The meme looks better and fits more the tour theme than the actual covers lmfao

I don't think that the covers are bad per se... they are more of a homage to the typical R&B albums of the time. And at that time they could be pretty ugly and cheesy. The 80s and 90s had some pretty bad looks :laugh

Yeah, and the triangle and the half-hidden neon colours binds it together with AND Tour and also W FACE Tour (which already had a 80's theme, though in another direction).
If you look at the concepts of the albums and tours you can see that Kuu and her team pretty much see the years 2017 and 2018 as one big cycle.
Though I also think it's a pity that the "looking back in the past, but also forward into the future"-mix of the DNA album and tour is not really visible in the covers.

That Kuu and her team are usually planning way ahead is really visible in stuff like that.
And we know from her FC blog, that she and her team already roughly planned new starting now till 2021.

Idk if you guys noticed, but the tours being 80's themed for two double albums, which are dealing with Kuu and her development and her identity, can't be a coincidence - she was born in the early 80's after all.

New creditcard campaign:
https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1070529

I just send them a mail about the video release, I hope they'll answer it soon because I really want it.

I just saw that some people are commenting at Kuu's instagram about this issue, so maybe someone of her staff or she herself read the comments.

Driving Hit's 9 2nd week position/sales - #248 ; 288

Total 2 week sales - 3,813

http://imgsrc.baidu.com/forum/pic/it...cd7b890b7b.jpg

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/6056640724

Kuu's team reacted!

DNA Tour will be up on the global FC shop today 6 pm Japanese time!

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1070663

They apologize for the delay, but don't mention why.

^I received the mail in the morning, so I'm glad the fixed it

finally they corrected her DH9 itunes page, from Someday (okaerio Remix) to Someday (litefeet Remix). but they still lazy (or unaware) to correct that "Intoroduction" in her DNA page....

^ lol

Wall stickers will be given away as tokuten for early purchase of KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2018 -DNA- DVD/Blu-ray

The image used on the wall stickers is the same as the video release covers

https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1069706

Koda Kumi × UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN limited edition collaboration goods

https://i.postimg.cc/1RCJw7DK/news-t...ge-1070741.jpg

For now , prices are not stated , only the goods' designs have been released



https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1070741

The Parka probably will be the most expensive item out of the lot and it's so nice that Rhythm Zone + Universal Studios sign a deal together in the creation of these goods as they're really cute

Kinda make sense as this year's the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street . I personally like the design of the acrylic key chain the most

And I like Elmo too so that helps ;D

I want the keychain *_* and one T-shirt, the design is sooooo cute :heart

OMG i really hate the goods… same Level as ayu x Smiley last year haha :D

The countdown is finished!
They revealed a game to play to finish what the tour has started!

News on the official site:
https://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1070714

Goods and game site:
https://shop.mu-mo.net/st/special/koda2018/

It's 3 stages and if you clear every stage there will be limited bonus items you can get(for every stage).
Shipping out is planned for mid May for the bonus items of stage 2 and 3 (production after order).
The bonus items of stage 3 are items with a special illustration - details not revealed.

It's cute, cause they made a story out of it:
Clear all 3 stages and save Kloop!
After Kuu and Kloop parted ways with the DNA fighters and tried to return back to realtiy from the VR world, a tragedy happened...
Someone initiated a cyber attack and Kloop got infected with a virus.
The hijacked Kloop turned into Mad Kloop.
With the bond of Kuu AND her fans as power, can you rescue Kloop?

Here's the time frame for playing:
【93→39 PROJECT】STAGE 1
開催期間：2019年3月9日（土）18:00～2019年3月31日（日）18:00

【93→39 PROJECT】STAGE 2
開催期間：2019年3月9日（土）18:00～2019年6月30日（日）18:00

【93→39 PROJECT】STAGE 3
受注期間：2019年3月9日（土）18:00～2019年3月15日（金）18:00

Interesting fact of the title of the project:
If you translate the puns the title is made of it bascially says "Kumi thanks you"-Project (as well as being a play with the dates).
The cinema goods are now available for purchase on the mu-mo site.

EDIT:
Just started playing the 1st stage and it's a game where you answer questions about Kuu and her career!
So you can only play it if you can understand Japanese.
But it's short - I'm done and the bonus of stage 1 is 39% off from the goods (also the "old" DNA tour goods, including sold out ones, and even goes back till the Artist).
The limited bonus items are the bonus for stage 2 and 3.



---------------------------------------------------

The modelpress interview is up now!
https://mdpr.jp/interview/detail/1825978

It's a long one- if I find some time I gonna try to summarize next week.

