Exodus week 2
 

Not doing well at all..:(

Off the Bilboard 200, sellin 5034 units, 12143 units total :( :thud (..cool smiley..)

source:utada-online.net

sorry..forgot..><

Wow...

This is so sad compared to her Japan sales...:(

Don't really think it was promoted altogether that much, didn't think anyone would pay attention to this release. Sure she appeared on radio stations but how well-known are these stations? As far as TV appearances, I'd never even heard of the shows until I heard that she was appearing on them. Minimal coverage, people generally won't pick up a CD unless they know it's THAT song from the radio that's been stuck in their head and they know it's by THAT artist. I didn't like the cover to Exodus so if I had no idea who she was, it wouldn't make its way home with me on one of my weird impulse-buys-because-of-the-pretty-cover. Also they pushed Easy Breezy to the fore which I don't think was really a good idea, Devil Inside would've been a much better choice as such it's more American-friendly in terms of listening and lyrics. Dancing music is always a good bet to push up as a first song from a 'new' artist.

IDJ really out did themselves on this promotion lol .. bragging about how it was one of the most expensive they've done and this is it? WHEW .. I know my wallet would be suffering :P

meh, i'm gonna wait for the next few single releases to truly judge how the album goes. It could possibly be a sleeper hit

:no

well. yeah. still no promotion from IDJ.

n e whoo. i FINALLY found it at Wal-Mart.
there was only like 2 copies.

Gah, I was hoping it would do better.. :vsad Then again, I've seen almost NO promotion for it, so then again.. how the hell can people want to buy it if they don't even know who she is? :thud

No surprise. No promotion equals no sales. But maybe with the next single it will pick up.

for some reason I had a feeling sales would increase because people would tell other people about it.... still....only 2k less week 2 isn't that bad..?

maybe this is a sleeper..
if someone catches something good about the cd...then more people will buy it this will happen next year >.<

i think some people were just too optimistic about this cd. it wasn't that great. i'm sorry. i completely understand why it's not doing well. hell, it's hard to make it in the music industry as an american 0_o

i'm glad that they didn't promote it because they would have RUINED it even more. think of how annoying the commercials would have been...with that terrible hook from easy breezy in the background O_O

i think it would have appealed to more people if they used exodus as the debut single, since it has more of an american sound

Umm... Maybe there won't be a next single... I wouldn't be surprised with these poor sales...

If she did a song with a Rapper that would boost up alot of Promotion!

As optimistic as we are going to try to be, this album is dead.

Well, in the American side, yar, I think the album is considered to be more on the hiatus stage instead of dead totally. Seriously, I don't really know where IDJ is taking this to? They're just being very stupid, like pulling Utada's leg with all these bad promotion they are giving her. I seriously think we should like sign some kind of petition to make IDJ seriously consider their promos once more.

Def jam probably didn't promote her because America doesn't know her very well. Sad. At least my purchase is in between all those numbers :P

i don't see why they didn't include "blow my whistle" or "by your side" ... those were tracks with well-known rappers, and decent songs

Let's just admit it.. all of America thinks Asians can't break into the American industry.. cos we can't speak English :rolleyes

Her promotional team at IDJ needs to be fired. I still think the album could be one of those underground acts that keeps lingering for some time until something catches the radar. While it may look like it's headed towards commercial flop (only in America anyway, it DID hit No. 1 on the Global charts) at least it was a critical success. All the american reviews have praised it so far.

By any chance, does anyone know how Bjork's very first album did and how much promo she had?

It's only been two weeks...some albums takes a long long time to catch fire and spread to mainstream. I'd say it'd take at least another month if the album is gonna get popular...but then who cares about sales?? I thought this album was as good as 'Deep River' was.

:eek This is some shocking news :no hope it picks up soon :yes

i already forgot about exodus04 let alone utada, and i'm sure a lot of others feel that way, poor utada

I guess the no-promotion is understandable. IDJ is pretty much putting all their resources in Mariah Carey's upcoming album right now, trying to regain her place in the spotlight. And, well, even a bad Mariah album will sell more than a good Utada album will in the US. They probably realized the album sucked and didn't bother to promote it.

....

