BoA - The First Album

[eri]

[quote name='Valerie' post='62193' date='Mar 13 2009, 10:40 AM']They're promoting her on the Forever 21 website now:

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



Ahh how nice! It might be because F21 founders are Korean immigrants so maybe they know about BoA already.

[BeForJess]

I kinda like I Did It For Love, but it's a little too digitized, for me. She's a good singer, so I don't think it's to fix her pitch so much as maybe hide her accent? You can't really tell that she has one in that because it's so computerized. But, I have not heard any of the other tracks yet, so that's just a guess. It also could be because that digital sound has been made popular by a lot of artists over here, like Rihanna, Kanye, etc. I jus wish they had turned it down a little bit, while still preserving the general feel of the song.



I doubt we'll ever get something like Shine We Are over here ( <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />), but I'm glad to see her trying to break into the market.

[tsukinobyouin]

[quote name='BeForJess' post='62268' date='Mar 14 2009, 09:55 PM']I kinda like I Did It For Love, but it's a little too digitized, for me. She's a good singer, so I don't think it's to fix her pitch so much as maybe hide her accent? You can't really tell that she has one in that because it's so computerized. But, I have not heard any of the other tracks yet, so that's just a guess. It also could be because that digital sound has been made popular by a lot of artists over here, like Rihanna, Kanye, etc. I jus wish they had turned it down a little bit, while still preserving the general feel of the song.[/quote]



I don't think this particular function of auto-tune is always used to cover bad pitch. It definately can function that way, but I think it's often used just as an effect. For example, if you look back to Cher's Believe - only a few lines in the song used auto-tune, and they weren't even the most difficult lines in the song. In that case, it's just a nifty effect for a line or two, kind of like throwing in some cowbell <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> I think it's as you said - the digital sound has become popular, so it'll get used tons even if the vocalist doesn't have any pitch issues.

[fpd]

Can't wait till tomorrow! I had it delivered to my home so it would give me an excuse to go see my parents haha.

[Sabaku Ika]

downloading in iTunes AS WE SPEAK!



edit: First Impressions:



I Did it For Love - I'd heard it before, but it really is catchy. The robot voice adds additional depth and dramatic tension. Can a robot do anything for love? I hope so.



Energetic - It's... energetic. I like it. The male robot voice seems to be uncredited. Do robots deserve credit?



Did Ya - This one's a little different. Also catchy, but in a different way. The poor robots weren't even invited. I think there should be a question mark in the song title. Procrastination is bad.



Look Who's Talking - Chow mein and caviar? Instrumental version would be nice, but as is, it's kind of obnoxious. I know who's talking and don't need a reminder. The album was almost named after this one, according to Wikipedia. Glad they changed it.



Eat You Up - Yay cannibalism. "I fear it and it's scaring me" is redundant, but that's ok. It sounds good.



Obsessed - Welcome back, roBoA. This is good. Pleasant lyrics about mental illness.



Touched - A sequel to Obsessed, possibly. Insanity evolved into sexual frustrastion. It's OK.



Scream - I wonder if I'd like this more on it's own. It is maybe too much like other songs before it. I think it's about the movie Alien.



Girls On Top - Of all the older BoA songs to use here, I'm not sure why they chose this one. Is this who you are? You're true self generic is generic and annoying.



Dress off - Nifty electronic sounds. Kind of dirty. Is she wearing a dress? I don't know.



Hypnotic Dancefloor - Catchy. Better than last few songs. About impending mortality and/or dancing.



Eat You Up (DJ Escape and Johnny Vicious Remix) - Not as good as the original. It's faster and maybe more danceable as would be expected. Yay cannibalism.



Whole thing - Up to Obsessed - A, after Obsessed - C+

Overall - Glad I bought it.

[neshcom]

I don't wanna write out a whole album review here, but in one sentence: I really enjoy this albums club and dance feel. Compared to This is the One (because that's a fair comparison, right?), this is a little more dance and TITO is more soulful and has more slow songs.