------------------------------------------------------------

The special-greeting-screenings are today.

The team of Aeon Cinema welcomed Kuu with personal messages.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/rpBxed.png

And she's teasing laughing a special guest here.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/YevXW7.png

What or better who to expect? :laugh


EDIT:
And damn, the Gachas are alread sold out online.
That was fast.
But it's already noted by her team on the goods site they plan to restock 03/18.

Pics and article about the screenings today:

https://mdpr.jp/cinema/detail/1826514

The special guests were some of her dancers (OOBA、AKO、SHOWKO、minami)!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/8QPE4d.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/vliVdU.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/QxS5di.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/8e9hMM.jpg

The cinema screenings are done with a special editing for large screens and 5.1 dolby surround sound.
Kuu got the idea of doing it when she had the screening of AND Tour at a cinema for her fans.

According to fans who went to the special screenings today, Kuu also said there's going to be an announcement in April!

I'm ok that you isn't included, it's been performed many times before. Sucks that kokoro kara i love you is not there, as we only have one live performance of it but I'm glad that Winter Bell is included and not once but twice. I love that song.

Hopefully, that's enough copies sold to warrant us more Driving Hit's albums in the future. 9 has really grown on me after a few plays. Someday (litefeet Remix), Koi no Tsubomi (Adolfo De La Torre Casmartino Remix) & kokoro kara i love u (MATZ Remix) are my top 3 favourite remixes.

you was included in the footage for the FC live video ticket and they made it available for everyone to buy afterwards.
Winter Bell on the other hand wasn't included there.
Probably the reason it's not on the release, but Winter Bell is.

Kokoro kara was regularly switched with Aenaku, so it's just bad luck we didn't get it for the release or the CDL.
Would have loved to have it on the release, too.
But it was included in the footage of some dates of the live video ticket as well.

Another new interview is up, this time for mu-mo.
It's a great shooting.

https://station.mu-mo.net//articles/...mpression=true

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/KJ4DEs.png

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/hr2ATF.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/Zej7dL.jpg

Some interesting points:
- YKBX,who did the Dance In The Rain PV and VR stuff, also did all the mapping and programming and consulting for Kuu for the LEDs at DNA Tour.
- She thinks that there are not many artists doing grand Las Vegas like shows in Japan, so she sees it as close of being like an import of entertainment from her part. She keeps having her antennas out to bring various stuff she's inspired from together to Japan and keeps doing stuff you hardly can see elsewhere in Japan (like doing the stunts of the shows herself or doing the VR Dance In The Rain in 2013).
-High power shows get harder every year, but she wanna keep doing them as long as she can. DNA Tour has a lot of dancing and even though she likes learning choreographies the least, she thinks practice is the key. Somethig small can turn into something gorgeous like that.
- Selling tickets with live footage access was a new thing and Kuu is aware such new things always go through trial and error. It was hard work for everyone, cause every date was filmed and the tension was high for every date because of that and the footage had to be looked over and cutted till the next day. Kuu was the one overviewing and picking footage herself, but also her team gave their all. She mentions, that she has an excellent team right now! Despite the hard work, those tickets with footage were popular among fans.
- The bonus DVD inlcudes the MC of the filmed date and also birthday messages of her team and the fans made for her.

And here's some stuff from the modelpress interview:
- Her first CDL had good and unpleasant sides. Her lifestyle changed with her having a family and she usually gets up at 7 am and goes early to bed now, so she didn't know how singing and performing so late would go. But at the beginning of her career she performed in clubs at night a lot and that experience helped her now.
Overall the CDL itself was a lot of fun.
- Kuu was really excited to go on tour without the band this time. It meant there would be less people on stage, so it was a bigger challenge. She wanted to surprise the fans and introduced moving LEDs for that.
- She had troubles with the LED system till right before the first date. So she was worried if she could bring the show to the fans in the best condition. When the first dates went well, she and her team were relieved.
The LEDs show different views depending on the angle you look at it, so people could enjoy if from every seat.
That was one big point Kuu wanted to achieve this time, that everyone can it enjoy as much as possible.
-She says starting with W Face Tour in 2017 she has no (stage) director anymore and is doing that herself now.
- She wanted the two tours in 2018 to be different, so AND had a band and had the focus on the music, while DNA only had dancers and focused on the perfromance and visuals.
- There was one date where she failed the aerial performance and did it again in the MC. Shows are live after all and you never know what happens, but the fans pay for seeing the same performance, so she wanted to make it right.
- She thinks the best way to experience Kuu and her music is through live performances.
- Her family is the source of her energy to go on and try new things, so to grow as a person and an artist.
- Connected to DH's 9 she says that Instagram is a great way to get impressions by fans directly.
-Creating new music after completing a tour is always a hard step. She has to get input first before she can create output again.
- For Kuu its very important to work with different people, cause different people work differently like different vocal coaches teach differently. That's why she e.g. went to Vegas to have vocal lessons. But this is also true for interacting with people in general on a personal level.

