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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Kumi Koda (倖田 來未), (born Kumiko Koda (神田 來未子, Kōda Kumiko) November 13, 1982 in Kyoto, Japan), is a Japanese solo R&B and pop female singer and also the older sister of J-pop star misono, of the former J-Pop band day after tomorrow. Although Kumi Koda debuted in 2000 with her debut single "Take Back," massive success didn't come until 2003 with the release of her seventh single, titled "real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba," which became a huge hit song mainly because the songs of the single were theme songs of popular PlayStation 2 videogame Final Fantasy X-2 and since then, Kumi's career has taken off.
In 2005, she was one of the best-selling artists because of her compilation of singles album titled "Best ~First Things~," and in 2006, she reached the top of the Oricon singles charts with the first single of the "~12 Single~ Collection," the single titled "you."
Biography
Kumi was the first girl born to the Koda family. Her professional career started with the strong support of her grandfather (who taught her Japanese bamboo flute) and her mother (who taught Japanese harp). Kumi started practicing classical Japanese dance at the age of three which sparked her interest in performing, and singing in particular.
She used to watch her mother singing at family meetings and parties held after Kumi's dance performances. Kumi's mother had the ability to captivate an entire audience while she was singing, and Kumi wanted to be like that when she was older. She did not want to be just an icon or celebrity and was fascinated by her mother's ability to capture an audience's attention just with her voice. In her primary school yearbook, she wrote "I want to be a singer when I grow up."
The first time she went for an audition was when she was in 3rd grade of primary school. While attending Kyoto Seika High School for young women, Koda auditioned alongside Maki Goto for the so-called 3rd generation of the Japanese group of entertainers known as Morning Musume, but she wasn't selected. In 2000 she finally won the "Avex Dream 2000" audition held by Avex Trax and was signed to Rhythm Zone, urban-minded sublabel at Avex.
Kumi wrote and rewrote lyrics over and over and did recordings endlessly without being given an exact day of the release date of her debut single. Finally Kumi Koda made her debut as a professional singer on December 6, 2000 with her debut single titled "TAKE BACK", but the single had poor sales and failed to chart. Kumi felt really depressed about her failure, because she thought it was her fault. Although the single was even released in the U.S. in March 2001 and debuted #20 at the Billboard Hot Music Single Charts (which can be considered a moderate success), Kumi wanted to put emphasis on reaching the top in the local charts back then (Japan).
The follow-up single of Kumi's was "Trust Your Love" -also released in the U.S.-, which held the 19th position in Billboard's Hot 100 singles sales chart and went to number one in Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart. Two more singles were released, "COLOR OF SOUL" and "So Into You", but no follow-ups in America.
After releasing those 3 singles, Kumi released her debut studio album, affection, on March 27, 2002. Kumi talked about it to an Avex reporter of this stage of her career, and she said she didn't care which songs she sang if she was able to sing. For example, with her songs "COLOR OF SOUL" and "So Into You" she used to wonder: "Will everyone hum this song or sing this song at Karaoke?"; She said that she did not had enough experience or skills and methods to understand her own feelings. The album wasn't a huge success either, and the release of her 5th single "love across the ocean", which she thought was a masterpiece, debuted at number 19 at Oricon. She said the reality hit her with disappointments.
In 2001, to honor the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Kumi collaborated with Korean Pop singer BoA on the charity album SONGNATION with the single the meaning of peace, which was produced by Tetsuya Komuro.
She said, and surely it is true, that her 7th single "real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba" saved her singing career. Both songs were the main vocal themes for the videogame, Final Fantasy X-2, in which she was also the voice actress for Lenne in the Japanese version of the game, and the song hit the 3rd position at the Oricon chart, becoming a huge success. She said that this single changed her life, because since the single became a hit, she started to be noticed at her town and also helped her attitude towards how she should present herself as an artist. She started to take care about her own look, and specially, about her weight.
After the release of the single it was already announced the release of her second studio album, titled "grow into one". At the recording of the album she felt the determination to reflect her own opinions and thoughts into the album. The album had moderate success.
She has been widely known for her effort to gain popularity as the singer for the Japanese version of Final Fantasy X-2, singing "1000 no Kotoba" and the main theme of the game "real Emotion". Although she recorded English versions of both songs, Square Enix believed that it sounded low-quality or lackluster, and many English-speaking fans have commented on the versions' Engrish lyrics and pronunciation. Consequently, Square Enix opted to have Jade of Sweetbox to perform the English versions of the Final Fantasy X-2 vocal songs. However, Kumi's versions were later released as b-sides on her single, "COME WITH ME", from her third album.
