The Koda Kumi Rate: Part III, COMPLETE. See you in Q1 2020

It would be great if you could join, as I believe this part will have a lot less voters than the previous one. But then again, I understand that not everybody can jump into unknown artist's discography just like that.

 

I mean, I've done it multiple times in the past year dddd but that's just me.

 

It can be quite fun. I do it a few times myself, the last time was Hurts where I only knew like two songs beforehand.

 

I did this a couple of times myself, but I always find myself doubting my scores and thinking that I would give better and truer scores were I to listen to this artist's music more.

 

Oof I do that all the time too. And you know my scores tend to already be abnormally high as it is.

 

I've done it multiple times too which, unfortunately, has been met with a mixed reception at times.

 

Okay, it's about time I say a couple of words about the tracks that we are not rating this round.

First up is "THX A LOT", a collaboration produced by Komuro Tetsuya and sung by "a-nation's party", consisting of avex trax artists, more specifically: TRF, hitomi, Every Little Thing, Hamasaki Ayumi, Do As Infinity, Otsuka Ai, Suzuki Ami, AAA, GIRL NEXT DOOR, ICONIQ and, of course, Kumi. I decided to exclude the track, because Kumi basically sings two lines here.

​

The rest of the excluded tracks are the remaining cover songs from "ETERNITY ~Love & Songs~" and "Color The Cover" respectively. The Japanese generally love covering each others' songs, you know, the whole karaoke thing. Besides that, the act of covering the song is considered a sign of respect that pays homage to the artist that is being covered, so when the "cover boom" of early 2010s happened among the Japanese singers, we got a tonne of identical cover versions with the only difference being the voice that sung them. When it came to Kumi, she decided to spice things up and changed the arrangements for most of the tracks. The move not only breathed a new life into the classics, but brought a bit of a modern Kumi flavor to the table as well. In the end, both of the albums feel like a passion project on Kuu's part, as I imagine her remembering all the songs she has ever loved since her childhood and going into the studio with them. I might be reaching here, still I do feel the love and respect towards these songs in her voice.

I had to exclude these tracks due to this part already running 70+ tracks and them being what they are - covers. Still, considering how well some of them were met by the fans, I decided to leave the most prominent songs in. Below you will find Spotify playlists with Kumi's versions and YouTube playlists with the originals, if you would like to check those out. I, of course, love everything that Kumi has ever done, so her takes are pretty good to me, especially those on "Color The Cover".

TATTOO (original: Nakamori Akina)
Love Is Over (ラブ・イズ・オーヴァー) (original: Ou Yang Fei Fei)
SWEET MEMORIES (original: Matsuda Seiko)
Chiisa na Koi no Uta (小さな恋のうた; A Song of Small Love) (original: MONGOL800)
Wine Red no Kokoro (ワインレッドの心; Red Wine Heart) (original: Anzen Chitai)
I love you, SAYONARA (original: THE CHECKERS)
Swallowtail Butterfly ~Ai no Uta~ (あいのうた; Love Song) (original: YEN TOWN BAND)
Sayonara no Mukougawa (さよならの向こう側; The Other Side of Goodbye) (original: Yamaguchi Momoe)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2UiN6V6m19BLh3Nnr1xrCS

One more time, One more chance (original: Yamazaki Masayoshi)
Blue Velvet (original: Kudo Shizuka)
"Otoko" (男; Man) (original: Kubo Ruriko)
Dou ni mo Tomaranai (どうにもとまらない; There's No Way I'll Stop) (original: Yamamoto Linda)
Koyoi no Tsuki no You ni (今宵の月のように; Like Tonight's Moon) (original: Elephant Kashimashi)
Uta wa Waga Inochi (歌は我が命; The Songs Are My Life) (original: Misora Hibari)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2eOz56a5feIvjPJRRKwYxg

Dddd, of course the playlist won't embed properly.​

 

Hi, hello, how are ya?


This is a two weeks reminder.
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This is a two weeks reminder.
Please vote.

@Empty Shoebox
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The deadline is
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Who else should I tag, guys? Anyone I missed? @31entrance, @Zar-Unity?

 

I almost forgot that I also wanted to include a playlist of the interludes and "Let's show tonight", so that you could more realistically cast your vote in the poll at the top of the thread.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/52ayUHj1GR5XzDGAvTnBHS

And lastly, just in case, I wanted to remind you that there is a solo version of "V.I.P." and a single version of "You are not alone", that is quite different to the album one. In hindsight we probably should have scored the latter track's versions separately... Anyway, vote for the version you like the best.

 

Oop I hadn't realised this had started. Thanks for remembering me <3.

 

Pretty much done.

Just finalising and should be with you ~At The Weekend~.

And then I can catch up with the eliminations I've not seen in the Namie thread ~Finally~.

 

Always♥

YAY!

 

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Hi, hello, how are ya?
It's been a week and I haven't received a single ballot.


This is a one week reminder.
Please vote.

@Empty Shoebox
@Eskiath
@yuuurei
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@abael

The deadline is
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