Despite starting 2008 with bad health news, Japanese pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki's record company sure knows how to build up buzz. In 2007, she led a successful Asian concert tour and gave away her first screen kiss in a short film shot in Hong Kong, and now she's officially launching her 10th year in show biz with her heavily promoted 9th full-length album Guilty. If you walked around Tokyo in the last weeks of 2007, there's a good chance that you saw at least one advertisement for the album. Just like the advertisements themselves, Guilty is a full-on pop assault on the senses that shows one of Japan's most successful pop artists is still going strong after 10 years.
While Ayumi's style of energetic J-pop has become a unique hybrid of rock and dance, the tracks in Guilty lean considerably towards rock, following closely with the current trend of the American top 40 charts. The tone is set up nicely with opening interlude Mirror (Track 1), which starts off nice and quiet before unleashing a guitar-driven attack on the ears. Unlike many Japanese albums which string together a few singles with some side tracks to make a full-length album, Guilty actually features multiple interludes that work at building a certain atmosphere throughout the album, including a minute-long introduction for Marionette (Track 9), a mid-beat rock ballad with a powerful arrangement that takes it time to build to its climax. However, neither the composition nor Ayumi's vocal are able match up to the song's intended effect.
Most tracks on Guilty are on the darker side, with even the ballads getting the rock guitar treatment. untitled ~for her~ (Track 14), one of the album's three ballads, does successfully stray from the overall formula without interrupting the flow (it's also the last track of the album); it even recalls early Ayumi songs in both composition and vocal style. Over the years, Ayumi's voice seems to have matured by growing increasingly towards a vibrato while retaining her signature high tone. The most apparent of this is in ballad Together When (track 7), where her voice can't seem to hold a note without resorting to short stutters or extended vibrato. While one can say it helps deliver the emotions of the song, this technique really only helps during fast songs which require a certain thump. Nevertheless, Ayumi remains a solid singer even in the ballads, though only Together When really manages to stand out among the three.
Vocals being one of the reasons, the more successful genre on Guilty is the energetic fast track. With crowded arrangements and catchy hooks, they effectively engage listeners with pulsating energy. Powerful opening track (don't) Leave Me Alone (Track 2) is a good follow-up to Mirror in establishing the general tone of the album. Meanwhile, decision (Track 4) is a full-energy rock track that builds an effective contrast between quiet and powerful in its chorus. On the other hand, title track GUILTY (Track 5) follows the album's inspiration too closely, and ends up sounding more like a female imitation of a Linkin Park song.
The more upbeat fast pop genre doesn't show up until Track 11 in the form of glitter. Rightly placed towards the end of the album, the song successfully stands on its own because it's so separated from the album's first section. Written as a single and released in the summer, the track features a cheerful arrangement to match its energetic melody, making it a perfect concert song for her upcoming tour. In fact, "energetic" is probably a good way to sum up Guilty in one word. Everything produced for the album - the overdone arrangements, Ayumi's diva-like delivery, the extravagant music videos - makes the album seem like an event unto itself, even without the blanketing advertisements in Tokyo. For an event album, no one should really expect Ayumi to find any musical breakthrough. This is a case where keeping things at business as usual can be considered a good thing, and Guilty certainly doesn't rock the boat. Instead, it's an entertaining pop album that satisfies loyal fans and has a few tracks that even the pickiest pop fan would like. For starting the year off with a bang, Guilty is a resounding success.
Recommended tracks: Mirror (Track 1), (don't)Leave me alone (Track 2), Together When... (Track 7), Marionette (Track 9), glitter (Track 11)
By Kevin Ma
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