During the recording session of her 3rd album "feel my mind", Kumi discussed with her sound producers and arrangers about the music she wanted to make now. Kumi started listening to international musicians and started getting influenced by them. She wanted to put more R&B and Hip-Hop tastes into her next album and wanted to go on a tour for the first time as well. While Avex was doing the mastering of the album, Kumi was asked to sing the theme song of anime series Cutie Honey. She recorded it at the last time and finally was included in "feel my mind" as a bonus track. This song was also available in Kumi's "LOVE & HONEY" single released on May 2004.
Her success continued at her 13th single, her first ballad single, titled "Kiseki", and it was also a big hit in Japan. Kumi said she noticed an important fact as she was recording her 4th album, listening to her fans. She thought that fans wanted all songs to have complicated meanings, or to be technically "cool", but then, some fans told her once that simple, pure and straight songs were the songs they loved most. She decided just to have fun recording her 4th studio album secret, which was finally released in February 2005. The album reached #3 at Oricon Top 200 Charts.
Later with the release of her 16th single, "Butterfly", Kumi got her highest chart position on the charts at that moment, debuting at the number place for the first time. On September 21 Kumi released her very first Best Of collection of her singles, entitled "BEST ~first things~"; the album was entitled First Things as her first 5 years in music. Though the album was second to Mr. Children the first four days on the Oricon charts, it reached the top spot on the 25th. At the week's end, the album ranked #2 on the weekly charts and sold a highly impressive amount. Through the next week Kumi finally reached #1 on the weekly charts. To date, she has sold over 1.5 million copies and holds the best-selling female album of 2005, beating out many famous female artists, including Ayumi Hamasaki and BoA. Kumi became the best-selling female artist of Avex Trax.
On December 2005 Kumi started a project of releasing twelve singles in only three months, the project was called the ~12 Single~ Collection. The first single of the 12 singles series, "you", placed #1 on the Oricon charts for its first 3 days, keeping popular boyband TOKIO from the top position. The single's success continued throughout the week and reached #1 on the weekly charts selling over 72,000 copies, making it Kumi's first ever number one hit. "you" is the first single released by Kumi in a set of 12 singles in a 12 week period. The Following week the second single of the 12 set, "Birthday Eve", was released and grabbed the #6 position for the week (selling 44,294 copies of the limited pressing of 50,000 copies) while "you" took the 7th position. This marks the first time since Ai Otsuka's "Sakuranbo" and "Amaenbo" singles in March of 2004 that a female singer has had two singles both in the top ten in the same week. The third single, "D.D.D. feat. SOULHEAD" (also limited to 50,000 copies) had also great sales, selling almost all of the copies that were made. 2005 ended really well for the Kumi Koda: she won the 47th Nihon Record Taishou grand prize for her song "Butterfly" on December 31, 2005.
Kumi's single "Shake It Up", released on December 28, 2005, and "Lies" on January 4, 2006 grabbed the #6 and #7 position respectively, while her single "you" was still charting, ranking in at #9 position. This made Koda Kumi the first female artist to have three singles in the Oricon Top 10 in the same week (link). The first male artist that had three Top 10 singles was B'z in 2003.
The 12 singles set ended with the release of the single "Someday/Boys♥Girls", and later with the "00" single of the collection, entitled "Get It On", which was released only virtually, via cellphone.
Recently Kumi released her second Best Of collection, "BEST ~second session~", which was released in three formats. The album reached the #1 spot with 983,000 copies sold in the first week. This is the most recent album that surpassed the 900,000 mark in its first week of sales after Ken Hirai's "UTABAKA: Single Collection" in December 2005 and the highest debut since Utada Hikaru's Single Collection Vol. 1, which was released on March 2004 and debuted with sales of 1,400,000. http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/15289/
Also Kumi has recently won Best Pop Artist Of The Year at Japan's 20th Gold Disc Awards. Once again Kumi shed tears of joy and performed two songs "Butterfly" and "Promise".
Recently, Kumi was nominated for 3 awards on MTV Video Music Awards Japan. In the categories "Best Video of the Year", "Best Female Video" and "buzzAsia Japan". Kumi won all 3 awards on May 27th 2006 and gave her trademark sexy performance on the night with a medley of you -acoustic version- and Candy Feat. Mr. Blistah.
