Secret (Koda Kumi album)

Secret (stylized as secret) is the fourth studio album by the Japanese R&B-turned-pop singer, Kumi Koda, released in February 2005. It charted at #3 on Oricon in Japan, her highest charting album at the time, and stayed on the charts for fifty-six weeks.[1]

Secret
Studio album by Kumi Koda
Released	February 9, 2005 April 13, 2005 (special editions)
Recorded	2004–2005
Genre	J-pop, R&B
Length	1:03:23
Label	Rhythm Zone RZCD-45181/B (Japan, CD+DVD) RZCD-45182 (Japan, CD) RZCD-45208/B (Japan, CD+SpecialDVD+Tank Top) RZCD-45209/B (Japan, CD+SpecialDVD+T-Shirt) RZCD-45210/B (Japan, CD+SpecialDVD)
Producer	Max Matsuura
Kumi Koda chronology
Feel My Mind (2004) Secret (2005) Best: First Things (2005)
Singles from Secret
"Love & Honey" Released: May 26, 2004 "Chase" Released: July 28, 2004 "Kiseki" Released: September 8, 2004 "Hands" Released: January 19, 2005 "Hot Stuff" Released: April 13, 2005

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".

Information

Secret is the first predominately-pop album by Kumi, with her first three albums, feel my mind, grow into one and affection, being R&B. Due to Kumi feeling most comfortable with the style she donned in "Crazy 4 U", she created the "sexy-cute" style (known as ero-kawaii) for her A-sides 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" at Music Station, she donned the outfit she wore during the jazz parlor scenes in the music video. The outfit was heavily criticized, when revealing clothing was not worn by mainstream artists in Japan at the time.[2]

On April 13, 2005, three special editions of the album were released, which contained the music video for "Hot Stuff", which featured the rapper KM-MARKIT and, depending on which special edition was purchased, came with a T-shirt or a tank top.[3]

The DVD contained the music videos originally released on her first DVD single, "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.[4] She worked with Hitoshi again for her 2006 song "Feel", 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", which featured the female duo the Heartsdales, 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", 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 DVD single. 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": 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 American film You Got Served, which featured Omarion Grandberry and Marques Houston. Kumi later featured Omarion in 2012 "Slow" from her album Japonesque (2012).

Track listing

CD

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	arrangement	Length
1.	"Intro: Get Down"	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	1:27
2.	"Cutie Honey"	Claude Q.	Takeo Watanabe	h-wonder	3:05
3.	"Hot Stuff feat. KM-MARKIT"	Kumi Koda • KM-MARKIT	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	4:07
4.	"Selfish"	Miki Watanabe	Miki Watanabe	Miki Watanabe	3:56
5.	"hands"	Kumi Koda	Katsumi Ohnishi	h-wonder	4:24
6.	"Hearty..."	Kumi Koda	Yasuo Ohtani	Yasuo Ohtani	3:32
7.	"SHAKE IT"	Kumi Koda	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	3:48
8.	"Kiseki"	Kumi Koda • Kosuke Morimoto	Kosuke Morimoto	Reo Nishikawa	4:59
9.	"Trust You"	Kumi Koda • Toru Watanabe	Toru Watanabe	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	4:27
10.	"Chase"	Kumi Koda • Kazuhiro Hara	Kazuhiro Hara	h-wonder	5:00
11.	"LOVE HOLIC"	Kumi Koda	Tsutomu Yamasaki	h-wonder	4:25
12.	"24"	Kumi Koda • Hitoshi Shimono	Hitoshi Shimono	Hitoshi Shimono	5:40
13.	"Let's Party"	Hinaco	Junpei Takada	h-wonder	4:40
14.	"Believe"	Kumi Koda	Kaido	Masaki Iehara	4:30
15.	"Through the Sky"	Kumi Koda • Hiroo Yamaguchi	Hiroo Yamaguchi	Hiroo Yamaguchi	5:34

Special Edition Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	arrangement	Length
16.	"It's a Small Word feat. Heartsdales"	Richard M. Sherman • Robert B. Sherman	Richard M. Sherman • Robert B. Sherman		2:46
17.	"Hot Stuff feat. UZI & KM-MARKIT" (確変無想転生 Remix)	Kumi Koda • KM-MARKIT • UZI	Daisuke "D.I" Imai	Sub-Zero	4:17

DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Cutie Honey" (Music Video)
2.	"Chase" (Music Video)
3.	"Kiseki" (Music Video)
4.	"Selfish" (Music Video)
5.	"SHAKE IT" (Music Video)
6.	"24" (Music Video)
7.	"Hands [Album Version]" (Music Video)
8.	"Trust You" (Music Video)
9.	"Hot Stuff feat. KM-MARKIT" (Music Video)

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Chart	Peak position	First week sales	Sales total	Chart run
February 9, 2005	Oricon Daily Charts
	Oricon Weekly Charts	3	186,377	600,201	56 weeks
	Oricon Monthly Charts
	Oricon Yearly Charts	22

Alternative versions

Let's Party
"Let's Party": Found on the album (2005)
"Let's Party [KOZM® Remix]": Found on Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 5 (2013)

Trust You
"Trust You": Found on the album (2005)
"Trust You [Dub's Trust me Remix]": Found on single "Hot Stuff feat. KM-MARKIT" (2005)

Selfish
"Selfish": Found on the album (2005)
"Selfish [D.I's C&B MIX]": Found on single "Hot Stuff feat. KM-MARKIT" (2005)
"Selfish [ALKA-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[5]

"Hearty..." was used as the promotional theme for the KOJIMA Ltd. product Fresh Gray 2005.[6]

"Trust You" was used as MTV Japan's buzz ASIA theme for March 2005.[7]

"24" was used as the theme song for SANCTUARY/Otona no Seiiki (サンクチュアリ/大人の聖域)[8]

"Let's Party" was used for the television advertisement of Shueisha's MORE.[9]

"It's a Small World feat. Heartsdales" was used as the theme song for Japan's release of the 2004 film 80 Days.[10]

References

1. "secret / KODA KUMI". Oricon. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
2. "Koda Kumi - Cutie Honey". Youku. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
3. "secret special edition for live (men's one-size black t-shirt included)(with DVD)". Amazon Japan. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
   - "secret special edition for live (women's one-size turquoise tank-top included)(with DVD)". Amazon Japan. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
4. "Koda Kumi - 24 (lyrics)". JPopAsia. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
5. "20th East Women's Ekiden". Dwango. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
6. "[CM] Kojima fresh gray 2005 (BMG: Koda Kumi Hearty)". Tudou. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
7. "TAIAPPU MYUJIKKU". Seesaa Music. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
8. "SANCTUARY/Otona no Seiiki". NTVM. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
9. "Let's Party (Koda Kumi) animelomix". Animelo. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
10. "80 DAYS (2004)". All Cinema. Retrieved January 28, 2016.