Secondhand Setlists

When you think of the phrase “music video,” which artist comes to mind? Pioneers like Michael Jackson and Missy Elliott? Icons and disruptors in the vein of Britney and Gaga? Kylie Minogue or FKA twigs? Regardless of whom you consider the best, who is the most prolific? Most would likely settle between Madonna or Beyoncé. Madonna’s been operating in the visual for over 40 years, while Bey’s put out videos, or even entire films, for (nearly) every release since B’Day.

But Madge’s and Bey’s numbers pale in comparison to J-pop icon Kumi Koda. Since debuting in the early 2000s, Koda has released over 150 different videos, one or more released every year since the year 2000, except for 2001.

Anyone with a basic interest in J-Pop know of Kumi Koda – relentless output, consistent vocals and choreography, irrepressible sexuality, a kitchen sink of ideas when it comes to videos. A true Scorpio, she flies her freak flag without shame. If you thought “Ride,” “Partition,” or “Wrecking Ball” got too risqué, wait till you watch some of Koda’s mid-aughts cuts. There’s no outfit she won’t wear, no nail art too bold, no concept left half-assed. As far as the latter quality is concerned, sometimes it works to dazzling effects; in other instances, she flops. Her inhibition allowed her her spearhead trends in her native country such as nail art or ero-kakkoi, of which she is seen as the figurehead. Sometimes this ambition leads her into questionable or even into downright offensive territory. Regardless of good or bad, tasteful or tacky, she puts herself out there, no pun intended.

For some time now, I’ve toyed with doing a deep dive into her videography. I’d start from the beginning and binge watch it like a Lord of the Rings marathon. Her being a Scorpio, sexy, self-important, and strangely undefinable, is why I felt November made sense to put this undertaking out there. Furthermore. as I recover from a broken heel, an injury that involves many months where I cannot walk, it makes sense to tackle a catalog with more videos than Madonna and Beyoncé’s own videographies combined. In total, there are 12+ hours of Kumi Koda videos out there.

Initially, I envisioned this project would be fun, lighthearted, and perhaps somewhat shallow. While definitely a fan of my Scorpio sister, I admittedly only knew a fraction of her music videos. I had seen the blockbusters (“Cutie Honey,” “Taboo”), the iconography (“Crazy 4 U,” “Butterfly”), and the shamelessness (“Juicy,” “Ecstasy”). It’s the latter type of video that shaped my assumption of what to expect – kitschy, campy, over-the-top spectacles you gawk and laugh at. To be sure, there’s plenty of that across her 25-year career.

However, the deeper I feel into the Kumiverse, the more profoundly I began to reexamine my opinion of her visuals as well as Koda as an entity. It takes time, guts, and energy to pump out a single music video; imagine filming 50 of them in five years. These videos may appear outlandish and superficial, but the effort that goes into them is very tangible; consider the manicures, dye jobs, dance practices, location scouting, re-shoots, and lord knows what else that each one requires. If you conservatively presume every video takes a day of shooting, that means Kumi Koda has spent over half an entire calendar year making music videos. When you realistically factor in all the aforementioned elements and preparation required, it stands to reason that she’s dedicated a full year of her life or more to this aspect of her craft alone. This, coupled with the recording and touring she also undertakes, means she’s one busy woman with a helluva work ethic.

Most importantly, Koda gives 100% in every single frame, whether it’s big budget or shot on an iPhone, whether in front of an army of dancers or alone with a green screen. On screen, her sensuality is palpable, her cuteness irresistible, her sadness believable, her star power undeniable. Across all her videos, there is only one moment where she seems to slip out of the performance. It is brief yet jarring enough that I made special note of it in my critique of that particular video.

Pinning down exactly how many videos exist in the Kumiverse presents something of a challenge. Many singles include ‘dance’ versions, while two completely different singles may share the same sets and even storylines (“Yume no Uta” and “Futari de…” come to mind). Certain videos do not show up on her official YouTube page yet are counted on Wikipedia or fanpages like Welcome to Koda Kumi World. Considering the fact that stans follow pop icons with a ridiculous level of detail, I followed the above fansite’s video database for the most accurate count and order.

This first installment covers Koda’s humble start from 2000 until 2004, when things just start to take off. Next to the titles are the directors of the video. Beneath each video are my observations, which make up the crux of this entire series. As most of these videos were new to me, these notes offer my own raw thoughts on every video and how they play into the overarching Kumiverse. The vast majority of these points are the honest ones I made while watching these videos in real time. Occasionally, a point here or there was added afterwards; those I’ve marked with asterisks, boldface, and italics.

