Koda Kumi was first inspired by her mother, who is a koto player (a koto is a traditional Japanese instrument that well-educated young women normally practice) as well as a singer at social gatherings in Japan. At a young age, Koda Kumi wanted to follow the example of her mother and become a singer and later started trying out in auditions at the age of seven.
When she was still attending high school, she had auditioned alongside Maki Goto for the 3rd generation group known as Morning Musume, but she was not selected. Later, she was picked up at the Avex Dream 2000 audition held by Avex Trax and was then assigned to the Avex sublabel known as Rhythm Zone, singing before an audience of 130,000 people. Afterward, however, she recorded and re-wrote endlessly without a definite release date.
At long last, the young Koda Kumi made her debut in the musical world on December 6, 2000, with her first single titled TAKE BACK. Unfortunately, the single had poor sales and failed to chart in Japan, and she became depressed at this failed attempt to make a mark in the music world. Even though her single hit #18 on the Billboard Hot Dance Maxi-Singles Music Charts, she was more focused on the local charts and did not count this international success. (Billboard is an American magazine devoted to the music industry; it charts American as well as international music hits.) Similarly, the following single Trust your love reached the #39 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Charts and 1st place on Billboard's Hot Dance Maxi-Singles Music Charts, but again she was disappointed in not placing on the local charts. Two more singles followed, but there weren't any follow ups even in the US. Koda Kumi was devastated.
In a discussion about this stage of her career, she had told an Avex reporter that she did not care about what kinds of songs she sang. Rather, she focused entirely on singing and did not care about the different methods to express her feelings or experiences. She felt that her fifth single, love across the ocean, was a masterpiece; while it hit #19 on the Oricon, the reality of her many failures hit her hard.
At last, she released real Emotion/1000 no kotoba, which were used as theme songs for the popular video game "Final Fantasy X-2". These were the songs that saved her career--the single hit #3 on the Oricon chart. She claimed that this release changed her life because she noticed how people around her changed because of the feelings expressed in the songs. She began to change her attitude toward music as well as the way that she presented herself in the music world. She began to discuss the music that she now wanted to do with sound producers and arrangers; she listened to more and more different kinds of music, deciding that she wanted to try more R&B and hip-hop tastes in the upcoming releases. For the first time, she wanted to do a live tour. While she was working on her feel my mind album, she was also asked to do a theme song for the anime "Cutey Honey".
She achieved the success that she was looking for in her 13th single, kiseki, which was a huge hit even locally in Japan. She began to realize the importance of listening to fans' feedback, discovering that many fans didn't care if the songs had important or complicated meanings. Rather, the feedback from many fans was for her to keep it simple and straightforward. Her fourth album, secret, was released in February 2005 and placed 3rd on the Oricon Top 200 Charts.
Finally, aside from music, Koda Kumi is also a model for Christian Dior in Japan. She was also the motion capture for the cinematic dance sequence in the beginning of "Final Fantasy X-2" (based on her actual original dance choreography), where she also did the Japanese voice acting for the character named "Ren" (or Lenne, in English).
The talent from Koda Kumi's mother was not uniquely passed to her at an impressionable age; her sister, who is younger by two years, misono was similarly a primary singer in the Japanese group day after tomorrow (also produced by Avex Trax) but now is a solo artist.
Her career began to take off with the release of BEST ~first things~. It could be considered Kumi's breakthrough album. It is her first single collection, sold nearly 2 million copies, and remained on the charts for a good four months. It became the highest selling female album of 2005 and reached #17 on the top albums of 2006.
Cherry Girl / Unmei and the follow up fifth studio album, Black Cherry, were both released in December 2006 and sold very well. Oricon reports that Black Cherry is the first female studio album to stay at number one for four weeks in four years, selling 802,000 copies. The last female studio album to have done that was Hamasaki Ayumi's 2000 album, Duty.
She recently released a third compilation album, BEST ~BOUNCE & LOVERS~. It charted at #2 on both the Oricon daily and weekly charts with first week sales of 161,458 copies. This is a big significant difference of first week sales, compared to Koda Kumi's last two BEST albums, BEST ~first things~ and BEST ~second session~, which each sold about 558,916 and 983,359 copies in their first weeks, repectively.
On July 7th, 2007, Koda played at Makuhari Messe, Tokyo, one of Japan's Live Earth concert venues.
Koda Kumi is a female J-pop and R&B solo singer. Her first massive success came from the release of real Emotion/1000 no kotoba, theme songs for the popular Square Enix video game "Final Fantasy X-2". Although her early career hit her with many disappointments, that release became the turning point that changed her life; the emergence of new determination to express her own opinions and thoughts in her music. Now, she challenges herself to write music that she cares about and loves, and she reflects this in her attitude and consciousness of presentation.
Many of her songs have been used as themes in a variety of motion pictures, TV series, and video games.
