Kumi always was in controversy, people love or hate her. The image of ero kawaii/ero kakkoi was something new and fresh and people discussed about it a lot, she was present all the time. I think that helped her a lot to become popular.
But it's true the whole image took her where she is now.

but honestly cutie honey , juicy , taboo , but they all was ero kawai and they was great

i dunno why she leave her ero kawai :/

sometime i said her sales wise because of scandal and sometime i said because she leave ero kawai style who made her popularity

but the problem sometime i think kuu can't choose a good song now just by luck :/

see the post below :

yeah I think it's definitely avex that pushed her to do that , I can somehow sense that she wasn't happy with what kinda crap that avex pushed her to do which's terrible

there's always 2 sides of a coin . The good part's that it strengthen her popularity very well & the bad part's well , she corrupted the new generation of Japanese girls more or less or another :laugh

frankly I'm really glad that she decided NOT to do that anymore because how much more can she do ?

Because it can get to a point where people are only buying her CDs because of the image that she portrayed & not for the music

I can't believe the sales for OW&C I'm in shock...I thought it would be better because a majority of the songs I could never find anywhere aside from a few and I'm one of those picky people where I need a certain artist's music to be 320kbps.

hmm kuu isn't that good in ballads to be like ayu and utada kuu act ero kakkoi very well lol just guess if she go to enka style xD

but lol she look so innocent this days lol

kuu really need a music that can make u enjoy with song and this her problem in her ballads we need somthing effectable like yume no uta and enjoyable like Tsuki to Taiyou

well, some of the stuff she did could be classified as soft-porn xD I mean, the bottle in juicy was so explicit and some of her dance moves at the beginning were like that too.
It was the idea of "sex in your face", and the good thing was that she acted like she enjoyed it.
A positive part of it is that, well, Koda did implement cool things into J-Pop, like homosexuality (BUT, Ima Sugu Hoshii and TABOO show it, and I think that homosexuality was never shown on Japanese PVs before, so that was good, we do exist too right? xD)

she also was some kind of symbol for the progress of women: she portrayed the idea of "if you have it, show it" and in a country as male dominating as Japan, that was a good thing, to try to direct her image towards strong, independent women.

I´m happy for her now that she is able to take more control over her career, although I prefer old Kumi more, she seems happier, and that´s what counts. But please, no more ballads :tired xDD

i wished she sings ai no uta with juicy or shake it outfit :roflmao

^ that's so odd!! XD

lol that reminds me of when she sang you at a-nation 2006 in that tiny green outfit... singing outside in the middle of summer about winter. she even made a little hand gesture when she sang the word for snow.

since i got into kuu back then, i totally agree. her look in 2005 and 2006 was beautiful. it got bad in 2007, but last year during "TABOO", i finally loved her look again, lol. she needs natural long hair instead of weaves and extensions :P

Aww..she looked so cute!

..Does anyone know why she won't perform JUICY?

as she is now, i can't see her performing JUICY.

she did perform it at a-nation 2006 as part of a medley (or so i've read) but that was never broadcasted. i agree she looked the best in 2005-early 2007 (before she chopped her hair off) and the difference it made to her appearance was extreme, i think. the short hair makes her head look a lot rounder, and with bangs like for MOON promotion it was even worse.

i don't mind her hair as it is now like in faraway, but the spikey mullet look isn't flattering for anyone.

the extensions and wigs are good while they last, but i'd prefer something permanent. :laugh

4 more days until TRICK tour kicks off, i'm really excited. :luv2

So wait a minute, I'm a bit lost...
Kuu ditched the sexy image??
That'll ruin her.
I know that sounds horrible, but it was what she was known for. And controversy brings sales, period. I'm already fearing for her sales.

I don't know if she has just yet...but her new songs are DEFINITELY not sexy like her older ones. She's like diluted the hell out of it.

I personally like her new stuff...but...well...for me, I think I would like her to do stuff like Driving and make it awesomely sexy...

I definitely don't want her to go down the Rock path and pull a GUILTY on us. For kuu? Ew.

yeah everyone misses the old kuu. i really don't know what happened to her, when did she start dating her boyfriend? that could have something to do with her boring image nowadays. wasn't she single when she was at her sexiest?

It's also the music style that changed.
songs like BUT and TABOO are considered sexy but not like her older ones like JUICY, SHAKE IT or Hot stuff, and BUT and TABOO or more dance while JUICY and Hot Stuff and SHAKE IT are R&B.
Her sexy songs changed to dance-ish (and kuu to less sexy).

I do agree with the last line, I don't want kuu to go rock since it doesn't really fit her.
Pop dance and R&B are the best for her.

top 50 album 2009

*6 *,379,255 **1,472 TRICK / 倖田來未 09/01/28

good to see TRICK's still selling

If she's going to keep selling 1k+ for a few weeks consistently hopefully she will outsell Ikimonogakari's album in the top 50.

top 50 singles

23 *,*74,014 *74,014 It's all Love！ / 倖田來未×misono 09/03/31

27 *,*65,657 ***,*** stay with me / 倖田來未 08/12/24

It's all Love ! 's 1st week sales has outsold the whole total that's of stay with me which's great

great.. hope TRICK can break 400k :yes