Driving Hit's 9 has stopped charting on Oricon :s

https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/259698...cts/1307741/1/

That's quite unfortunate as the previous Driving Hit's remix albums charted at least 3 weeks or so on Oricon unlike 2 weeks :x

Is Kumi a meme again now? lol A friend retweeted this account today and I'm impressed by how many followers it has

https://twitter.com/CODAKUMI?s=09

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dq_e8AAU4AECm6u.jpg

Koda Hamasaki

That's my new favourite Twitter account.

Another interview release, this time for Oricon:

https://www.oricon.co.jp/confidence/special/52680/

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/Ay0X3N.png

Same photoshoot as for mu-mo, but different pictures.
Partly same questions, but also partly different.
The new things:
- Kuu introduced noise cancelling headphones for children at her concerts in 2005 already, very early like the interviewer observes.
Before she had a care service, but there were so many voices saying they want to enjoy the concert with their children together.
Just as Kuu got older and started a family, she also noticed that the amount of fans with kids at her concerts increased with time.
- The Oricon interviewer states, that there are also more young fans at her concerts than before and asks, how she feels about having another viral hit with Megumi no Hito on Tik Tok.
She was surprised, cause she didn't even know about it until Pikotaro send her message about it.
She covered the song, cause for her it was a song to dance together at concerts from the beginning, so she is glad it spread with that concept intact like that.


EDIT:
The FC edition of DNA Tour sold out this past week.
Due to popular demand they decided to make more copies available for preorder and sale for all FCs, also the global one. The FC goodie, the neon marker set, is NOT going to be included in these additional sales.
Going to be available for preorder again starting omorrow!

Thanks for translating the main interview points, Corvina.

Is anyone able to extract the HQ FC Edition cover from the FC website? I can't save it in full size aside from zooming out on the page and taking a screenshot of its slightly smaller version.

I got my hands on the first press of the brand new copy of 99% Radio Show, if anyone is interested in Apple Lossless rip let me know and I will upload the whole album here or just the 2 tracks featuring Kumi.

DNA DVD photos from Mercari



I thought at most the DVD will have a digipak packaging 1st press aspect wise

Guess not :s

Poster notice that CD stores received

https://i.postimg.cc/NfzGLFZr/155264...k4g1436791.jpg

DNA video release fanclub version

From Mercari

DNA Tour is at #1 for its first day:
https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/dm/d/2019-03-19/

Instagram and Twitter are full of pics from people receiving their copies, mainly the FC version.

And some stands from shops in Tokyo:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/dSliSr.png

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/k5xLWw.png

Thanks to 坂本直子 in Kuu's fangroup on facebook for the photos.

Which made me wonder.... the Blu-Ray seems to have two different versions - the normal blue and a black one.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/Nt6TgK.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/j9F2jB.jpg

Pics thanks to masa_dayo and sxxyx_93 on Instagram.

I suppose the black one is either first press or a FC version?

HMV Aeon Mall Narita

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2FVqZTUkAApGQ1.jpg:small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2FVqaaU0AAoMiO.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/HMV_Narita/statu...61351435063296

The live recordings for both DNA and AND Tour -Zepp version- were uploaded on Japanese streaming sites, here on AWA:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/DkXcVb.png

It really seems avex is not uploading stuff for some of their artists internationally for streaming anymore since the start of 2019. It's not only Kuu, it happened for some other of their artists, too... But not all of them, Idk what to think.

^ I feel your pain, some labels stopped uploading their artists' to Spotify for international peeps since like, 2017 (like Kato Miliyah), and Utada Hikaru's latest album only JUST got put on Spotify to promote her Kingdom Hearts song probably only because it's an international thing.

I'm starting to think that Japanese labels don't see opening their artists for streaming internationally as a viable thing after "testing it" between 2016 and 2017 :(

Yeah, it's a pity if it gets gradually worse again.
Full PVs on youtube is the same trouble. :(

Update on the Japanese Koda Gumi renewal.
The FC magazine is going to change!
From June 2019 onwards it's going to be released 2 times a year (June and December) instead of 4 times.
It's going to get a lot thicker with around 50 pages per issue and it's going to be in a "photobook style" (3 magazines up till now had 18 pages and one special issue per year 38 pages, so we get around 10 pages per year more now). Size is going to upscale - the new magazine is going to be in A4 size. The content is going to orient on the results of the big questionniare, what we wanted less and what more of.
For the global Koda Gumi I assume it keeps being uploaded digitally, it doesn't say.

