[2005] Utada - EXODUS -- UPGRADE? DOWNGRADE?
 

I was inspired by a very lengthy discussion I had with sxesven in the Ayu chatroom about Utada's Exodus album. I just want to know what everyone else thinks of it. UPGRADE? Was it great? Totally lived up to what you expected? Better? DOWNGRADE? Did it suck? Did you hate it? Totally worse than what you expected? CAN'T DECIDE? Too hard? Thought it was okay? Not great, not horrible? Satisfactory? DIDN'T BUY IT? What do you think?? ^_^

it was the first thing i had ever heard by hikki (utada, whatever!,) and i was really disappointed with the album. I didn't bother downloading her stuff when I saw it in forums because i figured it would be just like exodus. I bought first love one day though, because it was really cheap, figured "wth, why not?" and I loved it. I love her japanese work, and think that exodus has the potential to make her seem like a poor artist. I think there isn't much on exodus that is outstanding, in your face, work that I've come to associate with hikaru. just my opinion.

I would say downgrade... I simply didnt enjoy the album except for one or two songs that I thought were ok. I still like Hikki though

I'm too lazy to type all of my opinion yet again (had a good discussion with greggerz189 on that indeed :) ), so I'm just going to say upgrade. Terrific album.

Same with me, I wasnt really hooked on many except 2 (maybe 3) her voice sounds great, i just wasn't digging the beats too much :shrug

But I still like her :yes

I think that although the music is unique in it's own right they just weren't my cup of tea. I loved Exodus '04 and Devil Inside but that's where it stopped. Their only redeeming factor is the music.

Utada said that english music is more dependent on being catchy than Japanese. While I would generally agree with that I believe it went too far. On the album she sounds like she tried too hard to make the songs rhymy (sp?) and focused less on actual content. "You're easy breezy and I'm japaneasy," anyone?

The chorus is supposed to be repetitive because it's supposed to 'hook' you into the song. Most songs don't have more than three chorus sections that I can recall, but "You Make Me Want To Be A Man" essentially just loops the entire song. After you hear the complete verse and chorus you can pretty much stop playing the song because you know what the rest of it is. That song makes me ill listening to it. I only watched the video to see what it looked like.

The repetitive, often cheesy lyrics, looping music, and lack of a serious promotion doomed Exodus right from the start. My god.. Utada promoted her "Easy Breezy" single more than she did her album! In all I think that Exodus was a crappy album, and I pity mainstream America for hearing it. I think Utada's past work is vastly superior.. hell even "Simple & Clean" is better than Exodus. While I think about it was there even a music video on its launch for promotional purposes BESIDES "Easy Breezy?" It's been 10 months since Exodus debuted and they are just NOW showing a video for "You Make Me Want To Be A Man"! Or at least that's the impression I got. Anyway, enough harping for me - I just don't like it.

Hikki - Upgrade..UTADA - downgrade..:(.

I'd like to vote something between upgrade and downgrade , but with these choices i'm afraid I'll have to go with a downgrade. I think some of the songs on Exodus would have been great if someone else sung them , I don't think Utada does a great job on the vocals on this album. She sounds great on her j-pop stuff , I don't get it why she sounds so bad in Exodus :no

I know American music doesn't get a lot of love here , but I for one am annoyed Utada wasted her opportunity to work with Timbaland by making Exodus instead of something really great. :o
last time she worked with a US RnB-producer turned out great. Her 'Time Limit' by Rodney Jerkins aka Darkchild , my favorite RnB producer.

Let me reiterate this for you all:

Utada IS NOT Hikki.
And I'll repeat it for those who missed it:
Utada is NOT Hikki.

They are not the same persona. So do not compare them, as they are two completely different entities.

And for those of whom who still complain about the lyrics to "Easy Breezy," it was a joke. The song is a joke.

Anyway, as for my opinion, I'm indifferent. I'm not fond of this album, because it is not my type of music. I am more into pop myself, so I don't like this album. Now, does that make it any less of an album? No. So I don't think I will judge whether this album is good or not.

Upgrade!

I only red bad things about this album on different forums, and didn't even bother listening to it.
After a while i just needed to hear it, if it was as bad as everyone says.

i got swept away.

