Xenobia Reviews: W FACE ~outside~ / Koda Kumi
XENOBIA REVIEWS!!!
Title: W FACE ~outside~
Artist: Koda Kumi
Released: 2017.03.08
Genre: R&B/Hip-Hop
W FACE ~outside~ is the album that contains predominately dance and hip-hop tracks. It outranked W FACE ~inside~, so let's talk about why!
The album opens with W FACE, which is a hip-hop/pop track. The way it starts, you think the entire song would be dubstep, but after the intro, Kuu utilizes her softer vocals, basically giving you exactly what the two “W FACE” albums represent. Next up is everyone’s favorite: Ultraviolet. There’s a reason this is most peoples’ favorite track. It’s a great clubbing track and it wouldn’t be out of place on her Bon Voyage album. Kumi’s vocals with the backtrack is upbeat and fun and would will have you wanting to dance.
Okay. Let’s talk about Insane. I’ll get this out of the way: Kuu raps. I was one of those who honestly thought Bling Bling Bling (TRICK) was a joke before I saw it was actually a track on the album. That being said, Kuu doesn’t exactly have a great history with rapping. There’s a reason. She’s not a rapper. The way she starts this song vocally, it sounds like it’s going to be cheesy and not that great. But after having listened to the preview, I knew that I would enjoy the chorus. After the first verse, the song does get better. The chorus is awesome and Kuu stops doing the screechy rapping in the second verse. That and I do love the bridge: “One-by-one, they all fall down - one-by-one, they hit the ground.” If you’re like me and are turned off by the intro, keep going. It’s worth listening to.
Up next is Damn real. The way this song opened, I immediately thought of JYJ’s Jaejoong. He has similar sounding songs on his WWW album and JYJ have like songs on their Just Us album. To put it simply: I love this song. Kuu’s vocals are smooth, the music is beautiful and addicting. This is a perfect song in every sense.
Now for the only “meh” song: Heartless. The song isn’t bad by any means, but it doesn’t stand out at all. It’s boring and there’s nothing memorable. Moving on to another awesome track, Bassline. This is also a track that gets a music video, which is fairly dull, but the song is still really good. I found myself mixing up this one and Damn real because they both sound so good.
Shhh! is on the album and I am so happy! I have been listening to this song nonstop since it came out damn near a year ago! I was really wishing for it to get a music video or at least have the live from her Live Tour 2016 Best Single Collection, but hey. I’ll settle with just continuing to listen to this song on repeat for the rest of my life. Then is Bangerang, which is another track that I’m in love with. This sounds like something from her Black Cherry (2006) era and that is not a bad thing! Quite the opposite, really. The chorus is catchy and I find myself singing it constantly at work.
After is Wicked Girls, which was another track that was pretty hyped up from the previews. But I have a huge grip with this TRICK-sounding track…. IT’S TOO BLOODY SHORT! I need this song to be an hour long! And yes, it’s very carnival sounding and sounds like it was pulled off of TRICK (2009), which still has some of my favorite Koda Kumi songs. The final song is Cupcake, which features rapper AKLO. I live under a rock and have no idea who AKLO is, but I do like his voice. He doesn’t have that smooth rapping voice that I’m usually preferable to when it comes to Japanese rappers (there’s a reason KM-MARKIT is my favorite rapper in Japan), but I still like him. This song sounds very K-Pop, though. Honestly, I immediately thought of Taeyang when I heard this song, just without the “holier than thou” attitude, so at least that was nice.
Overall, this album is a perfect 10/10 for any Koda Kumi fan and there’s a reason it’s #1 on Oricon!
Title: W FACE ~outside~
Artist: Koda Kumi
Released: 2017.03.08
Genre: R&B/Hip-Hop
W FACE ~outside~ is the album that contains predominately dance and hip-hop tracks. It outranked W FACE ~inside~, so let's talk about why!
The album opens with W FACE, which is a hip-hop/pop track. The way it starts, you think the entire song would be dubstep, but after the intro, Kuu utilizes her softer vocals, basically giving you exactly what the two “W FACE” albums represent. Next up is everyone’s favorite: Ultraviolet. There’s a reason this is most peoples’ favorite track. It’s a great clubbing track and it wouldn’t be out of place on her Bon Voyage album. Kumi’s vocals with the backtrack is upbeat and fun and would will have you wanting to dance.
Okay. Let’s talk about Insane. I’ll get this out of the way: Kuu raps. I was one of those who honestly thought Bling Bling Bling (TRICK) was a joke before I saw it was actually a track on the album. That being said, Kuu doesn’t exactly have a great history with rapping. There’s a reason. She’s not a rapper. The way she starts this song vocally, it sounds like it’s going to be cheesy and not that great. But after having listened to the preview, I knew that I would enjoy the chorus. After the first verse, the song does get better. The chorus is awesome and Kuu stops doing the screechy rapping in the second verse. That and I do love the bridge: “One-by-one, they all fall down - one-by-one, they hit the ground.” If you’re like me and are turned off by the intro, keep going. It’s worth listening to.
Up next is Damn real. The way this song opened, I immediately thought of JYJ’s Jaejoong. He has similar sounding songs on his WWW album and JYJ have like songs on their Just Us album. To put it simply: I love this song. Kuu’s vocals are smooth, the music is beautiful and addicting. This is a perfect song in every sense.
Now for the only “meh” song: Heartless. The song isn’t bad by any means, but it doesn’t stand out at all. It’s boring and there’s nothing memorable. Moving on to another awesome track, Bassline. This is also a track that gets a music video, which is fairly dull, but the song is still really good. I found myself mixing up this one and Damn real because they both sound so good.
Shhh! is on the album and I am so happy! I have been listening to this song nonstop since it came out damn near a year ago! I was really wishing for it to get a music video or at least have the live from her Live Tour 2016 Best Single Collection, but hey. I’ll settle with just continuing to listen to this song on repeat for the rest of my life. Then is Bangerang, which is another track that I’m in love with. This sounds like something from her Black Cherry (2006) era and that is not a bad thing! Quite the opposite, really. The chorus is catchy and I find myself singing it constantly at work.
After is Wicked Girls, which was another track that was pretty hyped up from the previews. But I have a huge grip with this TRICK-sounding track…. IT’S TOO BLOODY SHORT! I need this song to be an hour long! And yes, it’s very carnival sounding and sounds like it was pulled off of TRICK (2009), which still has some of my favorite Koda Kumi songs. The final song is Cupcake, which features rapper AKLO. I live under a rock and have no idea who AKLO is, but I do like his voice. He doesn’t have that smooth rapping voice that I’m usually preferable to when it comes to Japanese rappers (there’s a reason KM-MARKIT is my favorite rapper in Japan), but I still like him. This song sounds very K-Pop, though. Honestly, I immediately thought of Taeyang when I heard this song, just without the “holier than thou” attitude, so at least that was nice.
Overall, this album is a perfect 10/10 for any Koda Kumi fan and there’s a reason it’s #1 on Oricon!