Does Koda Kumi’s Black Cherry Rival Ayu’s Secret?

Koda Kumi’s new album’s cover may or may not resemble to Ayumi’s “Secret” – though I do see the similarity, the staying power (at number 1) of this album does rival Ayumi’s RAINBOW. To be honest, I do collect Koda Kumi’s albums and DVDs and enjoy listening to her as a talented young Japanese. But as a rivalry to Ayumi? I listen to this album with a pair of extremely critical ears.

Four years junior of Ayumi, Koda Kumi has already released 35 singles, 5 studio albums, and 3 compilation albums (compares to Ayumi’s 40 singles, 8 studio albums, 3 compilation albums, and countless remixes). Koda Kumi may not have a look that kills, she does have the sex appeal to compensate. Some of her videos are so hot that the CD/DVD comes with a “Mature 18” sticker.

“Black Cherry” is packed with 18 songs of close to 72 minutes and it comes with a sizzling hot DVD as well. Now, I wonder how it can get away with a “PG” sticker (I have linked one of the video at the end of this blog as it is too hot to be placed in my site). My initial reaction to “Black Cherry” was mixed. A good number of songs are the Hip-Hop type – a genre that I don’t in particularly fancy except when I am inside Ministry of Sound. The slow ballads and the rock songs though is a different story as I do enjoy listening to them immensely with a tint of guilt. Perhaps I have this “rivalry” mindset and being too critical. After a few listen to the CD, I do find that the songs are pretty good. Enjoyable with high chance that you will listen to the entire album again and again (like I do). The DVD is pretty good as well although I can say with full confidence that Ayumi’s Secret’s DVD is much better.