[Article] Time Out Tokyo's James Hadfield reviews Party Queen

[Andrenekoi]

I find it strange that I got the feeling he believes the best way to save jpop is to make it more similar to kpop, what I strongly disagree... Not because kpop is inferior or something, but because not sounding the same is what make both genres interesting...

And I agree to isthisLOL, it just seens like he reviewed the whole album without taking lyrics into consideration... Something bizarre when reviewing music for a professional publishing and something even more bizarre while reviewing an Ayumi review, as the lyrics are the core of her releases...

[ayumisrael]

Well he gave AKB48's last album 0 stars, I don't think that him and the Japanese audience are on the same side of opinions in general. =P

[TeamAyu2004]

^ sales does not make for good music however...
I'm just thinking this guys has it set in his mind what should be done to "save" jpop and if people dont do it then the music is going to just be bad.

[ayumisrael]

Well, with that I agree myself Although kpop is the same (if he implies kpop doesn't need to be saved which I didn't understand that part well).

[njanjayrp]

Speechless. The 4 rock tracks are the best part of the album. The guy doesn't know what he is talking about. And kpop should be banned as it's turning people into idiots.

[jewelbox]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

I find it strange that I got the feeling he believes the best way to save jpop is to make it more similar to kpop, what I strongly disagree... Not because kpop is inferior or something, but because not sounding the same is what make both genres interesting...

this is why I don't agree with him.

[isthisLOL?]

Originally Posted by channy

I am not sure if he really intended to criticize Falco as a singer. Maybe he just tried to express some awkward feeling as if Timmy's voice just doesn't fit into Ayumi's songs because if compared with Falco you can tell that he's located in a completely different genre of music

Actually Falco isn't all that far from Ayumi musically. Songs like Jeanny that were quite popular fit in rather well with Ayumi's music. Orchestrated pop-epics with some foreign-genre influences.

[truehappiness]

Er... wasn't the point of the album to have the party be over as soon as it started?

IMO, the review isn't so much negative as it is wondering "Well, where's the party?" but there's always more to Ayu than that. I don't think she's ever going to make a full on "PARTY" of an album made up of mainly mindless clubby hits but who knows? Maybe she will in the future but judging from the last 15 albums... I don't think so.

[*hearT_Place*]

I disagree with him completely; the rock part of the album is the best part. And, JPOP needs to sound more like KPOP? I like a little KPop here and there, but if this happened it would get really old, really fast. In my opinion, the reason the Jpop scene seems more "doddery and conservative", has to do with the dismal (read: nonexistent) way they market to their international fans (Japan-only youtube pages, short version, low quality PVs, and not putting their music on international iTunes stores, etc), whereas Kpop bands try their hardest to market and appeal to as many people as possible.

Also, the idea that it's good and expected that one of my favorite singers sexually objectifies herself to make sure people know that she is just as "nubile" (really gross choice of words there) as her younger competition (not saying that's what Ayu is doing, but that's what the reviewer is implying that she's doing; plus, he says it like it's a good thing) is plain creepy and demeaning. No, thank you.

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Er... wasn't the point of the album to have the party be over as soon as it started?

IMO, the review isn't so much negative as it is wondering "Well, where's the party?" but there's always more to Ayu than that. I don't think she's ever going to make a full on "PARTY" of an album made up of mainly mindless clubby hits but who knows? Maybe she will in the future but judging from the last 15 albums... I don't think so.

True.

[FoObY]

Ohh, big words. Way to pull out a thesaurus to make you sound like a more professional reviewer.

I feel like he's critiquing the album one-dimensionally. i.e. since the album is dubbed "Party Queen", one would naturally expect an album full of high-energy dance numbers, but instead we have a series of powerful, emotional rock ballads and a few jazz numbers. Perhaps he only considered the lighter side of a Party Queen, whilst ignoring the dark side.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

what a douche.

[NintendoHTF1242]

can someone sum that up? His writing style is so dreadfully boring I stopped reading at NaNaNa.

[ccsharumun]

Not gonna bother criticizing a crap review.

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

I don't think that's the problem really.

ayu's problem each year is that less of the casual music buyers interested in her and with this, she didn't bring multiple hits that casual buyers would buy. She needs the right songs at time right time with the right promotion in order to maintain (or bring to miracle of increasing) sales.
That always have been the reason and in here there is no exception. The numbers aren't that horrid to think that a lot of fan/TA stopped being fans or buy an album for example.

This has been my thought as well.

[FoObY]

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

can someone sum that up? His writing style is so dreadfully boring I stopped reading at NaNaNa.

Basically..

- Starts off strong with Party Queen to Shake It
- Becomes absurd from "call" to "Tell me why"
- "the next LOVE" and "Eyes, Smoke, Magic" are confusing
- "how beautiful you are" is a generic piece of fluff

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

^^good job summarizing what this idiot wrote. lol

[relmy]

He didn't say Jpop needs to become like Kpop, he was commenting on how Kpop is popular because of it's sleek production (e.g. compare tight SNSD routines to AKB48), he's probably also alluding to the fact that Kpop has by far overtaken Jpop in terms of global interest.

And then he says that Ayu is trying to counter that by bringing some of that quality to Jpop, but it falls flat after Shake It♥

[TeamAyu2004]

Okay... so i cant totally see where he is coming from. But I do not agree...
This is ayumi... she does stuff like this all the time... I consider this typical ayumi...

I just dont like this dude... As a reviewer he is very narrow minded in the music business...
To say jpop you need to have more kpop?

[Larien]

Is it weird that I simultaneously agree and disagree with this review? Maybe it's more than I understand why he feels the way he does. I still love this album.
I think the reviewer is looking for something different in the album, however, though. *shrug* Oh well. Enjoy it if you so desire!

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

Well, sorry for keeping J-pop rich in genres and not monotone and recyclable like K-pop