For the past month there has been lots of speculation as to what our flop home girl Crystal Kay is up to. Constant Instagrams chronicling her time in the US, trips to the studio with well established songwriters and producers is leading everybody to believe that she is working on an English studio album. And rightly so. Everything seems to be pointing in that direction and it is something Crystal had mentioned a desire to do numerous times in recent interviews.
Sony may have been tight with those album advances, but Universal are cutting those cheques for CK to cash abroad. Thus far, Crystal has cut tracks in the States with...
Crystal also recently did a shoot with the hotly in-demand fashion photographer duo Gomillion and Leupold who have shot album covers for Brandy, Jennifer Lopez, Jill Scott, Iggy Azalea, that flop bitch Cassie, that flop bitch Ciara, hot mess ho Ke$ha and wife beating n***a Chris Brown to name a few.
A new album from Crystal Kay is inevitable. Whether the follow up to Vivid truly is an English studio album for global release or just domestic - nobody knows. Crystal has often worked with US and European based song writers and producers for her domestic releases, so perhaps it's just business as usual. But the prospect of Crystal releasing an English language album for worldwide release is exciting, even though it won't sell a damn thing. Crystal still stands a better chance of selling anywhere else other than Japan though. Hikaru Utada and BoA went for the US because they were big in Japan and had a following in the US they felt they could tap into. CK is a flop in Japan and has a following in the US, so she has nothing to lose.
If Universal handle this next studio album correctly, it has the potential to take CK's career to the next level. That level CK should have been on about 5 years ago.
It's great to see that Crystal is staying active and that (as was the case with Vivid) she's broadening her net of musical and visual collaborators. Vivid was so on point, that she could have put that shit on iTunes globally and caught some extra fans and a few hundred downloads. I stay mad that the English version of "Yo yo" was not commissioned as a fully fledged single. If there was ever a song to act as taste for CK's English language material, it was that song right there. And don't even get me started on "I can't wait" and "It's a crime". And then there's the Summer funk / disco crack that is "My heart beat". That right there should have had a video and a version recorded in English. My n***a Nile Rodgers would have loved dat shit.
CK album / single reviews: All yours | Color change! | Flash | Spin the music | Forever | Vivid
Sony may have been tight with those album advances, but Universal are cutting those cheques for CK to cash abroad. Thus far, Crystal has cut tracks in the States with...
- Ex Bloodshy & Avant protégé Fredro (Wonder girls' "G.N.O", MiChi's "Find your way", Mýa's "Fabulous life")
- Stargate affiliated songwriter Autumn Rowe (Alexis Jordan's "Happiness")
- Claude Kelly (Brandy's "Camouflage", Britney's "Circus", Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" and half of Christina Aguilera's record breaking flop Bionic)
- Vidal Davis (Ciara's "Oh", Usher's "Caught up", Mary J. Blige "Hurt again", Michael Jackson's "Butterflies")
Crystal also recently did a shoot with the hotly in-demand fashion photographer duo Gomillion and Leupold who have shot album covers for Brandy, Jennifer Lopez, Jill Scott, Iggy Azalea, that flop bitch Cassie, that flop bitch Ciara, hot mess ho Ke$ha and wife beating n***a Chris Brown to name a few.
A new album from Crystal Kay is inevitable. Whether the follow up to Vivid truly is an English studio album for global release or just domestic - nobody knows. Crystal has often worked with US and European based song writers and producers for her domestic releases, so perhaps it's just business as usual. But the prospect of Crystal releasing an English language album for worldwide release is exciting, even though it won't sell a damn thing. Crystal still stands a better chance of selling anywhere else other than Japan though. Hikaru Utada and BoA went for the US because they were big in Japan and had a following in the US they felt they could tap into. CK is a flop in Japan and has a following in the US, so she has nothing to lose.
If Universal handle this next studio album correctly, it has the potential to take CK's career to the next level. That level CK should have been on about 5 years ago.
It's great to see that Crystal is staying active and that (as was the case with Vivid) she's broadening her net of musical and visual collaborators. Vivid was so on point, that she could have put that shit on iTunes globally and caught some extra fans and a few hundred downloads. I stay mad that the English version of "Yo yo" was not commissioned as a fully fledged single. If there was ever a song to act as taste for CK's English language material, it was that song right there. And don't even get me started on "I can't wait" and "It's a crime". And then there's the Summer funk / disco crack that is "My heart beat". That right there should have had a video and a version recorded in English. My n***a Nile Rodgers would have loved dat shit.
CK album / single reviews: All yours | Color change! | Flash | Spin the music | Forever | Vivid
I hope your speculation is correct. I think CK is prime for success in the US particularly. If there is an English only album, I hope it's handled correctly so she doesn't go the way of Utada. Although Utada is an American born and raised in NYC, I still feel CK has a presence that is more palatable to the US market. BUT with history against her, CK's folks need to handle it with care.
