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Koda Kumi

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Koda Kumi

Kumi Koda (倖田 來未, Kōda Kumi) (born Kumiko Kōda (神田 來未子, Kōda Kumiko) on November 13, 1982) is a Japanese pop singer from Kyoto who debuted in Japan in 2000 with Take Back. She is the older sister of Japanese pop singer, Misono. She did not achieve major success until her seventh single, Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba. Her popularity reached new levels in 2005 after the release of Secret and Butterfly . Later that year she became one of the best selling artists of 2005 with the success of Best ~first things~. At the end of 2006, Oricon named her the top seller of 2006.[1] Lately, Japanese sports tabloids have paired her together with SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai[1].

Biography

Pre-BEST ~first things~ Era

Before she signed onto Avex, Koda auditioned alongside Maki Goto for the third generation of the Japanese group of entertainers known as Morning Musume. She ultimately ended up signing a contract with Avex, alhtough it is uncertain whether she forfeited the Morning Musume competition or if she lost to Goto.

Koda officially debuted as a singer under Avex with the single, Take Back, released December 6, 2000 and continued with a second single, Trust Your Love, which was also released in the United States. It sold poorly in Japan and failed to chart, but debuted at #20 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music Charts. It held the nineteenth position on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Charts and went onto number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Charts. Two more singles were released: Color Of Soul and So Into You, which led to the production of her first album, affection, released March 27, 2002.

Koda remained active despite her charting failure. Her fifth single, Love Across the Ocean, debuted at #19, though her sixth single, m·a·z·e, fared much worse on the charts. However, she finally enjoyed success with her seventh single, Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba, which was tied to the popular Final Fantasy franchise. The songs were the main vocal themes of Final Fantasy X-2, and Koda had also voiced the character of Lenne in the Japanese version of the game. The single debuted at #3 and outsold all her previous works. Her second album, Grow Into One, came out shortly after Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba and was a moderate success.

From then on, Koda would continue a string of top twenty hits with Come With Me, Gentle Words, and Crazy 4 U. These singles were included in her next album, Feel My Mind. The best performing single from that album was Come With Me, which sold 42,000 copies. During the recording of Feel My Mind, Koda was asked to cover the theme song of the anime series, "Cutie Honey". The song, also titled "Cutie Honey", was included as a bonus track on the album and became the title track of her first single after the release of Feel My Mind.

Koda's fourth album, Secret, was released in February 2005 and charted third on Oricon Top 200 Chart. This was her highest charting release, and her first album to debut in the top five. The album included title tracks from singles: Love & Honey (included the hit "Cutie Honey" along with other B-sides from the film), Chase, Kiseki, Hands, and Hot Stuff. The album was certified two times platinum by RIAJ for selling 521,000 copies total.[2]

BEST ~first things~ Era

After Secret, Koda released her sixteenth single, Butterfly. The single became her highest charting single at that point in her career, debuting second on the weekly Oricon Charts. It was well-received by the Japanese public and ended up ranking fifth in the monthly charts. Koda also won the Grand Prix prize for the single at the 47th Nihon Record Taishou and Japan Gold Disc Awards, which was named song of the year for 2005.[3]

Koda released two more singles, Flower and Promise/Star; both peaked fourth in the weekly Oricon Charts and continued her string of top ten hits before she released her first greatest hits collection. Titled "BEST ~first things~", the album was released on September 21, 2005 and ranked second to Mr. Children's I♥U album, though it took the number one spot on the daily charts four days after it was released. In its second week on the charts, the album grabbed the number one spot, earning Koda her first number one album. By end of 2006, the album had sold 1,850,635 copies and ranked number seventeen on the yearly chart, dropping from sixth place in 2005.[4][5]

BEST ~second session~ Era

In December 2005, Koda began a project called the “~12 Singles~ Collection” in which she released twelve singles for twelve consecutive weeks. Nine of the singles were limited to 50,000 copies while three of the singles remained normal editions (for future references, a “maxi single”). If all twelve singles were purchased, the cases could be put together to form a bigger image of Koda from the OBI strips and the back covers.

The first single of the project, a maxi single titled "You", ranked number one on the Oricon weekly charts selling 72,000 copies and gave Koda her first single to hit the top spot in the weekly charts. Birthday Eve was released the week after and charted sixth on the weekly charts right after "You".

