''Bon Voyage'' is the eleventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Japanese recording artist

Kumi Koda , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. After debuting with the single "Take Back" in December 2000, Koda gained fame in March 2003 when the songs from her seventh single, "Real Emotion ...

. It was released on February 26, 2014 by

Rhythm Zone (RZN) is a record label in the Avex Group that releases urban contemporary Japanese music. History The label was founded in 1999 by Max Matsuura with a focus on urban music, signing M-Flo as its first artist, then followed by Exile. In 2000, ...

. ''Bon Voyage'' is Koda's first album since her 2012 '' Japonesque'', and her longest album in production since her 2008 studio album ''

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

''. The album's production was handled by several music producers, such as Joseph Lawrence,

Toby Gad Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 28 March 1968) is a Los Angeles-based German music producer/songwriter, best known for co-writing John Legend's biggest hit, " All of Me," the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for co-writing and producin ...

, T-Sk, Mats Lie Skare, Figge Bosstrom, Tommy Henriksen, Badur Haberg, and Clarabell. It also features guest appearances from

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists. Paul's singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...

and OVDS. Five different formats were released to promote the album: a standalone CD, a CD and DVD bundle, a CD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

bundle, a fan package featuring a live DVD, and a digital release in Japan. Upon the album's release, it was met with favourable reviews from music critics. Critics highlight individual songs for their production and composition, and commended the singles. ''Bon Voyage'' became Koda's seventh studio album to reach the top spot on Japan's

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

, but her first album to not ship over 100,000 units in that region. Because of this, it became her first studio album to fail to achieve a certification by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

(RIAJ). Three singles and one EP were released from the album. Koda promoted the album through her 2014 Bon Voyage concert tour.

Development and composition

''Bon Voyage'' is Koda's first album since her 2012 '' Japonesque''. It is also her longest album in production since her 2008 studio album ''

'', both of which spanned a total of two years. For the album, Koda's record label

and its parent company Avex Trax hired several producers, such as Joseph Lawrence,

, T-Sk, Mats Lie Skare, Figge Bosstrom,

Tommy Henriksen Tommy Henriksen (born February 21, 1964) is an American musician from Port Jefferson, New York, best known for his work as a guitarist, bassist and songwriter with Alice Cooper, Hollywood Vampires and German metal band Warlock. He has also fron ...

, Badur Haberg, and Clarabell. Producers such as Henriksen and Bosstrom have collaborated with Koda in the past with her albums ''Kingdom'' and ''

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

'' (2010). ''Bon Voyage'' is Koda's second album to be handled primarily with

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

producers and composers; Koda's first album handled by Western producers was ''Japonesque''. Western producers and composers carried on working with Koda on her next studio album ''

Walk of My Life ''Walk of My Life'' (stylized in all caps) is the twelfth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Koda Kumi. It was released a year after her previous studio album, '' Bon Voyage,'' on March 18, 2015. Continuing her streak of chart-topping a ...

'' (2015). ''Bon Voyage'' is a

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

album with numerous elements of

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

, pop, R&B, electronic dance music, and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

. It is Koda's first album to emphasize full

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

songs; in total, ''Bon Voyage'' features nine English, five

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

(Japanese/English), and two Japanese tracks. Each song from the album is co-written by Koda, including the English, Japanese and interlude tracks. The album includes two interlude tracks; "Introduction: Bon Voyage" and "Interlude: Bon Voyage", both boasting

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

and sirens noises. EDM elements are used in tracks "Show Me Your Holla", "Crank tha Bass" (featuring OVDS), "LOL", "Go to the Top", "Dreaming On", and "U Know". "Loaded", which features Jamaican rapper and musician

, incorporates elements of reggae and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

music, as does the following tracks "Winner Girls" and "On Your Side". Tetsuo Hiraga from '' Hot Shot Discs'' reviewed the singles " Go to the Top" and " Koishikute", and identified musical elements of electronic dance,

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

, and

8-bit music Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The ...

in the former, and a

pop ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...

melody in the latter. Koda's summer EP ''

Summer Trip "Summer Trip" is the fifty-fifth single by singer-songwriter Koda Kumi and is her first summer single in nearly two years. The single was a double a-side and contained one b-side. It debuted at No. 7 on Oricon Daily, losing out to CNBLUE's "lady" ...