Right now for the new first issue they search for Kuu related pics (e.g. of us fans at the concerts or our collections). People in the Japanese Koda Gumi can send in up to 5 pics with small comments.
They also search for problems or questions fans want to ask Kuu for advice or thoughts for the same issue.
All of those they pick are going to be printed in the issue of June 2019.


Just saw in the Insta stories of a Japanese Kuu fan I follow:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/FOlyvO.png

They're having promo for the tour on Insta in Japan!

Thanks to a.iluv93.hiro.

DNA Tour is #2 today:
https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/dm/d/2019-03-20/

But it's flying-get day for Black Pink's new tour DVD, released 03/22, so understandable.
Sadly that also means she won't get weekly #1 - Black Pink is just too popular.
So this is probably going to be her 5th #2 DVD release in a row, beating one KPop act and losing to the other. :tipsy

#2 what? That’s amazing, I’m so proud of her. Kumi keep slaying.

I need DNA TOUR in jpopsuki hahahaha <3

Kuu is currently in South Korea :O

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2TjuXxVYAEovF_.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...61801420517376

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvVKSSBAw2j/

1 of the hash tags Kuu used is Myeong-dong which's where the photos were taken

My sister is currently living in Seoul with my aunt , maybe I should tell her to go find & stalk Kuu on my behalf , haha :p

She's not currently in South Korea, she was some time ago for a secret dinner shower.
The same Ayu was some years ago as a secret guest.
That's also why she uses ある日.^^


A bit random, but as it was talked about for Ayu...
Which songs from Kuu were covered by other artists?

I know KG covered 愛のうた for his cover album Love Songs 2012.
And Toshinori Yonekura covered 好きで、好きで、好きで。in his cover album うたびと2015.
Anything else?
Interesting that both are male singers.
I put both songs under spoilers.



Chart update:
Yesterday the DVD was at #5, today at #3, one spot before Black Pink.
All depends on the first day sales.

Nakamori Akina covered Ai no Uta in 2015.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2frprn

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2ZZQt6U4AApUCl.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...72508054077440

The design of Kuu's phone holder stand is so comical xD

All the content from the FC DVD is on JPC (DNA and AND Tour, making of, special videos and more).

She looks so good with this hairstyle. It's very Harley Quinn x Joker kid.

It's a good from the comedian Cookie haha My friend has the same.

https://supercookielandneo.com/images/ognl_010.jpg
https://supercookielandneo.com/goods.html

It's great to watch AND Tour again!
Love the choreographies and live versions so much.
Would still love to get a studio version of the JUST THE WAY YOU ARE - flower mash-up.
And I'm still grateful for getting tickets for it.
Saw quite a lot of fans searching for tickets on social media before the shows.
Wonder if she's going to wait further 5 years for another FC tour?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Japanese Koda Gumi started another poll.
The first for her 20th Anniversary!

Questions they ask are:
*the song you get power from?
*the song you wanna listen to live?
*the song you wanna listen to when you are in love?
*your favourite PV?
*your favourite single or album cover?
*the tour you would like to go to again?

They're dividing her career in three parts for it: early from debut to Black Cherry, middle from BUT single to Koishikute single and late from Color the Cover till now. Short comments why you chose something have to be provided as well.
From what I've seen in short they included every song and release, but there's also space to name something not mentioned.

Results are going to be published in the FC magazine in June.
They plan to use the info for her 20th Anni.



Thank you!
Never heard it before!

I just love how involved Kuu's team is with the fans.

Maybe a new best? *0* Or for her next Tour? I'm excited!!

Me too.

Kuu looks so glamorous in these photos she posted online a few mins ago

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2kCGPFU4AEnjhx.jpg:small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2kCGPKUgAAEgIl.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...21093783748610

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvdP6PmgKT7/

I really like Kuu's shoes & accessories

DNA Tour first week sales:

DVD
#1 - 9,497

Blu-Ray
# ? - 961

Total sales so far:
10,458

She indeed beats Black Pink and all the others.
Congrats, Kuu, for another #1 DVD!

Sales are about the same as W Face Tour for the DVD.
Blu-ray broke in tho - probably because the FC version wasn't available as Blu-ray this time as opposed to last year.
Hope they learn from it.

