The recent popularity of cover albums, such as JUJU's "Request" or Koda Kumi's "ETERNITY~Love&Songs~", have sparked an influx of fans seeking the original artists and their lyrics.

Utanet, a popular lyrics portal, has witnessed a substantial increase in users searching for the original lyrics of these covers. Take, for example, "First Love" - it was originally by Utada Hikaru, but was recently covered by JUJU. From the month of September to October, searches for the song increased 24%. "First Love" was Utada's massive breakthrough track from early spring of 1999, and solidified her place as a 'history maker' on the Japanese music scene.

However, a more dramatic example can be seen in "Ienai yo", originally sung by Hiromi Go and covered by Koda Kumi. During the month of September, there were barely any searches for the lyrics. Yet Koda Kumi's cover contributed to a 61% increase in searches from September to October. Interestingly enough, the majority of searches were said to be done by the 10~20 year-old age group, indicating that there's more awareness about the original tracks.

The popularity of covers has once again been revived, as some tracks have exceeded expectations and gone on to sell more than 350,000 copies already.

Yet there's a drawback to the phenomenon.�Although the cover artist receives many benefits, it comes at the expense of the original artist in the form of being overshadowed. Fuyumi Sakamoto's cover of "Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru" is one such example, as many people overlook the fact that the song, originally released in 2007, was by the band Billy Banban.

Source: Barks