The fourth and fifth singles of the twelve singles, Shake It Up and Lies, respectively released December 28, 2005, and January 4, 2006, grabbed the sixth and seventh position while "You", was still charting at ninth. This feat made Koda the first female artist to have three singles in the top ten of the Oricon Weekly Singles chart.[6]

The “~12 Singles~ Collection” ended with the release of Someday/Boys♥Girls and later with the "00" single of the collection, Get It On, released exclusively online via cellphone.

Because Koda’s project was a massive success, her management wrapped all of the twelve singles into one best album: BEST ~second session~. The album contained all the title tracks of the “~12 Singles~ Collection”, with the exception of Boys♥Girls and all the music videos of the project. The album came in three versions: a CD-only version, a CD+DVD version, and a limited CD+2DVD version. The extra DVD in the CD+2DVD version contains footage of her from her first live tour in Japan, specifically footage from her performance at Osaka.

The limited edition of the album, limited to 650,000 copies, sold out within days of news about the album. The album charted first on its debut week on the Oricon weekly charts with 983,000 copies sold. This accomplishment makes this album the first to surpass 900,000 copies after Ken Hirai’s Utabaka: Single Collection in December 2005 and the highest debut sales since Utada Hikaru’s Single Collection Vol. 1 released in March 2004 with debut sales of 1,400,000 copies sold.[7]

Oricon reports that 1,768,628 copies of BEST ~second session~ have been sold for the Oricon 2006 year, making it the album with the second highest sales in 2006.[8]

Black Cherry Era

Koda's first single after the “~12 Singles~ Collection” was Koi no Tsubomi (Love Bud), released in May 2006. It charted second in its debut first week with sales of 140,000 copies sold. This was the highest debut week sales for female artists in 2006, until Ayumi Hamasaki surpassed it with Blue Bird in June. Soon afterwards, Koda reclaimed the title with the release of 4 hot wave, which also ranked second behind KinKi Kids, nearly breaking their streak of consecutive #1 singles. Up until 4 hot wave, it makes it Koda's nineteenth consecutive single to debut in the top 10 since Kiseki.[9]

After the release of Koi no Tsubomi, there was news of Koda's first photobook in the making. The photobook was confirmed and titled "MAROC" and photographed by Leslie Kee in Morocco. It was later revealed that the photobook will be tied with her quadruple A-side thirty-second single, 4 hot wave. Both items were released on the same date and have similar covers.

The title tracks in 4 hot wave were used in advertisements. "I'll be there" was used in Seabreeze advertisements for a sun tanning lotion, "Ningyo-Hime" (Mermaid Princess) was used in Vodafone 705T advertisements for a mobile phone, "With your smile" was the theme for NTV's 2006 Japan Pro Baseball, and "JUICY" was used by Gemcerey, a Japanese jewelery company, to promote their product, "Binary Face".[10] "Binary Face" is designed by Koda and the concept is said to be based on her. The "lion" is to represent the dark, sexy and powerful woman while the "rabbit" is for the innocent, weak, and cute side of a woman.[11]

The single following 4 hot wave, Yume no Uta / Futari de... (Dream Song/Two of us...), was released on October 18, 2006. Named the "Two-Story Ballad", it was released in CD and CD+DVD format. The first pressing for the CD+DVD version contained one of nine special photo liners and two bonus tracks, while a special 8 page booklet was available only in the CD-only version.

The "Two-Story Ballad" single originally started out as a single song about "happy love". When Koda listened to the original melody given to her, she commented that the melody had both the elements of happiness and sadness. As a result, she collaborated with her staff on producing two songs but with the same melody, and her staff agreed to it. She wrote another set of lyrics for the song to represent sadness. This is the first single Koda had control over; she wrote the lyrics, chose the outfits, and produced the concepts for the videos of both songs. She confidently remarked that "it was a first time experiment for me, but I was able to convey how happiness and sadness are two sides of the same coin."[12]

After the success of Yume no Uta / Futari de..., Koda and EXILE released their duet covering a pop classic called Won't Be Long, originally by the Bubblegum Brothers. The single charted second in its debut week and sold 130,710 copies.

