Shizuka Kudo makes 'comeback' with 20th anniversary album

Sunday 27th July, 06:00 AM JST

TOKYO —

Singer Shizuka Kudo, 38, who is married to SMAP star Takuya Kimura, 36, will release an album in which she sings the songs of renowned folk singer Miyuki Nakajima, 56, on Aug 20. The album is being released to mark the 20th anniversary of Kudo’s solo debut.

The album “My Precious – Shizuka sings songs of Miyuki” features 14 Nakajima songs which Kudo has chosen as part of her “comeback.” In an official comment, Kudo said, “I hope fans will feel that my singing has something much more than when I started.

Latest 15 of 19 Total Comments Show All

presto345 at 11:57 AM JST - 27th July

Disagreed, mr bear. What isn't your taste does not merit your degraded regurgitated stink. A little more civility and a different choice of words would make your comment more believable. Shizuka was one of the biggest idols in Japanese pop history with her fame stretching to Taiwan and Hong Kong. I wish her success with her comeback.
presto345 at 12:12 PM JST - 27th July

The fact that she has chosen to sing the songs of another person for such an important "comeback" proves it. And then she has the audacity to go on to say, “I hope fans will feel that my singing has something much more than when I started", absolute rubbish!

marvenp, How about saving your comment until you have bought and heard the music? Kudo appreciates Nakajima's music, got the latter's approval and recorded her (Kudo's) version. Something that has happened since before Mozart. What's wrong with that? A person's statement can only be labeled 'Rubbish' when the evidence is in. Recordings of other artists' music have often been found better liked than the originals.
Pukey2 at 12:26 PM JST - 27th July

The album “My Precious –

Oh well, thank god it wasn't something like 'Dear My Precious'
romulus3 at 01:49 PM JST - 27th July

akaguma san is correct. Japanese people cannot express emotion, not even through music, and if there is a star who expresses true emotion, the public say "it too sad, why sing like this?, it makes everyone depressed".

Tatemae (建前)is the order of the day and is reflected in every sense of this society
lipscombe at 06:44 PM JST - 27th July

again, agreed akaguma. she is rubbish, a piece of merchandise.
DenshaDeGO at 08:52 PM JST - 27th July

Couldn't find a worse picture of her?
Sarge at 09:01 PM JST - 27th July

"Couldn't find a worse picture of her?"

Apparently not. This is a bad one all right.
ExPrinceska at 09:04 PM JST - 27th July

she has only one ear ring... This reminds me how I lost one of my earrings in the passion of the night.
presto345 at 10:19 PM JST - 27th July

again, agreed akaguma. she is rubbish, a piece of merchandise.

Go wash your cavity with soap. Your mother is ashamed of you.

Couldn't find a worse picture of her?

Show us your family album.

she has only one ear ring... This reminds me how I lost one of my earrings in the passion of the night.

Now that is the news we wish to hear. Ask pukey.
narnia1963 at 12:29 AM JST - 28th July

honestly, i would have never read this article if they hadn't added 'wife of kimura takuya' on to the headline.
marvenp at 04:26 AM JST - 28th July

presto345 obviously you're a biased fan of hers (Shizuka) but you should pay more attention to detail before you get defensive about your idol. What I said was that it is rubbish to put out something as important as 20 year Anniversary Album with nothing but cover songs from another artist and then expect your fans so see something special and/or different in you as an artist.

The fact that you think this is OK, only proves that you must be as shallow and as vain as she is. I buy an artist's music because they are bringing something different to the table. And yes artists often copy and/or pay tribute to other artists but to just be lazy and do a bunch of cover songs for 20 year comeback album shows no sense of creativity or appreciation for your fans. As a fan of hers, you should be offended.

Also you make the assumption that I haven't heard her music, so let me set the record straight, not only have I heard her music, I've worked with her as well as most Japanese artists and I still think her music like most other J-Pop artists lacks any substance or creativity. J-Pop as a genre stinks. 99.9% of J-Pop artist can't sing a note and they all sing in a high pitched falsetto through nostrils with no real diaphragm control (totally irritating). Their voices on the CD are computer processed to get them in the right key, they actually sound horrific live. That's because most of them make it on cute looks rather than their ability to actually sing. Shizuka was, is and will be no different.
thepro at 09:47 AM JST - 28th July

And Kimura Takuya is a bloody annoying little marketing machine, laughing all the way to the bank because people fall for his 'nice guy' image while he hocks instant noodles and hair wax all over the TV networks.
stanoue at 05:40 PM JST - 28th July

Hey...Kimura Takuya has some skills. And his wife wasn't famous for nothing. Besides the fact, that to be everywhere like Kimura Takuya is - which you complain about - means a hell of a lot of work. Ever heard of tall poppy syndrome? A lot of you've got it.
chardk1 at 07:12 PM JST - 28th July

Kudo Shizuka was pretty marginal in her alleged prime. I love the people who say "you can't call her a talentless hack, she sold some records and got on TV!" Yeah, clearly if you accomplished that it proves that you are more than a pretty face. The Japanese agencies pay these starry-eyed wannabe stars nothing. That's how they get ultra rich, by selling nothing but dreams of glory to the performers and to the audience and pocketing all the profits. They don't need (or want, really) for their talent to be more than a pretty face, it gums up the business model. You can like Japanese entertainment all you want, but if you honestly believe that these 99% of these "tarentos" are a whole lot more than flavor-of-the-month muppets, you don't know enough about the business to comment on it usefully.
lipscombe at 11:15 AM JST - 29th July

hey presto allakhazam abracadabra...ahh no, wait she's still rubbish