[Koda Kumi] The 195th Thread - ANⱭDNA

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by lovethatkuu&ayu

Avex Taiwan seems to be having some issues with the main label in Japan. I've noticed a few major players (Sandaime J Soul Brothers and TVXQ for example) only releasing CD only versions in Taiwan within the past year.

Yeah that's very unfortunate :x

avex Taiwan used to be better & more efficient in making their artistes' releases including Kuu but in recent years , it has not been good

For Kuu , avex Taiwan has made all of her singles from TAKE BACK until HOTEL while for her albums , from feel your mind onwards

Singles wise , avex Taiwan stopped making CD only versions from 2010's Can We Go Back while for her albums , they stopped doing so from WINTER of LOVE

And Driving Hit's 6 was the last remix album avex Taiwan made physical copy wise . Driving Hit's 7 & Driving Hit's 8 were only released digitally :s

I don't know if it's because Kuu can't sell well in Taiwan but already avex Taiwan stopped making her concert DVDs & I hope it wouldn't come to a situation where they completely phrased out in making her releases like what happened when avex Hong Kong shut down in 2014

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

^I honestly think that things are becoming difficult for avex financially in Japan, and it's finally starting to have a real impact on avex taiwan too.

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by lovethatkuu&ayu

^I honestly think that things are becoming difficult for avex financially in Japan, and it's finally starting to have a real impact on avex taiwan too.

Why is Avex struggling financially recently?

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

Why is Avex struggling financially recently?

Well, they can no longer depend on certain acts to carry them in terms of sales. Yeah, the company is making money off of Namie, but that won't last into 2019, when people start moving on.

Their main LDH groups are showing signs of slippage. The company is barely shipping platinum with Sandaime J Soul Brothers. EXILE can no longer ship platinum with an original album. E-girls saw their original album sales fall hard this year too.

It's not just the LDH groups to be fair. TVXQ released that high quality BEST and it couldn't ship platinum. The studio album they're about to release, will be their weakest seller in a decade. AAA will see their 2018 album struggle to break 100k in sales. The company isn't making much from actual physical sales these days. The only thing they can count on is the avex live division. That is what has been holding the company up for the past couple of years.

[mi|kshake]

Yeah, it's crap Avex isn't doing too well but when you think of their bigs acts from back in the day (Ayu, Kumi, BoA, Ai, Do As Infinity, Every Little Thing etc) and what they're selling now and acts who are retiring/disbanded (Namie, Globe) I guess sales aren't great. They don't have any new big stars to depend on.

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

^They really don't and it's their own fault.

When idol fever/group mania kicked off, avex firmly jumped on the bandwagon and abandoned their old business model. Before the idol boom, they believed in keeping a diverse portfolio of talent. They were also willing to invest and develop artists with long-term potential too. After 2010? Not at all.

[ayumi_croatia]

^^ Same as most western labels today.

[ALfromHELLSING]

Originally Posted by Corvina

AND sold worse in its second week, only 1200 copies.
It got a boost in its forth week and sold 1400 copies, but that was because of the 2nd batch of FC versions being shipped out by mu-mo, not because of the tie-in.

Does Oricon count the copies sold at the concert venues? DNA FC Edition is still available at the FC store, pretty sure more ppl will buy the album after attending DNA Tour.

I wish Kuu released DH9 along with DNA tour goods, I'd love to have some badass HUSH, Dangerous, WATCH OUT, Guess Who Is Back and Pin Drop remixes. Maybe she saves it for the next year or maybe DH8 didn't sell enough to warrant another remix album.

[maze]

Originally Posted by Corvina

So, I was finally able to lay my hands on the rare live edition of the Dreaming Now! single.
I remember back in the day there were some people, who wanted the special bonus track. I've ripped it.

LALALALALA(Live at Summer Trip Live 2013)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/wngt4b...13%29.mp3/file

All 4 editions:


Inside the live version:

This is amazing! thanks a lot for sharing

I still love that live version of Ai no uta @ a-nation we got in one version of Dreaming Now! single and I couldn't be happier to get the live version of LALALALALA now as well. I remember how all of us wanted that Summer Trip special live to be released as a bonus DVD on Bon Voyage... because she performed the outstanding and astonishing Get Up & Move!! after so many years, lol

Her vocals are so on point in these live versions and so are the live instruments. FLAWLESS

Edit::


This is great but sad at the same time, I wish I were rich so I can afford these fanclub editions of her stuff her designing team is amazingg

[mi|kshake]

I got my copy of DNA the other week but haven't had much time to listen to it with Namie's retirement. I've only given it 1 spin so far with Guess Who Is Back being my favourite. I think AND is my favourite of the two but need to give this album a few more listens.

[maze]

I find this interview quite interesting, she was actually planning to retire three times during her career.. first one when still flopping even if big tie-ins were given to her with real emotion/1000 no kotoba single (2003), second time right after the 2008 scandal. And last one I suppose when she got pregnant and wanted to dedicate her time to her family (2011).

