Koda Kumi(倖田來未) - DNA Album Thoughts(J-pop)

CD Tracklist

1. Introduction ~My music is designed from my DNA~
2. HUSH
3. Dangerous
4. WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~
5. ScREaM
6. CHANCES ALL
7. 会えなくなるくらいなら
8. HAIRCUT
9. Guess Who Is Back
10. HOT HOT
11. 心からi love u; Sincerely i love u
12. Work That
13. PIN DROP

    Our ero-kakkoi styled singer Koda Kumi is back with her sixteenth album titled DNA. It's only been a couple of months since her last album AND. This newest music effort by the popular songstress screams an artists that is in artistry limbo. She's actually been quietly screaming this for quite a while but no other release has her showcase her running around like a chicken about to be beheaded quite like this album. I'm a hopeful fan of Kumi since her music used to light up my life during my earlier days when the label actually knew what they wanted to do with her. Let's just face the facts, Koda Kumi is shook as hell right now. After those disappointing sales of her last album AND where at the album's release, it only hit number six, ending her number one album streak. Who's bright idea was it to have her release an album that's in the format of a damn concert dvd anyway?! I wasn't feeling this release and neither was half of her fanbase thus was why that album only made it to the number six spot on the Oricon charts then fell to the forty fourth spot a week later. She made the same mistake as Ayumi Hamasaki and Japan is not forgiving when you make the wrong release choices. The Japanese public will throw you away while moving on to another fresh new female artist real quick. DNA's tracklist can ultimately be described as played out to the max. What I will state though is that through all the desperate attempts at trying to stay relevant in a new age of Japanese music, Koda at least has some tracks that remind listeners why she was so great back in the early 2000s. Haircut is the best song she has release in a LONG time that actually gives the same special female empowered energy that classics like Taboo radiated. Her producers have been playing with this pop electronica sound that was a success in Haircut.  Those tired rap lines even work out in the song solely thanks to her attitude and the song being meant for her vocals. Hush was another song that could have been an extra on an album back when Koda was that bad bitch. Hot Hot has her seducing the man she is lusting after in it's provocative lyrics(hope it's her husband..). I love how sexy she sounds on this track that clearly brings out the trait that made her so shockingly popular prior. Guess Who's Back is a throw back to her experimenting with rock music similar to her other albums minus the hip hop influence. This track and Pin Drop sound a bit mess on volume levels at the bridge before the chorus that it leads to. I still like both tracks based on them being catchy, Especially Work That and Pin Drop, for that booty shaking vibe that the music has. I don't have much to say about the recycled use of ballads. All of them sound the same from each album. Once upon a time, she had good ballads but that time is long gone. Sincerely I Love U sounded better to me vocally though. Most of the songs I didn't mention means that I skipped these tracks a few minutes into listening to them. She's married with a child so the sexy look isn't helping her sell CDs like the image used to. Meanwhile, her label is running out of idea to reinvent her. The situation isn't looking to good for Koda Kumi. DNA sold slightly better than AND but It's just that her privileges to laugh at Ayumi Hamasaki for struggling to get the top spot on the charts again or "queen" status has been revoked. Welcome to the club of "never getting another number one spot," Miss Kumi. You and Ayumi can cry together in a dark corner while Namie Amuro takes her big fat check from all them final album sales to the bank and while Utada Hikaru loses no sleep at night. 

     I'm not a huge fan of Koda Kumi rapping. If the track is good then I don't mind her trying to rap. The whole production of Koda's music is just the same tired old gimmick that's not even as good as her old music. I hope revamps happen inside her future releases. Keeping songs that are good and fit her musically don't count. 

   AND has a few good tracks that recycle her past greatness. I miss the Koda Kumi that always had good material being released where there was no room to doubt her music. At one time, she was really on top of her game. Now, not so much…...