There is not a single flaw in these pics. I'm speechless at how gorgeous and sexy she is. Gossshhhhhhhhhh

omg she looks AMAZING in those pics! :tired

Also, I started watching the DNA Tour today. I knew nothing about the tour beforehand, so I was screaming during HAIRCUT! :laugh The color changing hair.... The literal wig snatching! A slay!!! :banana2

And I absolutely LOVED everything about the HOT HOT performance. :laugh Her hair.. her outfit... the boob bouncing... :laugh

It's been a while since I watched her tours, but this one is really fun so far.

im SO dissapointed for the CDL part that included in the dna tour dvd bonus, they so lazy, just use what they shown on the concert screen, the live broadcast SO MUCH better.

the live broadcast, for the countdown part, esp from 10s to 0s, the 10 to 0 is shown on the upper screen, the lower screen which shown normal 24hr timing start merge back together, and the ribbon spray and "happy new year" shown on both screen. the dvd version exclude all the climax, damn.

She is serving looks... but her shoes and fake Chanel don't match one another :laugh

So I've just actually read everything posted here these days, thank you guys for sharing all those stuff and translating them :)

I'm excited to see what she's gonna announce in April, I'm so down for a summer single but I just don't know if those are a thing anymore :laugh Maybe there's gonna be a mini tour, but I think she's taking this year to prepare for her 20th anniv. From her travels you can see she is looking for new references and music genres, so I'm pretty sure she'll put out fresh music for her 20th, probably different from the last few years. But that's a guess :P We just have to wait and see ahahah

Just saw that she posted something different on Twitter for the last post compared to Instagram!

https://mobile.twitter.com/KODAKUMIN...93279591153665

Translation:
I'm looking forward to see you all again on tour!

Stay tuned!
I love you all! Kiss

She mentioned getting weekly #1 with DNA Tour in the post before, but that may mean we're getting a new tour (as well) soon?
An announcement, I mean, cause DNA Tour e.g. was announced with a first ticket lottery in March and started in September.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I've wanted to talk about one song I've voted for in the Koda Gumi poll. It's only the first part, the first part of her career, up for now.

*the song you wanna listen to live?
- I thought about voting for JUICY, cause you all surely wanny have a live performance - but then I thought the chance of it scoring high among Japanese fans would be very low. So I chose 運命, cause it's my favourite ballad and wasn't performed in a long time.
And it's popular among her fanbase.
But just this morning I saw a Japanese fan on Instagram posting about singing JUICY at karaoke, cause it's never performed live.... :tired

Oh, so we might get a tour this year then! Can't wait to see whatever it is that she is planning :P

That was a nice choice, Corvina! iirc had a really small performance in BC Tour and then in Premium Night so yeah I don't think it got the attention it deserves. I looooove everything about the song, when the song starts building up and then it kicks in ugh it sends me to heaven instantly. Hope that song gets a bit of attention next year

And tbh JUICY is a bit overrated to me (pls dont kill me guys). The choreo was bold and everything but the song itself is pretty average for mid 2000s Kuu. I'd rather see her paying more attention to gems like Candy or Lies.

Then I'm at least not the only international fan standing behind that vote! :)

Kuu just appeared at Mezamashi TV!
On the special programme called "100 leading people of the Heisei era".
She got a prize for being the #1 imitated female artist.
Overall she's here at #11 for female artists shaping the Heisei era.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/xSnbPQ.png

Videos, should be roughly in order:
https://www.instagram.com/kodakoda11...=1mw03zrd7v843
https://www.instagram.com/okudaaaa_9...d=ffknejbhn0tv
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvl60PnA...d=ai3q11y3yg56
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvl53WUg...d=hsngn4y31f4u
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvl7MaFg...=1nmfkkvczea20

I would prefer to watch the anation performance of JUICY than getting a new one. It was more her style back then than it is nowadays.

I see this prize as being a good compliment, she's memorable enough for people to impersonate her.

Damn, she looks drop-dead stunning in that black dress. And congrats with the award, Kuueen Of Everything. Too bad she didn't perform there.

There's no way avex'd let her not tour this year. That's the main source of her income nowadays: Tickets + Goods. I'm happy to have a new tour every year, I just don't want long ass tours like BSC & W FACE. She looked & sounded exhausted in the live recording of W FACE LIVE TOUR.

JUICY is great and the MV for it is awesome but she has so many better ero-kakkoii, like SHAKE IT, Under, SO FEVER, KO-SO-KO-SO, feel me (needs a live performance).

