BoA - The First Album

[tsukinobyouin]

So apparently BoA is releasing a full-length album in the US on 3/17.



1. I did it for Love

2. Energetic

3. Did Ya

4. Look Who's Talking

5. Eat You Up

6. Obsessed

7. Touched

8. Scream

9. Girls On Top

10. Dress Off

11. Hypnotic Dancefloor



Her US Website has a preview of the first track and lyricist/composer info for each song, but somehow the full track is out so you can download that here.



It's a pretty good song; her accent sounds thicker to me in this than in Eat You Up, mostly in the first verse. Lots of autotune in this one, it kind of reminds me of a track off of Kanye's 808 album but not as angsty. It's another song that I'm not in love with right away (mostly because it's so repetative), but I have a feeling it'll grow on me like Eat You Up did.

[mizer_unmei]

I loved "Eat You Up" when it came out, and I'm obsessed with "I did it for Love". I'm so much more excited for her release than anything Utada's been putting out.

I'm not even that big of a BoA fan, but over the past few months I've really been warming up to her.

[Joel]

[quote name='mizer_unmei' post='61656' date='Mar 7 2009, 12:27 PM']I loved "Eat You Up" when it came out, and I'm obsessed with "I did it for Love".[/quote]



I feel the EXACT same way. I'm totally getting this album, and I can't wait!

[strawberryjam]

Not a big fan of BoA, but I really hope she succeeds. I feel like an excited fan girl. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' />



And I'm liking the song! Kinda wish they didn't use so much autotune because she has a GREAT voice and she show it off. Anyways, I will prolly buy the album.

[sadude]

[quote name='mizer_unmei' post='61656' date='Mar 7 2009, 01:27 PM']I loved "Eat You Up" when it came out, and I'm obsessed with "I did it for Love". I'm so much more excited for her release than anything Utada's been putting out.

I'm not even that big of a BoA fan, but over the past few months I've really been warming up to her.[/quote]

Ditto on that. I'm excited for her continued US releases and the reception she gets here. I hope she does well.

I don't mind the autotune stuff so much, since I've always considered vocals primarily as an instrument and cared little for raw talent and lyrical meaning.



Based on the credits, it's good to see that BoA's US songs can sound good with different people working on them. And this is out in a week and a half? I'm so getting this. I can't wait for the PV for this, either.



Man, I'm buying two American albums in 2 weeks. What is wrong with the world. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ek3run.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' />

[ShinUkyo]

[quote name='sadude' post='61674' date='Mar 7 2009, 01:43 PM']Man, I'm buying two American albums in 2 weeks. What is wrong with the world. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ek3run.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':eekrun:' />[/quote]

America releases TONS of amazing music, every week... and it never stopped doing so. The problem is, that a lot of it is not mainstream radio stuff. Most of what we see in mainstream, of course, is garbage and/or copycat artists. But it's been this way for decades, really. It's just more apparent and obnoxious in the last ten years or so. But back on topic... I will definitely buy this album once I have money again. I've actually missed out on a lot of really good American stuff, having zero money to spend (since over a year ago). Thank god American albums are so cheap, so one day I could try and catch up. Unlike on all the Japanese stuff I've missed. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />

[Jessui]

That cover is awesome! I really hope she does well.

[eri]

After Eat You Up, I completely forgot that BoA had this whole American project. Has she been promoted at all? Was her first song successful? I've heard that Eat You Up hit #1 on the dance billboards and that her video was being projected in KTown in LA, but that is about all. Breaking into the American music scene is so hard. Even Utada couldn't do it and she spoke flawless English! I wish BoA lots of luck and more importantly, some really wonderful promoters.

[neshcom]

I loved Eat You Up and Eien reminded me she has this album coming up. The PV preview for I Didi It For Love is okay, but the song sounds really repetitive. I hope she does well.

[vanillacat]

9. Girls On Top

A cover of her Korean song? Hmm. That could be interesting, but it sounds kind of dated - the song's something like 4 years old, isn't it? Maybe if they did a re-arrangement, because the song has a solid structure, but it sounds... well, very mid-00's SM Entertainment (compare it to TVXQ's "O", for example). I'm pretty sure it was modeled after American hits of the time - Usher's "Yeah!" comes to mind - but I don't know how well that'll go over these days.

Oh well, it's just an album track, it's not like non-pre-existing fans will judge her off of it. It would be pretty awesome if she did a live performance of it, though - the dance is HAWT.

[story]

I Did It For Love is quite repetitive but it's also pretty catchy. The pv looks pretty slick. She dances with canes, hats, chairs AND fans!



Eat You Up took a while to grow on me and Look Who's Talking was not bad.



I'm quite looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.

[sadude]

Where are you guys getting the PV preview from? A link would be nice.



This looks pretty good. I wonder how receptive people will be to it if a music video channel existed on which for them to show it.

