''DNA'' is the fifteenth studio album by the Japanese singer

Koda Kumi , 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 ...

, released on August 22, 2018, six months after her previous studio album, ''

AND or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar, and computing * Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a boole ...

'', making it her second album of 2018. ''DNA'' has thirteen musical tracks on the CD, four music videos on the DVD/Blu-ray, the performance of her ''Fanclub Tour ~AND~'' at DRUM LOGOS in Fukuoka, which was performed on April 29, 2018, on the second DVD, and the

behind-the-scenes In film, cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the Filmmaking#Production, production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the E ...

of the tour and making of the album ''DNA'' on the third DVD.

Information

The album debuted at No. 2 on the

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 ...

s, taking No. 3 for the week, becoming her second consecutive album to not reach the number-one spot (''AND'' charted at #6). Kumi had held the number-one position with every studio and

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

between 2005 and 2017, beginning with '' Best ~first things~'' (2005) and ending with the double-album '' W Face'' (2017). Unlike ''AND'', which had a fun and upbeat style, ''DNA'' was made to be darker and toned down. This was most obvious in the album's

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

, in which Kumi dons more muted attire. The album was preceded by three singles: " LIT", "

HUSH Hush may refer to: Film and television * ''Hush'' (1921 film), starring Clara Kimball Young * ''Hush'' (1998 film), starring Gwyneth Paltrow * ''Hush!'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film directed by Ryosuke Hashiguchi * ''Hush'' (2005 film), starring ...

" and " Never Enough". However, "LIT" and "Never Enough" were placed on the album ''AND'' and "HUSH" was the only song placed on ''DNA''. The CD contained twelve new tracks, along with the previously released song "

"; the first DVD and Blu-ray contained the corresponding music videos for "HUSH" and three new songs "Watch Out!! ~DNA~" (stylized as ''WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~''), "Haircut" (stylized as ''HAIRCUT'') and "Chances All" (stylized as ''CHANCES ALL''). The second and third DVD were only released on the CD+3DVD fan club edition. The second DVD had her April 29 performance of her ''Fanclub Tour ~AND~'' at DRUM LOGOS in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, while the third DVD carried behind-the-scenes footage of the tour and the making film for ''DNA.'' Her

Zepp Tokyo The Zepp music halls are a group of Japanese music venues covering every area of the country. They play host to many international tours and are a popular stop among Japanese musicians. Each venue takes the Zepp name, along with the city in which ...

performance of ''Fanclub Tour ~AND~'' would later be placed on the second DVD of her fan club edition of '' Live Tour 2018 ~DNA~'' (2019).

Promotional advertisements

''HUSH'' was announced on September 9, 2017, and was her second single of the three planned releases for the year of 2017 – '' LIT'' being the first and '' Never Enough'' being the third. Due to having no physical release outside of concert venues, the song failed to chart on the

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 ...

s. "HUSH" was a hip-hop piece composed by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

musical composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and songwriter Louise Frick-Sveen, who had previously worked with South Korean group

SF9 SF9 ( ko, 에스에프나인 ; shortened from Sensational Feeling 9) is a South Korean boy band formed by FNC Entertainment and the company's first dance boy group. Consisting of nine members, the group debuted on October 5, 2016 with the relea ...

for their song "Fanfare" in July along with Albin Nordqvist. The lyrics to "HUSH" were written by Kumi and TEEDA from the group

Back-On Back-On (stylized as BACK-ON) is a Japanese rock band from Tokyo, Japan. They are recognized for creating anime and game opening themes such as the '' Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2'' opening theme, "fly away"; ''Air Gear'' opening theme, ...

. The song "Guess Who Is Back" (track #9) was used as the 4th

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

for the 1st season of the

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since February 2015, with its chapters collected in 33 ''tankōbon'' volumes ...

.'' This made it the first time since 2012 that Kumi performed a theme song for an anime, the previous being " Go to the top" for the anime '' Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse''.

Music videos

Along with the music video for "Hush", three new videos were created and performed for the album: "Watch Out!! ~DNA~", "Haircut" and "Chances All". The three new videos were performed in the same location, with "Haircut" being the main promotional track. The video for "Haircut" opened with the first few seconds of the album's first track, "Introduction ~My music is designed from my DNA~". It shows Kumi with blonde hair as she makes her way to a stylist's station, where they dye her hair in rainbow colors. After she gets up, she walks behind promotional posters for the ''DNA'' album as her hair changes. In the video, she has several hairstyles, including platinum blonde pigtails with butterflies, before she unveils her current hairstyle of a blonde

bob cut A bob cut, also known as a bob, is a short to medium length haircut, in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head at approximately jaw level, but no longer than shoulder-length, often with fringe or bangs at the front. The standar ...

. Other scenes in the video include Kumi

spray painting Spray painting is a painting technique in which a device sprays coating material (paint, ink, varnish, etc.) through the air onto a surface. The most common types employ compressed gas—usually air—to atomize and direct the paint particles. ...

a wall while wearing neon boots and a black

swimsuit A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or List of water sports, water sports, such as swimming, Diving (sport), diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Di ...