She followed it up with Cherry Girl / Unmei, released on December 6, 2006. It contained two major tie-ins; "Cherry Girl" is the theme song of a drama starring herself, and "Unmei" (Destiny) will be the theme song of a movie named "Ōoku".[13] Toshiba also signed the usage of "Cherry Girl" in their television commercials to promote their new mobile phone, the SoftBank 811T.[14] This single charted third in its debut week, with 61,817 copies sold.

Two weeks after the release of Cherry Girl / Unmei, Koda's 5th studio album titled Black Cherry was released. The album has three versions: the CD-only version, the CD+DVD version, and the limited CD+2DVD version.

The album includes her singles from 2006: Koi no Tsubomi, 4 hot wave, Yume no Uta / Futari de..., and Cherry Girl / Unmei, with the exception of Yume no Uta / Futari de... in which "Futari de..." will be excluded from the album. The number of tracks is totaled to fifteen, which is raised to eighteen in first pressings of the album. Announced on her official site, the last track on the album, "Milk Tea", will be Koda's first composition. Typical of album releases, the first DVD disc will contain most of Koda's music videos produced in 2006, including a video she made collaborating a duet with Taiwanese singer "Show Luo" of the English version of "Twinkle". This video will be on both Koda's and Show Luo's albums. According to Koda's official site, the second DVD disc, available only in the limited CD+2DVD editions, contains "Cherry Girl", a drama starring herself. It also includes famous drama actors such as Megumi, Yuko Ito, Masaharu Takeda, Mari Hoshino and Mari Hamada.

Oricon reports that Black Cherry is the first female studio album to stay at number one for four weeks in four years, selling 802,000 copies. The last female studio album to have done so is Ayumi Hamasaki's 2000 album, Duty.[15]

Post-Black Cherry Era

Koda began 2007 with three releases: But / Aishō, BEST ~Bounce & Lovers~, and a DVD release of her second tour in Japan. But / Aishō, her thirty-fifth single, debuted second and sold 63,692 copies. BEST ~Bounce & Lovers~ charted second as well, selling 161,458 copies. Her tour DVD fared better on the charts; it debuted first, selling 75,000 copies.

Her second single of 2007, titled "Freaky", was released on June 27, 2007 and features four songs, with only "Freaky", and "Run For Your Life" having a music video. The other two songs, "Sora" (Sky) and "girls" were used as commercial advertisements.

Koda also performed at the Japanese leg of Live Earth in Tokyo on July 7, 2007.[16] in addition to attending ap bank fes '07.[17], an environmental preservation themed concert, hosted by Kazutoshi Sakurai of Mr.Children on July 15, 2007. She performed hits "Cherry Girl", "But", "Freaky", "Kiseki", and "girls".

Her third single of 2007, titled "Ai no Uta", will be released on September 12, 2007 and is described as a "love ballad delivered straight to the person she loves," and also features the theme song to the World Judo Championships 2007, "Come Over".

It has been officially confirmed that Koda's 38th single will be a collaboration with Korean boyband Tohoshinki, to be released November 7, 2007, titled "Last Angel feat. Tohoshinki" and is the image song for Resident Evil: Extinction. [18]

Awards and Accomplishments

Music Awards

She won her first award at the 47th Nihon Record Taishō for 'Butterfly' on January 01, 2006,[19] and was awarded "Triple Crown" at the Japan Gold Disc Awards on March 10, 2006, for pocketing three awards: "Pop Artist of the Year", "Pop Album of the Year", and "Music Video of the Year".[3] She continued to win more awards for this song; on May 27, 2006, the MTV VMAJ's awarded Koda with "Best Female Video" and "Best Video of the Year" for Butterfly, and "buzzASIA from Japan" for Trust you, a track off her 4th album, secret.[20]

In the second half of 2006, the song Yume no Uta from her 33rd single, Yume no Uta / Futari de..., garnered Koda more awards. She was a Grand Prix winner at the 39th Japan Usen Grand Prize.[21]

On May 26, 2007, Koda Kumi takes home 3 awards from MTV VMAJ for the second year in a row. Being nominated in 3 categories, she won 2 of the 3 nominated awards for her video Yume No Uta, taking home "Best Female Video and "Best Video of the Year" for the second time. Koda also won herself a special award known as "Best Stylish Artist Award".[22]