[surasshu]

Her "US" sound kicks ass and is somewhat original, without being too weird to succeed. I really think she nailed it and it's basically up to the promoters to get her on the air and in the public eye--I really think she has a chance. I'm not the biggest BoA fan ever but I really hope she doesn't bomb, I think she did a good job.

[Liana]

You know, for someone who loves R&B, I never got into Eat You Up and this isn't that interesting to me either. They're both really predictable and boring. I'm still excited for her debut and CD, just to see what happens!

[makky]

I've always liked BoA, but never been a huge fan of hers. This has changed drastically for me since I heard "Eat You Up." I sincerely think she has a chance to make it here, and I hope she does.



I bought Utada's US album a few years back when she first released it, but IMHO, it was "too weird" for mainstream success. I personally thought it was awesome and still listen to it, but I can see why she didn't have much success. Their PR people really need to get with it, though. These artists don't just promote themselves! That's just not how the music scene over here works, and I think they know that. Which is why I'm still confused as to the lack of promotion for Utada when she debuted here.



I mean, I bought her CD at a Wal-Mart, but I never heard any of her stuff on the radio, and never saw anything on VH1 or MTV about it. I only even knew about it because of the internet and because I'm already a fan of hers. What the hell were her promoters doing, anyway?

[surasshu]

[quote name='Makky' post='61883' date='Mar 9 2009, 06:47 PM']Their PR people really need to get with it, though. These artists don't just promote themselves![/quote]

This is ultra-true. For Utada I think they didn't know what to target her at--indie alternative pop, "Japanophile" underground stuff, mainstream r'n'b... something else entirely? It was too incoherent to be anything that's easy to grasp. Of course I'm somewhat biased when it comes to Utada, but I think I can say with some certainty that her album was a mess. Anyway, there's no such confusion for BoA's English work: it's mainstream MTV-style pop music. The promotion team should have no problem getting her on the air and on TV, and if they don't it's due to their failure to perform their jobs.

[makky]

[quote name='///' post='61884' date='Mar 9 2009, 12:52 PM'][quote name='Makky' post='61883' date='Mar 9 2009, 06:47 PM']Their PR people really need to get with it, though. These artists don't just promote themselves![/quote]

This is ultra-true. For Utada I think they didn't know what to target her at--indie alternative pop, "Japanophile" underground stuff, mainstream r'n'b... something else entirely? It was too incoherent to be anything that's easy to grasp. Of course I'm somewhat biased when it comes to Utada, but I think I can say with some certainty that her album was a mess. Anyway, there's no such confusion for BoA's English work: it's mainstream MTV-style pop music. The promotion team should have no problem getting her on the air and on TV, and if they don't it's due to their failure to perform their jobs.

[/quote]



I completely agree with you that her album was a mess! There was no central genre, as you stated. It felt like she was grabbing at random things she enjoyed and tossing them into a blender, hoping that the end-result would propel her to fame in the US. Obviously, she isn't the only one to blame for her album's non-success, but it really did feel like everyone involved was trying to do too much without enough medium.



I sincerely hope that BoA's promotions people are competent enough to assure her success here.



EDIT: Am I the only one who thinks that the cover for this album, while nice and incredibly marketable, looks exactly like every other BoA cover in recent memory? I'm thinking specifically of her Outgrow era. But then again, I thought her and Hamasaki Ayumi's covers looked very similar for awhile around that same time as well. Perhaps it's just a trend...

[fpd]

Already pre-ordered it, but too late to be in the first 100 from SOOMPI <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' /> But oh well, still super excited!



Although @ I did it for love: SHUT THE FUCK UP WITH THE AUTO TUNE AMERICA. Christ that shit is old. The video/song makes me worry that she's going to be swept under the rug as another Britney Spears copycat, and I certainly hope she is not marketed as such. I was worried when the Diane Montel version of Eat You Up came out, and then was really happy when they used the Korean version, as that seemed like they didn't want to do the whole OH LOOK ANOTHER SLUTTY SINGER angle, but this video kinda makes me wonder if they really are going to go that way... I certainly fucking hope not.



The more I listen to did it for love the more I'm regretting pre-ordering. I certainly hope that the album is a lot more like Eat You Up than this pile of shit generic dance mix shit. I'm trying my hardest to like it because it's BoA, but jesus, it's the exact same sound as EVERY other song I've heard on net radio lately, but with Auto Tune, which just makes it god awful.

[freezingkiss]

I've been a BoA fan almost as long as I've liked MM (5+ years now), and it just excites me so so much that she is getting this out there. Apparently she has been quite successful in the dance charts. Her songs are just awesome. Eat you Up is fantastic! I Did it for Love is a bit repetitious but I still like it. BoA could appeal to America if she keeps trying, I think that in the long run she will get a fanbase who don't even know about her brilliant Japanese albums and her smashing Korean albums, I wonder, if she has an American concert, that she will do some of them in the other languages?



