Kumi Koda 倖田 來未 |
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Background information | |
Birth name | 神田 來未子 (Kōda Kumiko) |
Also known as | Kū(-chan) |
Born | November 13, 1982 |
Origin | Kyoto, Japan |
Genre(s) | J-Pop, R&B, J-Rock, J-Urban |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, spokesperson, voice actress |
Instrument(s) | Singing |
Years active | 2000–Present |
Label(s) | Rhythm Zone |
Website | http://www.rhythmzone.net/koda/ |
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 female singer and songwriter from Kyoto, known for her Japanese Urban and often J-pop hits. Debuting in 2000 with the single, "Take Back", Koda did not achieve notice until the release of her seventh single, "Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba", which peaked at the number-three spot on the Oricon weekly charts. Her popularity grew even further with the release of her fourth studio album Secret (2005), her sixteenth single Butterfly (2005), and her first greatest hits album Best: First Things (2005), reaching at the number-three, number-two and number-one spot respectively.[1][2][3]
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Koda released her debut album Affection (2002), under Avex sub label Rhythm Zone. Koda released her debut single "Take Back" (2000), which peaked at number fifty-nine on the Oricon charts. Koda then released three more singles, "Trust Your Love", "Color of Soul" (both 2001), and So Into You (2002). "Trust Your Love" reached the number eighteen spot on the chart, becoming Koda's first Top Twenty single, while "Color of Soul" came in at number twenty-nine becoming her first Top Thirty single. "So Into You" debuted at number fifty, becoming Koda's second and last Top Sixty single. Koda re-recorded "Take Back" and "Trust Your Love" in English and released the singles in the United States under the stage name Koda. Her label in the United States was Orpheus Records. "Take Back" peaked at number eighteen on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.[4] Whereas "Trust Your Love" had more success, peaking at the number-one spot on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.[5] The single also charted on the Hot Singles Sales chart and Hot Dance Club Play chart, at number nineteen and thirty-five positions, respectively.[6][7] After the September 11 attacks Koda participated in Avex's non-profit Song+Nation project. She recorded a duet with BoA, The Meaning of Peace, to raise money for charity.[8][9]
Koda released "Affection", which peaked at number twelve on the Oricon album chart. After the release of "Affection", Koda released three singles. "Love Across the Ocean", "Maze" (both 2002), and "Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba (2003)". The first two singles "Love Across the Ocean" and "Maze", peaking at the number nineteen and twenty-five positions. Koda achieved minor success with her seventh single, Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba, which peaked at number three after three weeks on the charts. The songs were used as the opening and ending themes of Final Fantasy X-2; in addition, Koda voiced the character of Lenne in the Japanese version of the game. She then release her second album, "Grow Into One", two weeks later. "Grow Into One" debuted at number eleven on the charts, but then peaked at the number eight position during it's fourth week on the chart.
From then on, Koda continued 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 album's release.
Koda's fourth album, Secret, was released in February 2005 and charted third on Oricon's Top 200 Chart. This was her highest charting release to date, and her first album to debut in the top five. The album included the singles "Cutie Honey," Chase, Kiseki, Hands, and Hot Stuff. The album was certified two times platinum by RIAJ for selling 521,000 copies total.[10] Shortly thereafter, Koda released her first live DVD, Secret ~First Class Limited Live~.
After Secret, Koda released her sixteenth single, Butterfly. The song became her highest charting single at that point in her career, debuting second on the weekly Oricon chart. It was well-received by the Japanese public and ended up ranking fifth in the monthly chart.
After the success of "Butterfly," Koda released Flower and Promise/Star; both peaked fourth in the weekly chart and continued her string of top-ten hits. On September 21, Koda released her first best-of compilation, "Best ~first things~". The album debuted at #2 on the daily chart, but shot to the number one position on the weekly chart in its second week of release, giving Koda her first #1 album.
In December 2005, Koda began a project in which she released twelve singles for twelve consecutive weeks. Nine of the singles were limited to 50,000 copies, while the remaining three were "normal" editions.
The first single of the project, "You", debuted at number one on the daily chart, giving Koda her very first #1 single.
The fourth and fifth singles of the project, Shake It Up and Lies, debuted at #6 and #7 respectively 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.[11]
To celebrate the success of the project, Koda released her second best-of compilation, Best ~second session~. The album featured all twelve singles along with two new tracks. It is the first of Koda's albums to be released in three different formats (CD+2DVD, CD+DVD, and CD-only).
The CD+2DVD version of the album, limited to 650,000 copies, sold out within days of the album's announcement. second session debuted at #1 on the weekly chart with 983,000 copies sold.
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.[12]
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 jewellery company, to promote their product, "Binary Face".[13] "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.[14]
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."[15]
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".[16] Toshiba also signed the usage of "Cherry Girl" in their television commercials to promote their new mobile phone, the SoftBank 811T.[17] 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 six years, selling 802,000 copies. The last female studio album to have done so is Ayumi Hamasaki's 2000 album, Duty.[18]
Koda began 2007 with three releases: BUT/Aishō, Best ~Bounce & Lovers~, and a DVD release of her second tour "Live Tour 2006 ~ 2007: Second Session" 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 promotional video. The other two songs, "Sora" (Sky) and "girls" were used as Japanese television commercials for her Fever Live in Hall pachinko marketing campaign.
Koda also performed at the Japanese leg of Live Earth in Tokyo on July 7, 2007.[19] in addition to attending ap bank fes '07.[20] 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", was released on September 12, 2007 and was 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". Despite low physical sales, the song reached number 1 on most of the download charts across Japan.