Some motifs to keep an eye out for, now and for future installments:

• Cross-shaped jewelry
• Her dog, Rum
• Furs without sleeves
• Oceans, beaches, and bodies of water
• Large, usually CGI- generated, gemstones and jewels
• Precipitation, be it rain or snow
• Butterflies, particularly blue morphos
• Glass shattering, whether its literal glass or CGI-generated shards
• Bold nail art
• Whipping her head to to the side, then snapping it back to face the camera
• Multiple, overlapping iterations of Kumi in the same scene like she’s Orphan Black

There’ll be four more parts to this series, ’05 to ’09, ’10 to ’14, ’15 to ’19, and ’20 to ’24; with the final installment I’ll share the full YouTube playlist.

So without further ado, scroll below to make your way into the wild, wonderful, often wet world that is Kumi Koda’s videography.

1. “Take Me Back” (Masashi Mutō)

• From the beginning, we see Kumi Koda already figuring out her iconic, blonde-streaked hair with this multicolored cut. She’s also got her bloo contacts in, an artistic choice we won’t really see again for many years
• You notice pretty quickly that all the extras are Black, a choice that I presume is to make her seem hip as well as to reinforce the R&B sound, complete with harpsichord. (*it should be said that watching Kumi Koda’s entire videography front-to-back does force you to face the uncomfortable, offensive ways that the J-pop industry, really the overarching music industry, often appropriates Black culture*)
• Sidenote: her debut album slaps and has a great album cover
• Pretty wild to have Mustang be your first branded tie-in
• The “scatting” at the end – go off, Kumi Armstrong
• *bizarrely, this tune ended up faring better on the US dance charts than the Japanese charts.

2. “Trust Your Love” (Ken Sueda)

• This icy number is a slay. Maybe not the pleather, silver fedora though – the top and pants, however, exude a chilly confidence
• She’s still being flanked by Black dancers in what again feels like attempts to bolster her street cred
• This is like a Dn(R&)B when you get to the chorus
• Daft Punk-ish voice in the middle of the second verse
• Things that could be frozen in this ice: Walt Disney, King Ghidorah… your guess as good as mine because it never melts. *we will learn going forward that many of her videos do not resolve as cleanly as you might expect. She’s like Lynch in this way*
• *yet another single that performed better in the US (topped the Maxi Singles chart)

3. “Color Of Soul” (Toru Morimoto, Yuki Saito)

• Sick beat (house piano) and concept. The different spiritual readings — numerology, astrology, palm readings — with the overlayed and repeated images. It feels pretty ’90s a la Jamiroquai, and it works with this sound.
• There’s a Dame Edna-looking extra. A drag queen too – impressive for 2002
• I think the color scheme here is fantastic, all these chilly purples and metallics
• Ends on a rather melancholy note

4. “So Into You” (Takasi Tadokoro)

• After using Black people as props in the first two videos she’s now got two dancers in what looks like blackface… Her name has way too many Ks in it to be making these poor decisions. At 1:58 you can almost see the dancer on the left looking at her like “I’m not sure about this one…”
• 2:19 “What tilt?”
• The long hair bundles are cool, as is the flag corps element. She’s at last giving us pop star choreography, something that along with singing she’s competently talented at
• The closeups near the end are grainy and look like the N64, or like, a comic book movie
• JLo pose at 4:20
• Kinda anticlimactic ending with the ‘come here’ fingers

5. “Love Across the Ocean” (Masaki Shinozuka)

• Fakeout! Different song at the beginning. We’re getting a nu (metal) Jack swing number, filmed at the Natural History Museum that’s also NASA
• Rina Sawayama could cover the fuck out of this
• This outfit with the mask and all black- The Crow meets Phantom at the Opera
• Who is she talking to through the headset? One of the many unanswered questions of the Kumiverse
• There’s a very “raw” moment where she’s shown looking pensively with fields overlayed in the background that is meant to be deep but you can’t help but smirk at it

6. “m•a•z•e” (Tetsuo Inoue)

• Airport, Rorshach, upward camera angles, vaguely Kyle Chandler looking guy – very sci-fi, a common thread so far in her videography
• Her nails, maybe our first prominent display we’ve seen in a vid so far
• She seems to also be judging the doctor’s performance during her own appointment
• Her deep thinking face is hilarious – she’s imagining him with his assistant!
• Now they’re both children?
• This white jacket and flow-y pants are making me think of Mary J Blige. The cross necklace is simply Koda (*as we will all see*)
• She looks gorgeous in the second to last shot with the sun going down over the airport

