Kuu put all new songs on her albums, there would be only a few new songs. I love that Kuu doesn't do this tbh. It's awesome if she has songs for me to overplay on singles. :)

do we have UHQ sizes for the album cover, especially the gorgeous as hell FC edition?

the vibe in this thread is so incredible! I missed everyone lol

Excited for DH6...I don't think I'm gonna listen to previews~ And it's so cool how everyone feels the -fun- off of Bon Voyage. I love that about this album. I feel like it's such a perfect time for it to be here.

I love Crack the bass !!!!!! Especially that unexpected dance part!! and the chorus is fierce, a bit hard to digest but still nice!

Todays ranking:
*1　3146　ゆず
*2　3096　うたプリ(JOKER)
*3　2155　幸田来未

Kuu`s at around 43k now, Suju are behnd her and both before today are at least 10k away.
#1should be more than possible.

Want same. However want em textless too. :D

I can totally see TOUCH DOWN [736 Remix] being performed on tour, instead of the original. Loving all the remixes so far, and TOUCH DOWN is my favorite. <3

I still haven't listened to the full album. But I'm currently super into Dreaming Now. I wasn't into it at the time of release, but it's become my fave single from this era. :)

Not really in a Kuu mood lately, but I like the new album. Not as much as Japonesque or Dejavu, but more than TRICK. :D

Is it possible to ask from someone who get the +dvd edition to rip SHOW ME YOUR HOLLA and LOL in hq AVI format please? =)

I get the blu ray version but it's no good for the stuff I need.

Oh, I totally forgot, last Saturday when Bon Voyage leaked, I've been to a store and found this, nice coincidence.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/8aa34c...y/DSC_1279.jpg

I'm posting to MF becasue ImageShack is no longer free :(((( It says only premium members can upload anything, what a mess, I liked that site so much :(

^imgur.com is better than those two xD <3 what is that thing btw?

In the spirit of photo sharing, I thought I would show you all my phone's current wallpaper scheme. I like to have my lock screen photo and my home screen photo to have something in common. Right now, its Kuu's famous ViVi shoot.

oh no what is the password for the 320KPS rip from jmp3.com?

EDIT: Found it. gonna enjoy the album now

Thanks, I needed a new pic upload site.

Off the topic, but what's that Pucca game you have there? I like Pucca but all the games I tried so far were not interesting.

Kuubies are best boobies

She's got Dead or Alive size boobs in that Vivi shot. Hot mama.

Received my copy of the album & JAPONESQUE live. Cardboard sleeve makes packages look so epic. It's also cool that JAPONESQUE Limited Edition Blu-ray comes in the DVD size case.

Loving the album, kinda reminds me of grow into one which I love. And it is different from her previous albums, no SUPERSTAR or Stay or everyday like songs. Let's show tonight is such a waste of a great song, comes right before interlude and only 10 seconds longer. Weird.

^Where in Toronto do you live? Hopefully close by, so I can break in and steal all your Kuu stuff! (Just kidding :P)

The games are Pucca Classic and Pucca Speed. They are cute games where you have to tap things from biggest to smallest, and the biggest one before it goes off screen, respectively.

Today she's at No.6 on Oricon but more surprising is no.1 get 14000+ sold, following by 2000+ of Baby Mental at no.2. I'm scared she can't get no.1 ><

Guess it's safe to say she won't be "going to the top" with this album. Say Bon Voyage to #1! Lol.

Oricon Album Top 5 for next week (estimative)

#1 Koda: 40,040 + 3x

#2 SUPER JUNIOR DONGHAE & EUNHYUK (RIDE ME): 35,452 + 3x

#3 BABYMETAL: 29,040 + 3x

#4 Yuzu: 28,036 + 2x

#5 Drama (Uta no Prince-Sama Gekidan Shining JOKER TRAP): 22,210 + x

She might get that #1.

I thought 'Bon Voyage' was going to outsell 'LOVE again' which charted for only 5 days on its first week and sold 53,065 copies. Koda might end up selling around 45~49k.

I think you don't have to be so into that sale numbers.

The most copies are sold digitally nowadays anyway, especially with Kumi!

