BoA “The First Album BoA”
01. I Did It For Love (featuring Sean Garrett)02. Energetic
03. Did Ya04. Look Who's Talking05. Eat You Up06. Obsessed07. Touched
08. Scream
09. Girls On Top
10. Dress Off
11. Hypnotic dancefloorPurchase this AlbumThis highly anticipated album, launches Korean singer BoA into her U.S. debut, which makes her one of few Asians to cross the US shores. A change of pace from her other albums, she has teamed with just a few of the top 10 super producers and songwriters of the American pop world. Speaking of pace, the album Is a collection of fast moving dance, and hard beat urban dance tracks with a little fusion here and there. It’s quite upbeat and there is a not a slow track on the album. Her young audience be wary, as BoA has a message to convey she’s no longer a little kid anymore. Some of the tracks have racy lyrics and is a step up to already sexy lyrics introduced into Korean mainstream. Like what is expected from Boa, she cleverly rides the fine line of controversy, and does not get too explicit but shows an adult side of her in a very suggestive way using double meanings and catchy phrases.
NOTE: Although not part of a music review, what makes BoA stand apart is that she has strong choreography and power dancing to her tracks as well as breaking through as an Asian.
Sometimes I will do a complete a track by track detailed review, so here goes..
I did it for love: While this was the 3rd single to be released on the album, it became the featured album track, rightfully so. The first few seconds of this track immediately draws you in, as it is remarkably the catchiest song on the album, and will keep you dancing until the end. Sean Garrett, who produced, sung and wrote lyrics for this track indeed put his all into it. Like “Tell Me” and “Poker Face” this title takes full potential of vocal stutter editing and executes it with a degree of excellency. Although criticized by some for her usage of Auto-tune, I feel this track was most suited for it on the album, it complements the song. I have to explain , that by nature AutoTune reverses vowel sounds like A, E, I, O, and U, and makes it seem there's mispronunciation on words like BAD (bed). But its likely she's saying it correctly. The lyrics are just as catchy as the beat itself and deserves to be the album feature. This is a smash hit, ya.
Energetic: A club smash? Depends. The whole meet me in the club puts this song in the safe zone for radio tracks reminiscent of Akon’s latest hits, but at cost of lacking some originality. That’s the problem is you can’t please everyone. When she sings Report to the dance floor it sounds really cool. But something about it being generic bothers me too and that her vocals are the flattest compared to all the songs she's sung for in ages. The problem is the effects are masking her true abilities, its like brakes on a fast car. Its also hard to follow and not as catchy as Sean Garrets smash mentioned above.
Did Ya: Fusion! This is one of the poppier tracks on the album and has a kung fu oriental meets retro flavor to it. Its one of those casual songs you can listen to riding with your top down and forget some of the more serious things going on. All in all it’s decent.
Look Who’s Talking: Henrick Jonback, sometimes credited as “Bloodshy and Avant” actually is the 3rd member of the for mentioned group, but due to the name format he is somewhat unknown. This was the 2nd promoted single. Typically made for clubs, the catchy, arpeggiated, overdriven, and square synths were down mixed for this pop song, complimented by the most swagger type of lyric. At the expense of sounding cocky, it motivates aggression , girl power and sweet revenge all in one. Unfortunately, the albums final mixdown is a little flat and lacks adequate reverb in the synths and vocals that really gave it its aggressive punch when listening to the live shows (old version). Because of this, it loses a little of that “in your face” sound as well as some points. Still its composed quite well and is a great stand out track on this album.
Eat You Up: This would be the first US single promoted in the album, and also her raciest song to date. The lyrics draw as many in as they turn youngsters away. “I wanna take you to my room..so yum yum” “You’re the finest thing in history” People who know BoA will know she’s talking about devouring an entire country, the USA but it can also be interpreted as very suggestive. This is the whole premise of the lyrics , to have double meaning, be suggestive without be vulgar. If you’re about Boa’s age you’ll most likely think it’s very clever, but I’ve noticed it has alienated a few pre teen fans. The beat hits hard and it's catchy, so it is easy to follow. To get that hard beat, it has a super mixed clap, with many layers of sounds, multi-band compression and side chaining to get the slap to have that "in your face" sound. It stood the test of time so far and is a great track.
Obsessed: Double meaning? BoA sings about a guy she’s totally obsessed about, yet the title track has potential to describe BoA fans round the world. (It was used in an official video) Created by name producer Brian Kennedy, the urban flavor taste is strong on this track. This song is really “urgent” BoA conveys how badly she needs the man in her life that she is totally obsessed with. Something about the urban background vocals bothers me that its repeating too much and might have fared better if lessened, but overall I love this track and it stands out.
Touched: This is urban to the max. Its been infamously known as the track which doesn’t sound like BoA’s voice. The hip hop bass drum beat compiled with a music box is both familiar and unique. Besides sounding overproduced in the vocal chorus making BoA’s voice unrecognizable, but it’s a still an ok song with cool lyrics. I do like the heavy bass drum.I think I love this song as much as I hate it. (prevents it from getting a better score).
Scream: This song is more or less OK, It never really stuck in my mind during the Anyband era. It may take some time to get adjusted to, only time will tell. Some of the vocals here are using a lot of strength not common and its great to here that this side of the US. The strong point of the song isn't enough for me care much for this track, its forgettable.This seems like It would work decently for some B horror flick.
Girls on Top: What, it’s in English now? Did the song stand up to the conversion? Yes and no. The yes is the meaning in the lyrics retained and the sound quality smoothed out from being overclipped/distorted from the engineering problems in the original. The problem I hear is the vocal effect (Autotune) tends to rob all energy from BoA’s previously unrestrained vocals. The attitude is missing in various parts, until the end.The other problem with this track is the first couple of lines in the lyrics sound out of place or could have been rewritten. It just sounds weird to me. I prefer the original but this version is OK.
Dress Off: I think the autotune needed to be ditched in this track, I get that that she has an accent but why must the entire album be cursed with the same effect? I'm sure there are other vocal tools available out there. I'm on the fence with this track. Something about the track prevents it from sticking, it simply isn't as catchy or easy to follow beat-wise.
Hypnotic Dance floor: Did BoA just say Erotic? While DBSK is getting censored for mentioning red seas under my skin and a play on the actual word Erotic (Mirotic), BoA just sang it directly, and without a censor. What a rebel. This song also utilizes another very suggestive theme with a double meaning to convey its message. The groove has a lot of effects and very trance, dream like state. Again, the vocal effects flatten out BoA's voice to barely half of her typical range. However, It has this really focused sound to it, its hard to explain. The chorus gets stuck in your head, because it the words repeat and its also progressively gets more aggressive. And there's a sense of dream, trance like focus, which makes this song really nice to listen to.
This album has quite a few catchy tracks and does have some cool lyrics to boot. The album is quite upbeat compared to a lot of the American released albums and fresh music for BoA. The downside of this album is lack of mid tempo and ballad songs as well. It’s already excellent that she’s pronouncing the lyrics well, but its another story to expect expression out of some words, so that’s why ballads were most likely left out. About all of the songs suffered from the same problem as BoA’s vocals being over produced, taking some away from the range and dynamics that we normally are used to hearing. All of her fans know she can sing strongly but the Autotune reduced her range and dynamics way too much. You won’t hear her melodic voice flutter like her latest track
Eien, and there are no tracks to cry to or cause one to think about tragedy. So on one hand the album is focused, on the other it lacks that difference to be a complete album. We know BoA is more capable than what was generated, but the effects were the "brakes" on the fast car. There could have been some refinement in a few tracks whether it be lyrics or the synthesizers effects that reduced the overall impact of the song. The tracks that stood out were easy to follow and were catchy, and the ones that encompassed the rest of the album were difficult to follow and didn't implant itself into memory.This album was simply overproduced and maybe even a little too overmastered (sounding too smooth). ”I did it for love” alone could be the factor for its success and should carry the album, so would "Eat You Up." The other tracks all have their strengths and would all be worthy for radio. Every track has something in it really strong, but some of the tracks have something in it that contrasts it, how do you say a big blemish on a gorgeous person. Despite a few missed marks one can’t expect too much for someone who’s finally full time learning English. I highly recommend buying this album to all BoA fans, new and old and since it’s a US debut album, recommending it to new fans is mandatory. It seems to have found great favor to co workers who otherwise would not be interested in BoA’s Asian music.
Ratings (from a scale of 1 to 5)
5/5 - Even if you're not a fan of this artist/group this album is a must buy.
4 (B-) - If you're a fan of this artist/group, you must buy this album. (But please recommend it to American, New-BoA fans! That is the entire point!3/5 - If you're a fan of this artist/group, you might want to add this one to your collection.
2/5 - I don't think a fan would even buy this.
1/5 - You might as well just flush your money down the toilet.
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