Forum - View topicSound Decision - Last Exodus?
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jmays
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Two ideas: focus less on her Japanese background, and focus more on it. I don't think either is the answer. The real problem is that Utada (or whoever is making the critical decisions) is not embracing Utada, wherever in the culture spectrum she may fall. Without a strong sense of one's self, it's very easy to get lost in the entertainment world (see: Chappelle). She needs to find that anchor again. |
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kezoi13
Posts: 11 |
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I have e-mailed island records and complained and told them to just do something else besides trying to revive the album. I explained how her album just wasn't good and that she should create a new albuma nd listen to the fans. I suggest everyone else does if we ever wanna see some decent english music from her ever again.
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Zoe
 Posts: 898 Location: Austin |
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This was a one-album contract from the start. I doubt we'll ever see that "something else." |
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Beruda
Posts: 114 |
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I don't think this was a terrible cd but I was disapointed. It's not nearly as good as her other releases. Actually I really like Exodus 04' I think she is speaking about her feelings taking this step. I also think it would be a good idea for her to release some of her previous songs in english. They sound like top 40 radio anyway. They could release one song and see what happens, what have they got to loose.
It seems like her handlers are to worried about the fact that she's japanese. They probably don't want any association with anime cause they think she won't be taken seriously. But I think it would have been a good idea for her to perform at one of the conventions like Bonnie Pink and others have done. This way more of her fans would get to see her. The important thing is to get publicity and get her name out there. Well even if she dosen't have huge sucess over here it's not like her career is over or anything. 
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Bruce Lee
 Posts: 715 Location: Seattle, Washington |
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I was disapointed with this new CD, also. Nothing on there that can compare to my favorite songs by her. I know she's still got it - The theme songs for Casshern and Kingdom Hearts are both great and not too old. But I don't think she'll ever really hit it big in the US. All the popular songstresses now are sex-crazed teen-agers, anyways. Besides, it's not like she was made to hit in America, like the Mongolian Chop Squad.
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kezoi13
Posts: 11 |
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Honestly...The only songs I could stomach were "Exodus '04", "Devil Inside", and "Easy Breezy". The rest were just...yeah. I do like her Japanese songs lke "Automatic" and "First Love". I haven't heard all of her songs, but can anyone reccomend some good one's to listen to? I'm open to anything (clearly since I'm listening to Japanese music anyway).
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jmays
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Utada Hikaru in Budokan 2004 is amazing. Here's the track list. They're all worth a listen. 1. Hikari 2. traveling 3. Letters 4. Another Chance 5. In My Room 6. Can You Keep A Secret? 7. Addicted To You [UP-IN-HEAVEN MIX] 8. SAKURA Drops 9. Sunglass 10. Amai Wana - Paint It, Black 11. Movin' on without You 12. Kettobase! 13. Wait & See - Risk 14. COLORS 15. First Love 16. Deep River 17. DISTANCE 18. Uso mitaina I Love You 19. Automatic 20. Shiawase ni narou 21. B&C Someday I'll review the thing...but I know it's gonna be a 3000-word monster. |
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Geoffrey No Jutsu
 Posts: 6 |
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yeah, i dunno...this whole thing is getting blown out of proportion. fact of the matter is, Hikki isn't successful because she's a pop-star trying to win over indie and college kids with some trip-hop-meets-club-pop sound that is just coming off as unnatural. just because artists that are big here can be even bigger in japan, doesn't mean that it's a mirrored situation when massively successful artists such as herself try to cross-over. her voice isn't that great, the music is less than great, and she was marketed to consumers that look to the opposite side of the continent for their music. i guarantee if she would have re-worked something like Hikari in english, and given it a more urban flair, made a sexy video, and done some real pop-star activity, she would have had at least a little spot on TV and her song would have been played. i'm not worried for her, though. She's probably got more money than anyone that i know would ever know how to spend, and this will probably go unnoticed in Japan. i don't mean to come off as a jerk, but think about it...really.
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jmays
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Actually, it's quite the opposite. I dug some more into this story and found a lot of surprising stuff. Keep an eye out for a new column on Tuesday. |
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animefan1977
Posts: 1 |
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Exodus flopped because Island Def Jam never really tried. They thought that she would go into the studio and do an english version of the music she did in Japan. She had almost total control producing this album. She has said in interviews that she felt the Japanese music business stifled her a bit. So when she came here she let loose and experimented. Island was probably caught off guard, but instead of telling her to go back to the drawing board they went with it. I will not be surprised if her future Japanese language stuff sounds somewhat Exodus-like.
Funny thing is that even though the public didn't latch on to it, the critics tended to like it. I think that if the first single would have been Exodus 04 that maybe the album would have done better. Who knows? I am not really worried about it. It was probably more of an experiment than anything else. I am sure that she is gonna continue to release stuff over in Japan. Maybe she will try again over here someday. |
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