I guess it's the same thing she said in her Koda Reki book but summarized/in other words XD

Translation thanks to Sophie @ welcome to koda kumi world

http://welcometokodakumiworld.com/actu/News

SPORT SHIMBUN INTERVIEW translation (part one) 2018.08.16

Another translation for today! This is the interview Kuu-chan did recently for the newspaper Sport Shimbun. I will post the first part of the translation.
Once again, I am not fluent in Japanese, so I might be wrong sometimes. If you see a mistake, feel free to mention it in the comments! Thank you for your support!

You can find the full interview in Japanese here

Koda Kumi, from erotic-cool to mama-cool

Singer Kumi Koda (35) 's new album' DNA 'will be released on August 22nd. This is the second album of this year following "AND" in February. "As it is mentioned in the title, this album has been created from my DNA, I want you to listen to my music once, to see it evolving in a good way." Koda Kumi is associated with the "erotic cool" boom in Japan and won the Japan Record Award 5 years after her debut, but "It was all I could do to drive Koda Kumi back then." There was apparent misunderstanding and pressure to continue to be at the top, she said "the feeling of aiming at being a woman, or a cool mother, is clear." She also talked about three retirement crises and family talks.

This album DNA will be the second album released this year, but there is a different message put in each one. “AND is about pursuing music. Normally I want to listen to a wide variety of genres in various ways, so I made catchy pop songs, but the main reason behind making this album is for live performance at fan club events. DNA and AND have the letters order reversed. It's going to be the 20th anniversary of my debut in two years. While reflecting about this, I thought, "What are the roots that I have built?" Beginning with popular songs, I can not remove ballads, sexy dance, American pops, RandB too. Because the inner me is rock music, I want to put it in. I put music that can feel makes the DNA of Koda Kumi. Especially "CHANCES ALL", which carries the message I want to say the most, I want everyone to listen to it. "

This time, she also worked on the lyrics and production of some songs. She got married to Kenji03 (member of rock band BACK-ON) in 2011 and gave birth to their first child the following year. She doesn’t seem to feel the pressure of work too hard.

"I am married now and my child is 6 years old. There are lots of things I have to do, such as taking care of my family or housekeeping when I am at home. However, when I’m told ‘It will take 2.5 hours by Shinkansen, or 1 and a half hour” this is when the lyrics comes to me with a burst. I noticed recently that this happens when I’m stuck in a confined space. While listening to the lyrics and listening to nearly 200 songs on the demo tape during the shinkansen trip, I listened to lyrics and songs that will be mainly the next studio work rather than songs that are meant to be sung live during the tour."

Q: What are the tricks for songwriting?

A: "I write down the word I was interested in for a while, but in this case I decided the theme of the song first, then while listening to that song, I choose the words that feel the most relevant to the song. If I don’t feel like writing the song, I will leave it to the song writer. My husband told me, “you can write so smoothly”. My husband thinks a lot with his brain, but I think sensitivity is also important. I am the type to often fall in love, in my twenties I often felt “liking” or “love”. It has changed since I have a family with more and more human love.

This year marks 18 years since her debut. There has been times when she was losing herself.

"About three years ago, when I went to visit a temple in Kawasaki, I was stopped by Mr. Yasushi" come here". He said, "Why did you get so rounded up/calm? I liked when you looked happy in the past. ". This person didn’t know me as Koda Kumi the singer, it was a complete pass. Whether you take the plus or the minus, or leave it alone, it is up to you however, I was told that, inside myself, I guessed exactly right. I accepted myself properly as "Koda Kumi, if you do this you are hopeless".

This is when you became calm (round).

“Once I asked myself, would it be better to become calmer/round. If you are doing it for a long time you will get wisdom in many ways. Even if your staff is doing their best, if you forcibly make impossible, it will be hopeless or something.
A lot of small compromises were piled up. I do not want to be disliked. I am getting older and steadier and becoming weaker .... Koda Kumi is a lion, while Kumiko Koda is a rabbit. I am very lonely. (…)

She started receiving recognition from the public 5 years after her debut. "Erotic cute" became a buzzword and she became the top star at that moment…

"I could not keep up with it. Also when girls with the same hairstyle and fashion came out, saying "Koda Kumi is amazing" like .... I have a place desperate to catch up with the buzz from behind.
Because I am not the type to check on the internet etc. on my own, so I asked the staff "Now, in the world how is Koda Kumi perceived?’, and then "I see. Well then I will try to do something like this ". Basically, I want people to think that I am cool, I still have not changed about that. Even if I have a family I want people to think “I want to become such a mother/woman”. That goal has not changed for a long time. "

Koda Kumi’s career looks like it was carried by favorable winds since her debut. However, she said she had thought of retiring three times in her life.

