Single arts & tracklisting: Kumi Koda - Hotel

When Ayumi Hamasaki has a release on the horizon, her arch nemesis Kumi Koda is never far behind with a release to snatch her weave pieces and her limelight. This woman spends her whole life waiting in the shadows of Ayu's career in a hooded mac and an icepick, just waiting to pounce on her.

Kumi Kehovah will be releasing her customary summer 3 track single in August. The set is titled Hotel, which I will now typeset as HOtel. The track list appears to be chronological in the order of a story.

1. Hotel
2. Money in my bag
3. Don't turn around

• Hotel is the track about Kumi meeting her late night break off
• Money in my bag is about her pocketing dollar for her freak nasty
• Don't look back is the advice anthem for hoes. When you sex him and get paid, don't look back and move onto the next one

HOtel will probably follow Kumi's Summer single tradition of featuring one lovely pop / rock tinged song, one skanky club record and then some dance shit. Kumi Koda's career has been on the same trajectory as Ayu's. Her music videos have been getting smaller budgets and her music seems to be desperately chasing a pursuit of sounding like something which could play on American pop radio - essentially trying to do what Namie is doing and has done for the past decade, but pulling it off nowhere near as well. It's quite tragic, because Kumi has the voice and the image to pull it off.