''Trip Trip'' (stylised as trip trip) is Kokia's second album, released in January 2002. It was her first album released with

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

, and her only released under Gai Records management (though Kokia worked with both companies for her collaborations with

Ryuichi Kawamura is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. He started a solo career in 1997, three years before Luna Sea disbanded in 2000. In 2005, Kawamura form ...

on his ЯKS album, '' Kanata Made'', in 2000). Unlike ''

Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

'', the album was self-produced. The opening track, "Chōwa Oto," was later re-arranged and used as the opening theme song for the animated film Origin: Spirits of the Past in 2006. It was released as the second A-side on the single , and also features on her greatest hits album '' Pearl: The Best Collection'' in this re-arranged version. No other songs from the album featured due to licensing issues with Gai Records. "A Gift" was used in European commercials for

Subaru ( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...

in 2002.

Background

Four singles were released from the album: "Tomoni," "Say Hi!!," and "Tenshi" in 2001, and "Ningen tte Sonna Mono ne" in 2002 (simultaneously released with the album in Japan). None of these singles charted in Japan. After Kokia's initial recognition in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, some of these singles were released in the Chinese speaking world. "Say Hi!!" was released as a special five track release (featuring "Tomoni," its B-side, "Yes I Know" and an instrumental track as added songs), while "Tenshi" was released in a standard form. Both of the overseas releases were delayed after their initial Japanese release (Say Hi!! by three weeks, Tenshi by two). Kokia also performed at two high-profile concerts to coincide with these releases: the 13th anti-drug concert in

on November the 17th to 30,000 people, and the annual

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

ese New Year's concert to 120,000. The singles were given several tie-ups. "Tomoni" was used as an ending theme song for two

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

shows: Shin-D Quintet (Shin-D クインテット) and Nitteru (ニッテる). "Say Hi!!" was used for

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commercials in Asia, outside Japan. "Tenshi" was used as the ending theme song for the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

show Shin Mayonaka no Ōkoku (新・真夜中の王国).

Reception

The album did not chart on the Japanese

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 ...

albums charts. (subscription only) Reception by critics was positive. CDJournal praised Kokia for her song-writing skills and vocal variations. Music critic Hiroshi Suzuki believed the strength of the album came from the self-conscious nature of Kokia's songwriting, comparing her sound to early

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. JaME World noted a

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ern sound in the music, as well as the variety of instruments and genres used. Both JAME World and

MTV Taiwan MTV Mandarin is a 24-hour music channel that airs Chinese and international music programs owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA. One of the first three MTV Asia channels along with MTV Asia and MTV India. MTV Mandarin has two different feeds (Taiwan ...

found the album to be showing an apparently more honest and sincere side to herself, in comparison to her debut album ''

''.

found her lyrics to be poetic, and praised the aspects of nature and humanity expressed in her music. They also believed the comparison of Kokia as the Japanese

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and successor to

Miyuki Nakajima (born February 23, 1952, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and radio personality. She has released 43 studio albums, 46 singles, 6 live albums and multiple compilations as of January 2020. Her sales have been estimated ...

to be wrong, instead citing that "KOKIA is KOKIA," describing her voice as less ethereal and more energetic and humane.

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Kokia. The mainland Chinese bonus track, "Current," was used in

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Oolong tea commercials in

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Personnel

* Kaoru Abe - drums (#11) * Akino - hair, make-up * Naoya Emi - bass (#6, #8) * Nobuo Eguchi - drums (#3) * Miho Fukujoji - visual coordination * Masayoshi Furukawa - guitars (#12) * Keiichi Hayakawa - promotion (Gai Records) * Miki Horihiro - artist management (RKM Family) * Toshiaki Kanoh - guitar (#2, #4) * Kokia - arranger (#5, #7), booklet illustrator, chorus arranger, songwriter, piano (#7), producer, vocals * Yasumasa Kubota - executive producer (Victor Entertainment) * Yasuomi Kurita - styling * Mecken - bass (#3) * Chiharu Mikuzuki - bass (#11) * Masafumi Minato - drums (#6) * Mataro Misawa - percussion (#7, #12) * Shigeo Miyamoto - mastering (at Flair) * Masayumi Muraishi - drums (#2, #4) * Masayuki Nakahara - recording/mixing (#5, #9-11, #13) * Shuji Nakamura - guitars (#1, #11) * Nobuhiko Nakayama - programming (#10) * Susumu Nishikawa - arranger (#10), bass (#10), guitar (#3, #6, #10) * Takashi Nishiumi - guitar (#2, #8) * Takashi Noguchi - photography * Teruo Saegusa - supervisor (Victor Entertainment) * Taisuke Sawachika - arranger/programming (#2-4, #6, #8-9), percussion (#4), pianica (#2), piano (#6, #8), * Yasuaki "V" Shindo - recording/mixing (#1-4, #6-8, #12) * Keiji Sugimoto - executive producer (Gai Records) * Jun Sumida - guitar (#3) * Shunji Suzurikawa - sales promotion (Victor Entertainment) * Masayoshi Tanaka - executive producer (R K M Family) * Akio Ueki Quartette - strings (#13) * Hitoshi Watanabe - bass (#2, #4) * Naoki Watanabe - bass (#12) * Yoshitaka Watanabe - A&R * Takuya Yamada - art direction, design * Tetsuya Yamada - sales promotion (Victor Entertainment) * Ryuta Yoshimura - arranger (#1, #11-13), piano (#13) programming (#1, #5, #11-13)

References

{{Authority control Kokia (singer) albums 2002 albums Victor Entertainment albums Japanese-language albums