BoA vs. Utada – The Big 180

I don’t know about all you other people thinking over whether Utada or BoA will have the bigger impact on the American music world once their albums are relased, but I think that predicting it just got about ten times harder.

I know Utada isn’t exactly new to the American music industry, having already released two albums over there, but let’s be honest. I don’t think anyone actually knew who she was back when she was Cubic U, and Exodus was, despite being a great album, a flop. This and a whole bunch of other horrible warnings in where she’s taking her musical style have made me pretty scared as to what could happen when This Is The One hits.While at least one fear has been knocked up a few notches, I can take solace in the fact that Utada’s forming a true gimmick for herself.

Honestly, the largest problem here is… well, both Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI and Dirty Desire sound the same. The only difference is the latter is faster, really. This isn’t good as well, because it’s all in a similar R&B style. The good part about this, though, is that you can hear little throwbacks to Exodus and her Japanese career in the backing synths for Dirty Desire. And, well… The song itself is basically THE WORKOUT part 2, which I was instantly excited about, just because that song was so amusingly good that it ended up being one of my favorites on the album. This would be the gimmick I mentioned. So, at the moment, my hopes for This Is The One are SLIGHTLY higher… But I still have my doubts.

Unfortunately, my hopes for BoA are taking a different turn, all thanks to the previews on her main site’s discography. Just click on the little Windows Media Player symbol next to the song name, the English album is near the bottom of the page. I know most of you know this, but this is for those who don’t.

BoA is a toss-up of an album. It’s obvious that I already like Eat You Up, I Did It For Love and what I’ve heard of Look Who’s Talking. When it comes to the rest of the album, from the previews it sounds like the real stand-outs are Did Ya and Obsessed. As much as I hate to say it, most of the other songs sound a bit generic. It’s nice to hear her take on that electronic R&B hybrid everyone seems to be trying lately, but some of the songs aren’t really sounding too good, and others sound too similar. There are some stand-outs there too, but they kind of pale in comparison.

I will also say, Girls On Top was the best choice of a Korean song to bring across, but… The translation period has pretty much made it the most unappealing song lyrically. I’m thankful that the music is intact, but otherwise… I don’t really know what to think.

I know it may be a bit unfair to compare two albums like this when we have a full preview of one and just two of another, but a first impression is always important.

And frankly, Utada’s the winner here. BoA sounds like she could do okay with her album, but honestly, I’m just feeling that Utada will come out on top, if she plays her sound up a bit more for a few tracks. She’s relying a bit too much on that Stargate producing unit, so she’d better not let them churn out all of this crap to make a worse album. Amazingly, I think both of BoA’s good tracks were produced by Bloodshy & Avant… So that’s saying something. she should’ve stuck with them.

Of course, I could be completely wrong and the real tracks will blow me away on both albums, but we’ll see.