Fashion Awards

Within 2006 , Kumi Koda began winning awards for being a new trendsetter in Japan, including the "Best Jeanist Award" on September 4, 2006,[23] and the title of "Nail Queen" for her nail art on November 21, 2006, by Japan Nail Expo.[24][25] Finally, Vogue Nippon named her one of their "Women of 2006".[26]

Oricon Accomplishments

On Japan's Oricon charts, Kumi Koda has made several notable accomplishments and broken records set by others. From her ~12 Singles~ Collection and Best ~second session~, she became the first female artist to have three singles in the Top 10 of the Oricon weekly singles chart,[6] and the female artist with the highest album debut week sales since Utada Hikaru's Single Collection Vol. 1 with 983,000 copies of Best ~second session~ sold.[7]

On February 13th, 2006 Oricon reported that Kumi's first Live DVD, "secret ~First Class Limited Live~" set a new Oricon record on the music DVD charts by remaining at the top of the Oricon DVD charts for 7 weeks in total.[27]

Then, with the release of her 5th album, Black Cherry, Koda was the first female artist to release a studio album that remained at the top of the Oricon weekly album charts for four weeks after Ayumi Hamasaki with her album, Duty, released in 2000.[15]

At the end of 2006, Oricon named her the top seller of 2006 with 12,702,200,000 Yen profit, approximately 106,808,520 USD.[1]

Online Accomplishments

Koda, while having success on Oricon charts with physical CD sales, maintains success on online music sales as well. It is reported that twenty-two of her music videos chart the top 100 most downloaded videos, with four of her videos dominating the top five, and having Koi no Tsubomi top the Overall Downloads Chart, which thirteen of her other songs chart.[28][29]

Yahoo! Japan reported Kumi Koda to be the top most searched person in 2006.[30]

Discography

Further information: Kumi Koda discography
Year Title Type Oricon Chart positions (JP)
2002 affection Studio 12
2003 grow into one Studio 9
2004 feel my mind Studio 7
2005 secret Studio 3
2005 Best ~first things~ Compilation 1
2006 Best ~second session~ Compilation 1
2006 Black Cherry Studio 1
2007 Best ~Bounce & Lovers~ Compilation 2