I think you can argue 'Utada is hikki' too , it's not like an artist can't switch styles between album releases. Besides they always keep bring up she's a superstar in japan and sold a lot of albums there , and they usually mention 'Exodus' is her US debut album and not 'just' a debut album implying she has released material before.
for example , I don't think Shakira singing in english and spanish are different personas. so why would Utada singing in japanese and english be ?

and I think everyone can say how they feel about 'Exodus' , it's not going to make it any less of an album if you state your personal opinion about it :rolleyes

I personally like the album. Not LOVE it, but like it. My mother hunted through five stores to finally find one copy for my birthday last year, and I don't think she wasted her effort. (Or money) I still listen to the disc regularly, and usually every song. There's only one song on that album that I can't listen to without going crazy - Wonder 'Bout. But that's just one song. I find myself randomly singing "Hotel Lobby" sometimes. (Possibly my favorite) And quite frankly, Hikki's first two Japanese albums aren't really my thing at all. (But I like Deep River) So in the realm of the world I like her English music more.

So to make it short: Not upgrade, but not downgrade. I think it's a nice in-between.

I think it's different. No better, nore worse, just different.


Her Japanese music is so different from her Exodus stuff, that that's the only way i can really explain it. That's why i think they should be considered as two seperate entities. I definately love her Japanese stuff more than the tracks on Exodus as I find their replay value higher.

However, I think that her Exodus stuff was good as well. A lot of the tracks are well done, the lyrics are very gritty and dirty, but I think it's nice, in some odd twisted way. It's as she named her album, her "exodus" from Japan. Sadly, I don't know if she'll be making anymore of these exoduses :P But I think the album is good as it is different. And the last track, which has become my personal favorite, is gold.

I agree on Utada and Hikki not being substantially different. It's the same musician, just a different name tag.

These lyrics have been discussed back when Easy Breezy first found its way to P2P, only to conclude that it was in fact not just a silly play on words but a more elaborate pun (I can recall 'Easy, peesy, Japanesey' having something to do with this, but I'm not sure how it all connected).

I didn't enjoy the Exodux album as much as I had enjoyed her previous works. It was a 'downgrade' for me. However, maybe 'downgrade' is too strong a word 'cause I thought she stayed consistent with her great beats. I didn't care for her lyrics.

Upgrade? Downgrade? is this 6th grade or something?

I'm sure hikki saying that the lyrics to Easy Breezy were a joke is just a cover up for her after she realized how stupid it sounded when she recorded it. I personally like the album alot, some songs more than her Japanese.

I didn't like EXODUS that much but still it was better than her first Japanese release, First Love. It's an average album. I really prefer the Japanese Utada over the American one. I wouldn't say that EXODUS is bad though, it just sounds plain to me.. I picked "dunno" because to me it's like "in between" :P

No, the Upgrade? Downgrade? thing originated on Best Week Ever.

Thanks for reminding us that we're allowed to state our opinions. I must've missed that memo. :yrolleyes
When I said, "Does that make it any less of an album?" I meant for me, not for everyone. Some people don't like it, and they gave it a downgrade. It's not my type of music, but I'm not going to give it a downgrade- which would make it less of an album for me. See the difference?

downgrade...i don't like even one song from this album..
sorry fans

Downgrade. It was disappointing for me. The music was an interesting, but sometimes grating on the nerves; the lyrics were usually so silly and awkward. It seemed like she was overasserting the fact that she was Asian as well as saying "look how WESTERN I'm being!" There were a few songs I liked, like Exodus '04 and Kremlin Dusk, but otherwise, just disappointing.

I don't think it was a total downgrade or trash, but since I was disapointed by it, I chose it anyway. D:

Some songs like "the workout" were missing that certain beat to make it a hot dance track, but it came out to be annoying. The other songs were odd and is not suitable for the US audience. They would take "You Make Me Want To Be a Man" the wrong way and wouldn't understand her deep meaning in the lyrics. Also, it was also because of her record company that made it a failure as well. They didn't even advertise properly and released great songs like Exodus '04 as remix CDs instead of a single. >__> Many mistakes have made this album more disapointing than it already is.