Talking about the song choices for her to perform, I would love to see a performance of To be one. It's one of those tracks that, because of the genre, it still fresh and not dated at all. I can even see the performance, just like Got To Be Real at Universe Tour, with a disco club feel. ♥ I know it probably won't happen, but if Rock Your Body was a choice for Bon Voyage Tour and one for Let's Party Vol. 2, why not give a chance for this underrated gem.

I'm saving money so I can attend a possible 20th Anniversary live, but I'm trying not to expect a lot since FANTASIA and THE ARTIST were not what I was expecting (even tho I like them, god knows how disappointed I was with FANTASIA after the awesome Dream Music Park).

Overall the songs that I feel are underperformed but still possible are:

- So Into You
- COLOR OF SOUL
- Trust Your Love
- m.a.z.e
- Break it down
- COME WITH ME
- Kiseki
- Chase
- Heat
- Cherry Girl
- Yume no Uta
- Unmei
- show girl
- Lick me
- You're So Beautiful
- Brave
- Love Me Back

As for album tracks, it's hard to be realistic because we never know what she might be into it when deciding the tracklist, so I decided to add songs that she performed more than once, but not as often.

I would so be up for a Break It Down or To Be One performance! I was so chuffed when she included Rock Your Body in the Bon Voyage setlist.

I want a performance of To Be One too. Loved it in 2003, love it now.

I love To be one, too.
I had to include it in my answers, so I went with the first question, cause it always makes me happy!
Hope it gets some love.

Y'all, I just watched Best Single Collection again last night and I have to say - the concert may not be her most innovative but DAMN her energy!! And her dancing. FIRE. That dance break before Trust Your Love which seamlessly transitions into the song. Made me go YAAAAS!

So I've finally watched DNA Tour (hadn't even seen the CDL except for HAIRCUT). The opening act was great imo, the balance between vocals and dancing was so good, and HOT HOT was uh-may-zing!
Ballad section was so boring cause nothing happened lol It must be great if you're in the audience and can enjoy only Kuu and her vocals, but seeing the recording at home was just okay. I only actually enjoyed NEVER ENOUGH (what they did with the screens looked soooo gorgeous) and Aenaku. Wasn't much a fan of OUTTA MY HEAD too tbh, the vocals in that song are a bit over the top to me and the tissue dance could have been a bit longer :/
Then the third section was a bit of hit and miss, but mainly cause she was singing in that sassy lazy way of HOTEL. It's fun but over the time it bothers me. But somehow WATCH OUT worked so much better live than in the album lol Guess Who Is Back was also good!
Encore was great, I looove Lady Go! and WIND, so it was really fun to watch.
Overall a good tour but not her best in the last years.

On the award, it was so fun to watch all those girls performing her songs! I laughed and also got a bit emotional over nostalgia lol I'm so happy for her :heart

Talking on her upcoming 20th, I was thinking today... I'd love to see her doing PV for old songs like she did for walk, personally I think Lady Go! could have one with the dancing and all :P Any songs you guys also think deserve a re-recording and/or a video?

is there a video of a juicy live performance online? I've never seen it ☆____☆

^ I believe just a couple of pics, if there's a video it'd be like 2 seconds lol

@jiarongisme hadn't seen your post cause I was looking at the previous page lol Yeah, I love BSC so much cause of her energy! Even tho it's a simple stage she's giving her soul on it <3 It reminds me a bit of second session in that point, I love those two concerts!!

I saw it at Instagram (kodakumi_italian_fc)

^LOL. Yeah, that is a blatant ripoff.

I watched my copy of the DNA tour and very much enjoyed it. Visually the first section is absolutely breathtaking. The stage direction and overall presentation were excellent. I have to say that I'm thrilled that she sounded so good on the ballad section. The ballad section for the W FACE tour was a bit rough. She sounded very rested and strong on the ballads this time. Overall I think the tour was on par with W FACE. I kind of wish they had done a special final at Osaka Jo Hall or another arena. The tour definitely was arena level and deserved a special final.

Her dancing in the sections before and after the ballad one are SO GOOD. BUT/Lollipop, the 2000s medley, and POP DIVA. I don't think I've seen her dance that hard even in her earlier tours. Love it.

Maybe we can expect a special anniversary show with 3 sections divided in her early, middle and late career?
Just like the FC survey.
Would be great, cause then we'd get some old gems for sure.


@Gustavopc
You can't enjoy her vocals on the DVD?
Cause I'm like lovethatkuu&ayu, I simply enjoy how she sings in the ballad section.

PVs for old song that haven't got one before would be awesome like Lady Go! or Heat or Is This Trap?.

