Today Utada Hikaru's English album debut is released in stores. Well not really her first attempt, but mainstream attempt to the American market. Therefore, I thought it would be a perfect time to do a review, especially if you were even considering on purchasing the album. In related news, BOA Korean superstar who has ventured and captured the Japanese market also released her English Album in the American market. So sit back, read the reviews and hopefully it will help you decide if the albums are worth the purchase.
Utada- This is the One
The album surprised me. After hearing Utada's first attempt at an American release, I honestly was expecting the second release to flop, utterly flop... But I was wrong. To me, this was a success. As a die hard Utada Hikaru fan from her Japanese Release of the hit single "Automatic," I have been an avid follower/fan from the jump. Therefore, to avoid any biasness in this review, I decided to ask a few friends to give me their feedback, being that they have never heard of Utada in their life.
First lets talk about the positives. After reading a bit about the production of the album I found that Utada has branched out to some top producers Stargate and Tricky who have produced tracks for Mariah, Britney, and Madonna. To me this shows throughout the album, as the production and lyrics are a lot better. Some fans critique this as a bad thing as it shows that Utada has "sold out" from no longer strictly writing and producing her own songs. However, I don't see this as a bad thing at all. A lot of her songs are still written and produced only by Utada but she is dealing with a whole new market and let alone a new language. What she is used to with the Japanese market and Japanese songwriting won't necessarily work with the mainstream American market. Utada still made most of this album, but just got some help from the pros that knows the mainstream market more. Nothing wrong with that.
My favorite tracks include "Apple and Cinnamon" and "Come back to me" Both are very catchy, and needed for airplay in the states.
Now a few negatives. I really hate the cover of the album. I saw a few other shots that they took for the album and would take those over the one they chose. When you are going for a mainstream release, you need to catch the consumers eye, and this cover definately does not do that. Epic fail on whoever chose this cover. Second, I think the marketing is horrible on Utada's team. "Come Back to Me" is catchy and definately radio worthy on pop stations, yet you don't hear it on a heavy rotation. I guess its our jobs as fans to request it in. Utada's marketing team should have got her name out there a lot more, and push to have her on as many radio shows, tv interviews, collaborations with other artists, etc. As they say, "go big or go home."
One other small gripe I had was the genre of music. I know Utada is a pop/R&B artist, more heavy on the pop side. But it would be good to see her release some tracks that are more R&B heavy. Like a solid R&B ballad opposed to a pop-like one. Half her Japanese debut album was heavy R&B tracks, would be good to hear a similar style in her English songs as well. A lot of the songs are also missing the "bump" that other pop songs, maybe the producers behind the boards should pump up the bass and treble in their production.
Lastly, I would really have loved to see more collaborations on the album. There were a few tracks that could have used a nice rap verse or collabo. Being that the album was released on Island DefJam records, im sure they could have signed someone to be on some of the tracks that could put Utada in a good light and give her more of that mainstream push. Maybe like a Lil Wayne, Pharrell, Keyshia Cole, or even another Japanese artist collabo that's trying to get out there in the American market like Verbal from M-flo. Imagine how great an Utada track would sound with a Rihanna collaboration! Why not? They're both DefJam artists.
Overall, great start to a possible American release attempt. I recommend buying the album and supporting the artist. Hopefully, we will see more of Utada in America in the future.
BOA- BOA
Another album that I was surprised with. I was expecting the very worst from this album, but the production definately keeps it together. There are some solid dance tracks on the record including its hit Single "I Did it for Love." One thing that I feared prior to giving the album a chance was that I believed BOA's "fobby" accent will drown out the lyrics of the songs and that will bother me the most and distract me from actually appreciating the piece. This was not the case however. It turns out that with the right production, and autotune, they were able to 'mask' that "fobby" accent to sound pretty legitimate. The tracks sound similar to a Lady Gaga track with solid beats and good production. Just like Utada's marketing sucked so did this one. I didn't even know the album came out, and its been out since March 17th! However, I feel its definately worth a listen. Not quite immediate purchase material, but you may like, you might not. Overall, I liked it.
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