What's wrong discussing Oricon numbers? '-' Billboard Japan doesn't reveal their digital+physical copies like USA's does, so I think there's nothing wrong to talk about Oricon numbers.

That should have been no critic:)
Nothing wrong with it, but I think it is not that imprtant like the album itself.

It is really a pitty that there are no releases of the Japanese digital sales:yes

It`s close, but with calculating the numbers, she should get No.1.

IMO, I think how Billboard does it in America makes most sense with including sales of both physical & digital together. Let's face it, no matter what part of the world you're in, people just don't buy physical CDs anywhere near as much as we used to. With the technology we just don't need to either, and even bonuses like post cards, posters etc aren't really enough most of the time for majority of people to invest in the physical copies. I really think Oricon should start including both. It'd also show the real most accurate sales on an album or single.

TBH, overall I really couldn't care who is on top. I just listen to what I like and leave it at that, but it is nice to see accurate numbers if I do take a look. :)

It'll be a mess if Bon Voyage sells less than love again.
But regardless, at least kumi brought the goods with the final song. Usually the last song is the worst of the album, but for kumi, it's the best song.

Bon Voyage is #1 on Oricon Weekly with around 46k first week

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2034678/full/

Not too bad I guess, was hoping for atleast 50k first week

^*Goes to order 50,000 copies from CDJAPAN* :P

You spoke too soon. ;)

It's not really fair to compare Love Again to Bon Voyage since LA was last year and we know how much of a difference a year makes for Ayu and Kuu. It'll be completely fair to compare Ayu's new studio album this year to Bon Voyage though. Still I'm glad to see both go #1 regardless of sales. :)

It's nice to see Kuu on the top, congratz Kucchiee !!

But people always overlook that it was ayu's 14th album (+after 2 minis) and 12 years after her peak, while it's kuu's 11th album and 6 years after her peak.

They are pretty much on the same boat, the general public in japan don't care for them anymore and they are sustained mainly by fans. As much as it hurts to say or even think so about ayu and kuu. It's not like it changes our love to them anyway.

Congrats on the #1 =D.

Kuu's best seller was in 2005 which was 9 years ago. And you are right it doesn't change our love from them at all. :) I still think Ayu and Kuu can both do well with their next best albums so they could still have one big seller left in them but lets see.

People don't buy music these days, period :laugh

But, seriously, you make a very valid point. Considering that digital music is one of the few places where you DO get a discount for going digital (*cough* unlike video games *cough*), its a strong incentive for people who do like to buy music to choose that method. Coupled with the fact that its sooooo easy to back up music (*cough* again like video games, with their limited number of re-downloads *cough*), there is very little risk. Its no different then buying an album. You can even get digital versions of the album art, which you can put on various devices. At some point, I honestly don't think that physical copies will even be relevant anymore.

Just for the record it was on September which is still not 9 years (I forgot it's 2014), ayu's A BEST was 13 years ago this month, but it really doesn't matter at this point talking about present populaity.

Namie is the only of the past divas that can still sell and the public is interested in, but she is pretty much going slowly on the same path as the other two. Besides general sales declining (and appartely digital too), tours are the most profitting thing they can do, and Japan has no top solo female (at least a new one), that is like the past ones or at ARASHI/AKB interest of the japanese public. kyaripamyupamyu is to an extent but isn't, kana went down already as well unfortunately (I love her).

I'm glad that kuu still releases the Driving Hit's.

People said that we couldn't compare LOVE again with JAPONESQUE because of the one year gap, they said we need to wait till Kumi's new album be out, we didn't know it would take another whole year. But now we can't compare Bon Voyage to LOVE again because of the same thing. I hope ayu will release something soon so we can see how their fandoms are acting around their new releases... It's not a competition thing, it's just fan/market analisys.

Anyway I'm really happy she got that #1 :heart

I wonder if there will ever be another J-Pop Mega Diva in the future? Able to outsell all other acts? Well, even if there was, she probably won't sell a lot of physical copies as they are almost obsolete . If Oricon keeps insisting on only counting physical sales, we may never know when she is among us :P

Ha, I suppose I did.