[AEUGNewtype]

Just like Utada's American release, almost no stores whatsoever are carrying this. I work at a media store that often gets obscure releases and there's no sign of it here (though it is in our inventory system and our website,) and when I go look on Best Buy's website to search for what stores have it in stock, there's like one out of every 20 stores that even have one copy. The only other stores that even sell music anymore are things like Borders (they don't even have it in their online system,) Wal-mart (don't even have it in their online system) and Target (have it in their online system but its unlikely to be in stores) and small indie places, which are usually pretty niche towards a certain style of music or scene anyway, so those are also very unlikely to have it. This really raises the question of what the hell is the point of an "American release" if its not even close to being readily available to those who want it. These releases are starting to look more like Tofu Records every day. Just a novelty for niche fans.

[tsukinobyouin]

[quote name='The☆AEUGNewtype' post='62427' date='Mar 17 2009, 07:40 PM']Just like Utada's American release, almost no stores whatsoever are carrying this.

[....]

This really raises the question of what the hell is the point of an "American release" if its not even close to being readily available to those who want it.[/quote]



That's pretty dissapointing =/ I remember hearing about how Eat You Up did well in iTunes sales, so maybe that's the route they're going with the album. I guess that's a forward-looking aproach - i.e. more and more people are buying digital downloads than physical CDs so why not cash in on that market. The problem with that is, we're not quite fully there yet. Artists still need a ton of promotion to "make it" in America, and part of promotion is having a big ass rack full of your CD in every store. I'm hopeful that they're just testing the waters with her first few releases by mainly selling through iTunes and not investing yet in printing a bunch of physical copies until they see that she's got a real chance fo selling them. If not though, I agree with you, there's no point at all other than to brag about it back in Asia.



...I never expected to have so much hope for BoA, an artist I used to hate with a passion XD

[Cyrene]

Apparently next weekend BoA will be performing at City Walk in Studio City, CA (where Universal Studios is). I heard about it on KISS-FM and it's a HUGE thing because KISS is a big radio station here. Jojo I believe will be there (as a host maybe?) and I want to go but I have work <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />. I believe it's this saturday at 6 PM but I am not sure.



Go support BoA!!

[AEUGNewtype]

[quote name='TnB' post='62429' date='Mar 17 2009, 07:45 PM']I remember hearing about how Eat You Up did well in iTunes sales, so maybe that's the route they're going with the album. I guess that's a forward-looking aproach - i.e. more and more people are buying digital downloads than physical CDs so why not cash in on that market. The problem with that is, we're not quite fully there yet. Artists still need a ton of promotion to "make it" in America, and part of promotion is having a big ass rack full of your CD in every store. I'm hopeful that they're just testing the waters with her first few releases by mainly selling through iTunes and not investing yet in printing a bunch of physical copies until they see that she's got a real chance fo selling them.[/quote]

This is very true, and its pretty unclear what their long-term plan is right now, but its a pretty un-agressive approach, which is the opposite of what you need to succeed in the American pop market. The horseshit album Britney Spears released a few months ago is still a nation-wide top seller just because the combination of how it is marketed, how it fits in with the generic dance/pop mold of other recently popular artists, and because of the stupid tabloid celebrity status she has. The same reason people go see new Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie movies when they come out. Its not because of their acting abilities.

[neshcom]

Maybe they're just focusing on a digital distribution route because it's cheap to distribute and more available to consumers at any one time. I don't listen to the radio, but I've seen absolutely no TV commercials at all. I think this is going to be another 'they didn't sell it enough' situation, but, from my very narrow scope of the American music market, album sales are usually long-term, rather than focusing on the first week and rankings. I think these two albums need more singles and PVs before they really break through.

[strawberryjam]

I don't listen to radio or watch TV. But I saw a BoA poster promoting her album on my walk from home! I don't know if it's worth noting. I go to UC Berkeley and it's predominantly Asian school anyways. Oh well, I found it very exciting. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /weeeh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />

[AEUGNewtype]

[quote name='strawberryjam' post='62435' date='Mar 17 2009, 08:37 PM']I don't know if it's worth noting. I go to UC Berkeley and it's predominantly Asian school anyways.[/quote]

<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> Yup. You are fairly correct to question the relativity of the nation-wide marketing just based on that in your area. I'm sure the marketing and availability of this is way higher in California, y'know, given their Asian population. I'm starting to wonder if the actual Forever 21 stores might have copies in the store, etc. or if it was just an online tie-in. There's one up in Woodfield pretty close to here.