Ok it's one thing to not enjoy the album cause you just don't get it. But, to say it sucks just cause it didn't fit in your skewed image of what good music is, is completely unobjective. It's no use moaning about how the album isn't good anymore, we've all heared it. All the american reviews have praised it. So it's pretty much a critical success. I can honestly say at this point I like Exodus more than Deep River.

Because I don't get it? The fact is her vocals mostly sound like **** on this album, though the actual beats are pretty decent. But her voice is what turned me off to this album. And while I don't think it's better than Deep River, I think Deep River was only OK anyway...I prefer Distance so much more. And sorry, this isn't good image. You know what, reviews mean nothing, as sad as that may be. Record companies can buy good reviews, her sales speak for themselves.

Also, nowhere did I say that I think Mariah is better that Hikki (though I do, and it terms of vocal talent there's no contest as to who's better). I was just stating the facts. A bad Mariah album will sell better than a good Hikki one because she doesn't have a huge fanbase like Mariah. Also, LA Reid is personally working with Mariah on the new album--LA Reid is in charge of IDJ. His career is riding on Mariah's new album, because he needs to prove to the world that the collapse of arista wasn't his fault. So all of IDJ's resources are going into Mariah's album. Whereas Hikki's album is mediocre at best, so of course they're not going to go completely out of their way for her. For her to gain their attention the album would have to be superb, which it isn't, plain and simple. Just because you don't want to hear the truth as to why IDJ is putting her on the back burner, you don't need to start criticizing me for just saying it sucked, it's not like I made a huge post about how horrible it is. It was one small comment.

guys take it to somewhere else..just don't start a war here
and i know both of you are just expressing your opinions and just try don't bash anyone
thanks

Oh lordy where do I begin? First of all, where did I say that you stated that Mariah Carey is better than Utada? (Yea Mariah used to have an amazing voice although i'm really not sure anymore if her vocal chops are as great as they used to be. And don't even get me started on the actual craptacular melodies and the skank-factor. And lets not forget her awsome movie career).

Anyway, you're post shows that you don't get Exodus. Yea the vocal preformance is questionable but for the most part, it gets the job done. But hikki's vocals were never her strongest point or the "meat" of her songs and it's very much the case in this album. It's all in the arrangements. All the gewing and gawing electronic sounds. The synthy mess that is The Workout or the bleeps and beeps of Animato all manage to somehow fit together and create something that is truly different from what's out there and enjoyable. The singing is just like....icing on cake. Grant it, it's sloppy icing but it's still icing. If you fail to see that, which you have, and not get it, then you're missing out and good stuff.

I'm not here to force anyone to like Exodus. But you can't make a general statement like "they probebly realized that it sucks so they're not putting time into it". Just cause you don't like it, it sucks? Who are you to decide that? If it's just not your cup of tea or just not you're style then that's fine. But don't put it down just cause you fail to see it's good points.

Also what's all this rambling about LA ried and how he has his neck on the line and etc. ? So what? It's hikki's fault that LA may not know how to run a company? So what does that mean, just because some big shot guy in charge screwed up royally, everyone else on the label has to create safe and unadventurous, cookie-cutter crap? It's SALES that mean nothing when we're talking about quality of music. People are so easy to brainwash, they'll buy whatever MTV feeds them. If something sold well it mainly means that MTV & VH1 chose to support it.

By the way, just let you in on a little forum etiquette, try not to double post.

Barley anybody knows who Bjork is where I live. Ah.

It is also forum ettiquette to not get into a flame war. Take haku's suggestion before something has to be done about it.

..we need yvette..o.o

well I think Utada is awesome, and Exodus is good, and that's the way it is, and.. TWINKIES FOR EVERYONE!! :yatta :shimmy Atleast Utada tried... ¬¬

NO arguing!! :wtf ..or the llamas will jump you. :yes

we weren't starting a flame war. no personal attacks were taken against anyone, we were just passionately discussing a topic. but if it's bothering people i'll let it go after this one though--i wasn't saying that crappy promotion from IDJ was right, just trying to provide a reason for it. they're generally not good with promotion in the first place, but it's especially horrible now because of where all their energies are focused.

so yea... truce....