Utada's Exodus Over?!

[Hok]

Originally Posted by Akurei

ok then so what artist on Island? Are popular?

Bon Jovi.

[voltron]

Originally Posted by Akurei

ok then so what artist on Island? Are popular?

Other than the ones mentioned--
The Killers, Lionel Richie, MARIAH CAREY, Def Leppard, Bob Marley, etc.

They have some GREAT selling artists on there. Maybe she didn't sell because people didn't like the music they heard, not everything is the record label's fault and people who blame it solely on that are just being stupid. It's like saying Ayu isn't as popular as she used to be just because Avex is bad, there are other reasons.

[SunshineSlayer]

There really was just 0 promotion for this album. I did not once see anything about it on VH1 or MTV and lets face it, to get good record sales these days, you need those networks and others similar to it behind your album.

What's really sickening is that Lindsay Lohan...LINDSAY LOHAN is on heavy rotation on MTV and an actual artist like Utada can't get their video played.

I don't like Exodus as much as her other albums, but it is certainly better than Lindsay Lohan's freaking album.

[MsMiyabi]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

There really was just 0 promotion for this album. I did not once see anything about it on VH1 or MTV and lets face it, to get good record sales these days, you need those networks and others similar to it behind your album.

What's really sickening is that Lindsay Lohan...LINDSAY LOHAN is on heavy rotation on MTV and an actual artist like Utada can't get their video played.

I don't like Exodus as much as her other albums, but it is certainly better than Lindsay Lohan's freaking album.

Because Lohan is popular and she did that cross over Actor/Singer crap like J.lo did.But I still think if Hikki wanted to sell she would have promoted. She has the money 2 do it

[Halla]

I enjoy Utada's japanese work , but I think overall whole crossing-over to US and making Exodus was a failure. I don't think it can be blamed just on the lack of promotion

first of all , Exodus isn't that good of an album. overall it's got this edgy eletronic sound which won't be liked by that many people and the lyrics are nothing special. there's only a couple tracks which are ok in my opinion and several bad ones.

I feel she doesn't have the looks or personality to attract attention , she doesn't seem to do enough lives ( has there been any live performances by her in the US ?).

out of the j-pop acts , I think koda Kumi has the best change making it in the US , she'd only need to work on her english skills. not only because of her looks and etc , but her music is the type that could easily appeal the MTV audiences. or AI from Def Jam Japan , I'm not sure of her english skills tho.

[asterix]

i think Utada is OKAE..in america. Her english might be fluent but her voice is like so deep when she speaks english. the only song that i like from Exodus is Exodus 04. the others are horrible to me. the workout /tippy toe or devil inside and the rest are soooooooo ..hmm..not the kind of songs that will get much attention. or couldn't make it as a single... doesn't much appeal to americans? unlike her Deep River album, the songs are fantastic. why didn't she do something like that instead.?

[ImpactBreaker]

I don't think her Deep River album would make it big at US though. Maybe "First Love" or "Distance" which were plainly much more americanized but Deep River was kinda japanese in a way.

people are saying they're happy she's going back to Japan in this post ... where have you read that she's going back to Japan right now? I haven't seen anything on it.

[hanabiwings]

I think some of them were really good songs (Let Me Give You My Love; Hotel Lobby; You make me want to be a man, etc.) but to me, the album really accented what I found a turn off in Utada's Japanese music: consistancy. She can release some good stuff, but most of it is pretty average. She likes to do quirky things, but if they aren't strong, the experimental songs sound like exercises in songwriting instead of actual album tracks.

[Aldonia]

Why did people not buy it? Frankly, I think it's because a lot of the songs sucked compared to her Japanese stuff. Lyricwise and music-wise. Secondly, as others have said, there was little to none promotion. I never saw Easy Breezy's music video, or any ads in magazines that I read or whatever. o_o;; I didn't think she would sell well anyways, despite the fact that the album was okay. =\ My main gripe with the album was how she tried to sex herself up. It was almost like she felt she had to do that to get some success over here and it was a mistake.

Not to mention, Easy Breezy was a terrible, terrible song and a crappy choice to start off her career with. x.x;

[paper_doll]

The lyrics were terrible, really, really bad.
I really have to agree with Aldonia on this.

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by Aldonia

Why did people not buy it? Frankly, I think it's because a lot of the songs sucked compared to her Japanese stuff. Lyricwise and music-wise. Secondly, as others have said, there was little to none promotion. I never saw Easy Breezy's music video, or any ads in magazines that I read or whatever. o_o;; I didn't think she would sell well anyways, despite the fact that the album was okay. =\ My main gripe with the album was how she tried to sex herself up. It was almost like she felt she had to do that to get some success over here and it was a mistake.

