Utada is best when she’s not Americanized
In case you aren’t familiar with Utada, here’s all the info you need:
She is Japan’s biggest pop star – ever.
Her last attempt at a breakout English album did very little justice to her talent and star power. An acquired taste for sure, her first album here tried to toos J-Pop stylings into something American pop culture could get into. And for the most part… America pretty much didn’t get it.
She’s back with a single called “Come Back To Me”. And while I’ve actually heard a mix of it a dance station a couple times already, I can’t help but be saddened at the blandness of her trying to sound so… overly-accessible. It’s like a bad Mariah impression – she’s so more much colorful than that.. And while these couple tracks below from her new album aren’t gonna pound airwave rankings *EVER*, I can’t help but find them much more interesting than her single:
Utata - “Apple and Cinnamon”
Utada - “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI”
… and even then, I just don’t understand how a beautiful and talented mega star from Japan, can’t be produced in such a way, that it pulls her Japanese star power into something special here rather than attempt to erase it. God, I never thought I’d say this but… we could have used Timbaland (yet again) to figure this one out correctly.
She could be funky and different! Gwen – and Lady GaGa have rocked this!
Check out these videos for more reasons why Japanese Utada is just way more fun:
