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Posted by bryanb

Let me continue the current CreamTeam hard-on for all things Future Pop by introducing you to BoA. If you already know of her, then you are either A) much more hip than me, or B) an avid listener of J-pop and all it’s permutations. BoA is already a star in her homeland of South Korea, and is making her first attempt to cross-over into the Western music market with her eponymous English language debut album, and especially ravenous first single Eat You Up. I use the term “English language” loosely, because its painfully obvious listening to the album that BoA, bless her heart, has no idea what she’s singing or how to pronounce the lyrics written for her. Her Engrish is raw and gnarled, her instrument used as simply a supporting element to the sleek production.

Aided by the aforementioned Bloodshy & Avant (Kylie, Madonna, Britney), and Sean Garrett (Beyonce, Cassie)—these songs are bathed in the rhythm & rave sound of hydraulic synths and hip-hop signature beats. She posits herself squarely in the Britney and Kylie camp; emulating their tease of coy, hyper-sexualized role playing. She comes across as youthful but powerful, playful but distant, but in the end it’s really just imitation. My true criticism of BoA is that she pulls it off too well, to the point of invisibility. Her personality has become as pitch perfected as her auto-tuned vocals. I dare anyone to find a shred of her heritage or identity in this virtual hall of mirrors. BoA’s quest for acceptance, her hunger to conquer has cost her the one intrinsic element she shares with no one else. Perhaps in time, with a meteoric rise and well-publicized breakdown (maybe even a photographed head-shaving along the way), will we truly be able to embrace her as one of our own.

For now we have some gorgeous, if ice cold, slices of dance-pop to remind us of the age old question, “Who’s really eating who?”

Boa – Hypnotic Dancefloor (225 kbps)

Boa – Eat You Up (219 kpbs)

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