7. “Real Emotion” (Inoue)

• This is a video made for Final Fantasy
• I’ve seen a million AMVs to this animation, this one in particular coming to mind.
• She and her CGI-generated dancers are slaying
• This little police at the arena show sideplot reminds me of Trap
• *Final Fantasy wanted an unknown singer for this. Kumi thought to herself, “if I don’t make it after this single, I’ll quit music”*
• *A friend came over for dinner the other day. I told him about this project, and he replied that he did not know of Kumi Koda. But lo and behold, this video comes up on the playlist and it all came roaring back to him the way “Superbass” activates the Barb gene in us all*

8. “Come With Me” (Takahide Ishii)

• Opens with a few guys at the beach. I don’t recognize the language, but they don’t seem to be speaking Japanese *it is Thai*
• Kumi is dressed like Samantha Jones, haircut and all. Her dancers are so David Boreanaz-coded
• Her top could have been made by Tina Knowles – what I’m saying is that videos like this are time capsules
• I enjoy a big disco number, with some house piano and a little flute for good measure
• Okay this artsy day dress is a slay with the red, yellow, and blues
• Her hair gets a little messed up towards the end of the song – she’s having a wild night out
• Saxophone!
• Vaguely Bollywood-inspired dance break
• This is maybe the most intimate she’s gotten with a guy so far
• She starts to dissolve into energy; no one is fazed as she becomes the dancefloor
• Oh it was all a digital dream, and this was recorded on her camcorder

9. “Gentle Words” (Takodoro)

• The hair layers that I love her for are here at last
• I can’t quite tell where she’s supposed to be singing from but my guess for now is nursing home. The stage looks like it’s in a rec room with really nice wooden doors with stained glass windows. The cellist is a nice touch, but he appears faceless
• She brushes past herself outside. She bites a petal that’s the same color as her nails, and she becomes a flower
• At one point she’s singing in a restaurant that looks like it could be on the Sopranos

10. “Crazy 4 U” (Inoue)

• When I think of a song that sounds like a videogame, this comes to mind immediately. I could see Bayonetta tearing up baddies to this, Sonic making a mad dash across a space station…
• The sinister reveal of the little remote, the pierced tongue – so much was happening in that backseat
• This marks her first real, overtly sexy video, and 15-year-old me thought this whole thing was the absolute tits
• Nails with dangly pieces – they’re getting more ornate
• I’ve noticed before that sometimes her backup dancers aren’t that good (“Ecstasy” also comes to mind)
• *“This is the song that will symbolize Kumi Koda“*

11. Lisa “Switch” (Shigeaki Kubo)

• Mis-teeq type beat. I’m not familiar with Lisa/m-flo but this is a hot song
• Kumi is sporting a newsboy hat along with black and yellow braids (*we will unfortunately see many more, many worse braids throughout the latter half of her career*)
• The digital Gotham/anime concept is cool, especially because pop stars today make videos that resemble this
• This is a great thumper of a chorus
• The one artist looks like Kali Uchis
• Ok so Kali is the rapper, she’s not bad. Very Hot Topic looking outfit
• It sounds like the “Thong Song” in the post chorus

12. “Cutie Honey” (Inoue)

• Iconic hair, iconic pink, toilet paper-looking dress, iconic song
• The way her pink hair reflects the blue light, it’s aesthetically perfect
• Have you ever heard a better instrumental? And she’s just so happy to be part of it, and how can you deny her?
• Her dog’s painted nails<<<<
• The sexy breakdown is so random – like yes, production needs a quick 30 of you dancing to a vaguely Bollywood instrumental
• I would say for 20% of the shots taken of her, Kumi is winking in this video

13. “Chase” (Hidaki Sunaga)

• She’s a working girl at this hotel, good for her
• We get a prominent dirty blonde streak in her hair, she’s further coming into her own
• A peeping tom! He probably also thinks her flowery headpiece is dazzling, as I do
• Great on-beat synth line in the chorus
• She’s broken into someone’s room to snoop – this hotel is full of sneaky characters
• The random group of boys are birdwatchers?
• The gem was with the statue! I say this as if it makes sense to me
• 2:31 Pepping Tom likes the beat too
• The birdwatchers are now dancers
• There’s a synth then a guitar solo breakdown, both of which give the song a bit more to work with IMO
• The police are here! She’s running but they run past her because…
• It was peeping Tom all along! (he was an agent)
• For some reason, I think she makes off with British currency because Elizabeth’s on it
• So there were two thieves here, but only one side of Kumi Koda gets away with it

14. “Kiseki” (Tadokoro)

• Similar nail to the “Chase” video
• A fur, feathers, and leather cutout number – she’s in Iceland. The outfit is a little Bjork
• She’s waiting for you on her loveseat and in the river. This is a bit “Whenever, Wherever” with the natural landscapes and somewhat tribal, sexy 2000s lewks.
• She does sound awesome on this and I do like the instrumental
• This asymmetrical hair though – was this chic in 2004?

