1) INTRODUCTION 2) Get Up & Move !! 3) Ningyo-hime (Mermaid Princess) 4) Yume no Uta (Dream Song) 5) Tsuki to Taiyou (The Moon and the Sun) 6) Puppy 7) Koi no Tsubomi (Bud of Love) 8) WON'T BE LONG ~Black Cherry Version~ 9) JUICY 10) Candle Light 11) Cherry Girl 12) I'll be there 13) Unmei (Fate) 14) With your smile 15) Milk Tea 16) Twinkle (First Press Bonus Track) 17) GO WAY !! (First Press Bonus Track) 18) WON'T BE LONG ~Red Cherry Version~ (First Press Bonus Track)
I downloaded & then bought a copy of Koda Kumi's 5th album Black Cherry . Just like Namie Amuro & Ayumi Hamasaki , Koda's also under Avex Trax so Warner Music distributes & produces only the CD + DVD version of Black Cherry locally .
I saw the CD only version of Black Cherry in HMV as it was directly imported from Japan . It wasn't cheap , it cost a staggering S$48 !! While the locally produced CD + DVD of Black Cherry costs a modest S$21++ , pretty worth it especially since you're paying for a DVD alongside with the CD .
Just like Namie Amuro , I'm not familiar with Koda's older material . I only chanced upon Koda's music when I 1st heard a few tracks that were uploaded in various different sites in MySpace & also saw a few of her music videos on MTV Asia , such as Cherry Girl , I'll be there , Get Up & Move !! .
I almost didn't want to give her Black Cherry album a shot but I decided to give it a go as I see no harm in it & I have to say the album's amazing .
A generous 18 tracks's found in Black Cherry & despite worrying that each song will tend to sound the same , my fears were unfounded when I gave Black Cherry a listen . It's a really good record & all the songs are awesome .
You get a mixture of R&B uptempo no.s & ballads in the mix . & aside from the tracks that I have heard before prior to before I download the whole album , there's only 1 Rock track in Black Cherry , that's track 3 Ningyo-hime(Mermaid Princess) . That song's kick ass & it's found in her 4 hot wave single , a single consisting of 4 A sides . The other 3 songs in 4 hot wave are JUICY , With your smile & I'll be there .
I like her uptempo tracks such as Puppy , GO WAY !! & Koi no Tsubomi (Bud of Love) . The video of Koi no Tsubomi's really cute , you should go & watch it on youtube .
That's not to say that her ballads are not good . In fact I enjoy them too . Tracks such as Unmei (Fate) , Candle Light , Tsuki to Taiyou (The Moon and the Sun) are very nice & soothing . I also like Yume no Uta (Dream Song) as well & I feel Yume no Uta's 1 of Koda's best ballads/singles that she has done to date .
Strangely enough , the double A side single which accompanies Yume no Uta , that's Futari de ... (2 of us ... ) is excluded from Black Cherry . I'm not sure why Koda didn't include Futari de... in but she should have .
I like both Yume no Uta & Futari de ... . The unusual thing about both songs is that the same melody was being used . The arrangements differ , as well as the lyrics and vocals - Yume no Uta is sadder and more of a power ballad, while Futari de ... is quieter and a bit happier - but the melody is shared between songs . This was done because the single is set as a two-story ballad , with each song representing different sides and outcomes of the same love story .
The videos of both songs are almost the same with the exception of the outfits that Koda wears & also what happened in the latter 1/2 for both videos . The ending of Yume no Uta's sad man .
Not only that , you also get 2 remixes of a cover of Da Bubblegum Brothers's WON'T BE LONG . Koda did a duet of the song with EXILE but in Black Cherry , both remixes of WON'T BE LONG are entirely sung by her .
Between the 2 remixes , I like the ~Red Cherry Version~ better as I think it sounds almost like what she did with EXILE except it's just her singing on the song . Also her 1st composition Milk Tea's included in Black Cherry too . It's a nice one but I feel that she should have make the track a bit longer as 2:35 mins of Milk Tea's a bit too short for my liking .
If you're wondering where's the Eng duet called Twinkle that she did with Show Luo , you wouldn't find it in Black Cherry . Instead you only can find the music video of Twinkle in the DVD which accompanies the Black Cherry CD .
On the Black Cherry CD , there's still Twinkle yes but it's just Koda singing alone in the song which I feel it's better than what she did with Show .
Still on whole , I really like the whole album . It has been a while since I last enjoyed a record in which there're no fillers & stinkers to begin with which of course at this age in the music business , it can be considered a rarity & the album deserved to earn its stripes of being the 2nd top selling album of 2006 in Japan & not to mention holding onto the No.1 spot in the Oricon album chart for 4weeks's further proof as to why Black Cherry's top notch !
Blog Personnel
Karen Pang
# 10th Jan
# #1 BREAKERZ fan in Singapore since 2008 debut single ♥
# My music blog consists of JPop/Rock singles & albums reviews that I put my heart , efforts & soul into writing them as I'm disgusted with the way that JPop/Rock music is being treated/written/reviewed in Singapore so to the local media (yes you TEENS , Teenage Magazine & The Strait Times) , screw you all . I basically can write better JPop/Rock reviews , period