Digital sales in Japan in general has seem to plummet as well and I don't think that digital album (as albums) ever sold well in Japan but mainly individual songs so I'm not sure how they would add to the sales anyway. At least we know the physical numbers, and even though AKB for example, sell millions consistently because of great tactics, they still sell huge numbers physically.
RIAJ certifications for chaku uta/full songs legal downloads are not big as they used to either.

But why should people compare JAPONESQUE with LOVE again if Party queen came 2 months after the first one? Both albums got almost the same numbers in the long run.
I think Bon Voyage if released one year ago should have sold the same amount. The drop for Kumi and Ayu albums is pretty similar since some years ago. Anyway, as you stated, it's not a competition thing, it's just fan/market analisys.

i can listen to the introduction & interlude on rpt for 84 years. i hope they do something really cool on the tour with those.

First of all congrats to kuu in snatching number ! yo gurl! ♥ the album deserved it imo. About the whole thing of digital/physical releases I won't add anyting useful to the discussion because I agree with what of many of you said, just wanted to say tho that I still prefer physical copies as I love seeing my collection growing little by little phisically! I guess it's like books. Nothing can replace for me the smell of a good new book or to feel the sensation of the booklet of my fav album in my hands. ebooks and digital copies may be useful and more comfortable in the long run but...I guess I'm old school <_<

Just wanted to say that it looks like kiary's last single flopped. It topped at 9th position and then just went down, like her previous singles... considering she's only at her 8th single I don't really think she's that much of a megadiva. She's already experiencing declining...it's a pity tho, she was something new at least. Kana is stable with her sales, she sells like kuu/ayu/namie in general but not above that and her peak is over as well. I think that the era of soloists is over in japan. For now, it's groups/idols moment of glory

There were always Japanese divas solo females that were the most popular of the year, minimum sharing with a popular boys band or be on the top of the top.
seiko matsuda, matsutoya yuming and akina nakamori on the 80s, ayu and hikki on 1999-2004, kuu on 2005-2007 and namie in on 1996-1997 and 2008-2013. But it looks like it's over. Namie can still sell well (300,000s) but it's not on the top level and on the spoken years no one could touch them or get close to them, even no other very popular solo females (and there were way more). As you said, it's Idol groups/Johnny's who rule nowadays and there is no heir solo female. I always have this speech when ayu, kuu, namie or kana decrease in sales lol. They are my favorites after all, but all of this is actually true.

Nowadays International Female Solo Artists in Japan sell way better than J-Pop ones, look at Taylor Swift (274k), Lady Gaga (188k), Avril Lavigne (168k), Katy Perry (69k) and Ariana Grande (56k) last album numbers and you'll see that they're experiencing good longevity and having better numbers than they used to.

ooh I completely forgot about Party Queen, sorry.

Interesting discussion. It's sad somehow. I miss that enthusiasm shown by the mass of fans regarding a female solo artist. Maybe it is still not over but only a transitional period of time. I hope for a great 2014 regarding the jpop queens. Kumi started the year in great form with her album Bon Voyage and I hope ayu will impress us as well! Maybe even Namie will release a new album in 2014. For Utada I have no hope in releasing new material.

I seriously don't find any of the groups in Japan that awesome. I have listened to some of them (I used to be obsessed with KAT-TUN for a while too) but these days they all just suck. When it comes to groups I go for K-Pop because they make songs that I really like. I wish the solo female artist domination would return. That was the most amazing thing ever imo.

And congrats for Kuu's another chart topping album♥

japanese rock bands are getting better and better imo, UVERworld, SPYAIR, ONE OK ROCK are just a few names I can say, but there's a lot of them. And yeah, japanese pop groups are just getting worse :@ I also go for the korean ones when it comes to pop groups, but I prefer when they to japanese versions of their songs..

So, like Ayumisrael already posted in the Ayu threads, RIAJ updated their digital certifications till January 2014.
Kuu got quite a lot of it.
Here the list of new certifications:

Single track (full songs)

Triple Platinum
Moon Crying
Double Platinum
Suki de, Suki de, Suki de
Platinum
Aisho
Ai wo tomenaide
Anata dake ga
stay with me
TABOO
Lick me
Lollipop
Gold
Koishikute
FREAKY
Poppin Love Cocktail feat. TEEDA
POP DIVA
Love Me Back


Ai wo tomenaide was a much bigger hit than we thought.
It was so weird back then, when it was at No.1 on recochoku for 3 weeks straightand only got Gold.
Koishikute go certified as well. Together wit Go to the top the only song with genereal public success for the Bon Voyage album.