[sadude]

I picked this up today! I was out for lunch walking around and remembered that this CD came out today, so I headed to J&R, and, surprisingly they had it in stock. I bought it, and ripped it and started listening to it at my work computer. I only got through the first half, though, and I like what I heard so far. I'll post more impressions after I hear it a few times.

[fpd]

The Garret dumbass needs to stay away from her music. I hated the first two songs on the album, which put me in quite a bad mood, but was relieved when I LOVED the rest of it. After I listened to the rest of the cd and went back through I didn't mind the second song as much, but did it for love is still rather annoying. Probably my favorite song right now is Scream.



Is it just me or is hearing Girls on Top in english really fucking with anyone else's mind? haha I keep kinda singing along with it in my head then going "Wtf is this language?" before it registers that it's english.

[eri]

<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> Yup. You are fairly correct to question the relativity of the nation-wide marketing just based on that in your area. I'm sure the marketing and availability of this is way higher in California, y'know, given their Asian population. I'm starting to wonder if the actual Forever 21 stores might have copies in the store, etc. or if it was just an online tie-in. There's one up in Woodfield pretty close to here.

Yeah - they had Eat You Up broadcast on a mega projector on Wilshire. I never saw it, but I'm guessing it was in Ktown in LA. I'll be shopping at Irvine (mid-OC) this weekend so I'll check out their Forever 21 shop. If it is there then I'll buy it there - but I've never seen Forever 21 sell cds though.

I don't know if it's worth noting. I go to UC Berkeley and it's predominantly Asian school anyways.

Yay my alma mater of like 60% Asian-Americans.

[mizer_unmei]

Utada's first album was actually available in a lot of stores around here (Buffalo, NY), but I went to the 3 main remaining places which sell CDs around here and it was nowhere to be seen. I'm kinda sad that I'll have to order it online. The BoA thread at JPM is pages of people saying how they can't find it near them either.



Utada didn't even get as much promotion as BoA but it seems SM didn't really do their part on getting the CD out in stores. Maybe it's an effect from making music more and more electronically distributed.

[eri]

[quote name='mEri' post='62223' date='Mar 14 2009, 01:38 AM'][quote name='Valerie' post='62193' date='Mar 13 2009, 10:40 AM']They're promoting her on the Forever 21 website now:

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



Ahh how nice! It might be because F21 founders are Korean immigrants so maybe they know about BoA already.

[/quote]



Boa isnt on there anymore....Weird. It has only been a few days too.



By the way, her new music video is previewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb-Qs0uum-M

What do you all think?

[neshcom]

If her next music video isn't for Scream, I'm going to fly to her face and punch the location I will arrive save for a layover in Texas or Nevada possibly.

[fpd]

[quote name='neshcom' post='62454' date='Mar 18 2009, 01:10 AM']If her next music video isn't for Scream, I'm going to fly to her face and punch the location I will arrive save for a layover in Texas or Nevada possibly.[/quote]

This.

I think scream could make a kickass MV. I really would like to see her collab with Justin Timberlake like she said she wants to in the Soompi interview she did. I really think that would make for a KICKASS video/song.

[eri]

http://www.kollaboration.org/images/boa_citywalk.jpg

[ShinUkyo]

[quote name='The☆AEUGNewtype' post='62431' date='Mar 17 2009, 08:10 PM']This is very true, and its pretty unclear what their long-term plan is right now, but its a pretty un-agressive approach, which is the opposite of what you need to succeed in the American pop market. The horseshit album Britney Spears released a few months ago is still a nation-wide top seller just because the combination of how it is marketed, how it fits in with the generic dance/pop mold of other recently popular artists, and because of the stupid tabloid celebrity status she has. The same reason people go see new Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie movies when they come out. Its not because of their acting abilities.[/quote]

Hey now, both Jennifer and Angelina have made some great movies before. It just happens that a majority of their films have been drivel, because that's the kind of stuff that sells better. Same problem with Nicholas Cage. He has made a couple masterworks, but they get overshadowed by the endless amounts of garbage he's been involved with. Then again, you've professed to loving a whole bunch of terrible action movies... and defended them by saying how their entertainment value out-shined their lack of actor credibility. Why should that level of fairness not apply to all movies/actors? And as for the Britney Spears album, I seem to recall her second-to-last album (Blackout) being marketed and produced almost the same way as her new one was. But I also don't recall it selling nearly as well. Why? Because her newer album, Circus, seems to have much better songs on it. And again, in this case, you're a big fan of lotsa recent American pop. Much of which is just as generic, cookie-cutter, and overdone as anything on Britney's album. So don't act like that should change things one way or the other.