. The video ends with Kumi cutting her hair with

scissors Scissors are hand-operated shearing tools. A pair of scissors consists of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles (bows) opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutti ...

, which began the video for "Watch Out!! ~DNA~". "Watch Out!! ~DNA~" was performed in the same location, with Kumi wearing a neon yellow raincoat over a black jumpsuit. The video was predominately a dance number, with Kumi and four

background dancer A backup dancer also known as background dancer is a performer who dances with or behind the lead performers in a live musical act or in a music video. Their movements (especially where there are many moving together) improve the visual aesthetic ...

s. "Chances All" was composed of the multiple hairstyles she wore in the video for "Haircut", with Kumi singing directly to the camera. Short versions of all three new videos were uploaded to

avex is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other busi ...

's official YouTube on August 9, 2018, to help promote the album.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from album's liner notes ;Musicians *

– vocals *JUN – background vocals (track 6) *Koji Tetsui – bass (track 7) *Tadashi Iwamaru – drums (track 7) *Udai Shika – cello (track 7, 11) *Shoko Oki – violin (track 7, 11) *Masaki Iehara – arranger, guitar and programming (track 11) *Yasuo Sano – drums (track 11) *Hiroo Yamaguchi – bass guitar (track 11) *

BACK-ON Back-On (stylized as BACK-ON) is a Japanese rock band from Tokyo, Japan. They are recognized for creating anime and game opening themes such as the '' Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2'' opening theme, "fly away"; ''Air Gear'' opening theme, ...

– arranger, composer (track 9) * Hi-yunk – arranger, composer (track 3, 4, 11) *Bobby Conscious – arranger, composer (track 1) *Louise Frick-Sveen – arranger, composer (track 2) *Albin Nordqvist – arranger, composer (track 2) *Daniel Kim – arranger (track 5) *Mitsu.J – guitar (track 5) *Shinjiroh Inoue – programming and guitar (track 7) *

Fredrik Thomander Fredrik Thomander is a Swedish songwriter,"Epicenter of attention". bassist and producer. For many years he performed in Swedish pop bands. He has written and produced songs, mainly of pop music, for various singers and bands, and he operates a ...

– composer (track 8) *

Andreas Öberg Andreas Öberg (born 6 August 1978) is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, and music producer. Music career Öberg was born in Stockholm on 6 August 1978. When he was seven, he took classical guitar lessons at school. He played electric guitar wh ...

– composer (track 8) * Johan Becker – composer (track 8) *Maria Marcus – arranger (track 10), composer (track 8) *Frida Molander – lyricist, music (track 10) *Anna Alerstedt – lyricist, music (track 10) *Freja Jonsson Blomberg – lyricist, music (track 10) *Chris Wahle – composer (track 13) *Dele Ladimeji – composer (track 13) *Darby Ward – composer (track 13) * Yoshiaki Onishi – mixer *Makato Yamadoi – mixer and recorder ;Production team *

MAX Matsuura , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese record producer and businessman. He is the founder of Avex Group, one of the largest music labels. He is known mainly for discovering and developing new artists into stars (most notably Ayumi Hamas ...

– executive producer *Katsumi Kuroiwa – executive producer *Shinji Hayashi – general producer *Shintaro Higuchi – executive supervisor *Takeya Ino – executive supervisor *Shingo Toguchi – advisory producer *Hideki Endo – advisory producer *Yugo Suzuki – advisory producer *Kazutaka Yagi – artist management chief *Mamiko Ohkami – artist management chief *Misaki Tanaka – artist management *Shinsuke Kubo – artist management supervisor *Hitoshi Itagaki – general artist management *Naoko Asai – artist management desk *Yoichi Takeda – artist planner *Masatoshi Uchida – A&R manager *Yu Kikuchi – A&R *Atsushi Sawamura – creative director *Miho Shirai – assistant creative director *Akihiko Oda – sales promotion manager *Kenta Tamura – sales promotion *Rie Kosuge – sales promotion *Nobutoshi Ono – A&R general manager *Yu Koiguchi – artist planner general manager *Hiromi Amano – creative supervisor *Mayumi Tokairin – A&R desk *Rumi Kasai – A&R desk *Akihito Yamanaka – tour management producer *Shinya Kato – tour management assistant *Ro Cholsik – tour management *Mio Sakai – tour management *Satoshi Arisaka – MD supervisor *Naoki Mori – MD producer *Asami Sugaya – fan club director *Azusa Horiuchi – fan club director *Taisuke Fujimoto – fan club director *Kenta Sugawara – fan club producer ;Package staff *Taku Nakai – art direction & design *TISCH – photographer *Kazuhito Sugito – hair *Yayoi Tanda – make-up *Kazuyo Shinato – stylist *Akiko Akui – nailist *Yukiko Yamashita – creative coordination

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

References

External links

Koda Kumi official website''DNA'' special website
{{DEFAULTSORT:DNA 2018 albums Avex Group albums Koda Kumi albums