ReplyDeleteI hope she releases an English language album, but I have no expectations for her to have any success in the U.S. I think she does have more appeal than Utada and Boa, but unless she signs with a U.S subsidiary of Universal, She will have NO budget for promotion. Honestly, I can't see a U.S crossover for her being handled correctly at all. Also, I have to disagree with you on one thing,. I think Crystal does have a lot to lose. I don't know how many more flops Universal can take from her before they drop her. If she does plan on releasing an album in the U.S, I'll support her all the way, just like I did for Utada. Bitches don't know how much I love them. I went on a fucking adventure for her This is the Flop cd (NO ONE carried that shit, I finally found one copy at a bookstore of all places), and bills almost went unpaid so I could see a bitch on tour.
ReplyDeleteI don't know where you were looking; but I found This is the One at a wal-mart. It was everywhere. Nobody bought it though. Even when I moved her CD's to the front popular section.
ReplyDeleteI honestly believe she could make it with an English album. I mean, the bitch has the perfect name (Crystal Kay is some marketable shit) and is doing pop. Hopefully real pop and not whatever BoA was. Also bitch can look American, something Utada and BoA cannot; and probably why they failed.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a tweet she made posting Japanese lyrics made me scared that she honestly thought she could go back to Japan with another Pop album and not flop to infinity and beyond. I hope she makes the right choice and debuts in the U.S., something she should have done with Natural when R&B was actually popular.
I don't know, I remember going to several stores and having a difficult time finding it. For one, the employees had no idea who the hell I was talking about, so I had to look for that shit by myself. I remember going to Best Buy, FYE, a local record shop called Strawberries I think, Borders, and I finally found one copy at Barnes and Noble. I didn't think to check walmart, but at the time there were no Walmarts near where I lived( I mean within walking/ Local bus route distance).
ReplyDeleteAdding International Flop To That Resumé.
ReplyDeleteHer Flops Will Now Transcend Oceans, Continents and Countries.
Crystal Kay......Her Worth.
I am excited for her. What she is need is promotion, but I still get her album even if it fails.
ReplyDeleteLmfao I hope we at least get another two day tour out of this.
ReplyDeleteAnd when her Label Drops her, she gon' be that fish right beside me. Lulz.
ReplyDeleteLulz. That's all they gave her in her own country. She will be lucky if she gets to tell somebody what her name is before they turn her mike off now.
ReplyDeleteCrystal better save her money and clutch it like a newborn child.
America is too big. Asian artists need do understand that. Europe is where they should start.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if there's one who deserves to be successful overseas it's definitely Crystal Kay.
P.S. Vivid is available at Amazon's mp3 music store in Europe. Ya'll have no excuse not to buy your digital copy of Vivid.
And if she were a fish she probably eat fishes like you for a snack. You a bottom of the food chain type fish.
ReplyDeleteto be perfectly honest, the fans that she did have are all jumping ship with the amount of releases universal is letting her have. (i.e - none) and to top it off, people think she can make it big in the U.S? unlikely.
ReplyDeletei really think that crystal should realise that she needs to be putting these chart making producers to work on her domestic albums, and picking up & reinventing her fanbase there for a start.
the U.S market is far to big for her to enter and become a succes overnight, which is what every other artist has to deal with. (rania tried that shit with lady gaga's producing team with a great song and no-one paid attention to that)
do you guys really think that with a shit fanbase in japan and only a slightly bigger one overseas, that she is going to be successful?
dear crystal,
please work on your domestic work & fanbase before you decide to drop ship and try to make it big in the U.S.
i agree with the other comments, it will only take a certain amount of flop album sales for universal to get the hint and drop her ass on the street. good luck having an idependant budget to work with. (even thought it's pretty much what's she getting now)
Well as usual I will support her no matter what direction she goes in. I'm very excited to hear new music from her. She could release world wide and see what happens. Universal would have to back her up with some promotion though. If they are going to the trouble of sending her to the states to work with these various producers and such it doesn't make sense not to promote the thing. The question, is Universal going to do the real work and take the time to see if something can be generated outside of Japan. I do think if she's going to go for it try the European market first. There seems to be more interests in hearing different ppl and music, not just pop crap. She doesn't have to be an over night sensation to have some success. She could do some concerts, get a nice write up hear and there, find a niche and get her foot in the door. But it will take time and it can't be a one shot deal like Utada and Boa (I know Utada had a two shot deal).
ReplyDeleteShe eats that now. Betch ain't got no money! Lulz.
ReplyDelete