I just hope she can recover with her upcoming release of Exodus in the UK and her new japanese singles. -___-

I didn't think it was an upgrade or a downgrade, but it definitely didn't sound mainstream like her past work. It's good to see Hikki experimenting with sounds that's she's never done before. Sure she could just stick with her Japanese style and probably found more mainstream success but she's an artist afterall. Hikki would never evolve as an artist if she never breaks out of the mould she created for herself.

ok , I misread it. * plays the "english not my first language "-card * :P

and you're all allowed to state your opinions , but to some extent :cool

I'd say upgrade. Besides 'the Workout' and 'Tippy Toe' and (Sorry if I mixed it up with Namie's very similar title), I really like it. It took a while to grow on me, but now I like 12/14 so I'm pretty pleased with it. And I love 'Kremlin Dusk', at first I thought it was dull and didn't get what the big deal was, so I skipped it a lot, but after listening all the way through, it became my favorite track. :)

Can you really look at my sig/avatar set and think I'm gonna give it a downgrade? Definately Upgrade hands down. It's daring, different and it just seems like she really let her imagenation run wild with all the different beats, loops and synthesizers all layered intrecately on top of one another. Love every second of it from the intro to the very last track and still listen to it regularly.

Well, the only thing you could really do if you compare Shakira English/Utada English. And Shakira Spanish/Hikki Japanese. Is that Shakira just translates her song (like boa) utada writes completely NEW tracks for each release. Making her both different people since they're styles are different. The only thing you could make a comparison of the same person is when she did HIKARI which the translation song was from Hikki. And upcoming Passion, which I think will also be translated.

I liked the album and Im glas she made a effort

pshhh
This album was ****ing amaaaaaaaaaazing!
I'm going to buy my copy very very soon! It's already late for me! ><

i didnt hate it, i didnt love it

but i prefer all her japanese albums anyway

hmmn.. how come this old thread pops up suddenly? anywayz.. since's it's up here, why not adding me? :D being a hikki fan since 1999... it's really weird that I don't buy the album or even intend to download it. Before the release of Exodus I kept thinking that she would produce something meaningful rather than poppy music like britney spears "oops i did it again" (just an example). The release of Easy Breezy just made me feel ill about her english album. Than Devil Inside came out and I was like "forget about the album. I will not like it".

I understand why certain people treats Utada as a different person. Her jpop music serves lyrics with deeper meaning. e.g., DEEP RIVER, I really like this song; COLORS, sth about life and death (?); DISTANCE/FINAL DISTANCE, Sakura doroppusu, letters, Dareka, and more. The melody is dynamic YET fluent. Her english songs, on the other hand... with shallow meanings and sometimes creepy lyrics (Easy Breezy is a good exmple). of course, some songs have meaningful lyrics, such as Exodus 04's. The problem is that the lyrics are not very powerful at all.

Oh well the thing is that I haven't listened to the whole album yet so I dun have the right to vote at this stage. BUT I'm glad that her jpop songs after the english album aren't creepy at all. (OMG Be My Last is my fav). I wish her upcoming song Keep Tryin' will make us satisfy :D

I really liked the album.

In some ways it was better than her Japanese music, and in some ways it wasn't quite as good.

I liked how it seems a lot more personal than her Japanese music. She did exactly what she wanted to do, even if it was being silly and stupid for a bit. I love the computer-heavy production, and how the album is somewhere between pop, rock, r&b, and dance. And of course, the Asian influences on the tracks are fantastic.

What I really like about the album though, is the general feeling I get from the music. It's very dark, but that doesn't stop it from moving.

With Exodus I think Utada created an album that is unique, dark and alluring. I listen to it all the time, and always find something new to enjoy about it.
In fact there is only one track on it that I don't really like - Wonder 'Bout. And it's not even a bad song.

Another good thing about Exodus - She really learned from this album. You can hear it in Be My Last, you can hear it in Passion. She really took something from that writing experience and is using it in her Japanese releases too. And all for the better - her latest Japanese releases have been just phenomenal.

So, I will vote Upgrade. If not for that fact that her experiements with Exodus have proved progressive for her Japanese releases, then just because I love it. ^.^

i dont know...her songs weren't that great with the exceptions of a few....

