[2006] Do You like Kumi? How did you start to like her?

[Partino]

sounds like a fairytale to me.... and they lived happily ever after

[Soulhead]

I came into Kumi during my "anime period" lol. I became a fan around her 12 single project. However, my first 2 videos were Selfish and Shake It and man! Ever since I'm in love with her ^.^ She's amazing and she never dissapoints me!! (Except Koi no Tsubomi...what was that Kuu! xD But even KnT has grown on me)

Kuu rocks my world <3

[evolution7931]

No I don't like her

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by Soulhead

(Except Koi no Tsubomi...what was that Kuu! xD But even KnT has grown on me)

LOL Koi no Tsubomi is actually her best song ever!

[ruixiong89]

Since real Emotion/1000 no kotoba! I thought most people started with Final Fantasy X-2! A fan since then!

[Plumeria]

I've been a fan since 2003. I love her upbeat songs.

[maxikot]

I don't like her. I have no doubt that she has good songs couse people listen to them but that doesn't catch me, and her "loose" style

[Cyria]

I like her now. Kuu had a couple of nice songs but I never found her overall material interesting, not even the albums that made her a big star. But when I listened to Black Cherry earlier this year I just loved it. Even though it seems that many of her fans prefer earlier Kuu, her '06-'07 music is what finally grabbed my attention. I'm not such a big fan that I'd collect her live performances or magazine appearances, but I listen to her new material regularly and look forward to her singles.

[Raleigh]

I liked her when she released real Emotion. During Secret era, I was pretty much happy with her style until she started going cute and mellow. Now I enjoying her music and style.. but not that much.

[bondingo]

"yes, i had been with her up and down around or before2003" was my answer. "Real Emotion/1000 Words" was was the first thing I heard by her and I loved that single. I eventually bought "secret" a little while after, and I've been hooked since that album.

[ayu99persen]

i think i like her only for a moment....well yeah...sexyness is not for me..
used to,im impressed with selfish,butterfly...but now...i feel boring...
and her album black cherry really good on single song..but the album just boring (dont know why) i prefer to watch the pv than hear the cd.but now im so boring too watch her pv too....and as for her old stuff,i never hear again.
yeah she interests me for a moment but now she's gone away... i think i dont like her anymore

[mininamie]

I like Koda Kumi. I haven't liked her music since '05 because she's a sell out but some of her songs are just fun and poppy. Though I do not take her as a serious artist just commercial. But that's alright since she does put out a few decent songs every once and a while.

[tinypotato]

I begin to take notice of her and like her since Final Fantasy X-2 was released with REAL Emotion and Sen no Kotoba =)

Her current style is waaay beyond what I like but still, there are a few good songs from her still. So yeah.

[Uemarasan]

Originally Posted by broken_thread

*cough*

Once upon a time there was a nobody Japanese popstar named Ayumi Hamasaki. After the downfall of her label Avex's current Jpop Queen Namie Amuro, Avex realised the appeal of Ayumi's style amongst teenage girls. Though nothing she had done before had been very successful despite much campaigining, they decided to give her a makeover and invest tons of money in her.

Soon, Ayumi dropped the "mi" in her name and went simply by Ayu. She became known for her style more than her music. The Japanese public were then bombarded by a whord of cheaply produced singles ("LOVE~Destiny~" "TO BE" "Boys & Girls" "Fly high" just to name a few) before buying into the biggest crock of ***** yet, the first ever quadruple a-side. None of the songs on the quad a-side single were particularly great but it sold bucketloads nonetheless.

In the mean time, a huge promo campaign around a BEST album was released to celebrate all the hype surrounding Ayu's newfound success which seemingly came out of nowhere. As expected, the BEST album sold tremendously and soon after 13 singles were released all within a month's time. Ayu had truly arrived!


Sounds fairly familiar, no?

Not really.

I got to know Ayu in the beginning based on her music alone. I never saw an MV until "M", and then the next one after that was "Dearest". Between that, no television performances, no fashion spreads, no pictures except for the covers of her singles and albums. Only pure unadulterated Ayu music.

Of course, A Song for XX sold quite well, and her image wasn't even developed by that time. That was an album that sold mainly because of the music and its appeal to teenage girls, Ayu's original fanbase.

And A Best came after Duty. Ayu's newfound success came around with LOVEppears. That's a good year and a half later.

Interesting thesis, but please get some facts straight

I also wouldn't say that "Love ~Destiny", "To Be", "Boys and Girls" and "Fly High" were cheaply-produced. They still sound pretty great to my ear. Of course, that's all subjective. I think "monochrome" is an excellent song, too. A-side worthy.

I do like the pun on "horde" + "*****" = "whord" I hope that was intentional.

PS. Just realized I've been arguing with someone who most probably hasn't visited the forum ever since. Oh well.

[truehappiness]

In the mean time, a huge promo campaign around a BEST album was released to celebrate all the hype surrounding Ayu's newfound success which seemingly came out of nowhere. As expected, the BEST album sold tremendously and soon after 13 singles were released all within a month's time. Ayu had truly arrived!

Actually, it was to celebrate her "demise" in the industry. XD
They thought it was her time to leave the J-pop world, so they released a greatest hits album. But it turns out that would be her best selling album and stuff. [Same goes for A.. it was supposed to mark the end of her career..]

[ayumisrael]

truehappiness - Just ignore, it's from a kumi fan that acts like a life-less moron that came here to bash ayu because he had where...

It just proves my saying that ayu bashing growing more and more lately...I'm so happy I'm not a die-hard fan of other artists or I would act like my little cousin..........
There are a lot of mature fans of other artists that don't bash ayu though, I wish they would teach the others how to be a true fan and not biased to death oh-I-will-kill-her-"rivals" and go psycho mental all over ayu

[takamioda]

may i say something about how did i start to like Kumi?
before love Kumi, i have three idols are Noriko Sakai, Namie & Ayu, so i enjoyed in their songs so much & didn't want to hear anybody else --> i didn't know anything about Kumi. later, i knew Kumi but i still didn't like her because the covers of Kumi's albums & singers are usually look ugly ^^. after that, i saw Hot Stuff PV on channel [v], i noticed the girl who has the style like Namie & was impressed by the way she danced. after many times saw that PV, i gradually liked her so much. i started downloading her songs. and when the singer brought her to success Butterfly was released, she had a new crazy fan. it's me. until, i still love her SO CRAZY & like almost her songs

want to live in KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR

[Rurutia]

like her music, don't really like her voice............do not like her style when its overly majorly sexy... for instance licking her lips then sliding her hand between her crotch.

[TITANIC]

i love her in this year..
after BUT

[yukihira]

Kuu was the very first artist I listened in japanese. I was intresting when I irst heard 1000 no kotoba. THen I got more into her music. But when she released the over-the-top-sexy, I took a mini break and went exploring other music (korean, chinese, etc.) and now I'm listening to her again since she seem she calmed down on the sexyness.