I do have a list of all her digital certifications if somebody wants.
Though it's really, really long. :D

I'm not surprised for Ai wo tomenaide's popularity. That song is awesome♥

I'd like to check out that list, Corvina~ :33

Wow I didn't know the Japanese public liked Aisho lol that song seems so forgotten among Kuu fans.

Here's the full list of official digital certifications made by RIAJ till now:

PC downloads:

Gold
Ai wo tomenaide
Ai no Uta
Moon Crying
Suki de, Suki de, Suki de.

Chaku Uta

2 million
Koi no Tsubomi

Million
Yume no Uta
Unmei
Ai no Uta

Triple Platinum
Cutie Honey
Butterfly
you
Someday
I'll be there
BUT
anytime
Moon Crying

Double Platinum
hands
flower
Promise
No Regret
WIND
Futari de...
Cherry Girl
stay with me

Single track (former Chaku Uta full/ full songs)

Triple Platinum
Ai no Uta
Moon Crying

Double Platinum
Suki de, Suki de, Suki de

Platinum
Yume no Uta
Butterfly
No Regret
Someday
Koi no Tsubomi
Unmei
anytime
BUT
you
It's all Love!
Aisho
Ai wo tomenaide
Anata dake ga
stay with me
TABOO
Lick me♥
Lollipop

Gold
Cutie Honey
Promise
you
Lies
WIND
Futari de...
WON'T BE LONG
girls
LAST ANGEL feat. Tohoshinki
Taisetsu na Kimi he
Ningyo Hime
Koishikute
FREAKY
Poppin Love Cocktail feat. TEEDA
POP DIVA
Love Me Back

List is ordered by the time RIAJ certificated the songs.
Just put in the new certifications before posting.

Surprised to see Lies in the list. That song was so ignored by Kumi.

Glad to see Aisho. I didn't know either the song was that popular <3

Nice to see Kuu with those great digital numbers, and happy she managed to get #1 with Bon Voyage <3 Congrats, queen

On another topic, my copy of BV seema to have disappeared, I got no news on its tracking since it was sent from Japan :( I'll wait a bit more and then maybe complain about it, but I really hope it arrives soon

I also miss when J-Pop was dominated by female singers :/. Her digital sales are really impressive tho

Unfortunately, I think it's gonna take a while until a female solo will be that big again. And it most likely won't be anyone we know, lol.

Congrats on Kuu for getting #1!
This is such a fun, fresh and adorable album, it so deserved more than these sales.
Oh well.

Woah, Ai wo Tomenaide was so popular! lol
Not really surprised, it's the kind of ballad japanese girls die about. Literally.
I kind of love it too, tough, it's so sweet and Kuu's voice singing is so warm and pleasant!

Congrats to the Queen with another #1! I don't care much bout number of copies sold as long as she still sells, but it's always nice to see your favourite artist at #1 in charts.

Moon Crying and Ai no Uta are both triple platinum? Interesting. Didn't know Moon Crying was that popular. If it wasn't for the movie tie-in I don't think Ai wo tomenaide would have be that high. I think Koishikute will get Platinum certification in a long run. Thanks for the list Corvina.

Man, I bet her Japanese fan girls are crying without sad ballads now. I mean there's only one new ballad on Bon Voyage which is Imagine. That's it.

You better not or you'll have to deal with that police officer Kumi from Love Me Back. And you saw, it she's rough. lol

hey guys. Didn't know if anyone knew this..

people on ebay are selling Kuus eyelash line. There are quite a few of them. Heres one
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370888840074...84.m1423.l2649 At least someone posted something besides cds and tour lights lol

I love the Promise and Dreaming Now ones!

I like the "Dreaming Now!" remix more than the original song

I also like the remixed Dreaming Now better than the original :laugh

Not really feeling the other ones.