Koda's 38th single was a collaboration with Korean super group Tohoshinki, released November 7, 2007, titled "Last Angel feat. Tohoshinki" and was the image song for Resident Evil: Extinction. The single also included a B-Side titled "Dear Family".[21]
On December 1, to mark Koda's 7th year anniversary in the music industry, she held a special finale performance at Tokyo Dome for her 3rd nationwide (1st Arena tour) live tour. Koda became the sixth solo female singer to perform at Tokyo Dome with an estimated audience of 45,000 people. She also got to perform "I feel Love" with the Blue Man Group on this day as well.
Koda's 39th single anytime was announced to be released January 23, 2008. This single would be released a week prior to her 6th studio album entitled Kingdom on January 30, 2008.The album contains Koda's 2007 A-side singles: But / Aishō, Freaky, Ai no Uta, Last Angel, and anytime.
Following a similar pattern to her previous album releases, the album was available in 3 formats; CD Only, CD+DVD and CD+2DVD. The album contained music videos for all tracks, while the 2nd DVD contained the 70 minute charity live event 'Premium Limited Live In Hall In Yokohama Arena' concert.
At the end of the year Oricon reported that Koda's 5th album 'Black Cherry' was awarded the best selling female album and the second best selling album overall in Japan for the year 2007. This marks Koda's second consecutive time Koda has received this award, as she received the same award in 2006.
On March 31, Koda's 4th Live DVD was released which contains footage of her 'Black Cherry Tour Special Final in Tokyo Dome. However, as a result of the controversy in February, the CM medley performance was removed from the DVD footage.
Koda's 4th nationwide tour 'Kingdom Live Tour 2008' will commence on April 12, 2008, despite rumours of postponement and cancellation. In spite of her controversial statement, extra tour dates have been added to her existing 16 appearances as a result of the high demand of tickets.
On January 31, 2008, Koda stated on "All Night Nippon" that "When a woman reaches the age of 35, her amniotic fluid begins to rot." [22] The incident happened when Koda was talking about her manager, who was recently married, to have children before she turns 35 years old or the amniotic fluid becomes dirty. She explained that "this is really true! I heard it on the news!" Many women were deeply outraged by this.
After the outbreak of public outrage, Koda held a public apology on Fuji TV where she apologized for her insensitive sayings.[23] Koda also released an apology on her website stating that "I sincerely and deeply apologise for offending people with my remark."[24] Avex Entertainment Inc. released an apology stating that as a consolation, all promotion of her album, Kingdom, would cease.[25] Due to this controversy several of Koda's commercial endorsements were placed on a hiatus.[26][25]
Koda's normal activities resumed on April 12, 2008, making her appearance on the first day of her nationwide tour.[27] It was the first public appearance for Koda in 72 days.
Koda's 40th single was released on June 11, 2008. The single is titled Moon and contains 4 tracks similar to previous releases such as Freaky. The single contains 'Moon Crying', which is the theme for Asahi Television drama "Puzzle", 3 other tracks which includes collaboration track with Black Eyed Peas' Fergie and a song written by Japanese reggae singer Pushim.[28]Moon is the first release by Koda since her controversial statement in January 2008.
Koda has once again been confirmed to attend Avex's annual summer concert "A-Nation '08". She'll be appearing at all 8 shows around Japan and will be performing along with other high profile Avex artists such as Every Little Thing, Ai Otsuka, Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki, Tohoshinki, misono and many others. This will be her 7th year participating in the A-Nation concerts.[29]
Her 41st single, "Taboo" was released on October 8, 2008. The single contains a song titled "Taboo", a remix, and a b-side titled "Always".[30]. The single debuted at #1, becoming Koda's 5th single to do so, and her first since 2007's Freaky.
Kumi's official website has recently announced that her 42nd single, stay with me will be released on December 10, 2008. The single is described as a "winter love ballad" with covers reflecting that. [31] However , the single's release date now has been pushed back to December 24, 2008
Koda's seventh studio album, TRICK, has been confirmed for released on January 28, 2009. [32]
She won her first award at the 47th Japan Record Award for Butterfly on January 1, 2006,[33] 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".[34] 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.[35]
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.[36]
On May 26, 2007, Koda took 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".[37]
At the 2007 Best Hit Kayousai Koda's "Ai no Uta" earned her the Grand Prix in the pop category, also winning one of the golden awards for the 49th Nihon Record Taishō.
2006 - Best Video Of The Year - Butterfly - WON 2006 - Best Female Video - Butterfly - WON 2006 - Best Buzz Asia(Japan) - Trust You - WON 2007 - Best Video Of The Year - [[Yumi No Uta("Dream Song") - WON 2007 - Best Female Video - Yumi No Uta("Dream Song") - WON 2007 - Best Stylish Artist In A Video - WON 2008 - Best Collaboration Video - Last Angel ft Tohoshinki - WON
Within 2006 , Koda began winning awards for being a new trendsetter in Japan, including the "Best Jeanist Award" on September 4, 2006,[38] and the title of "Nail Queen" for her nail art on November 21, 2006, by Japan Nail Expo.[39][40] Finally, Vogue Nippon named her one of their "Women of 2006".[41]
On Japan's Oricon charts, 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,[11] 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.[42]
On February 13th, 2006 Oricon reported that Koda'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.[43]
Then, with the release of her 5th album, Black Cherry, Koda was the second 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.[18]
At the end of 2006, Oricon named her the top seller of 2006 with JP¥12,702,200,000 profit, approximately US$106,808,520.[44]
At the end of 2007, Oricon named her the top seller of 2007 with JP¥7,344,400,000 of profit. approximately US$64,600,000
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.[45][46]
Yahoo! Japan reported Koda Kumi to be the top most searched person in 2006.[47]
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Compilation albums
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Persondata | |
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NAME | Kumi, Koda |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kumiko, Koda |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | Japanese singer |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 13, 1982 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Kyoto, Japan |
DATE OF DEATH | |
PLACE OF DEATH |