I can, but after a while I start checking my phone or something else rather than watching the concert :laugh It's a bad habit I'm aware of it hahahah

^I don't think your the only one. Its even hard for me to pay the same attention to a concert when I'm physically there. On DVDs I rather watch it for the music itself and look up on the more interesting parts.

Rehearsals were done today for this coming Sat's KODA KUMI SPECIAL LIVE 2019 at UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvy-8XSg2Ak/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3PFOcUVYAAYFCS.jpg:small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3PFOcSUUAATJmE.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...50398138884098

Aw my favourite Sesame Street character immortalised in a donut

A) I have been saying since day one, BSC is a fire tour. Despite it's simplicity Kuu herself is such fire she is able to carry it. And her lewks were on point. She dazzled.

B) The whole team of dancers and Kuu have fire rehearsal lewks.

BSC Tour is fire for sure! :banana1

Another thought I had regarding that new project -
maybe she's going to do three separate tours for her early stuff, her middle career and the newest releases?
Would be great as well, though honestly I have no idea what releases should accompany that. :laugh

I'm not sure how they would even go about releasing a 20th anniversary project. Kumi had so many singles with multiple A-sides and then popular B-sides and album cuts too. I don't think anyone can be completely satisfied no matter how hard her staff would try.

Maybe something in the line of the special free live she did for the FC at the beginning of het 15th anniv, but this time with full songs and three setlists? It'd be fun!!

Kuu promoting the Koda Kumi × UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN limited edition collaboration goods

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...53972623790080

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3ZFcn9U4AMUxFx.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...54357182697475

Elmo is my sister's favourite Sesame Street character

The Universal live just started.
The setup is like this this year:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/p7n55S.png

They also sell a lot of the goods this year.
If you remember the last ones only got one stand in a shop at USJ.



According to those rehearsal pics she uses 8 dancers for it.
But she is also teasing new dancers in the tags in her last Insta post ( "new dancers - are they coming? are they not coming?").
Which led to speculations about a bigger scaled tour or performances like an arena tour among her fans.
Her usual line-up of dancers is there at least if you look at the pics and the stories she posted - Akihiro, Waka, Ooba and Achi for males, Showko, Marina, Amami for females. Achi only in her stories, the one that got the "cookie monster" doughnut wrong, lol.
But also some female ones I don't know.
Though her choreographers are usually female as well, so it's hard to tell. :laugh

Achi won't be at the Universal live - Waka and him were dancing for AK69 at his Budokan live some days ago and a Kuu fan, who went, met both there and asked them.
Here are the two posts:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv4LnRTA...=10o7x60kc784t
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv4C_owA...d=rqxsvnjvzvy7

Underlines the assumption that they prepare something else, not only the Universal live. :)

Special Live at USJ 2019 setlist:

Dangerous
UNIVERSE
IS THIS TRAP?
BUT
BAMBI
君想い
CHANCES ALL
WIND
め組のひと
LOADED
PARTY
LIT
LADY GO!

Thanks to ryumi_93 on Instagram.

She didn't announce anything today.

Two photos from playroom:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/fGRTgn.png

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/zKDbLT.png

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv6oVYoARAK/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3eXsexUcAIfqwS.jpg:small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3eXseyU0AAi9ff.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...26241887936513

So great that many people showed up so early to see Kuu performed at USJ

That's a great crowd! I'm glad everyone had a good time judging by Twitter. Kumi seemed to have had a good time as well.

Setlist and outfits look amazing!! These lives at USJ always seem sooo mich fun :heart Thanks for the pics and info!

The Setlist seems to be boring to me, it is like mini DNA tour.

More pics:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/JJQb7E.png

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/WlQzCp.png

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/Q3Q4y9.png

And Kuu shared this comment of a fan from her last post asking about the name of the new dancers (the most liked comment on the post btw.):

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/JUmO59.png

And Kuu is like : " I wonder why.... *big laugh*
Those dancers were the members of Sesame Street today!"

Even though she did use two new female dancers today within those 8. She is such a tease sometimes! :laugh

I've had a feeling that she was planning on an arena tour for awhile now. Just some hints from the DNA tour oddly enough LOL.

I'm really curious about the studio work she did. If we get an actual physical summer single, I'll be over the moon!

Kuu & her dancers took The Flying Dinosaur yesterday in Universal Studios Japan

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://instagram.fsin8-1.fna.fbcdn.....fna.fbcdn.net

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv8WHt8Apq4/

My sister was brave to try out The Flying Dinosaur when both of us went USJ 2 years ago . I was too chicken to try it & it's easy to see why as the ride will spin you around 360 degrees which was x_x

Kuu also went to Minions Park within USJ

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3iCHVeUwAAKoGD.jpg:small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3iCHVbUYAAmIRU.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...83978479804417

Kuu sent flowers to Ayu today

She did it yesterday as well.