Kumi's latest single Koi no Tsubomi was ranked #2 on the weekly Oricon charts with first week sales of 140,000 copies. This the highest weekly sales amount for a female artists in 2006. Also this single is Kumi's 19th consecutive single which have made debuted in the Top 10 (since "Kiseki"). - http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/23185/
Trivia
- Bloodtype: A
- Hobby: shopping
- Favourite music: Hip-Hop
- Favourite sport: squash
- Favourite colour: green and purple
- Favourite season: Summer
- Favourite clothes: Dolce & Gabbana, H・A・K
- Favourite Japanese artists: Toshinori Yonekura, Sukima Switch
- Favourite Western artists: Christina Aguilera, Nelly, P!nk, Pharrel Williams
Discography
It has been suggested that sections of this article be split out into another article titled Kumi Koda discography. (Discuss) |
Albums
| # | Cover | Information | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st / Debut Album |
affection | 91,360 copies sold | |
| 2nd | grow into one | 191,033 copies sold | |
| 3rd | feel my mind
|
147,002 copies sold | |
| 4th | secret
|
521,376 copies sold | |
| 5th / 1st Best Of Album |
BEST ~first things~
|
1,762,546 copies sold | |
| 6th / 2nd Best Of Album |
BEST ~second session~ | 1,684,325 copies sold |
Singles
| # | Cover | Information | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st / Debut Single |
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TAKE BACK
|
22,680 copies sold |
| 2nd | Trust Your Love | 40,200 copies sold | |
| 3rd | COLOR OF SOUL | 10,300 copies sold | |
| -- | the meaning of peace
|
66,840 copies sold | |
| 4th | .jpg) |
So Into You | 6,000 copies sold |
| 5th | love across the ocean | 22,200 copies sold | |
| 6th | m·a·z·e
|
12,816 copies sold | |
| 7th | real Emotion/1000の言葉 | 280,200 copies sold | |
| 8th | .jpg) |
COME WITH ME | 41,370 copies sold |
| 9th | Gentle Words
|
27,164 copies sold | |
| 10th | .jpg) |
Crazy 4 U
|
28,272 copies sold |
| 11th | LOVE & HONEY | 150,100 copies sold | |
| 12th | Chase | 21,690 copies sold | |
| 13th | Kiseki 奇跡
|
60,033 copies sold | |
| 14th | hands
|
48,910 copies sold | |
| 15th | Hot Stuff feat. KM-MARKIT | 29,509 copies sold | |
| 16th | Butterfly | 127,884 copies sold | |
| 17th | flower | 106,099 copies sold | |
| 18th | .jpg) |
Promise / Star
|
61,312 copies sold |
| 19th | you
|
190,060 copies sold | |
| 20th | Birthday Eve
|
47,661 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 21st | D.D.D. feat. SOULHEAD
|
48,036 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 22nd | Shake It Up
|
47,014 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 23rd | Lies | 46,989 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 24th | feel
|
48,116 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 25th | Candy feat. Mr.Blistah
|
47,856 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 26th | No Regret
|
131,348 copies sold | |
| 27th | Imasugu Hoshii 今すぐ欲しい
|
47,411 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 28th | KAMEN feat. Tatsuya Ishii KAMEN feat. 石井竜也
|
46,971 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 29th | WIND
|
46,619 copies sold out of 50,000 | |
| 30th | Someday/Boys♥Girls
|
89,413 copies sold | |
| -- | Get It On | Unreleased | |
| 31st | Koi no Tsubomi 恋のつぼみ |
211,370 copies sold | |
| 32nd |  |
4 hot wave | TBR |
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DVDs
- 7SPIRITS (2003/3/19)
- feel... (2004/3/24)
- girls~Selfish~ (2004/11/25)
- secret -FIRST CLASS LIMITED LIVE- (2005/9/21)
- BEST~first things~ LIVE TOUR 2005 - available only in limited edition of second best album
songnation
- the meaning of peace w/BoA (2001/12/19)
- songnation (performed the meaning of peace w/BoA) (2002/1/23)
Other Collaborations
- LISA - SWITCH feat. Koda Kumi and Heartsdales (2004/4/21)
- LISA - So Beautiful (performed SWITCH WALL5 remix) (2004/6/2)
- LISA - GRATITUDE (performed SWITCH) (2004/6/30)
