TRICK

「TRICK」　・　倖田來未

01. INTRODUCTION FOR TRICK｜02. TABOO｜03. show girl｜04. Your Love｜05. stay with me｜06. This is not a love song｜07. Driving｜08. Bling Bling Bling feat. AK-69｜09. That Ain’t Cool feat. Fergie｜10. Hurry Up!｜11. Moon Crying｜12. JUST THE WAY YOU ARE｜13. Joyful｜14. 愛のことば｜15. Venus

TRICK is the seventh studio album by Koda Kumi, released in Japan on 1/28/2009, a year after her last album. The album, presently, charted at the top position on the Oricon charts and has sold over 350k.

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After saying things that are, let’s face it right now-really bad, universally bad even, what are you supposed to do? Apologize of course. But when you make a comment about rotting amniotic fluid that, yeah, whether you want to admit it or not, is offensive, you apologize to all of Japan. Considering Kumi did that and most women in Japan still hate her, it’s to be commended that she bothered getting up on her feet after all. And although TRICK is not necessarily the ultimatum in Koda’s disocography, it’s a perhaps…more glorified attempt than it’s predecesors. Whether to show that’s she’s moved on, or whether she’s trying to prove some sort of viable point is not the matter at hand. It’s how she did this.

The album differs from her previous attempt (Kingdom, if you wanted the name) in that it doesn’t try to be forced. The problem with Kingdom is that Kumiko tried to force herself to surpress any fun or suggestive part of herself in an effort to be mature. But in music, that’s a bit of a no-no. It’s always best to be yourself. This album is also decisively faster, sharper, and more well-rounded, with songs that conflict enough to be seperate without crashing the entire album. And of course, this album shows all facets of Koda’s personality, and is also a great album to introduce to people. Contrary to those who say this album is a piece of crap and Kingdom was her magnum opus, this is an exceptionally good album to immerse one’s self in immediately. The tracks are of good length for the kind of songs they are – not too long, not too short, and the fact that Kumi experimented with this album really won it over for me. She literally tries a new genre in every track (okay, maybe that’s exaggeration…)!

The bona fide introduction is a shout-out to party people, the next track is a gay pride anthem, and the one after that is a self-indulgent dance track about embracing who you are (or just being a gold digging ho). To have these three open the album was definitely a good start. Sadly…it gets a little more downhill from there. But there are still some gems that are present in this album. The chill-out R&B fusion atmosphere of This is not a love song, complete with bitchy sass flavor, the futuristic-ness of Driving, hell, even the obnoxious Bling Bling Bling rings with some level of quality (although that’s ultimately debatable). The only bad things I found with this album were the overbearing presence of some of the tracks and the fact that Fergie is “featured” too much in the album as a whole (yeah, it’s for one song, but still). None of the material here is really what anyone should consider dull or lifeless. In fact quite the opposite. As a consequence, some complain that Kumi has gone “too” pop.

This album is a testament that Kumi responds: “I could care less. Go DIAF.”

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PRETTY GREAT

Best Song: TABOO｜Driving｜Hurry Up!

Best Medley: INTRODUCTION FOR TRICK~TABOO~show girl