Grow into One is the second studio album released by Japanese R&B-turned-pop singer Koda Kumi, released on March 19, 2003. It barely peaked in the Top 10 on Oricon, coming it at #8, and charted for forty-three weeks. The album also contained, at the time, one of her best-selling singles, "Real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba". Combined with the singles, the album has sold over half a million copies in Japan. The album featured rap duo Clench & Blistah and urban contemporary singer and producer Lisa, who had been featured on Kumi's single "Maze", after having just split from her founded hip-hop group M-Flo.
Background and composition
Grow into One was released one year after her debut albumAffection. The album was predominately R&B with the only pop songs being those she performed for Final Fantasy X-2, which was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2003. Those songs were "real Emotion" and "1000 no Kotoba". The only other pop song was "To Be One", which was used in some of the online advertising for Final Fantasy X-2. There was one B-side to make it to the album: the song "One," which featured reggae artist and music producer Lisa, and was originally released on Kumi's single "Maze". The album also contained her first collaboration attempt with Japanese rappers Clench & Blistah with the first track, "Teaser." She would later feature Blistah for several works and collaborate with the duo for their own songs, most notably her song "Candy" and Clench & Blistah's song "Stands Up!." Concerning the success stemming from Final Fantasy X-2, Koda stated, "Although my second album, which I released directly after "Real Emotion" … the singles I released afterwards ranked outside of the top 10." Koda Kumi was hopeful for her Grow into One album due to the success of "Real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba". Due to the album gaining attention by charted in the Top 10, she began to push herself in her later singles. However, none of the following singles followed the success of "real Emotion", with Koda saying, "Because my hopes had been so high, the fall was really too hard."
Release
Grow into One was released in a standard and limited edition. The former contained the standard fourteen tracks, while the latter contained a Final Fantasy X-2 trading card and an unpublished, alternate arrangement of "1000 no Kotoba", was used during the ending credits of the game and had been placed on the second disc of the Final Fantasy X-2 Original Soundtrack. She would later be placed on her third compilation album in 2007.
Reception
Grow into One peaked at number eight on the Oricon Albums Chart, becoming her first album to chart in the top ten. It remained on the chart for nearly ten months. Between the album and the preluding singles, the total sales reached over 500,000.
Music videos for several songs on Grow into One were released alongside the DVD7 Spirits, which included music videos for the songs "Love Across the Ocean", set in a futuristic setting with Kumi being sent to earth, "Maze", set in an airport with Kumi being evaluated by a psychologist, and "Real Emotion", set in the Final Fantasy world of Spira.
