I just gave few listens to _genic, i was disappointed as first as the only songs i liked were the one already known (Golden Touch, Stranger, Anything, Fashionista). I thought all the new songs were just similar to each others.
Now, i enjoyed almost all new songs. The album is fresh and good for summer!

I still think FEEL is better (mainly thanks to Hands on Me) but _genic is a good continuation to FEEL.

I'm glad i didn't make a bad review at the fist listen last week lol

I found secret videos on _genic DVD :

- Birthday (Making video)
- Fashionista PV (dance ver.)

;)

she sold below 10k today...the album is at around 140k, 100k less than FEEL

^ still not bad sales, but it's kind of expected given how different the sound is compared to FEEL.

It's time to post my thoughts

1. Photogenic: 10/10. I love how funky and fun it is. Namie is just so full of it but she doesn't come across as snobby or stuck up. It sounds like she doesn't even care that she's photogenic. Love her.
2. Time Has Come: 8.5/10. The 8-bit parts and the fast chorus are very cool! That's about it but the parts that are cool are done well.
3. Golden Touch: 10/10. Yaaas love this song!! You've got the touch you've got the touch you've got the touch it's golden! I love everything about this song. It sounds so retro but so new at the same time.
4. Birthday: 10/10. I thought this would be a rehash of Katy Perry's Birthday but Namie's Birthday takes a steaming shit over Katy's Birthday. It's a cute song without ever getting overly cute so it doesn't suck like Can You Feel This Love. The chorus is really nice and distinct from the rest of the song but it also flows. Also a double birthday has to mean that she's getting laid as well as getting presents on the same day.
5. It: 7.5/10. It's a cute little song with a funky chorus that is the best part of the song. The verses aren't as fun.
6. Scream: 10/10. People hate this song for being generic. I love it for it. It doesn't try to be anything it's not. Namie sounds bored and dead over hot beats, what is there not to like?
7. Fashionista: 10/10. An unexpected surprise to be honest. It's catchy and that part with the beep beep beep is just too much fun even though I have no idea what she's saying half the time.
8. Fly: 9.5/10. I warmed up to this song a lot. The music sounds very nice in the song and I kind of like how the song sets up an ALMOST ethereal atmosphere, with Namie's vocals not being strong or emotive (are they ever?) enough to convey the ethereal feeling. In the chorus it sounds like she wants to say 'go ahead and fry' but her vocal coach threatened her this one time. She fucked up her Ls and Rs so much on this album that it sets a world record but this one time she doesn't.
9. B Who I Want 2 B: 10/10. The surprise of the album. I'm not even bothered that Namie sounds like an auto tuned mess or that Hatsune is the prominent vocalist. The beat is fire and Namie sounds like a hot mess over hot beats. It's my thing.
10. Stranger: 10/10. Maybe the best song on the album. I love how Namie sings the first verse. She has you up on your feet but doesn't give a shit. The bridge is the best part of the song. The chorus is kinda catchy.
11. Every Woman: 6/10. Hot Girls is better than this because it's such a mess. This song is actually TRYING to be good and it fails. It's not a terrible song but it's not memorable in any way. She should have put sweet kisses right here. Or even neon light lipstick. Or even hot girls again. Anything but this song.
12. Space Invader: 9/10. A Namie slow jam that doesn't have piano or snapping fingers. It's nice and relaxing I find and it leads well into Anything. Also the title is really nice too. I was expecting a full on jam but this is a nice surprise.
13. Anything: 8.5/10. I like TLC and Unpretty and I kind of see why the two songs are compared. I see this more of as a sequel song to Unpretty. Too bad Namie's pronunciation really ruins the song, it would have been a lot better.
14. What I Did For Love: 8/10. It's a nice song that has a nice beat and melody. There's nothing else to say except that it sounds nice. Her pronunciation is also kinda bad in this song too.

Overall: 8.5/10
It's a great album brought back by some bad singing. Namie is not a great singer. She's an OK singer. The beats and production are what helps her to sound good on the album. Her pronunciation really doesn't do some songs justice. Some songs are so good that this isn't a problem but with some it really takes away from the whole experience. You'd think that her English would have gotten better or that she would have put effort. It shows that she doesn't give a shit. Now I'm not saying that it has to be perfect but it's obvious that's she's not trying. If she's gonna sing in English she should at least sound audible. You'd never catch me singing in Japanese rounding my letter Us or not making my Ts, Ds, and Ns dental. Someone has to tell her that L and R aren't in free variation in the onset of a syllable. She needs to take a phonology course and become more metalinguistically aware first though. Her pronunciation has just gotten worse. Next album her "oh just a fart" moment is coming. Also she can't really emote well. We all joke that Namie is dead but maybe she really is. Ayu and Kumi can emote better. Thankfully most songs she picks work in her favour because she sounds the best when she's sounding dead.

Anything and Space Invader are definitely the weakest tracks for me.

I think for my birthday coming up in a few months, I'm gonna beg my friends to learn the Birthday dance choreography near the end of the PV so we can all do it. LOL XD

How does one access these videos??? Is it only on the Blu-ray??

you have to press menu when the guy takes the photo at the beginning of birthday and something else when the zoom in on her skirt in fashionista.

^^^^^

Yeah I just found it lol. Since I have to watch from my laptop, I had to press the phone at 00:25 for birthday and you just have to click on Namie/the screen at 3:15 in fashionista. These were really cool finds xD. Now i can learn the Fashionista choreo haha

Omg, I just had a blast, I checked the Photogenic lyrics and found out it doesn't go "Here you go, paparazzi, looking for taxi" as I was singing the whole time xDDD

I'm so crying on the floor :D

That's interesting! Gotta go watch the dance version of Fashionista now!!

guys, does anyone of you have hi-res Brighter Day single covers or knows a place where to find them? I had them on my old laptop, but it's dead. =/

I googled it, tell me if these are high enough quality

http://www.tbs.co.jp/radio/radion/im...20141110_2.jpg
https://jmanmoonwalkdotcom.files.wor...day_jkt_cd.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1RpzYudx2-...2B19.52.44.jpg

I just realized that La La La can really fit on this album. It has something of a La Isla Bonita vibe or it just reminds me of tropical islands and I don't know why but that screams 80s/90s.

I listened to the album the other day and my 2 jewels are Fashionista and Stranger.
Photogenic and Birthday are good.
But the rest of the album is meh, I can't remember the melodies of the songs, and the song with Miku is so annoying with those voices, I prefer the demo.

Maybe double birthday means like if you woke up in japan and its your birthday and you fly to us and it's still your birthday next day.

I really cannot understand that "Double Birthday" reference....
Maybe it has to do with "today's the anniversary of the new me"...
I really don't know !

By the way, I made a super-tracklist with _genic + all the songs she made between ... err.... long ago (lol) and _genic and didn't get to any album :

idk, I don't think the concept of a "double birthday" that she portrays in the song isn't all that hard to understand...I just think it's dumb as hell, lol

the phrase 'double birthday' doesn't make sense in the song to me. She's singing about her own birthday, there's no mentioning of someone else in the song. Why sing about a 'Double birthday' if the song is only about your own birthday?

Agree, idk why they think singing about it would be fun lol

Your list is similar to mine, only that I don't include GROTESQUE, now that I think about it I should've added it too lol I think Damage and Beautiful should've been in FEEL, chronology-wise

This is mine from the previous thread