Tracks:

1. Moon Crying

2. That Ain’t Cool feat. Fergie

3. Once Again

4. Lady Go!

5. Moon Crying (Piano Version)

6. Moon Crying (Instrumental)

7. That Ain’t Cool (Instrumental) feat. Fergie

8. Once Again (Instrumental)

9. Lady Go! (Instrumental)

Koda Kumi’s MOON was released on June 11th, 2008. It’s her 40th single and charted at #2, selling 88,309 copies in its first week. Moon Crying was used as the theme song for the dorama Puzzle.

After a long hiatus from the Kingdom era, Koda Kumi returns with the beautiful Moon Crying. Most of Koda’s previous ballads have been lacklustre and/or not good at all, but this one is quite possibly her best. At some points, it sounds like her voice kinda gives out but it’s not that bad. After about two minutes into the song there is a short beat but that quickly turns back into what it was before. BUT WAIT. It’s back again! Half way through the song it explodes, with the beat and strings. I’m very impressed with her return and can’t wait for even better releases.

One of the weirdest collaborations I have ever seen is That Ain’t Cool feat Fergie. I didn’t even know these two knew each other! This song is completely sexy and quite possibly a guilty pleasure. The first verse is Fergie and she pretty much talks the lyrics. The song itself has a hip-hop/R&B. The song would be ten times better if Koda wasn’t so ENGRISHY. Dear lord this woman needs lessons. Some of her verse features a little Japanese but the song itself is almost in all English.

Once Again is such a let down. I really do not like reggae, AT ALL. This song would be a lot better if it WASN’T REGGAE. Koda’s parts are really nice but her background vocals are BLEH. Totally a turn off Koda, I’m sorry.

Lady Go! is probably my favourite song on the single. The whole song is synthy and Koda’s voice is kinda computerized but it sounds really good. I like that this single has a little something for everyone, so it fits everyone’s style of music.

The piano version of Moon Crying is wonderful. It’s nice just to hear something simple every now and then. I like the way the piano sounds in this song then in the original. Koda’s vocals sound a lot better too.

Overall Grade: