CD Review :: Koda Kumi - Dejavu
CD
CD + 2DVDs
1) Prologue to Dejavu
2) POP DIVA
3) Lollipop
4) Okay
5) Aitakute (I Want To Meet You)
6) Passing By Feat Brandon Howard
7) AT THE WEEKEND
8) Interlude to Dejavu
9) Melting
10) Hey baby !
11) Choi Tashi (A Little Harder And Then) Life
12) Anata Dake ga (Only You)
13) Suki de , Suki de , Suki de. (I Like You , I Like You , I Like You.
14) Bambi
15) I Don't Love You !??
Dejavu is Koda Kumi's 9th album & it was released last week on 2nd March .
3 singles made the cut in Koda's latest album offering , with 2 album tracks that received music videos .
After an Alice In Wonderland inspired like Prologue to Dejavu opening , Koda dives straight to POP DIVA , which's her 49th single & most recent single release .
POP DIVA was used as the commerical theme song for Daiichikosho's LIVE DAM LIVE which Koda can be seen in the ads herself .
Well honestly POP DIVA is not the best electro dance song that Koda has to offer in her discography but still , I will not deny that it's really catchy/memorable .
The chorus in POP DIVA are still gratty to me but no doubt that it's a fun song to crank up a notch or 2 in a party/club .
Lollipop is taken from Koda's 47th single Gossip Candy . 3 songs in the single had music videos included in Gossip Candy . However in Dejavu , Inside Fishbowl & Outside Fishbowl are excluded .
I was honestly surprised when both Inside Fishbowl & Outside Fishbowl have been axed out from Dejavu's tracklist & that goes for the DVD listing of the album as well . I remember I was having somewhat of a love/hate relationship with both songs but seems to me that I can assume Lollipop served as the main promotion track from Gossip Candy .
Anyway , Lollipop is basically ero-kawaii at what Koda does best . It's not as raunchy sounding as other songs in her discography but still it's something worth listening to .
Okay is the 1st album track in Dejavu . I was originally going to review this as a standalone track but I decided not to do that eventually .
But no matter , Okay is in the R&B mid tempo session with autotune thrown in for good measures .
I kind of enjoy Okay but I feel it would have sounded much better if they excluded out this male vocalist's vocals in the background which kind of creep me out somehow .
Aitakute (I Want To Meet You) follows after Okay . Even before hearing Aitakute , I already can sense that it was going to be a ballad & turns out that I wasn't wrong .
Koda's ballads have quite a tendency to sound generic if not standardised/boring but thankfully those traits are not present in Aitakute .
Unlike UNIVERSE's STAY which I find it dreadfully boring , there's just something about Aitakute that I like . I'm not sure what it's but it's probably the emotions that Koda poured into the song which I was drawn into .
Passing By is the 1st album track that gets a music video & in this song , the male vocals is sung by a guy whose name's Brandon Howard & it's the only collaboration track found in Dejavu .
In fact , Brandon is also credited with cowriting Passing By with Koda alongside with co-composing & producing the song which I thought it's pretty impressive for him to do that .
I thought Passing By was going to be another disaster duet but I'm relieved to know that's not the case .
But anyway , I thought Passing By was pretty enjoyable & I feel both Brandon & Koda's vocals compliment each other very well .
Passing By is basically a mid tempo R&B track but I could do with less autotune because too much of it can turn me off .
AT THE WEEKEND is the next album track & I feel this's 1 of the standout songs in Dejavu as it's basically a no frills straightforward sounding upbeat R&B no. .
It's not as upbeat as POP DIVA but still it's enough to get people grooving to AT THE WEEKEND & I just like it when the chorus hit the nail right on the head .
After Interlude to Dejavu , in comes another album track that's called Melting .
Melting was used in the ads of SEIBU which Koda can be seen in the ads herself .
If you like Koda's cutesy happy go lucky songs , then Melting falls into this category & depending on your mood , Melting is 1 of those songs that you might skip or not .
For me , I'm 1 of the rare few that doesn't mind listening to Koda's cutesy songs even though I do admit I only do that only if I'm in a fitting mood .
Hey baby ! follows after Melting & for this , Hey baby ! was used as the theme song for the anime Crayon Shin-Chan .
I already know about this song for quite sometime now & I was really happy that it has finally seen the daylight in Dejavu because it's a really catchy pow wow song .
Despite the fact that Hey baby ! is the shortest track in Dejavu , the song packs a lot of punches with its in your face & fast paced tune which makes Hey baby ! very memorable to remember .
Choi Tashi (A Little Harder And Then) Life is track #11 & just like Melting , Choi Tashi Life is in the cutesty music vein .
Unlike Melting , Choi Tashi Life is somewhat a bit more mature sounding with its carefree sounding vibes .
Anata Dake ga (Only You) is the 2nd A-side of Koda's 48th single Suki de , Suki de , Suki de. / Anata Dake ga & the 1st A-side Suki de , Suki de , Suki de. (I Like You , I Like You , I Like You.) follows after Anata Dake ga .
Personally , I think both Suki de , Suki de , Suki de. & Anata Dake ga are some of the strongest single ballads that Koda has released in recent times & I wasn't surprised that both songs are slotted between each other in Dejavu .
Whether it's Suki de , Suki de , Suki de. or Anata Dake ga , both ballads are still fantastic in their own respective right .
Bambi is the 2nd last album track & it's also the other album track to get a music video after Passing By .
This song follows in the same music vein as Melting & Choi Tashi Life .
Bambi is really cute & enduring . I wasn't expecting that I enjoy listening to Bambi & after watching the video , I can't help but appericate this side of Koda .
Last but not least , I Don't Love You !?? wraps up Dejavu as the final song in the tracklist .
I honestly have no idea what to also expect from I Don't Love You !?? but it's an easy listening upbeat R&B song . It's memorable no doubt about it & quite fitting to conclude Dejavu .
Koda Kumi's 1 of my fave female artistes & I'm real pleased to say that I enjoy Dejavu a lot more than her previous album UNIVERSE which I find the album tracks very rushed if not poor cousins of other songs found in her discography .
I suppose the reason as to why I feel Dejavu is much better than UNIVERSE is because in her latest album offering , Dejavu's sound consistency is there from the beginning to the end & it's being mapped out very systematically .
Album tracks wise , they're much stronger than UNIVERSE as I feel Koda didn't try too hard to experiment/change her music style direction which was quite a big setback that UNIVERSE had .
My only grouse for Dejavu was that I could make do with less cutesy songs since 3 was a bit too much for me to handle . I would have prefer if 1 of them is being replaced by a power ballad since Aitakute & Passing By are enjoyable to listen .
With that said , Koda's next single will be her 50th release overall & I'm not sure what's going to happen but I hope it will be something grand/big she will unveal .
At the meantime , Dejavu is not going to leave my stereo anytime soon .
