info on Mai Kuraki please

JesA · #1 19th February 2006, 08:37 PM

i recently discovered her and i love her so much....but i dont know anything about her....can someone please tell me a bit about her and post a few pics? i wanna see what she really looks like. she looks different on every cover pic...on FUSE OF LOVE, she looked like Van Tomiko....and Delicious Way, she looked....like....a girl XD. but anywayz, i really wanna know a little more about her. THANKS!!!

bluegie · #2 19th February 2006, 09:55 PM

er... i think she first appeared in Nov or Dec 1999 with her debut single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow". It was a big hit and people started sayin she would be the second hikki back then. Her second single debuted at no. 1 (Stay by my side, a really good song), and that's one of the two singles she got no. 1 (the other one is Winter Bell, but that one is meh..). Her first album, Delicious Way, topped the chart and became the no. 1 album in 2000. Until the second album, people still compared her to hikki, but after that I think no one's talking about that cuz their music paths are quite different afterall..

#3 19th February 2006, 10:08 PM

She was the first J-pop artist that I was really into. Amongst the other artists, I think her voice is much better than 90% of other and more popular acts.

She's popular but not as popular as others. Part of the reason is because she very rarely does live appearances on shows that are designed to sell the artist (Music Station, etc). She does do her own events and has a radio show I think. My info may be outdated, though, since she's not huge amongst English-speaking J-pop fans and because I haven't been keeping up.

I do know that in the beginning of her career, she was known for her trademark ponytail hairstyle but has since changed to a more mature look.

*Petit* · #4 19th February 2006, 10:10 PM

And after that her popularity went down, especially during the period that every solo female artist seemed to be less popular, that is around the time after memorial address was released (right?) Now she never has any number one CDs any more, but I think her latest CD was good.

JesA · #5 20th February 2006, 12:00 AM

oh ok. i think she sounds like BoA in some songs >.< espcecially in the first sentence of Asu e Kakeru Hashi

ph33r · #6 20th February 2006, 12:53 AM

I think she sounds far better than BoA =\

But I know she is the top artist of Giza (unless that has changed over time).

bluegie · #7 20th February 2006, 01:56 AM

I think she's still the top artist in Giza..
I used to listen to her songs quite often. But lately the melodies of her recent singles are kinda like recycling her old ones. The only song that was outstanding last year was Love, needing.