My first "Kayo Kyoku Plus" article involving singer-songwriter Kumi Koda（倖田來未）was her and EXILE's cover of Da Bubblegum Brothers' "Won't Be Long" all the way back in 2013, and since then, I have to admit sheepishly that the next articles regarding her were also covers that she did of original songs. Bad, J-Canuck, bad!😖
Well, that ends today. This is due to a recent appearance by Koda on "Uta Con"（うたコン）where she performed one of her ballads "Ai no Uta" (Love Song). A lovely soulful number, this was written and composed by her and Kousuke Morimoto as Koda's 37th single released in September 2007, and I think that it's lovely because it's just a simple song about a woman in love that needs no extra flourishes such as an epic chorus or heavy instrumentation.
From J-Wiki, Koda got the idea for the lyrics behind "Ai no Uta" when she and her female friend decided to go on a road trip and ended up going for a dip at a hot spring in Yuugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture. The basic image for the ballad had been formed while the two of them were chatting away en route in the car. There's nothing like a short vacation to relax and/or energize the mind, and in Koda's case, it must have been a wonderful experience since "Ai no Uta" not only hit No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies, it went Gold, it sold over a million copies, ended up as the 62nd-ranked single of the year, earned Koda her third consecutive Japan Record Award prize, and last but not least, it got her another invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen. The song was also a track on Koda's 6th original album "Kingdom" released in January 2008 which hit No. 1 and became the 13th-ranked album for the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to provide any comments (pro or con). Just be civil about it.