Not to mention, Easy Breezy was a terrible, terrible song and a crappy choice to start off her career with. x.x;

I think the lack of promotion was the decisive point. IDJ seriously did something wrong here, which is pity. I personally don't think the 'weak' material caused a lack of interest, mainly because the material wasn't weak. I feared the idea of an English Hikki album at first and was reluctant to buy it. I picked it up though, being curious, and I gave it a couple of spins, judging it objectively (as far as that's possible). My conclusion was that Exodus was actually a more than decent album, a pretty good one actually. In the end, I think Exodus was an extension of Deep River in many ways. It has some very good songs, and it's quite strong overall. Hikki'd definitely deserved to sell millions with this.

[voltron]

Originally Posted by Akurei

So Not True Jay-Z is vice pres. For Roc-a-fella Records

Actually he was just named president and CEO of Def Jem Records. He reports to LA Reid of Island Def Jam (the immediate portion that UTADA is on).

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by sxesven

My conclusion was that Exodus was actually a more than decent album, a pretty good one actually. In the end, I think Exodus was an extension of Deep River in many ways. It has some very good songs, and it's quite strong overall. Hikki'd definitely deserved to sell millions with this.

I think some of the tracks were really inventive and as much as the lyrics suck to some I found some of them to be clever and interesting. The album had some bad flaws though:

-Utada's voice is nowhere near consistent in this album. You know how a very shy person is suddenly dropped in front of a microphone to say something to a huge crowd? That's how Utada sound, her voice trembles, she seems scared and her voice sound that of an intimidated person. She didn't seem so secure of her english at all.
-The excessive reference of her being japanese and asian felt completely wrong, ruined the whole mood of the album. Utada has already traces of being asian she doesn't need to use the songs to tell that. Plus from interviews and other stuff people would get to know she IS japanese. The I'm japanesey thng was unecessary even though to so,e it was clever. for me it seemed stereotyped, it didn't feel nice.
-Putting traditional japanese instruments in the song was something not really needed at all, specially to try to achieve a market where not everybody is interested in hearing the cultural richness of one particular song. She could use all the japanese instruments she wanted in one situation only: if she had achieved enough popularity which obviously wasn't so it wasn't a safe step to try experimenting with such stuff.

[Ayu_Eyes]

Sad indeed to see her not doing successfully hear, we all still love you Hikki!

[sugoiguywithhair]

Eh IDJ is so stupid. They had a good artist on their hands, with lots of creativity and inventive ideas, and they just go and dump her entire project. Then again most of the stuff that's successful on American radio is the exact opposite of that anyway. What's playing on the radio is mostly garbage. All they had to do was get her on MTV & VH1 cause as soon as those two outlets back something up, EVERYONE goes wild and buys it. I guess it's obvious from my sig/avatar set that I really liked Exodus. Anyway, I don't really care cause I really enjoyed the album (and still do). Also www.akadot.com ran article about an interview that hikki had in japan and in it she declared that she plans to make a lot more both Japanaese AND American songs, so it's all good cause I like both anyway. I hope she doesn't give up and feel like she has to creatively limit herself cause people won't get it.

P.S. I also read somewhere that she plans to promote Exodus after '05 which I find kidna odd and unlikely...

[ddr trent]

alright! back to Japan. now some nihongo no uta

[DeepRiver]

That is false ...

She said that she will do more Promotion in 2oo5 in America ... She had so much to do with her Album und Promotion for the Nintendo DS in Japan ...

But she said that she will do some Promotion next year in America ...

[Raleigh]

I am not sure.. but like no one knows about her (in the US), so why should they buy her album?
Plus well.. in my honest opinion, her songs weren't that good. I preferred her previous songs better. Plus the style wasn't exactly her style in my opinion. Her voice is too powerful to waste it on a different style. I think ballads and R&B fit her more. I donno.. I felt like she was trying to fit in.. but it's not really her true potential. Plus most people buy stuff which is advertised on MTV and other popular stations. If she was given more coverage she would have done more success. But somehow she must work harder to fit in. Some of the most famous singers are like.. they spent their whole life there developing their career in the US. So yeah.. she has to work harder, especially at getting more advertising, else she won't be much popular over there.

That's what I think anyhow.

[Catzi]

Originally Posted by Aldonia

My main gripe with the album was how she tried to sex herself up. It was almost like she felt she had to do that to get some success over here and it was a mistake.

Do you think maybe she became so hmm... what's the right word... sexly, because she got married and had sex? Like how Britney Spears became all sex-driven after she had sex.