Actually it took some time to get into the music because I did not like Hikki that much... her voice and her Japanese song just sounded bad to me.
But once I had it I used to listen to the album a lot of times and with everytime it got better and better and now I really love it. It's not perfect... sometimes it's also a little bit boring but it was something really new to me and I really really really wish there was an 5.1-Dolby-Version of this album. It would be soooo great. I can't wait until it is released in Germany too and I want to know how she made it in the UK ^-^

ja ne

UPGRADE, I think this album was and is very good. I do not compare it to her japanese stuff though. But compared to other english albums, it beats them all

Downgrade. Lyrically wise especially. Easy Breezy is really stereotypical and with bland lyrics even if it was a pun or a joke I didn't find it amusing at all. The songs are weak and I rarely listen to this album simply because I don't like 75% of the songs.

I wonder what she referred to. O.o because Generally I find japanese music WAY more catchy than european and american music. (LOVE MACHINE f.ex or virtually any morning musume song) I guess she was thinking on lyrics, or perhaps referring to the more clear use of repetitive percussive rythms and such vs more melodic songs.

I completely agree. If "Utada" and "Utada Hikaru" are to be considered two different entities, then "Utada's" style has very much influenced "Utada Hikaru's". It's very apparent in her newest releases.

it is a disappointment.... she should have just retired at her peak (deep river) rather than see her career plummet

my my... her peak was between post-First love to pre-Distance era... and why would she retire? after Exodus failure? or Passion not getting no. 1?? Now actually it's a good time for her to show that she doesn't care about the rankings anymore. she can do her own music.

"I dun care about anything"... can't you hear that line from Keep Tryin'?? :P LOL

I really don't think the album was that bad at all. I really liked it as much as her other albums besides maybe 1 or 2 songs. V_V;;; Maybe some downgrade on lyrics, (I really don't always pay that much attention to lyrics though..) but the music is very good. I liked it right away... and I still find it good to listen to here and there.

yeah like bluegie said, her peak was her debut...she's technically been going downhill since then if you judge it by sales. I wouldn't say that during her DISTANCE and DEEP RIVER eras she was washed up, but she definitely isn't what she used to be anymore. I don't think she's washed up just because she can still score in the top 3 when she debuts a new single, and she's still an a-list performer, and she may have beat out Ayu in her day, but I think that Ayu wins the longevity battle if you know what I mean. Hikki not so much. Her new sales are insanely low compared to before, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't sell well. In comparison to other artists, Hikki still sells fine. I mean, her last couple singles were right up there about the same number as the newest unlimited singles of Koda Kumi, and Ayu's Bold & Delicious/Pride. But yeah, she isn't what she used to be.

EXODUS?

downgrade for me :(
it's dispaointed for me

upgrade -- exodus is my fav utada album!

It was definitely a downgrade for me, it was one of the worst albums I've listened to. Not suprised it flopped for that reason.

It's one of Hikaru's albums.

I loved the album, total upgrade.

First I thought it was trash, BUT now I think it's my favourite album of her. I hope her new english album would have something from EXODUS.

'trash' is the right word

I wouldn't call it an upgrade from her old style R&B stuff, but I loved it. Wasn't big on it the first listen through, but I've come to like every song on there! (Kremlin Dusk and Devil Inside are actually in my top favourite Hikaru songs ever.) Not to mention, EXODUS is fifty billion times better than Precious and This Is The One combined, lol. >_<'

I can't say what I think of EXODUS. I think I have no opinion of the album actually. It's an ok album I think. Not a amazing one, nor a total trash. It's ok. :)

TOOOOTAL TRASH!! Wth was she thinking!?

it's a very ugly dirty garbage of Hikki's album ever! :yes

no offense guys~~~

welli technically would rather listen to it than say First Love (so plain. . .and generic r&b songs) at least Exodus has some good originality. Kremlin Dusk owns all first love and distance songs for me. plus theres some other good songs too

just a few downers - but i love every hikki song so it doesnt matter

I like it but I don't think it was an upgrade because Hikki's Japanese music is so much better imo. However, I don't wanna say it's total trash, as I do like it...I picked the 3rd option in the end.

That's exactly how I feel!

Upgrade!
This album is what made me start listening to Utada in the first place (: Amazing album!

DUNNO. >,< Can't decide!!
I discovered the album at a weird time. I love it, though.

It's an awful album, whilst Kremlin Dusk is fantastic

...lol...what's an EXODUS? XD