Forum - View topicSound Decision - Last Exodus?
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Iron Chef
 Posts: 487 Location: Seattle, WA |
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This sounds like every other attempt by American recording companies to bring over a famous Japanese artist. Instead of trying to put them on equal footing with other American pop artists, they decide to handicap them with the "Japanese" tag. There is no reason that someone like Hikaru Utada or Maaya Sakamoto from being relatively famous over here, other than the stigma of them being JPoppers first and foremost.
Listen guys...if you've got a great pop commodity on your hands, just market them as that! Sure, maybe Asian culture is fun for the now, but pop music will outlast that by a huge stretch. Quit trying to make it so divisive and just group the Utadas and Spears together, right? |
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Godaistudios
Posts: 2075 Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment) |
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heh... nothing wrong with her "re-inventing" herself... as long as she's the one to take the reins and does it on her own.
Of course, with marketing like this - doing it with a vinyl record, with music that has already failed... is bound to doom her all over again. 
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MaestroDelphine
 Posts: 10 Location: Ohio |
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why does she even bother trying??? she's lost so much money and time already and she's going to try it again???? i love Utada but her american debut is just plain horrible!!! i hope she has much better luck this time...and besides 3rd times the charm ,no?
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Kyo
 Posts: 245 Location: OH, USA |
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According to Utada-Online, it's not only going to be released on a vinyl.
According to DJRicoMixShow.com, it appears as though another "Exodus '04" release is imminent. This time, a CD promo, featuring all of the tracks off the just released 12" vinyl, in addition to the previously missing Josh Harris mixes, will all be included for a total of 9 tracks. No word yet on when this will be heading out to DJs and/or radio. 1. JOHS HARRIS POP MIX 2. JOSH HARRIS URBAN MIX 3. JOSH HARRIS ELECTRIK MIX 4. PETER BAILEY REMIX 5. KRIYA VS VELEZ TRANCE MIX 6. KRIYA VS VELEZ ELECTRO HOUSE MIX 7. DOUBLE J EXTENDED MIX 8. JJ FLORES DUB 1 9. JJ FLORES DUB 2 |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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If the report is true, this is a promo disc and not something you can buy in stores. |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Current Amazon.com sales ranks, for your reading pleasure:
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (11/9/04): #1,224 FLCL 2 (9/7/04): #2,536 Wolf's Rain (5/11/04): #3,355 FLCL 1 (1/20/04): #3,178 Utada - "Exodus" (10/5/04): #4,152 Puffy AmiYumi - "An Illustrated History" (5/21/02): #4,724 Last Exile 1 (2/17/04): #6.744 Macross Plus 2 (6/26/01): #7,896 ... Texhnolyze 1 (6/8/04): #113,594 
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Kyo
Posts: 245 Location: OH, USA |
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The "Devil Inside" single started off as a promo cd, I believe.
So i'm hoping the new Exodus '04 single will become a regular single aswell. |
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Rikabu
Posts: 25 |
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I agree with this article 100%.
I've been a fan of Utada's work for over 5 years now, and what her record company is doing to her is a load of crap. She should have alot more say on what she does. 
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Michi
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 741 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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It's so sad. She would sell SO well over here if she took her best Japanese hits and sang them in English (they're already filled with English bits anyway) to give American audiences a taste of her stuff. x_x; If they just let her do that she could be such an international star. Poor girl.
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Colonel Wolfe
 Posts: 370 |
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The proble I see with this is that these 'handlers' are trying to shape her into an American Pop Idol and this could prove disastrous. This seems to also be a problem considering the low sales figures and now the executives are sweating ovcer this because they were possibly looking to follow a business model by labeling her as a Japanese artist.
What does this serve? It's bad publicity no matter how you look at it. Utada needs to look back at the situation, take some time, and tell these handlers and execs how she wants to proceed. I admit I don't know much about this situation but these handlers were hoping to bring some J-Pop singers here in the United STates hoping for an instant cash-cow because the genre is so popular in Japan and at anime cons. I'm reminded of that old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Or am I wrong? |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Yep, that's it in a nutshell. |
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jay saenz
 Posts: 81 Location: Costa Rica |
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I also agree with the article. The Exodus album was terrible... if you compare her work in Japan with her work in the US, you will find a HUGE gap between them... I mean... why people gotta speak english in order to achieve mainstream success in the US. In Japan, people listen to american and british bands and nobody complains about the language... nobody ask for translations and dubbings... Hikki is japanese, she might have been born in NYC, but she was raised as a japanese, and her natural singing is in japanese, not english. So, perhaps, she might quit this attemp to be "american" and stay loyal to her singing work in job in Japan. If Hikki wants to break in the American market, she might try to take advantage of the japanese background instead of been ashamed of it. Right now american pop is really bad, full of empty head britneys and hip hop wannabies and Hikki's jpop could be the blow of fresh air that could put something better in the map.. |
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slickwataris
 Posts: 1334 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois |
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Island records has been screwing over bands for the last several years. Jimmies Chicken Shack for example fought a lawsuit with them for two years because they "couldn't do what they want." Other than that, I don't see why you're complaining about Utada. If she doesn't like the success she has in America, she could just hop a boat back to Japan. You act like she's doing so terrible and the record sales numbers are not in your favor. You neglected to add total record sales which is what really counts when judging an album "successful." First week album sales meen nothing.
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Erufu
 Posts: 191 |
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I totally agree she should bring out some of her old material. Is Puffy singing in Japanese or atleast original format on their CD? I can't remember, but if others are doing, why not her? And, for all the people out there that want it in its original Japanese format, they could make it a 2 disc release with the second disc only costing them what it takes to make them because all the songs are already done. I loved her work in Japanese and was very surprised by her English debut (sort of debut atleast). It sounded nothing like her Japanese recordings. I always thought it was a shame that they didn't tape an English version of her videos while taping a Japanese version (ala Shakira) so that she could use those wonderful creations if she ever came state side. |
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hkrok76
 Posts: 118 |
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Um, they're trying to sell her off as a regular pop singer. "Utada's handlers will not grant interviews to any publication that is related to Japanese pop culture; her publicist told me they were aiming to be 'more mainstream.'"
Singing in Japanese will not get more popular than a novelty in the United States. People like listening to things in a language they can understand. Which is one reason why foreign movies, that aren't dubbed, usually do horribly here(there are exceptions, but exceptions are not the rule). I agree that she should bring over english versions of her Japanese songs though. Unfortunately, that would bring her too close to the jpop category. Jpop and american pop have intrinsically different vibes. Jpop might have similar styles and genres as american pop, but it's just different. Two cultures, two ways of doing the same thing. In the end, an asian pop singer in the US doesn't seem to be that much of a viable product. Puffy Ami Yumi is doing well since they have a cartoon show. They're popular with the kids. Japanese pop artists will be nothing more than a novelty in the US. It's the taste of the audience. How many leading Asian characters do you see on television? The main problem with Utada Hikaru's american career though, is that she just released a horrible album with horrible songs and horrible marketting. Not only that...she doesn't have the sex appeal of certain other foreign artists(like Shakira)....and I don't want her to. I like the Utada Hikaru from her first album, I don't want her turning into a Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. American pop music makes bear sad. Bear go hibernate now. Tatakai wa korekara da! |
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