Last Exodus? - ANN Article

[norain]

http://animenewsnetwork.com/columns/...ion.php?id=114

Today's a bittersweet day for Utada lovers like me. Island Records is giving her another chance to find an American audience, and that's definitely a good thing. Problem is, they're doing this with a 12" vinyl record of Utada's Exodus '04 song, another remnant of her October disaster.

After following the highs and lows of Utada's American adventure for two years now, I can conclude only that she or her management is out of touch with her fans. Utada's handlers will not grant interviews to any publication that is related to Japanese pop culture; her publicist told me they were aiming to be "more mainstream." My own disappointment aside, I believe this is a very poor decision for her career.

The numbers back me up: Exodus sold just 7,105 copies in its first week in America, this with MTV plugs and favorable reviews in USA Today, The Washington Post, and several other national newspapers, not to mention unprecedented online hype. (To be fair, the same Exodus became the fastest English album to sell a million copies in Japan, though I'd credit her superstar status over there.)

Of course this is about more than interviews—they're just a prime example of the attitude problem that's dragging Utada down. I can also point to her "NYC Showcase," which limited its tickets to an incomprehensible 25 lucky fans. I did not attend, but I saw video of her performance, and she looked quite uncomfortable in a fluffy black dress with an epilepsy-inducing computer lightshow behind her.

And finally, there's Exodus itself, which has some of the most abrasive and unnatural music I've ever heard from Utada. "Devil Inside" is a decent if uninspiring song, "Kremlin Dusk" is catchy but poorly mixed, and "Exodus '04" would be fine if not for those stratospheric notes in the melody. The rest sounds closer to midnight Electronica experiments in the basement than the polished work of Japan's all time best-selling music artist.

All of this leads me to believe that Utada's career in America is in serious trouble. Now, she could be on the cover of next month's Rolling Stone and "Exodus '04" could become the next Top 40 radio hit, and I'll look like a fool for writing this, but recent history is not on Utada's side.

The way I see it, Utada has one good path remaining: she must be true to herself, ignore the marketers who think they can guide her to stardom, and brush off anybody who says she should "reinvent" herself. Otherwise, Utada's fans will make an exodus of their own.


Utada really needs to get a new American Company, if she's wanting to succeed in America. Especially since Island mostly has group bands that they promote. Utada just needs to get her name out by doing anything, tv commercials, make up...a new album with COMMERCIALS -.-

[AyuGAME]

honestly i don't really care about utada
but i'm fans of Jpop so..i really want somebody there can be famous in the other country
hope the best for utada

[nanami606]

I LOVE Exodus!!! But I don't like Utada's other work. *shrug*

[tinyppl]

"Utada has one good path remaining: she must be true to herself, ignore the marketers who think they can guide her to stardom, and brush off anybody who says she should "reinvent""

I think that quote sounds so right.

[Ayumi_Hamasaki902]

I like her American Album! Some of the songs on that one were really good but like the rest of you, I do like her Japanese Work a lot more. I hope that she does find some way to have better luck with the American Music Industry.

[sxesven]

This article seems a bit eh, I don't know, unstructured. I guess the writer has somewhat of point when it comes to the whole promotion part that is just seriously lacking, but other than that, well no. First he blames the disappointing sales on the bad promotion and the total lack of communication with the fans, and then he goes on to say:

And finally, there's Exodus itself, which has some of the most abrasive and unnatural music I've ever heard from Utada. "Devil Inside" is a decent if uninspiring song, "Kremlin Dusk" is catchy but poorly mixed, and "Exodus '04" would be fine if not for those stratospheric notes in the melody. The rest sounds closer to midnight Electronica experiments in the basement than the polished work of Japan's all time best-selling music artist.

Not only do I think this is a very poor judgement of an excellent album - if this (i.e. the album being bland etc.) really were the case, why wonder about the bad sales?

her October disaster.

Yeah, way to go, you writer, you.

*sigh* Baaaad article.

[PSYCHEDELICOdust]

Considering its the column thats supposed to be reviewing stuff not contemplating the marketing problems of said stuff. I normaly like the articles and tend to agree, save for the Chobits OSTs...but alas this disappoints me.