Performances In The United States

References

  1. ^ a b Oricon (2006-12-21). Annual Hit Chart Special - 2006 Artist Total Sales Ranking Big Announcement! (年間ヒットチャート特集『2006年 アーティストトータルセールスランキング大発表！』) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved on 2007-6-26.
  2. ^ Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) (2005-7). Gold Album Certifications July 2005 (ゴールド等認定作品認定　2005年7月) Template:Ja icon. Retrieved on 2007-6-26.
  3. ^ a b Sankei Sports (2006-3-10). Kumi Koda Proves Ability! Receives Gold Disk Award Grand Prix (倖田來未、実力を証明！ゴールドディスク大賞グランプリ受賞) Template:Ja icon. Sanspo.com. Retrieved on 2007-6-26.
  4. ^ CMA (2006-12-15).2006 Album Annual Sales Ranking (2006年度アルバム年間売上ランキング) Template:Ja icon. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  5. ^ Oricon. Album Annual Ranking (アルバム 年間ランキング) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  6. ^ a b Oricon (2007-1-9). Kōhaku, Year-End Program Guests Boom! Kumi Koda's Feat First in Women's History! (紅白・年末番組出演組が好調！倖田來未は女性史上初の快挙！) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  7. ^ a b Oricon (2007-3-13). Kumi Koda Second "Best Of" Album Starts as 980,000-Disk Big Hit! Number 1 on Release! (倖田來未、ベスト盤第2弾が初動98万枚の大ヒット！初登場首位に！) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  8. ^ Tai, Yūki (田井裕規) (2006-12-21). Annual Hit Chart Special -- 2006 Annual Album Chart Big Announcement! (年間ヒットチャート特集『2006年 年間アルバムチャート大発表！』) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved 2007-6-27.
  9. ^ Oricon (2007-5-30). Kumi Koda Breaks Own Record with Drama "Ugly Love" Theme Song! (倖田來未、ドラマ『ブス恋』主題歌で自己記録更新！) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  10. ^ Sony Magazines (2006-6-25). Four-Song Single "4 hot wave" Released! Comments and Presents Arrive! (４曲入りシングル「4 hot wave」リリース！　コメント＆プレゼントが到着！) Template:Ja icon. Musicnet. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  11. ^ Gemcerey (2006). Gemcerery Binary Face Appears at Daimaru Shinsaibashi Branch! (ジェムケリー　バイナリーフェイス（Binary　Face ）　大丸　心斎橋店に登場！) Template:Ja icon. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  12. ^ Sankei Sports (2006-8-25). Kumi Koda Writes 2 Songs with 1 Melody! Ballad Filled with Happiness and Sadness (倖田來未、１メロディーで２作！バラードに幸せと悲しみ込める) Template:Ja icon. Sanspo.com. Retrieved 2007-6-26.
  13. ^ Sankei Sports (2006-10-20). Time Warp to Edo! Kumi Koda Pours Sexy Singing Voice into "Ōoku" (江戸にタイムスリップ！倖田來未「大奥」にセクシーな歌声を注入) Template:Ja icon. Sanspo.com. Retrieved 2007-6-28.
  14. ^ Sankei Sports (2006-11-28). Kumi Koda Hocks Cell Phones from Camera-Eye-View - New Softbank Commercial (倖田來未、カメラ目線でケータイをアピール－ソフトバンク新ＣＭ) Template:Ja icon. Sanspo.com. Retrieved 2007-6-28.
  15. ^ a b Oricon (2007-1-16). Kumi Koda Four Straight Weeks at Top First Time in Six Years (倖田來未、4週連続首位で6年ぶりの快挙！) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved 2007-6-28.
  16. ^ Microsoft (2007). Live Earth Artist: Kumi Koda. MSN. Retrieved 2007-9-12.
  17. ^ ap bank (2007) ap bank fes'07 Template:Ja icon. Retrieved 2007-9-12.
  18. ^ Avex Marketing (2007). Koda Kumi Schedules Release of New Single, Her 38th!! (倖田來未 38枚目となるニューシングルの発売が決定！！) Template:Ja icon. Koda Kumi Official Web Site. Retrieved 2007-9-26.
  19. ^ Tokyo Broadcasting System (2007). 47th Annual Shine! Japan Record Grand Prize (第47回　輝く！日本レコード大賞) Template:Ja icon. TBS. Retrieved 2007-9-12.
  20. ^ PGS (2006). MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2006 Template:Ja icon. PGS LIVE!. Retrieved 2007-9-12.
  21. ^ Sankei Sports (2006-12-17). Tearful Koda Wins Japan Usen Grand Prize Grand Prix! Blocks Nagakawa's 4th Consecutive Win (倖田、涙の日本有線大賞グランプリ受賞！氷川の４連覇を阻止) Template:Ja icon. Sanspo.com. Retrieved 2007-9-12.
  22. ^ The Hochi Shimbun (2007-5-27). Koda Kumi Wins 3 Crowns for Second Straight Year: MTV Awards (倖田來未が２年連続３冠…ＭＴＶアワード) Template:Ja icon. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
  23. ^ Best-Jeans.com (2007). Best Jeanist. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
  24. ^ Sankei Sports (2006-11-21). Who Has Beautiful Hands? Kumi Koda, Akiko Wada Named Nail Queens! (美しい手は誰？倖田來未、和田アキ子らがネイルクイーンに！) Template:Ja icon. Sanspo.com. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
  25. ^ Ishida, Michiyo (2006-11-23). Manicure art steals the show at Japan nail expo. MediaCorp News. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
  26. ^ Vogue Nippon (2006). Women of the Year 2006. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
  27. ^ Oricon (2006-2-13). Other Talked-About Songs Chart Announcements (その他 話題作のチャート発表！) Template:Ja icon. Oricon Style. Retrieved on 2007-9-25.
  28. ^ Label Mobile (2007). Annual Ranking 2006 - Ringtone Movie Downloads (年間ランキング2006 > 着信ムービーダウンロード) Template:Ja icon. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
  29. ^ Label Mobile (2007). Annual Ranking 2006 - All Downloads (年間ランキング2006 > 総合ダウンロード) Template:Ja icon. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
  30. ^ Yahoo Japan (2007). 2006 Search Word Ranking (2006検索ワードランキング) Template:Ja icon. Retrieved 2007-9-25.
Official site


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