The first time:

“Before my debut, at 20 years old, I went singing until 2 o'clock in the morning in live houses When going to Gunma and Ibaraki with my manager by car, I was singing at the customers 's favorite place and thought "What am I doing? I did not become a singer to do such things.”
I didn’t think that I wanted to sing even if nobody buys my music, rather I wanted to give courage to people, so since I wanted to see this world, I do not need to sing if I can not see it. When "real Emotion" became the theme song of "Final Fantasy" in the third year, I was told that "there is no artist that can get such big tie-ups and still cannot sell". So, if I still could not sell properly, I would prepare for retirement, that my voice was not being accepted in this world."

The second time:

"It is when I made inappropriate remarks on the radio. While my intention was to do an interesting talk, I hurt people because of the vocabulary I used and my lack of knowledge. Even though it is my work to use words carefully to create lyrics, I though this time it will be impossible to be forgiven. I was crying all the time at home.
People also left and there was no other time in my life when I thought that I wanted to die as much as I did back then.
When I came back there was nothing with evil intent, but if there was bad intention, Koda Kumi will stop. I became scared of speaking on TV since then, even one word. Whatever I said, I thought there would be some kind of misunderstanding ... "

To be continued….

[cosmicfirefly]

That's a really interesting interview! I felt so bad reading about the times she felt like retiring, I'm glad she didn't.

[wednesday]

I didn’t realize the Kingdom era was that dark for her. I mean, we knew she was seriously unhappy, but the language she used in this interview is intense. It actually breaks my heart.

[Corvina]

It really was. She gained a bunch of weight and apologized before every frigging concert of Kingdom Tour and on TV. She lost commercial contracts and so on. Even avex didn't really give her a rest.

A friend of mine (well, hello Gubsi, I guess it was you ) said once, that you can feel on her Trick album, how conflicted she still was. It was the first album she released after it. I've never connected it before, but the theme of trick and illusion was really revealed in a different light in connection to the 'scandal'.

On another topic...where are the tour goods?
They never were this late and there's no message about it either.
Tour starts this coming Friday.
I am excited to see the tracklist and hopefully some report about it. As she indeed follows that reversed theme further with AND Tour being for her FC fans and being close and DNA Tour to be better enjoyed sitting farer away from her.

[jiarongisme]

Originally Posted by Corvina

A friend of mine (well, hello Gubsi, I guess it was you ) said once, that you can feel on her Trick album, how conflicted she still was. It was the first album she released after it. I've never connected it before, but the theme of trick and illusion was really revealed in a different light in connection to the 'scandal'.

Would you mind going in depth about this? I'm really curious to hear what you think!

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

It was a very dark and scary time for her.

As a fan, it was just crazy witnessing the backlash. You can feel the tension and somber vibe in MOON and that feeling definitely carried over into TRICK. Looking back, her 2009 material with the exception of Alive/Physical thing feels so icy and indifferent. It really wouldn't be until Gossip Candy that things felt ok again. It took Kumi 2+ years to fully process the All Night Nippon incident.

Tour goods are out. https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1065401

[Gustavopc]

I love the vaporwave style in the t-shirt and towel, but I guess not all goodies are up on the fc shop? So few stuff lol

And is that controller thing the lightstick? It looks odd o__o

[Corvina]

Yay, finally!

Originally Posted by jiarongisme

Would you mind going in depth about this? I'm really curious to hear what you think!

Sure, can do that, but in a different post some time later if you don't mind, so that I can collect my thoughts about it properly.

------------------------------------------------------
The tour goods:



DNA Controller Light



DNA Tee


Sports Towel


Fur Hat


Vinyl Pouch


Slide Mirror


Towel Holder


Wide Easy Pants & Sports Bra Set



They're going to sell the AND Tour goods and the goods from a-nation including all sold out items together with the DNA Tour goods!
Once those are sold out, they are sold out for good!

This is interesting:

さらに『AND』からはじまったツアーも『DNA』で完結！

They say the tour that started with AND is now going to be completed with DNA!
Sounds to me like DNA Tour is going to be a continuation of AND Tour.

Not that many goods this time, but it's also a shorter tour and they sell all goods from this year together.
I love that pants & bra set! Totally awesome!
Also totally expensive, but as I only like 4 of those goods anyway, that's alright for me.
And thank god there's size S again for the shirt.

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

Interesting wording about the tours being connected. If that is the case, then maybe we will get the Tokyo AND recording in a combo package.

The controller light stick is cool. If the storyline for this tour is Kumi as an android, then it makes perfect sense. I think there will be a 2nd batch released midway through. I wouldn't mind having the t-shirt and towel.

I'm feeling the 80s iconography going on in the goods.

[Gustavopc]

Yeah, if there's a robot/video game/VR theme to it the lightstick would be cool, but to me it doesn't seem... Ergonomic?

I'd also get me the towel and tee, but dang... A pamphlet in this vaporwave style would have been everything Or at least just a poster... Oh well...