In news which is a surprise to nobody, the FIFA games of J-pop that is Kumi Koda is releasing a new album in March, titled Heart. Heart is listed on Kumi's official website as her 18th studio album, but is it her 17th. I'm assuming that Kumi's press team are counting angeL + monsteR [My Name Is...] as a studio album, which is fair. Because that really was just a studio album that was split into two EP's, so it could take up two spots on the charts.
The full tracklist is yet to be revealed, but the album will feature the singles “We’ll Be OK”, “Doo-Bee-Doo-Bop”, “To Be Free”, “4 MORE” and “100 Kodoku”.
The special edition comes in a large A4 cardboard envelope, which is useful. Because somebody can send Kumi a court order with it, to ban her from releasing more than 3 singles a year and annual studio albums.
Kumi Koda has been celebrating this whole 20th anniversary thing, which has now been coined a 20th → 21st anniversary. I don’t get why artists drag out anniversaries. Perfume did the same thing in 2020, and it felt like an overstayed welcome. Singles which should feel like fresh starts, new beginnings and a line drawn under an anniversary, then get sucked into the anniversary shit. Kumi Koda releasing new singles in the midst of a release of a Best album which didn’t feature the singles was messy. Kumi and Avex should’ve just made the Best album a 2000 - 2021 affair, put all of the 2021 singles on it, took a whole year to chill, dropped a new single at the tail end of 2022, and then slated a new album for the Summer of 2023. But of course a bitch was never going to do this.
This constant barrage of releases that she’s still doing 20 years into her career is foolishness, especially with the quality of her music not getting any better. At this point Kumi is known for the regularity of her releases and not the music itself. Even Ayumi Hamasaki, who was once known for her conveyor belt of singles and albums, a model which Kumi clearly based her career strategy on, eventually saw the light and slowed down. And now she’s living her Real Housewife of Tokyo life with her children and her dogs. Her music still isn’t where it needs to be, but at least it’s not saturating any more, and Ayu isn’t running her legacy into the ground. It's unfortunate, because it's not too late for either of them to turn their shit around, but they don't have teams around them who can help them do it.
Kumi Koda’s Heart releases physical and digitally on March 2nd, and we’ll be getting at least one more single between now and then.
💿 Album reviews: angeL + monsteR [My Name Is...] | re(CORD) | DNA | AND | W Face | Walk Of My Life | Bon Voyage | Japonesque | Color the Cover | Dejavu | Eternity ~Love & Songs~ | Universe | Trick | Kingdom | Black Cherry | Secret | Grow Into One | Feel My Mind | Affection
The full tracklist is yet to be revealed, but the album will feature the singles “We’ll Be OK”, “Doo-Bee-Doo-Bop”, “To Be Free”, “4 MORE” and “100 Kodoku”.
The special edition comes in a large A4 cardboard envelope, which is useful. Because somebody can send Kumi a court order with it, to ban her from releasing more than 3 singles a year and annual studio albums.
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| Kumi Koda and the fan club limited edition of Heart | Instagam @ kodakumi_official |
This constant barrage of releases that she’s still doing 20 years into her career is foolishness, especially with the quality of her music not getting any better. At this point Kumi is known for the regularity of her releases and not the music itself. Even Ayumi Hamasaki, who was once known for her conveyor belt of singles and albums, a model which Kumi clearly based her career strategy on, eventually saw the light and slowed down. And now she’s living her Real Housewife of Tokyo life with her children and her dogs. Her music still isn’t where it needs to be, but at least it’s not saturating any more, and Ayu isn’t running her legacy into the ground. It's unfortunate, because it's not too late for either of them to turn their shit around, but they don't have teams around them who can help them do it.
Kumi Koda’s Heart releases physical and digitally on March 2nd, and we’ll be getting at least one more single between now and then.
💿 Album reviews: angeL + monsteR [My Name Is...] | re(CORD) | DNA | AND | W Face | Walk Of My Life | Bon Voyage | Japonesque | Color the Cover | Dejavu | Eternity ~Love & Songs~ | Universe | Trick | Kingdom | Black Cherry | Secret | Grow Into One | Feel My Mind | Affection
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