[hightea_xx]

i thinik the whole idea of going mainstream is over rated. isn't it mainstream to be...different? as odd and as contradicting as that sounds, isn't it true that being a little different from the rest the in thing? sure we'll always have out pop culture that people try to imitate...but don't big hits always hit because they ARE different? (and about her music trying to be mainstream...it really isn't, imo.) I sort of agree that her album wasn't her best....but I also think that she has some good stuff in there. I don't know, i just wish she would take some of the stuff that inspired her japanese releases to give her some 'umph' to make new, quality stuff in english. those are my thoughts on the matters anyways

[Halla]

I don't think the bad success of the album can be blamed on poor marketing/promoting since according to the article Exodus got "MTV plugs and favorable reviews in USA Today, The Washington Post, and several other national newspapers, not to mention unprecedented online hype."

that's a lot more promotion than a lot of new and upcoming artists get , I think she should face the fact she doesn't have what it takes to make it in the US music scene and return to the J-pop scene before it's too late.

[ohsixthirty]

i dunno, i sort of agree with this column...exodus was a disappointment in a way, yet at the same time it was great in a way. i'm not sure how i feel about it, but i do wish that her new single would do well. i just feel like her sound is not something the us is likely to take to.

[Brittany]

I'm kind of on the way of agreeing also.

The record company didn't do anything to promote her album. Other people that are with the company are promoted, eh? I don't see why they didn't promote Utada's album. Her song had no radio time (from what I've seen on here, it only played on Disney Radio?) on popular stations in cities. People most likely hear songs on the radio and wonder who the artist is ..

And another thing too, it's kind of hard to see Asian people get famous in the music industry in America. At first glance, people are like,"Who the heck is she?" And the truth is quite sad.

That's a sad way of giving Utada a chance with a 12" vinyl of a song off the Exodus album.

[MsMiyabi]

Hikki needs to promote I have yet to see one commercial. I got a few people to buy the cd Hear and there. If she is on the cover of rolling stone that can help a little, man she needs OpraH!

[norain]

Couldn't she just self-promote? I mean Utada I want her to break this non-asian american market. Asians in america need asian role models to know that they too can make it to the market.

[sugoiguywithhair]

Its so obvious that he doesn't like the album, therefore he automatically assumes that just cause he doesn't like it, then nobody else out there likes it, so that's why its preforming the way it is. Nevermind that MTV or Vh1 didn't even play the video ONCE, nevermind that KIIS only played Devil Inside a handful of times at 4 AM!

Exodus is a damn good album but if people don't know its out there, then there's no way it could succeed. The MTV-news bit is nothing. Its like 2 minutes long. 90% of the acts featured on MTV-news (You Hear It First) are never heared of again, so don't go around considering that good publicity.

Anyway, its not like she's giving up, Exodus '04 just recently came out with awsome remixes and the video's currently being filmed. Also, Devil Inside was JUST featured on ***** As Folk which is awsome!

[Rins-chan]

I LOVE her EXODUS album... actually I don't like her earlier works that much... but EXDODUS war really cool. So it just shoked me to see that there was no great success with it.
I just think that she has to promote her album more...
It wasn't so successful because nearly nobody beside the fans noticed it...

ja ne

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by Rins-chan

So it just shoked me to see that there was no great success with it.

Oh it was successfull, just not in the USA.

[sugoiguywithhair]

Originally Posted by sxesven

Oh it was successfull, just not in the USA.

Yeah in the recent issue of Interview Magazine, she said that she's still planning to do a tour in the USA and now they've planned to promote Exodus in Europe first.

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by sugoiguywithhair

Yeah in the recent issue of Interview Magazine, she said that she's still planning to do a tour in the USA and now they've planned to promote Exodus in Europe first.

Ooh, that's pretty awesome. Hope it sells well here and that she actually might do some touring.

One thing that is right about the article is about her attitude problem. I watched one of her interviews and she seemed rather full of herself. You could see the tension in the news caster's face.

[norain]

Well she has to talk about herself in interviews to get people to know her all out right...I mean she's UNKNOWN -_-