The ballad single “suki de, suki de, suki de / anata dake ga” was released on 22 September. The single’s theme is ‘love’. The phrase ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’ is very striking and lingers inside your mind when you hear it. It resounds in your heart together with her heartbreaking voice. The jacket photos were shot while this song played in the studio.
Everyone has an unforgettable love once in their life.
The song ‘anata dake ga’ was written for the NHK drama Second Virgin. “The drama is a story about an illicit love. The lyrics ‘I love you, but we have to break up’ were born out of this story.” You love him, but being by his side will only hurt him… The lyrics talk about the heartbreak of a woman who agrees to break up with her lover because she loves him. “The kinder your partner becomes, the more greedy you become. And then you suddenly realize that you’ve lost the person you love… At that moment you realize the mistakes you’ve made for the first time. But it’s already too late. I’ll be happy if this song makes people realize their partner’s kindness and value.”
This single featured only ballads and aims to move people emotionally. The reason for this is because Kuu-chan wants to sing songs that people can identify with. “When you want to get pumped up or get energetic… music can make us feel even happier when we’re having fun. But music touches us the most when we’re sad or heartbroken… when we’re crying. I hope people will identify themselves with my songs when they listen to them. Furthermore, I don’t want people just to listen to them, but to also hum these songs by themselves and turn them into their ‘own’ songs. That’s why I made ‘suki de, suki de, suki de’ into a pop song that’s easy to sing along to. R&B ballads are also beautiful and are able to sway your heart, but I think that pop songs truly pierce the hearts of Japanese people. You feel R&B with your ‘body’, but you feel pop songs with your ‘heart’.”
The emotional song ‘walk’ is also included on this single with a new arrangement. It was the last song included on her first album ‘affection’ and is always sung last during her concerts. She has continued to sing this song ever since her first concert. “At that time the company president told me, ‘Please make a song which you can sing at the end of an concert’. But I was young and didn’t really understand his words. I rewrote the lyrics again and again before I finished them. At first I only sang it while thinking ‘what a nice song’. But year after year this song started to resound stronger inside my heart. What I feel when I sing this song now is completely different from what I felt in the past.” Like the lyrics, Kuu-chan has kept on walking while taking detours, while believing in herself and while making her dreams come true in these 10 years. What touches the current Koda Kumi the most is the phrase: ‘There have been times where I almost gave up... when I stopped because I couldn't see ahead’. “Because, to be honest, I have stopped and almost given up countless times. I still get moved by that phrase when I sing it. It lights various memories like a lantern.” Her fans, important friends, songs and dreams always encouraged her at times when she was about to stop. Koda Kumi will continue to walk and sing… She sings ‘walk’ full of determination in order to never forget her original intentions and in order to push on forward.
And finally, the song ‘suki de, suki de, suki de’ that pierces the heart: “I want people who are unable to love freely to listen to this song. A lot of my female friends are also like that. The more we age, the more afraid of love we become. Knowing that if you love someone truly, it will hurt very much if you ever break up… You need a lot of courage to love someone, right? But if you don’t dive into it, you can’t feel the happiness, fun and even the sadness of love either!! I hope that people who are in love can identify with this song and I hope that people who are afraid of love will remember the times when they loved fearlessly when they listen to this song!”
Everyone has an unforgettable love once in their life.
The song ‘anata dake ga’ was written for the NHK drama Second Virgin. “The drama is a story about an illicit love. The lyrics ‘I love you, but we have to break up’ were born out of this story.” You love him, but being by his side will only hurt him… The lyrics talk about the heartbreak of a woman who agrees to break up with her lover because she loves him. “The kinder your partner becomes, the more greedy you become. And then you suddenly realize that you’ve lost the person you love… At that moment you realize the mistakes you’ve made for the first time. But it’s already too late. I’ll be happy if this song makes people realize their partner’s kindness and value.”
This single featured only ballads and aims to move people emotionally. The reason for this is because Kuu-chan wants to sing songs that people can identify with. “When you want to get pumped up or get energetic… music can make us feel even happier when we’re having fun. But music touches us the most when we’re sad or heartbroken… when we’re crying. I hope people will identify themselves with my songs when they listen to them. Furthermore, I don’t want people just to listen to them, but to also hum these songs by themselves and turn them into their ‘own’ songs. That’s why I made ‘suki de, suki de, suki de’ into a pop song that’s easy to sing along to. R&B ballads are also beautiful and are able to sway your heart, but I think that pop songs truly pierce the hearts of Japanese people. You feel R&B with your ‘body’, but you feel pop songs with your ‘heart’.”
The emotional song ‘walk’ is also included on this single with a new arrangement. It was the last song included on her first album ‘affection’ and is always sung last during her concerts. She has continued to sing this song ever since her first concert. “At that time the company president told me, ‘Please make a song which you can sing at the end of an concert’. But I was young and didn’t really understand his words. I rewrote the lyrics again and again before I finished them. At first I only sang it while thinking ‘what a nice song’. But year after year this song started to resound stronger inside my heart. What I feel when I sing this song now is completely different from what I felt in the past.” Like the lyrics, Kuu-chan has kept on walking while taking detours, while believing in herself and while making her dreams come true in these 10 years. What touches the current Koda Kumi the most is the phrase: ‘There have been times where I almost gave up... when I stopped because I couldn't see ahead’. “Because, to be honest, I have stopped and almost given up countless times. I still get moved by that phrase when I sing it. It lights various memories like a lantern.” Her fans, important friends, songs and dreams always encouraged her at times when she was about to stop. Koda Kumi will continue to walk and sing… She sings ‘walk’ full of determination in order to never forget her original intentions and in order to push on forward.
And finally, the song ‘suki de, suki de, suki de’ that pierces the heart: “I want people who are unable to love freely to listen to this song. A lot of my female friends are also like that. The more we age, the more afraid of love we become. Knowing that if you love someone truly, it will hurt very much if you ever break up… You need a lot of courage to love someone, right? But if you don’t dive into it, you can’t feel the happiness, fun and even the sadness of love either!! I hope that people who are in love can identify with this song and I hope that people who are afraid of love will remember the times when they loved fearlessly when they listen to this song!”
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