- JHETT a.k.a YAKKO for AQUARIUS - Just Go feat. Koda Kumi(2005/3/9)
- JHETT a.k.a. YAKKO for AQUARIUS (performed Just Go) (2005/3/24)
- KM-MARKIT - Vivid (performed Rainy Day) (2005/4/20)
- Super Sonic w/ D.I PROD BY DAISUKE IMAI (2005/7/20)
- JHETT BLACK EDITION [CD+DVD] (2005/8/24)
- SOULHEAD - D.D.D feat. Koda Kumi (2006/2/1)
- TRF - JOY - meets Koda Kumi- (2006/2/15)
Soundtracks
- Final Fantasy X-2 O.S.T. (performed real Emotion and Sen no kotoba (1000の言葉)) (2003/3/31)
- Gilgamesh O.S.T. (performed Crazy 4 U) (2004/2/25)
- Cutie Honey O.S.T. (performed Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー)) (2004/5/26)
Theme songs
The following songs performed by Koda Kumi have been used as themes for a range of motion pictures, TV series and video games:
- "So Into You:" Rank Ōkoku, Japan Count Down, Tokyo Club Gang (TV shows)
- "m·a·z·e": Psycho Doctor (dorama)
- "real Emotion": Final Fantasy X-2 (video game)
- "1000 no Kotoba": Final Fantasy X-2 (video game)
- "Crazy 4 U": Gilgamesh (anime)
- "SWITCH": Crimson Tears (video game)
- "Cutie Honey": Cutie Honey (movie), Re:Cutie Honey (anime)
- "Into your heart": Cutie Honey (movie), Re:Cutie Honey (anime)
- "The theme of Sister Jill": Cutie Honey (movie)
- "Yogiri no Honey": Cutie Honey (movie)
- "Chase": Samaazu to Yuka no ayashii××kashi chau no kayo!! (TV show)
- "Kiseki": J-League (TV show)
- "LOVE HOLIC": Sekai Bari Bari Value (TV show)
- "hands": Uchimura Producer (TV show)
- "Through the sky": The Sunday (TV show)
- "Hot Stuff": Ryuha-R (TV show)
- "Butterfly": Kosume no mahō (dorama)
- "Shake It Up": The Sunday (TV show)
- "Lies": ADORE na! GAREJJI (TV show)
- "No Regret": The Law of Ueki (anime)
- "WIND": Torino 2006 Chuukei (TV show)
- "Someday": Shin Kyoto Meikyuu Annai (TV movie)
- "Boys♥Girls": WATERS (movie)
- "GO WAY!!": Crayon Shin-chan Movie (movie)
Compilation
- avex 15th Anniversary Presents BOX SET [Initial pressing only limited release] (performed real Emotion) (2003/7/30)
- 99% Radio Show (performed real Emotion) (2003/9/25)
- Collabo. (performed the meaning of peace w/BoA) (2004/2/18)
- SOUL TREE - a musical tribute to toshinobu kubota (performed Yume with You (夢 with You)) (2004/2/25)
- Dramatic Songs (performed m.a.z.e.) (2004/12/1)
- SPEED & POWER STYLE 2005 (performed real Emotion Mega-Mix, Trust Your Love Mega-Mix, and Into Your Heart Mega-Mix) (2005/1/19)
- RZ the best of rhythm zone 2005 [CD+DVD] [Regular Edition] (performed Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー) and SWITCH] (2005/3/9)
- RZ the best of rhythm zone 2005 [CD+DVD] [Limited Pressing] (performed Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー) and SWITCH] (2005/3/9)
- Kazen Parapara!! Presents Super J-Euro Best (performed Crazy 4 U <80'S STYLE REMIX>) (2005/3/30)
- SUPER BEST TRANCE presents SUPER J-TRANCE BEST (performed real Emotion (OVERHEAD CHAMPION REMIX) (2005/3/30)
- a-nation '05 BEST HIT SUMMER (performed Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー)) (2005/7/27)
US Performances
- May 23 - May 26, 2002: New York - Tokyo Music Festival; New York, NY.
- January 30, 2004: Ushicon 3 Anime Convention: Austin, Texas.
- March 25, 2005: KamikazeCon Anime Convention: Houston, Texas. (Review)
References
- Rhythm Zone (avex network inc.) (2005), Koda Kumi Official Web Site
- Oricon Style (2005), Ranking - Oricon Style
External links
Official sites
- Official webpage - In Japanese
Fan sites
This page or section may contain link spam masquerading as content. |
- So Into Koda - the Kumi Koda Website & Forum
- *Feel Her Mind* - A Koda Kumi Shrine
- ~HONEY FLASH!~Most active Koda Kumi Forums
- AsiaFinest Kumi Koda
- Nippop Profile | Kumi Koda
- Kuuchan.com ~ Kumi Koda News and Information site
- Totally Dedicated to Ku An unofficial fansite about Koda Kumi
- KUMI-X : Koda Kumi Fanmix site
- Watch Koda Kumi videos
- Koda Kumi icon contest
- Final Fantasy Music Online Mini-Biography about Koda Kumi
- Koda Kumi discography at MusicBrainz