I do agree, however, that marketing is still the biggest factor. It's not the only factor needed to succeed, but it definitely is needed. And BoA deserves lots more of it than she has been getting. My points in the above paragraph, well, were more like my contribution to the Anti-Belligerence Patrol.

[nekonoai]

I found my ass moving of its own accord while I was listening to this last night. Aside from all the robo-voice that was mixed in (girlfriend don't need it, but it's the current trend, bleh) I thought it was pretty good. Certainly better than Utada's first US album (I'm talking Precious, here, for those of you who remember THAT little gem).



I really want BoA to blow up over here. I really want her to release more of her Japanese and Korean songs in English. I know there already are a bunch of them, but there could be more. She should totally have released a dual disc album and included all her English mixes on the second disc. Girls on Top is one of my favorite Korean songs. xD



Who'd they get to do the rap bit in the middle?

[tsukinobyouin]

[quote name='mEri' post='62452' date='Mar 18 2009, 12:54 AM']By the way, her new music video is previewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb-Qs0uum-M

What do you all think?[/quote]



It's not bad. The dance is kind of odd in some parts (especially when they break out the fans), and I wish they would have dressed her in a different color from the backup dancers, so she'd stand out more. She's kind of lost in the sea of dancers unless they do a close up. Otherwise, a dance-heavy video is appropriate for the song, so it works.

[nihonjin_berryz]

I wish that she would have did an English version on Girl in the Mirror. That would have been awesome.

[Infinite Loop]

Amazon.ca is listing an April 7th release date, which may explain why I'm not seeing it around here in stores (if the Canadian distribution is slow on this one). Which leaves me to debate holding out for the physical copy or iTunes-ing it.

[kuze]

BoA is quite popular over at the jph!p irc channel. Very cute and a amazing dancer, hope she does well in the US market. Bring on the commercial dubs/cellphone rintones.

[sadude]

[quote name='sadude' post='62442' date='Mar 17 2009, 11:20 PM']I picked this up today! I was out for lunch walking around and remembered that this CD came out today, so I headed to J&R, and, surprisingly they had it in stock.[/quote]

I went back the day after (Wednesday the 18th), and the two CDs that were left when I bought mine were gone. It's not indicative of anything, and it's just two measly copies, but I was surprised at that.



So, this album is fantastic, and it just keeps growing on me. Her English is much, much better than it was when Eat You Up came out, which was a worry back then.

After the first two songs, I was also worried about the album sounding the same in its R&B style with this Sean Garrett guy, but I was quite glad to see that wasn't the case. Here's hoping stores stock this and she does well.



No individual reviews, but I'll mention that "Did Ya" is my favorite song in the whole album. It somehow reminds me of Shakira's "Te Aviso Te Anuncio" [or, Objection (Tango)], especially BoA's singing in it. "Obessed" is another high point as well, and "Look Who's Talking" and "Scream" are rising in rank as well.

[quote name='fpd' post='62445' date='Mar 17 2009, 11:49 PM']Is it just me or is hearing Girls on Top in english really fucking with anyone else's mind?[/quote]

Never heard the original, so nope! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... dancey.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':sideways:' /> I'm wondering what the big deal is with that song. I don't see how it's so special.

[Pflaume]

[quote name='sadude' post='62534' date='Mar 20 2009, 12:35 AM']No individual reviews, but I'll mention that "Did Ya" is my favorite song in the whole album.[/quote]



I knew your taste would be good. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/wub.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':sideways:' />

[jas]

I really like Did It for Love, woo! There are some other nice tracks too.



Unfortunately, the majority of the album gives me this, hmm — cheesy Pussycat Dolls album track feel?