15. “Shake It” (Ishii, Yüsuke Azumaya)

• After a few songs and sounds flirting with Bollywood, Kumi finally goes all-in with “Shake It”
• Something about this video is low budget. It might be the tent. Not that it looks cheap , but really quite a mundane looking set without the lights turned up
• When she “blows away” the random bystander and he gets Dorothy’d >>>>
• Her going ass-to-ass with her dancers – lesbian ally (*we haven’t seen anything yet). The hand choreography is also incredible that she could get away with that in 2004
• 2:20 Somehow the bystander is still in the tornado, until he’s blown into a ’90s video and interpolating “Ass Into It”
• She takes her top off and bystander tries to sneak back and see her. He calls someone but we never learn who they are – more mysteries to consider

16. “24” (Morita)

• Little dog – hers? I think it’s in the “Cutie Honey” video
• This is a wonderful ballad early on. The funky synth line is fantastic
• Her little heart nails <3
• There’s a part where the beat kicks up for like a measure, and it’d be wonderful to shift that into a dance song.
• Running in the rain in her duster and lingerie. What does she find – an empty car with a turquoise piece hanging over the dash – she herself has a deep pink gem necklace? All unresolved
• English ad-libbing over the final chorus, slay, mama

17. “Selfish” (Ippei Morita)

• This look with the red pants, bra, streaked hair – it’s Xtina
• This one dancer has a beanie baby snake around her neck, at least that’s what it looks like to me
• 1:13 perfect shot
• Now two men are fighting for her amusement, now she has an apple – there is much going on here
• The dual cape number is great, Black Swan esque
• The leather riding crops>>>>>
• She knocks one of the fighters back and nibbles on his neck – she mounts him, and we never see any more, like how it ends with her shoving her a dancer’s face into her crotch before immediately saying “I’m selfish.”

Final Thoughts + Rankings

Early on, we already see some trends beginning to emerge with Kumi Koda’s visuals: glittering gems, espionage/undercover work, water and the beach. These would also be the first and only times she would work with Tetsuo Inoue, the director responsible for some of her biggest videos (“Crazy 4 U” and “Cutie Honey”), while also marking the beginning of a fruitful partnership with Takashi Tadokoro that would last the remainder of the decade into the new one.

In the span of five years, she put out 16 different music videos, releasing one or more for each year except 2001, with writing credits on 2/3 of those singles, no less. Interestingly enough, that puts her neck-in-neck output-wise with two other pop icons in the midst of their imperial phases – Jennifer Lopez and Brittany Spears. What’s interesting to note is that both Lopez and Spears already occupied pretty high levels of popularity by the time the year 2000 rolled around, whereas Koda entered on unsteady wings and remained so until three to four years into her career. So, for her to pump out as many videos as her much more successful contemporaries illustrates a strong drive to prove herself, which she would do in the ensuing decade in remarkable ways.

My 10 Favorites

1. “Cutie Honey” (simply a classic and for a reason)
2. “Crazy 4 U” (literally gave the world sexy Kumi Koda)
3. “Color of Soul” (great concept and shot in a visually stimulating way – it’s sad to hear that this video was nearly scrapped because her label considered her one of Avex’s “three fatties“)
4. “Trust Your Love” (I really just dig the icy color scheme, it’s effective and simple)
5. “Chase” (so dizzyingly busy, we can’t say she’s not giving us a show here)
6. “Come With Me” (way too many ideas introduced here for it to be called cohesive, yet I am compelled to enjoy it)
7. “m•a•z•e” (Kumi’s videos can often get a little strange, and I appreciate that this one doesn’t shy away from weirdness)
8. “Switch” (not technically her video, but the visual and song are simply too good to be omitted from this list)
9. “Real Emotion” (historic – this came out just 15 days before Utada Hikaru’s own iconic FFX tie-in, “Simple and Clean.” Koda also provided the movements for the in-game singer Yuna’s dancing, something very new at the time)
10. “Selfish” (honestly not a great video but a great encapsulation of what we would come to love/hate/see from Kumi Koda: high fantasy, intense dancing, and unbridled sex appeal)