''Secret'' (stylized as secret) is the fourth studio album by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

R&B-turned- pop singer,

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 ...

, released in February 2005. It charted at #3 on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, her highest charting album at the time, and stayed on the charts for fifty-six weeks. This album also jump-started Kumi's ero-kawaii/sexy-cute image, with which she became synonymous. This style later spread throughout Japan's high school community upon her release of "

Butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

Information

''Secret'' is the first predominantly- pop album by Kumi, with her first three albums, ''

feel my mind ''Feel My Mind'' (stylized as feel my mind) is the third studio album by the Japanese pop and R&B singer Koda Kumi, released in February 2004. The album charted in the Top 10 on Oricon at No. 7 and stayed on the charts for thirty-five weeks, se ...

'', ''

grow into one ''Grow into One'' (stylized as grow into one) is the second studio album released by Japanese pop and R&B singer Koda Kumi, released on March 19, 2003. It barely peaked in the Top 10 on Oricon, coming it at #8, and charted for 43 weeks. The albu ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'', being R&B. Due to Kumi feeling most comfortable with the style she donned in "

Crazy 4 U "Crazy 4 U" is singer-songwriter Koda Kumi's 10th domestic solo single. It charted at No. 12 on Oricon and remained on the charts for six weeks. Information "Crazy 4 U" is Kumi Koda's tenth single and last single released before her studio album ...

", she created the "sexy-cute" style (known as ero-kawaii) for her

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

s used in ''secret''. This is the style that she became famous for and received both positive and negative attention. During her performance for "

Cutie Honey is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. First appearing in ''Weekly Shōnen Champions 41st issue of 1973, the series ran until April 1974. It follows an android girl named Honey Kisaragi, who trans ...

" at

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

, she donned the outfit she wore during the jazz parlor scenes in the

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

. The outfit was heavily criticized, when revealing clothing was not worn by mainstream artists in Japan at the time. On April 13, 2005, three special editions of the album were released, which contained the music video for " Hot Stuff", which featured the rapper and, depending on which special edition was purchased, came with a

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

or a tank top. The DVD contained the music videos originally released on her 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~": "Selfish", "Shake It" and "24". The song "24", which was written and composed by the arranger Hitoshi Shimono, was the first song released by Kumi with an entire chorus in English. She worked with Hitoshi again for her 2006 song "

Feel Feel may refer to: *Feeling Music Bands *Feel (New York band), a dance and R&B band *Feel (Polish band), a pop rock band Songs * "Feel" (Kendrick Lamar song), 2017 * "Feel", by Phora, 2018 *"Feel", by Mahmut Orhan, 2016 * "Feel" (Kumi Koda song), ...

", which also contained a chorus completely in English.

Packaging

''Secret'' was released in four editions: CD, CD+DVD and a special CD+DVD edition. While the standard editions of the CD and CD+DVD combinations contained the fifteen musical tracks, the special editions contained two bonus songs and a bonus music video. This edition also had achoice of either a tank top or a t-shirt. The two bonus tracks contained on the special editions were "

It's a Small World "It's a Small World" is a water-based boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks worldwide, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo Di ...

", which featured the female duo the

Heartsdales Heartsdales was a Japanese-American hip pop duo composed of sisters and , known by their stage names Rum and Jewels, respectively. Yumi was born on December 17, 1981 and Emi on December 4, 1976 in Tokyo, Japan. Their family moved to the Yonke ...

, and a remix of " Hot Stuff", which featured the rappers KM-MARKIT and UZI. The bonus music video on the DVD of this version was the music video for the latter track. Each edition contained different cover art.The CD only contained a blue heart, the CD+DVD contained a pink heart and the special edition contained a holographic heart.

Music videos

Two new music videos were released on the DVD: the album version of "

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...

", which was the first time a different version of a music video was released, and "Trust You". There was a different version of "Trust You" released on her " Hot Stuff" single, titled "Thanks to MAM & GRAMMA Version". While there were only two new music videos, the music videos from " girls ~Selfish~" were also placed on the album, because of "girls ~Selfish~" being unsuccessful as a

. These videos were "Selfish", "Shake It" and "24". *Trust You: set in the future where men use technology to set women to perform. The A.Is, Kumi along with two others, are able to become sentient and reclaim dominance. *"Selfish": carries a story of female vampires luring men to their hideout so they are able to live off their life force. *"

Shake It "Shake It" is a song by American pop band Metro Station, released as the third single (and debut British single) from the group's 2007 self-titled debut studio album. "Shake It" was the band's first charting single, peaking at number 10 on the ...

": carries a story of a man breaking into a tent, owned by Kumi. Kumi and her followers seduce him and convince him to leave. It is shown at the end he makes a phone call to an unknown source. *" 24": a soft and sensual video, showing Kumi in her downtime as she fantasizes about a lover. The music video to "Hot Stuff" was later placed on the DVD when the special edition was released two months later. The music video carried a dance battle theme, which had been inspired by the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n film ''

You Got Served ''You Got Served'' is a 2004 American dance drama film written and directed by Chris Stokes, who was also the business manager of the performers who were the film's main characters: recording artist Marques Houston and the boy band B2K. The plo ...

'', which featured

Omarion Grandberry Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actor and dancer. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the boy band B2K. The group achieved success in the e ...

and

Marques Houston Marques Barrett Houston (born August 4, 1981) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and actor. A member of the R&B group IMx, Immature/IMx from 1990 until 2002, Houston went solo in 2003. As an actor, he is best known for his ...

. Kumi later featured Omarion in 2012 "Slow" from her album '' Japonesque'' (2012).

Track listing

Special Edition Bonus Tracks

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Alternative versions

Let's Party
"Let's Party": Found on the album (2005)
"Let's Party OZM® Remix: Found on ''

Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 5 ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 5'' is the seventh remix album by Japanese singer-songwriter Kumi Koda. It was released on March 20, 2013, the same day as her live DVD/Blu-ray Premium Night: Love & Songs and six rental live albums. Following the trend ...

'' (2013) Trust You
"Trust You": Found on the album (2005)
"Trust You ub's Trust me Remix: Found on single " Hot Stuff feat. KM-MARKIT" (2005) Selfish
"Selfish": Found on the album (2005)
"Selfish .I's C&B MIX: Found on single "Hot Stuff feat. KM-MARKIT" (2005)
"Selfish LKA-LINE Remix: Found on '' Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 8'' (2018)

Promotional advertisements

"Selfish" was used as the theme to the 20th East Women's Ekiden "Hearty..." was used as the promotional theme for the KOJIMA Ltd. product Fresh Gray 2005. "Trust You" was used as

MTV Japan MTV Japan (Music Television Japan) is the Japanese version of the cable television network based in Japan. It is a subsidiary of Paramount Networks Japan K.K., and was launched on November 15, 1993. It can be viewed on cable television, SKY Perfe ...

's ''buzz ASIA'' theme for March 2005. "24" was used as the theme song for ''SANCTUARY/Otona no Seiiki'' (サンクチュアリ/大人の聖域) "Let's Party" was used for the

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

's ''MORE''. "It's a Small World feat.

" was used as the theme song for Japan's release of the 2004 film '' 80 Days''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secret (Kumi Koda Album) Koda Kumi albums 2005 albums Avex Group albums