NOTES ON ENTERTAINMENT, CULTURE AND MORE FROM KOREA (OR WHEREVER)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I'm Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor

Well, looks like Boa is finally ready to make her big push into the United States. The teaser video for her first American song and video is online. It's called I'll Eat You Up.

American Version:


Asian version:


Or you can go here for the American version. Or here for the Asian version.

Certainly respect in the American market has been the Holy Grail of the Korean music industry for some time. But with the exception of the reggae singer Skull (and, back in the 1950s and 60s, the Kim Sisters), there has been very little success by Korean pop singers over there.

I cannot claim to understand the tastes and trends of hip young people anywhere in the world, so I will refrain from speculating about how Boa's American promotion will go. But best of luck to her.

6 comments:

Aaron said...

If i didn't know it was Boa I'd say it is the typical but better than average produced electro r&b song that they are playing everywhere. it has a current sound which makes it easy to dance to and mix to for DJs. it's not a total song that sticks in your head or lifts you up, but played in the mix its a'ight (as they say)

Anonymous said...

Oh my god..that's a terrible song to start your American debut with.
However, the most shocking part is how crappy the US video is compared to the Korean one. I'm not saying the Korean version is a masterpiece by any means, but the American version looks absolutely terrible. She doesn't even look like BoA in that one, either.

Anonymous said...

aaahhhhh boooooo
the american version looks sooo crappy compared to Korean/asian one. they should show off her kick ass moves and debut with a POW "look what i can do" kind of style not the weird makeup and sexy style. she's not known to be a sexy singer (unlike hyori and chae yeon) in asia so why should she go that way in america??

the song on the other hand isnt GREAT but it's alright. at least it makes SENSE and it's understandable loool it's got a nice beat but it's definitely not as catchy as i would have like it to be. i think song choice is KEY in making it here cuz you're already faced with mixed audience because of language and race barrier so the song has to be kick ass so that everyone will agree it's a good song and at least listen and give her a chance. im not too sure about this though.

best of luck boa. fighting!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, this one REALLY sucks. Even if she made it with this song, you'd not want her to. Please downgrade your work to upgrade your credit BoA... :o(

Anonymous said...

i personally don't like the title...
"Eat you Up"... i know in Korea that means nothing significant, but in America, that means something entirely different.

don't really like the song either... some of her other korean and japanese songs, i could tolerate and even enjoy to some extent, but this one... is really painful to listen to, not to mention, i can't really understand what she's saying because the background music isn't acting "as a background" but overwhelming.

She doesn't really have the body to pull off "sex appeal" like Spears used to, so I dunno... I have a mixed feeling about this...

Mark Russell said...

I don't understand people reacting to the American meaning of "I'll eat you up." Is this some new slang that I have never heard of? It is certainly no oral sex reference that I have ever encountered. