I'm not getting the "dated" feeling at all, I think it sounds pretty fresh. the only clip i'm not buzzed over is GoT. AMAZING in Korean..in 2005. English in 2009.. not as much.

Edited March 6, 200916 yr by Kiseki

I can't wait for this :w00t:

Great :cheer: Holds up very well next to Circus and it's ilk. The lyrics are a bit generic in all cases, but the production is top notch (and the vocals are better than Britney at least!)

I Did It For Love has now leaked in full and HQ then. Sadly it's quite ace. :( LOL

it's great :w00t:

I don't have time to update with links, but if you look around [or pm me] "Look Who's Talking" has leaked in HQ, and a radio rip of "Did Ya"

Slash that. Full album leaked. It's AMAZING :heart:

 

if you want a link pm me.

First listen thoughts:

 

08.5 I Did It For Love / Really enjoyable. Addictive. You know you shouldn't enjoy it but YOU DO.

07.7 Energetic / Seems to be more of a production exercise since there's just repeated chants, no hook. Beat is hot though.

08.0 Did Ya / Should by all accounts be awful - there's about 50 production styles - but it's FUN.

06.0 Look Who's Talking / Britney vibe galore? The bridge even sounds like her. Totally average.

05.0 Eat You Up / Really quite dreadful. Generic robo'ness. Slightly saved by the 'wanna take you to...' parts.

08.0 Obsessed / Hey again, Brit. Quite liking the cheery 'hey!'s in the beat. Catchy-ish, warm song.

08.0 Touched / Well the verses are really dull but the chorus is ice-cool and properly lush. The hook is instant.

08.5 Scream / Now we know how BoA sounds singing Break The Ice.

06.5 Girls On Top / Reminds me of a Namie song, but I can't think which. Anyway it's dated and the funk vibe grinds on me.

07.0 Dress Off / Messy... too many different elements clashing here. Nice production but that's it.

06.0 Hypnotic Dancefloor / Burning up on this hypnotic blahblah. What? I've actually lost interest.

 

BoA > 7.20/10

 

It's technically an alright album, fairly good in parts - highlights are IDI4L, Touched, Obsessed and Scream - but it has a few FLAWS, mainly that it's devoid of any personality whatsoever, the vocals are so robotic that they could quite literally belong to anybody, it sounds like a contrived attempt to re-created Blackout only sung by somebody with the sanity to go out and promote, and finally that the lyrical content is so insipid and unoriginal. A bunch of songs set in the club. Woo.

 

Seriously though it's worth a listen and I hope she has success, if only because more Asians deserve a chance globally. But it's only an average sort of album. 'Aggressive' off The Face played straight after I'd listened and that song is so much better than anything off BoA.

wow great debute english album :o :wub:

 

Just a quick review from me.

 

7.5 I Did It For Love - Dreadfully repetitive & autotuned but sounds great on full blast.

7.5 Energetic - Been done SO many times before but its still very much good.

7.0 Did Ya - Bloodshy & Avant produced, hated it on first listen but its grown a lot though still a bit of a mess.

6.0 Look Who's Talking - Sounds just like a weaker version of Britneys 'My Perogative' & 'Do Somethin' mashed together.

5.5 Eat You Up - AWFUL song lyrically, great production, to much autotune.

8.0 Obsessed - I would of preferred this sang by someone else. Great stuff though

7.0 Touched - Reminds me of Britneys 'Freakshow' so much. Grower.

6.0 Scream - Love the Monrose original but this is nowhere near as mysterious. Autotune robotic, weve heard it all before.

5.5 Girls On Top - Indeed dated is the best way to describe it. That annoying Mariah Carey 'Fantasty' synth irritates me.

7.0 Dress Off - Bizarre this is. Hated it at first, its grown a lot already though.

5.0 Hypnotic Dancefloor - Not bad on its own but just sounds like everything else of the album.

 

Overall - Nothing whatsoever stands out for me. Great production, slightly dated sound, to much autotune, poor lyrics but very much a grower.