'' featured "Lalalalala" and "Touch Down", and Hiraga noted elements of country rock in the former, and R&B in the latter track.

Release and packaging

''Bon Voyage'' was released on February 26, 2014 by

and Avex Taiwan in five different formats. The stand-alone CD featured the sixteen tracks in a cardboard slipcase, with first press editions including a glossy sticker of Koda. The CD and DVD bundle featured the sixteen tracks and a bonus DVD, including the music videos for: "Show Me Your Holla", "LOL", "Dreaming Now!", "Touch Down", "Lalalalala", and "Koishikute". The DVD also included the making videos for "Show Me Your Holla" and "LOL". The CD and

bundle includes the same tracks and videos from the CD and DVD bundle, but features a hologram sticker, one postercard, and a slipcase. A special edition was released on Koda's website, entitled the "Fan Club Edition". This format features the original CD, and a DVD featuring live performances from Koda's Fanclub Live Tour in 2013. The format was housed in an A5-sized

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

. The final format is the digital release, which was released only in Japan. This is Koda's only studio album not to be released worldwide. Visually based on cruise ship members, the five ''Bon Voyage'' cover sleeves feature different images all photographed by Kazuyoshi Shimomura. The CD cardboard sleeve has Koda squatting and holding onto a cruise ship steering wheel; the jewel case has Koda holding a

life buoy A lifebuoy is a life-saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in water, to provide buoyancy and prevent drowning. Some modern lifebuoys are fitted with one or more seawater-activated lights, to aid rescue at night. Other names Other nam ...

. The CD and DVD cardboard sleeve has a close-up shot of Koda wearing a captain's uniform; the jewel case has Koda posing on top of a life buoy. The Blu-ray cardboard sleeve and jewel case has Koda posing with a pair of

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

, while the Fan Club edition has a close-up of Koda sitting down holding a cruise ship steering wheel. The digital release uses the CD and DVD close-up shot. The booklet and photo shoot were designed by members of United Lounge Tokyo, and each booklet from the five format features different images of Koda.

Critical reception

''Bon Voyage'' received favourable reviews from music critics. Japako Music's Kirsty H. gave the album a positive review, saying that it "shows Koda Kumi's experiences perfectly". Kirsty praised Koda's "personal songs" and the album's musical variation. On the album's overall sound, she wrote the following: "The album overall is very good and catchy and clearly shows how mature and experienced Koda Kumi is. All of the songs are catchy and this makes the album all the more fun to listen to”. Jaylee and Zero from GK:AD, a sub-site from JPopJRocks.com, awarded the album a B−, calling the dance tracks gems and praising a majority of the album's ballads. Zero highlighted "Imagine" as the album's best track. However, they both were critical toward the composition of the second half of the album.

Commercial performance

''Bon Voyage'' debuted at number one on both the Japanese Daily and Weekly

, with over 46,000 units sold in its first week. It became Koda's sixth studio album to reach the top spot, but became her lowest first week sales since her debut album ''

Affection Affection or fondness is a "disposition or state of mind or body" that is often associated with a feeling or type of love. It has given rise to a number of branches of philosophy and psychology concerning emotion, disease, influence, and sta ...

'' (2002). It fell to 21 in its second week, shifting over 5,000 units. The album stayed in the top 100 for four weeks, and the overall top 300 for twelve weeks. As of January 2016, ''Bon Voyage'' has sold an estimated 59,499 units, making it her first album to not sell over the 100,000 limit. Because of this, it failed to achieve a certification by the

(RIAJ). It was her lowest selling studio album at the time, until her next album ''Walk Of My Life'' sold less by May 2015 (with 50,000 units). ''Bon Voyage'' reached number five on Japan's Billboard Top Albums Sales.

