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I just listened to the previews and I feel a bit let down. There is some great production in some parts, but the record sounds so flat. It is nothing but generic dance beats with one ballad at the end. I feel like most of these tracks could have been saved for feature on future albums. Like, she really overloaded this album with dance tracks, and none of them sound like new styles for her.
I'm mostly let down by the lack of mixed styles. On every album up to FEEL, there were was a typical club banger, a ballad or two that sounded different from other j-pop ballads, a few mid-tempo dance tracks, but most of all there was always a big mix of different kinda of pop. I feel like she's desperately trying to break into English pop at the expense of her unique style rather than adapting her style to English lyrics.
Anything, as Zeke. mentioned, is way too generic. What bothers me is how much it follows the chord progression and melody of TLC's "Unpretty". When the chorus popped in, I genuinely thought it was a blatant copy of TLC at first. I had to go back and listen to Unpretty again just to remind myself of what is different.
Disappointed. Disappointed. After TSUKI and BRIGHTER DAY, and even Sweet Kisses, this reeks of "sellout". I was honestly expecting better, but I will wait for the next album. Hopefully the era of WILD/Dr./Shut Up/GO ROUND/Neonlight Lipstick/NAKED/Hands On Me isn't actually over. It was really good, and so refreshing to see good pop music that mixed both American and Japanese styles into a flurry of awesomeness. I don't want the creativity of things like 60s/70s/80s to be over, and definitely not to fall behind to be replaced by generic dance pop crap. :/
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