Maybe not the first time, but once she gets popular she might.

[fpd]

[quote name='freezingkiss' post='61926' date='Mar 10 2009, 12:48 AM']I've been a BoA fan almost as long as I've liked MM (5+ years now), and it just excites me so so much that she is getting this out there. Apparently she has been quite successful in the dance charts. Her songs are just awesome. Eat you Up is fantastic! I Did it for Love is a bit repetitious but I still like it. BoA could appeal to America if she keeps trying, I think that in the long run she will get a fanbase who don't even know about her brilliant Japanese albums and her smashing Korean albums, I wonder, if she has an American concert, that she will do some of them in the other languages?



Maybe not the first time, but once she gets popular she might.[/quote]

If she went on a tour and didn't perform any of her stuff in Korean or Japanese I would be sorely disappointed, but I would understand why she didn't. Unless she put out two albums before a concert tour though I wouldn't think she'd have enough material as far as American songs, but of course she has English versions of a lot of her older stuff, which would be a happy middle ground for me.

I'm really on the fence about her debut now as I said in my last post, but even if she ended up putting out all her songs like Did it for Love, I would still buy all her shit and go to concerts just to support her because I really want to see her succeed over here as a gateway to other acts possibly, but I would really hate to be the guy going to concerts saying "well, her american shit sucks, but her korean/japanese stuff is amazing!" cause that would just make me sound like an elitist prick.

[Sabaku Ika]

I intentionally avoided I'll Eat You Up at the time because I knew it would be disappointing. This thread inspired me to actually listen to it and it's surprisingly good! And about one of my favorite subjects! The new song is also pretty catchy, but a little more generic.

[Sabaku Ika]

30 second samples of every song are up in the iTunes store.

[fpd]

[quote name='Woestijn Pijlinktvis' post='61977' date='Mar 10 2009, 08:39 PM']30 second samples of every song are up in the iTunes store.[/quote]

I will be waiting and withholding judgment until I get the album in the mail.

[nekonoai]

I am going to go to an actual STORE and BUY the actual album. Because BoA is THAT awesome. I only hope stores around here will effing CARRY it. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' />



I'll eat her up! \<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ohyeah.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':omgwtf:' />

[fpd]

[quote name='NekoNoAi' post='62023' date='Mar 11 2009, 09:03 AM']I am going to go to an actual STORE and BUY the actual album. Because BoA is THAT awesome. I only hope stores around here will effing CARRY it. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':weeeh:' />



I'll eat her up! \<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ohyeah.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />[/quote]

I wanted to do that, but I wanted to contribute to preorder stats too lol. So I just ordered it online.

[Joel]

[quote name='NekoNoAi' post='62023' date='Mar 11 2009, 08:03 AM']I am going to go to an actual STORE and BUY the actual album. Because BoA is THAT awesome.[/quote]



Me too! If my Wal-Mart carried Utada's first album for a long ass time (I haven't seen it there again recently), I'm sure BoA will be there. I just hope they'll have enough copies. There are a lot of Koreans from where I'm from. Yay! Less than a week away!

[vanillacat]

I feel that I must add that Eat You Up is a fucking difficult dance. The beat is incredibly fast, so it's basically a mildly sexy aerobic workout.



[I've mentioned that I'm doing a song medley with a group of friends at my school's International Night, right?

Well, in a fit of sadistic glee, they decided to tack on about 30 seconds of Eat You Up at the end of the performance to represent "Asian-America". The choreography's not THAT hard, it's just that it's so fast that you're essentially panting by the end... plus, we're coming straight out of a minute~minute thirty of Noona You're So Pretty by SHINee, so we're already exhausted...]



Massive props to her for pulling off all these ridiculous dances while singing so well. I hope to see more lives of Eat You Up or any of the other songs, because she owns the fuck out of them.

[Fina]

In the previews that are up on Itunes, there is a song, "Did Ya", that is driving me nuts. There is a really familiar part that songs exactly like one of the songs from Music and Lyrics (Buddha's Delight, I think) but then I'm also not sure if maybe that's a commonly used musical phrase...I really have no idea how to explain this. Hopefully someone picks up on what I'm saying and can help me out.



Otherwise the previews sound alright. Her accent is better in some of the tracks, but in general they all seem very similar. Techno, fast, dance songs. I would have liked to see a somewhat slow song that highlights her voice at least once on the cd.



I'll probably download better previews when they come out, and if I like it I'll buy it, but so far the tracks seem too repetitive.

[Vikitty]

They're promoting her on the Forever 21 website now:

http://www.forever21.com/Default.asp?cookie_test=1

[strawberryjam]

So exciting to see her there! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



I feel bad for being biased towards underdogs, but now that she is an underdog, I feel interested in her. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /weeeh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />



I feel so giddy. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /weeeh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':weeeh:' />