Promotion

Singles

" Go to the Top" was released as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

on October 24, 2012. The song was used as the opening theme song for the

Âge is a division of Avex Pictures as of July 10, 2017, a Japanese developer and publisher of adult video games and visual novels. âge was formerly known as Relic and developed video games for consoles. It gained fame following the release of its ...

–developed anime series '' Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse''. Upon its release, it garnered positive reviews from music critics. Many critics commended the song's composition, lyrical content, and Koda's vocal delivery. Minor criticism was towards the song's musical elements of

. "Go to the Top" was successful in Japan, peaking at number one on the Japanese

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

, Koda's eighth number one single. It also reached number 10 on Billboard's

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

chart, and was certified gold by the

(RIAJ) for physical shipments of 100,000 units. The accompanying music video for the single was shot in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

by Tomoe Nakano; it features an animated Koda flying a large robot in a racing circuit with another racer. " Koishikute" was released as the album's second single on December 26, 2012. Upon its release, it garnered positive reviews from music critics. Many critics commended the song's composition, lyrical content, and Koda's vocal delivery; critics had highlighted it as an album stand out, and labelled it a "gem". The single suffered in physical sales in Japan, reaching number seven on the Japanese Oricon Singles Chart and selling over 23,000 units. It remains Koda's lowest selling single since " Hot Stuff" in 2005. However, the song was certified gold by RIAJ for digital sales of 100,000 units. The accompanying music video for the single was shot in Tokyo by Ryuji Seki; it features Koda singing the song in a subway and in a small room. ''

'' was released as the album's third single and first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

single on July 31, 2013. The EP consists of four interlude tracks, two album tracks: "Lalalalala" and "Touch Down", and an unreleased track "Is This Trap?". Upon its release, ''Summer Trip'' received garnered positive reviews from music critics. Many critics commended the tracks individually for its composition and its song writing. ''Summer Trip'' debuted at number six on the Japanese Singles Chart, and sold over 20,000 units. "Lalalalala" charted on Japan's Hot 100 at number 23. This is Koda's lowest selling EP to date, surpassing ''

Gossip Candy ''Gossip Candy'' is an extended play by Japanese recording artist and songwriter Kumi Koda. It was released on July 7, 2010, by Koda's record label, Rhythm Zone. Koda's fifth extended play, ''Gossip Candy'' consists of five recordings; ''Lollipop ...

'' (2010) which sold over 84,000 units. Music videos for "Lalalalala" and "Touch Down" were shot in

Venice Beach Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. "

Dreaming Now! ''Dreaming Now!'' is the fifty-sixth single by Japanese singer-songwriter Kumi Koda and was released on November 13, 2013. It charted at No. 5 on Oricon, took No. 9 for the weekly ranking and charted for four weeks. The song was written by Kumi ...

" was released as the album's fourth and final single on November 13, 2013, which was the same day as Koda's 30th birthday. The song was written by Koda in honor of Japan's part in the 2013 Volleyball World Grand Champion Cup for men and women, both of which were held in Japan. Upon its release, it garnered positive reviews from music critics. Many critics commended the tracks composition and labelled it an anthem for the games. Despite out selling both "Koishikute" and ''Summer Trip'' with over 26,000 units sold, it charted lower on the Japanese Oricon Singles Chart at number nine. It charted at number 33 on Japan's Hot 100 chart. An accompanying music video for "Dreaming Now!" was shot in Tokyo.

