"Feel" (stylized as ''feel'') is a smooth R&B song by Japanese singer and songwriter

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 ...

. For the song, she worked closely with composer Hitoshi Shimono, who had composed the instrumental. The single is Kumi's sixth single in her ''12 Singles Collection'' and second single to chart at No. 1 on Oricon, selling 39,110 units within the first week. As with some of the other singles released in the collection, ''feel'' was limited to 50,000 copies.

Information

''feel'' is Japanese singer-songwriter Kumi Koda's sixth single in her ''12 Singles Collection.'' As with the other singles in the collection, ''feel'' was limited to 50,000 copies. It shifted 39,110 units within the first week. Despite it being limited, it became her second single to reach No. 1 on the weekly

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 – her first being ''

you In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

,'' which was also released for the collection. Each single in the ''12 Singles Collection'' had unique

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

based on certain cultures in various countries. The back cover of each single was a piece to a puzzle, which could only be completed by purchasing all twelve singles. The same was done for the

obi strip An is a strip of paper looped around a book or other product. This extends the term ''obi'' used for Japanese clothing; it is written with the same ''kanji''. It is also referred to as a , or more narrowly as . Obi strips are most commonly foun ...

s, which contained a full image when arranged together in order. However, the obi strip image was omitted on the Hong Kong versions. For the song, Kumi worked closely with

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 ...

Hitoshi Shimono. She had worked with him previously for her 2004 song " 24," which was released on Kumi's first

DVD single A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, '' girls ~selfish~,'' and on her fourth studio album, ''

secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

.'' This made it her second song to have a chorus completely in English. To help promote the single, "feel" was used in an advertisement for the website ''music.jp,'' which is a

music distributor The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

site for Japan. The site is also used by the

RIAJ Digital Track Chart The was a record chart that ranks the best selling digital singles in Japan, with data provided by the Recording Industry Association of Japan from April 2009. The chart measures cellphone downloads (着うたフル ''Chaku-Uta Full'') (not downlo ...

to measure cellphone downloads for musical tracks. The music video for the single tied into the four others in the story line: "

Candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language an ...

," which featured

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Mr. Blistah from Clench & Blistah, "

," " Lies" and " Someday," the latter of which was the finale. The love interest in the music video was played by Japanese actor

Shugo Oshinari is a Japanese actor. Career Oshinari co-starred in Shunji Iwai's ''All About Lily Chou-Chou'' with Hayato Ichihara. He also appeared in films such as Kenta Fukasaku's '' Battle Royale II: Requiem'' and Takahisa Zeze's ''Heaven's Story''. Filmog ...

. Shugo Oshinari is best known for his portrayals of

Teru Mikami The manga series ''Death Note'' features an extensive cast of fictional characters designed by Takeshi Obata with their storylines created by Tsugumi Ohba."How to Think." ''Death Note: How to Read 13''. VIZ Media. 59. The story follows the nov ...

in the ''Death Note'' TV series and Takuma Aoi in '' Battle Royale II: Requiem.''

Music video

The music video for the song became the fourth in the story-line driven videos; the firsts being "

," "

" and " Lies." This was the final video before the conclusion on her final single in the collection, '' Someday/Boys♥Girls.'' As with both "you" and "Lies," "feel" opens with three men talking about the heartbreak they had experienced in their lives and the women they were with. Each man had a passion that they followed and found a lover who shared in their interests. Each video in the music video stories focuses on one of the men at the table, with their love interests being different incarnations of Kumi. The love interest in "feel" is played by Japanese actor

, whose passion is music. He becomes enthralled with an R&B

lounge singer Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The rang ...

, played by Kumi, and the two begin a romance. After they breakup, he continues to frequent the lounge, reminiscing on the times Kumi was on the stage. There is a scene where Kumi has stripped her clothing in lingerie before she gets in bed with her boyfriend. Afterwards, Kumi writes the song on a piece of paper and towards the end, she vanishes leaving her boyfriend in distraught.

Cover

For the collection, each single was given its own unique cover art, each which represented a dress from a different culture. ''feel'' draws its inspiration from Spain and the costume of

matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

s. Along with differing cover art, each obi strip contained a piece of an image, which when put together in order, would reveal a full picture of Kumi. The same was done for the back covers of each single.

Track listing

(Source)

Sales

*Initial week estimate: 39,110 *Total estimate: 48,116

External links

#Avex Network (2005)
Kumi Koda Official Web Site
#Oricon Style (2006)
Oricon Style Online
#music.jp (2017
『music.jp｜PCもスマホもケータイも！音楽・着うた®・着メロ』

References

{{authority control 2006 singles 2005 songs Koda Kumi songs Oricon Weekly number-one singles Rhythm Zone singles Songs written by Koda Kumi