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Kumi posing as Lenne in her second album “grow into one”

Artist: Koda Kumi Product Code: RZCD-45080 Release Date: 2003.03.05 Debut Ranking: #6 First Press: Limited Sleeves Label: avex trax

Up till 2003, Koda Kumi was a “nobody” in the music scene. Most of her singles struggled to chart and she had only released one unpopular album. Koda Kumi was poorly promoted, didn’t bother about the creative aspect of music and was considered as overweight by Japanese strandards. Consequently Kumi resigned herself to remaining an underground singer and barely cared about what avex told her to release. Her record label had no confidence in her and Kumi knew that her career was doomed. However, Square Enix, noticed Kumi’s vocal potential and collaborated with avex to release a single for Final Fantasy X-2.

For those who are not into the gaming scene, the Final Fantasy series are extremely popular throughout the whole world. The very first game released from this franchise was actually planned to be the last, but it ended up saving the company from bankrupcy. The Final Fantasy franchise led to Square-Enix to become one of the biggest gaming company worldwide and garnered a gigantic fanbase. With each release, the budget grew bigger, the graphics were more techonologically-advanced, the music more elaborate and dramatic, and the plotlines grew more complicated and mysterious. Square-Enix decided that the orchestral compositions were not enough and started searching for musical talents to sing a few songs in their soundtrack collections, which the fans were so keen on getting their hands on. This meant that whoever was lucky enough to be selected was also destined to sell quite well and gather international attention and massive promotion.

After 14 years, the gaming community shows no indication of getting tired of the continual releases of Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy X was another massive success, which ended up the second best-selling Final Fantasy game. Square Enix recognized that releasing a sequel would be extremely profitable and so two years later Final Fantasy X-2 was released. This game was another success worldwide, placing it as the fifth best-selling Final Fantasy title.

“real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba” was a success in Japan. This single peaked at #3 on the Oricon charts and charted for 28 weeks. Overall it sold 282,374 copies and charted as the #24 single of the year. It also became her second highest selling single to date. This was the first commercial success for Koda Kumi, but this was enough to trigger her determination and change her attitude. Apart from singing these two songs for the game, she also performed motion capture for the “real Emotion” opening full motion video in the game and provided the voice of Lenne.

Since Final Fantasy is also extremely popular in the west, an English version was recorded for the western audience. However Square-Enix decided to re-record these songs with an American artist, Jade of Sweetbox because they were not satisfied with Koda’s English pronunciation. However this did not stop Kumi from releasing her English versions in the following single “Come with Me”.

1. real Emotion

Back then when I was completely ignorant of the world of J-Pop and immersed into the world of gaming, I only noticed artists who got tie-ins with games. I found “real Emotion” was extremely catchy and attractive and started researching on Kumi’s career. Koda’s vocals are smoky, aggresive and fit just perfectly for the urban-pop atmosphere.

“real Emotion” was the theme song for this game and is also one of Kumi’s trademark songs. This song was again re-arranged by Square-Enix and called the (FFX-2 mix) to fit the game’s theme. It was only released in “Final Fantasy X-2 Original Soundtrack”. avex also released a remix of this song by DJ MSK. This song was composed by Kazuhiro Hara and the lyrics were written by Ken Kato.

Square-Enix has a knack of discovering artists who have the perfect vocals and genre for their games’ theme. Koda’s vocals are unique compared to the typical squeaky vocals of many artists. Also Koda was one of the few artists who experimented on urban music. I suppose these factors led to Square-Enix to pick up Kumi. When comparing Kumi’s vocals with Jade’s, I must say they are by far superior. Kumi has powerful vocals while Jade sounds extremely uncomfortable and out-of-place in the fast-paced urban atmosphere of this, especially since Jade has mellow vocals.

The promotional video released by avex, featured screens from the game and of Koda Kumi. This promotional video was the beginning of Kumi’s sexy image which would become a major factor for her success. A “behind the scenes” atmosphere is created while Kumi is seen recording and dancing as the motion actress. For this reason the screens flow perfectly with each other where Yuna and Kumi have an identical choreography.

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2. 1000 no Kotoba

“1000 no Kotoba” was used in a cut scene and was a much slower ballad song. It means “A thousand words” and depicts the tragic love story of Lenne and Shuyin. In the game, it was sung by Lenne and Yuna combined in the Songstress Dressphere. The lyrics speak about Lenne’s love which keeps on living through time because of this song she wrote.

The same identical version was released by Square-Enix in the “Final Fantasy X-2 Original Soundtrack”. An orchestral version and a piano version were included in this soundtrack. avex also released a remix version, DJ 19 Remix in the single “Come with Me”. An Alternate Orchestra Version was also released by avex as a bonus track in her album “grow into one”. It was composed and arranged by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi, who were the script writers of the game. The lyrics were written by Kazushige Nojima.

In comparison to Jade’s version, I must say that Kumi’s version is inferior. Jade’s vocals are delicate and heartfelt, while Kumi’s vocals are more rough and are not so emotional. This is the reason why I’m not so fond of this song, because at that stage of her career, mellow ballads were not Kumi’s strong point.

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Conclusion

“real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba” was a definite turning point in Koda’s career. She rediscovered her passion for music and started taking her career more seriously. Her image changed radically and Kumi started being careful about her appearance, especially her weight. She also started getting more involved in the musical aspect of her career and this was the start of gathering a stable fanbase.

Overall this single was clearly a success for Koda Kumi, which led her to take a more personal approach in her music and create a fresh image of herself. Her second album which contained both songs, became a modest success. Despite the fact that this single did not make her an instant star, I feel this single is one of her best displays of her talents. With the professional staff Square-Enix collaborating with avex, this single was a well rounded single with a decent budget invested within it.

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CD Cover

CD Tracklist

1. real Emotion (Original Mix)
2. 1000 no Kotoba (Original Mix)
3. real Emotion (Instrumental)
4. 1000 no Kotoba (Instrumental)

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