Concert tour

To promote ''Bon Voyage'', Koda went on her 2014 Bon Voyage concert tour. The concert tour went throughout Japan, and carried on the cruise theme from the album. All of the album tracks, apart from "On Your Side" and "Introduction: Bon Voyage", were included on the set list for the tour; "Is This Trap?" from ''Summer Trip'' also appeared on the set list. The concert tour was released in two formats; a double-DVD bundle, and a Blu-ray release. The bonus disc on the DVD bundle featured a new track "Money in my Bag" from ''Walk of My Life'', alongside the backdrop visual of "Crank tha Bass" and the documentary of the tour. This material was included on the one disc for Blu-ray. Despite the release, it did not chart on the Oricon DVD and Blu-ray charts. To promote the material from ''Bon Voyage'', remixes of "Crank tha Bass", "Loaded", "Is This Trap?", "Dreaming Now!", "Touch Down", "Winner Girls", and "Lalalalala" were later featured on Koda's eight remix album ''

Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 6 ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 6'' is the eighth remix album by Japanese singer-songwriter Kumi Koda. It was released on March 19, 2014 and came in at No. 19 on Oricon, only remaining on the charts for four weeks. As with her two previous ''Driving Hi ...

'' (2014).

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Bon Voyage''. *

– vocals, background vocals, songwriting *Joseph Lawrence – composer, producer *

– composer, producer *

Miriam Nervo Nervo (stylised as NERVO) are an Australian DJ duo comprising twin sisters Olivia and Miriam Nervo (born 18 February 1982). After signing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 18 years of age, the sisters pursued careers as songwriting partners and ...

– composer, songwriting *

Olivia Nervo Nervo (stylised as NERVO) are an Australian DJ duo comprising twin sisters Olivia and Miriam Nervo (born 18 February 1982). After signing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 18 years of age, the sisters pursued careers as songwriting partners and ...

– composer, songwriting *T-SK – composer *Kim Taesung – composer, songwriting *Arama Brown – composer, songwriting *Albi Albertsson – composer, songwriting *Yuka Otsuki – songwriting *Mussashi – composer, producer *Fast Lane – composer *Mat Lie Skare – composer, producer *Jam9 – composer *M.I. – composer *Masaki Iehara – producer *Figge Brostrom – composer, producer *Anna Engh – composer, producer *Sonomi Tameoka – songwriting *UTA – composer, producer *Will Simms – producer * Joanna Levesque – songwriting *Kalis – songwriting, background vocals *

– composer, producer *Chioma Eze – composer *

Dsign Music Dsign Music is a songwriting and production team. Dsign Music was founded in 2005 by Robin Jenssen, Anne Judith Stokke Wik, Nermin Harambašić and Ronny Vidar Svendsen in Trondheim, Norway. Since the start they have scored more than 60 Billboard ...

– composer(s), producer(s) * Bardur Haberg – composer, producer *Clarabell – composer, producer *Mitsu. J – composer, producer *Kipp Williams – composer, producer *Kyle Shearer – composer, producer *Mocha – songwriting *Bruno Lopez – songwriting *Lo Albringer – songwriting, composer, producer *Martin Wiik – songwriting, composer, producer *Glen Eriksson – songwriting, composer, producer *Reflection Music – producer(s) *

– songwriting, guest vocals, background vocals *OVDS – guest vocals, background vocals *

- management, label * Avex Trax - parent label, management

Charts

Sales

Alternate Versions

Crank Tha Bass feat. OVDS #Crank Tha Bass feat. OVDS: Found on the album (2014) #Crank Tha Bass feat. OVDS umijun vs M.A.D Remix'': Found on

(2014) #Crank Tha Bass feat. OVDS VDS Remix: Found on

(2014) LOADED feat. Sean Paul #LOADED feat. Sean Paul: Found on the album (2014) #LOADED feat. Sean Paul LMER VoVo Remix'': Found on

(2014) Winner Girls #Winner Girls: Found on the album (2014) #Winner Girls ank-One Glitch-Hop Remix">Glitch-Hop.html" ;"title="ank-One Glitch-Hop">ank-One Glitch-Hop Remix'': Found on

(2014)

References

Notes

References

External links

''Bon Voyage''
– Kumi Koda's Official website. {{Authority control 2014 albums Koda Kumi albums Avex Group albums