A translation an older Kuu interview. It’s during from the ｢But／愛証｣ & ｢Best ~Bounce & Lovers~｣ era.
WOOFIN ’07 May
WOOFIN ’07 May
Q: Your new single ｢But／愛証｣ has both a movie and a drama tie-in. Did you make the songs after reading and seeing the original works?
“Yes. I wrote ｢But｣ after seeing the movie ｢Step Up｣ and ｢愛証｣ after reading the novel ｢Ai no Ryuukeichi｣. I made ｢But｣ with the wish that people, who can’t take a certain step forward, would get the courage to take that step after hearing my song. Actually, the underlying theme in ｢But｣ is homosexual love. Because love is a wonderful thing, I want to include that feeling even if a guy likes a guy or a girl likes a girl. ｢愛証｣ is the ultimate love song. ｢Ai no Ryuukeichi｣ is a story about a woman who loves a man too much and wants to be killed by him, and a man who complies with her wish. When I read it, I thought this was honestly an absolute love. Actually, I think it would awful to no longer be able to meet the one you love if you were to kill that person (laughs), but at such an extreme time I think I would think, “love never dies”, so I included that in my lyrics. When I recorded the song, it seemed the two guitars intertwined; I wanted such a fascinating feeling to be conveyed.”
Q: Your new best album ｢Best ~Bounce & Lovers~｣, featuring a dance DVD and ballads CD, has also just been released.
“Actually, there was already a concept for a dance DVD. Since my 2005 single ｢Hot Stuff｣, we started recording a normal version and a dance version, which omitted certain parts. Because during ｢Selfish｣ and ｢Crazy 4 U｣ the fans said, “we want to see more dancing!”, from that time I kept thinking how I wanted to release my videos like that someday. In contrast to this, when a poll among my fan club was held to see which songs they’d want me to sing live, the ballads ranked the highest. I’ve released a lot of up-tempo songs, but because I originally love ballads, I was very happy when I noticed this. That’s why the CD deliberately has ballads on it and the DVD is packed with exciting dance videos. I wanted to show these two aspects of Koda Kumi.”
Q: Are you inspired by Japanese and overseas dancers?
“Yes, very! Because I continuously want to receive new stimuli, I often watch overseas live DVD’s. Recently, I went to a very expressive live together with my dancers. It was very inspiring.”
Q: You’ve also released the DVD ｢KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2006~2007~second session~｣, which was held all over the country with 45 performances in 36 venues, gathering 100.000 people.
“Because I was very particular about my presence this time, the editing took three times longer than the last time. The MC was too long so it unfortunately had to be cut (laughs), the rest had to be edited because it was so full. Please watch my acrobatics while using a silken cloth.”
Q: What kind of music have you been listening to lately?
“The soundtrack of ｢Dream Girls｣, Lupe Fiasco’s ｢Food & Liquor｣ and Ludacris feat. Mary J. Blige ｢Runaway Love｣. I’m also listening to a lot of HIP HOP.”
Q: Please leave a message for the male readers of WOOFIN’!
“Please make a girl feel happy! Because men hold a magic to make a girl beautiful. By putting such a spell on a girl, please let her discover her true self!”
“Yes. I wrote ｢But｣ after seeing the movie ｢Step Up｣ and ｢愛証｣ after reading the novel ｢Ai no Ryuukeichi｣. I made ｢But｣ with the wish that people, who can’t take a certain step forward, would get the courage to take that step after hearing my song. Actually, the underlying theme in ｢But｣ is homosexual love. Because love is a wonderful thing, I want to include that feeling even if a guy likes a guy or a girl likes a girl. ｢愛証｣ is the ultimate love song. ｢Ai no Ryuukeichi｣ is a story about a woman who loves a man too much and wants to be killed by him, and a man who complies with her wish. When I read it, I thought this was honestly an absolute love. Actually, I think it would awful to no longer be able to meet the one you love if you were to kill that person (laughs), but at such an extreme time I think I would think, “love never dies”, so I included that in my lyrics. When I recorded the song, it seemed the two guitars intertwined; I wanted such a fascinating feeling to be conveyed.”
Q: Your new best album ｢Best ~Bounce & Lovers~｣, featuring a dance DVD and ballads CD, has also just been released.
“Actually, there was already a concept for a dance DVD. Since my 2005 single ｢Hot Stuff｣, we started recording a normal version and a dance version, which omitted certain parts. Because during ｢Selfish｣ and ｢Crazy 4 U｣ the fans said, “we want to see more dancing!”, from that time I kept thinking how I wanted to release my videos like that someday. In contrast to this, when a poll among my fan club was held to see which songs they’d want me to sing live, the ballads ranked the highest. I’ve released a lot of up-tempo songs, but because I originally love ballads, I was very happy when I noticed this. That’s why the CD deliberately has ballads on it and the DVD is packed with exciting dance videos. I wanted to show these two aspects of Koda Kumi.”
Q: Are you inspired by Japanese and overseas dancers?
“Yes, very! Because I continuously want to receive new stimuli, I often watch overseas live DVD’s. Recently, I went to a very expressive live together with my dancers. It was very inspiring.”
Q: You’ve also released the DVD ｢KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2006~2007~second session~｣, which was held all over the country with 45 performances in 36 venues, gathering 100.000 people.
“Because I was very particular about my presence this time, the editing took three times longer than the last time. The MC was too long so it unfortunately had to be cut (laughs), the rest had to be edited because it was so full. Please watch my acrobatics while using a silken cloth.”
Q: What kind of music have you been listening to lately?
“The soundtrack of ｢Dream Girls｣, Lupe Fiasco’s ｢Food & Liquor｣ and Ludacris feat. Mary J. Blige ｢Runaway Love｣. I’m also listening to a lot of HIP HOP.”
Q: Please leave a message for the male readers of WOOFIN’!
“Please make a girl feel happy! Because men hold a magic to make a girl beautiful. By putting such a spell on a girl, please let her discover her true self!”
Current Music: "TABOO" by 幸田來未
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