The setlist for the live was pretty okay. This is the first time that I don't care about footage of the concert, since most of the USJ Lives had at least one underperformed song., which is not the case for this one.

The look as pretty cool, tho.

---

Talking about not paying too much attention to the ballad section, I feel like I do this for most of her recent concerts, honestly. The last time I didn't look away during a long ballad section was with Dejavu Tour, which every song had something happening, with costume changes, the hologram effect and all.

WOML Tour was pretty good as well, but since there is the lovely Sometimes Dreams Come True a.k.a. bathroom break, it's not as good as the one from Dejavu.

And for the BSC Tour being good and energetic, I agree! The stage is so interesting but underused, I mean it's a freaking jukebox.

More photos from Sat's KODA KUMI SPECIAL LIVE 2019 at UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN



https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv_E0RaAKl6/



https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv_HwkNgm1T/



https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv_Lev6gc3x/

Kuu's outfits were from Balmain & Victoria's Secret and the Sesame Street characters backed Kuu up when Lady Go!! was performed

Sagan Tosu announced today, that Kuu is going to be at the home match against Gamba Osaka May 11!

https://www.sagan-tosu.net/news/p/3801/

They celebrate Women's Day on that day with special jerseys and events about women and Kuu will give a kick-in performance before the match.

Sagan was faster than her official site or FC with the info, but should be up there soon as well.

Kuu also took the Jurassic Park Ride last Sat in USJ

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwBOKu9gsbd/
https://twitter.com/KODAKUMINET/stat...58197748248576

Kuu basically took the rides in USJ that I don't dare to try them myself haha :p

Kuu shared with everyone, that Misono and Nosuke came to see her live and spend time with her at USJ.
She says USJ always is a place for her to gather with her family (she regularly goes with her husband and son as well).

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/SIqI9t.png

She also says, that laughter is the best medicine.
It surely is... At least he's strong enough to go to a theme park.

Ah, yeah and she also mentioned in one of the posts, that she surely is going to do another USJ live next year.

Also adding to the topic of her dancers - for WOML Tour, which was her last arena tour, she had 12 dancers. For The Artist she had 10.
Now with the new female dancers she should have 10 as well.

My heart goes out to Nosuke and misono. They seem like they are happy and strong, though!

It was nice to see both Nosuke and Misono be able to enjoy themselves for just a little bit. At least he still is able to venture out and live his life.

Kuu is part of that new 270 Yen plan for AWA, where you can listen to unlimited Kuu songs, get pre-sale tickets for concerts, make limited playlists, getting special goods presents and voice messages from Kuu and listen to live recordings:

https://info.awa.fm/artist_plan/60df887d16e73bf51229/

Info through her FC.

It's interesting how Avex hasn't given up on streaming. The Japanese still seem to be quite invested in physical products. That said, the industry is slowing down quite a bit, and I wonder if Avex sees something we don't.

Hm?
Streaming is the biggest growing market in Japan.
It indeed had a very slow and late start there, but it catched up quickly - Oricon reported, that within a year streaming overtook digital sales in total numbers back in 2018.
I've showed the numbers in the "What's on your mind"-thread, quoting myself:

But it is true, that physical sales are still the top priority and it even grew a bit again last year.

Yeah, as Corvina said streaming here became really huge. And of course AWA wants to take the lead as Spotify is growing really fast here. I think that's a great way to get the fans to sign up for their plans.

Thanks for the information. I wasn't aware that streaming services had finally started to gain traction in Japan. It will be quite interesting to see how the Japanese industry looks in a few more years. Physical sales in the U.S. collapsed rather quickly when streaming took off after 2014.

Do you have any more info on Spotify?
Cause afaik Spotify is not playing a big role in Japan.
Oricon and Billboard Japan are both not counting Spotify for their streaming charts.
Last info I had was Line Music, Apple Music and AWA being the three biggest streaming services (and amazon, but it's part of Prime and not a streaming only service).

What I know is only based on talking to people. One year ago nobody knew what Spotify was and now everyone is talking about it, using it, sharing on Instagram etc. I'm the kind of people that likes to sneak into people's phone to while they listening to something on the subway and I often see people using Spotify. They've made a few collaborations with Japanese artists to create playlists and stuff like that, so I think it's growing. Maybe the thing that made it popular was the partnership with Instagram, in which you can share the music on your Instagram stories. Also you can listen to Spotify for free (with limitations and ads) so it's a good deal in the end.