06.5/10

Edited March 16, 200916 yr by Conor

I downloaded and listened but was not overly impressed to be honest. There were only a few tracks I liked and at some points I found it hard to listen to. I like 'Do Ya', 'Eat You Up', 'Scream' and 'I Did It For Love' though, the rests not up to much though imo.

My review -

 

I Did It For Love; A perfect choice of song to begin promoting the album with imo. It sounds very now, with a slightly dark edge to it. BoA sounds great, the chorus is pretty addictive [i also love the bridge] and Sean and BoA compliment each other so well imo. 10/10

 

Energetic - My least favourite from what the previews made me believe, but I've found it stuck in my head since the full song leaked. Not the strongest track, but the verses are pretty strong. 7/10

 

Did Ya - I really like this, it's pretty fresh sounding. It's nice after two songs to hear an un-vocoded BoA. It reminds me of her "My Name" era in Korea. 8/10

 

Look Who's Talking - I like the egotistic nature of the lyrics, and it's catchy. However, I liked the live performances quite a lot, and I feel the studio recording falls slightly flat, due to the vocoding of her voice. Still, I enjoy it. 8/10

 

Eat You Up - FIERCE. The first time I heard it I went insane. It's my most played song iTunes with 350+ plays. Even now, I still don't find it boring. The chorus is catchy as f***, and the crappy lyrics just add to everything. 10/10

 

Obsessed - Awesome. I had a feeling this would be good from the preview, and I wasn't wrong. I'm glad they don't over-do the vocoder here, because I think it would have ruined it. 9/10

 

Touched - Very "Girls on Top" era I think. It's not a standout track to me, but I enjoy it. I don't really know what to say about it, it's just a good song. 7/10

 

Scream - From the preview, and hearing the original, I thought this would be my favourite track. I REALLY like it, but Iexpected it to be slightly stronger. Still, it kicks the Monrose version to the curb and it's good to feel some attitude from some lyrics. 9/10

 

Girls On Top - For me, it's the weakest track. Though I only think this because the original korean version is SO much better. It loses something in English, and BoA sounds stronger in her native language. Still, it's enjoyable. 7/10

 

Dress Off - I like this, similar to my opinion of "Touched" 8/10.

 

Hypnotic Dancefloor - Wow. This is the standout of the album, it's just SO good. The bridge is so epic. It should totally be a future single. 10/10

 

Negatives

 

- Although I enjoy all the tracks, I think they somewhat fall into each other too easily. it'd have been nice to have a ballad [since she's so good at them.]

- Vocoder. Unlike people like Britney, Ciara and the like, BoA can sing damn well, and also dance damn well, and do both at the same time. She doesn't need the vocoder, it sort of eliminates any personality.

 

Conclusion

 

I'm not disappointed in the slightest, and my hopes were high. I've been a BoA fan for 3, 4 years now, and this has been in the pipeline since at least 2005. It's fresh, edgy, BoA's English sounds good, and on top she's got a really good image to boot with promotion. Is it her best album? Not by a long shot. However, it's a hell of a lot better than most of the $h!t out there at the moment, and the fact we know how much she wants this, and how hard she's willing to work, she's got a determination and drive and that most people could only dream of having.

 

Overall - 9/10

I like this album a lot!

 

It is very generic/dancedancedance album, but that's what I was expecting. Energetic is my favourite by far :D.

People are finding it quite hard to find in stores, apparently whoevers job is was to send them out has underestimated it - they've sent like 2/3 copies to a couple of stores. Everyone's just buying it on amazong - it's #8 on the main chart! :o [which beats its peak of #11 a few weeks ago.]

Will be interesting tonight to see what her debut sales are expected to be.

 

It's really hard to call this one as she has no hit, but amazon sales are quite high, hmmm.

I'm hoping for a top 100/150 debut. Considering no decent promotion has been done yet [they haven't even released the music video for the lead single or sent it to radio LOL] I think it's doing well regardless.

#22 on iTunes top albums :mellow:

God knows where this has come from LOL. Probably looking at a top 50 debut then...

Do iTunes albums sales actually make a difference in the US then?

no, but its a good indication