The Promise remix sounds like the intro to an 80's anime lol

I'm guessing that part in the beginning is Intro for DH6??

in luv with LOADED and Dreaming Now remix :love
and actually I like it more than the original one (Dreaming Now)

The remixes sound really promising :)

Also...does In the air have a remix?

Hopefully in DH7.. :yes

Promise remix seems like it's gonna be a win :heart

Promise so far sounds like the only one who will be a win though lol. I hope that the others will be as good or at least the full versions of the previews too.

I usually don't like it when remixes change the composition of the songs. I love it when they leave the original composition be and just make it really cool/pretty/smashing/dancy.
When they change the composition it's just like they took the parts and made them lifeless with beats.

BTW for the people who bought DH6 because they thought the DVD is a live one. It's not, it's a documentary.

I don't want to listen DH6 previews because then I want the whole thing like this instant and that waiting was already painful for Bon Voyage lol. :D

So many favorite songs here. Actually, all these are on my top favs list. :D I can also see why Taisetsu na kimi e was so often performed in her concerts. It was popular as hell! :D Same for Unmei. It does also look like she has at least 1-2 digital hits per album since 2005 which is awesome. The truth of Kuu's popularity is indeed in the digital sales rather than physical, haha. :D

OMFHG!
ESCALATE and Whatchu Waitin' On? are the best mixes on DH6 i heared so far *-*
i'm happy that i've ordered both Versions yesterday! just sad that CDonly 1st Press is sold out on CDJ... :(
and I'll finally got GTTT CDonly ^_^

I guess I'll change Watchu waiting on to this mix in my mp3 player <3

I'm hopping on the "I like the remix of Dreaming Now! more than the original" bandwagon.

Hmm..not too fond with these remixes. But still...the video shows only some previews so I'll wait to listen to the full thing before I can judge.

ESCALATE and Promise's remixes sounds amazing!! :love

LET'S PARTY VOL.2 DJSAKLJDSAKLJDSA
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/g...eId=0_06_02_99

pass: bonvoyage


THE QUEEN OF LIVES *-* !!

credit: kinot

Either Tudou is being a jerk or the password doesn't work for me. :tired

Omg, thanks for the link!! <3
Edit: It doesn't work for me either! g_g

I love the Halloween theme of this Live : o
I love anything Halloween like so this is really cool to me

Awesome! Can anyone mp3 rip the fan club live?

Password is "bonvoyage", make sure you put in lower case b :)

Cool, I shall have to check out this performance then - I love Halloween stuff too!

Thanks so much for the tip, I can see it now!
I feel so dumb needing to have it explained for me, lol.

This concert is hot, it's like "Dirty Ballroom volume 2" rather than Let's Party. More concerts like this please.

Loving Promise remix, sounds amazing! Liking the rest as well, maybe with the exception of LALALALALA. I wish she put more ballads on Driving Hit's albums, it's always cool to hear an upbeat version of the ballad.

I guess we will be getting this one separately.

Bon Voyage is weekly #2 on recochoku on its first week!

http://recochoku.jp/ranking/album/weekly/

Omg @ the whole hall at Let's Party singing some of the background vocals for UNIVERSE!
It really is a fan favourite. :laugh

I'm not surprised that Japan loves UNIVERSE. That song kicks ass. It's one of my favorite songs Kuu has ever released♥

thank God for DH6 I will have more Koda goodness to run to and work out to :heart

#1 was taken by Akina Nakamori? That's a BEST, right? Havent heard of her since like 2009 lol

'coz it's one of her best tracks <3

I loved that Whatchu Waitin' On? performance

^ I loved that performance too!

BRING IT ON IS AMAZING PRAISE THE LORD MAY IT BE HER NEXT SINGLE

Wait, where are you hearing the full song? Has it been released yet?

^ She perfomed it on Let's Party, it's the last song before the encore

Ah, okay. I'm not that far in the concert yet. For some reason I thought you had some sort of exclusive mp3 file or something and just weren't sharing :P

^ If If had it, I would be already posting it all over out there :laugh I didn't went that far on the concert properly as well, I watched Lay Down, UNIVERSE and then skipped to BRING IT ON cause I was too curious to wait for it hahahaha

Tour promo pics:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...95358410_n.jpg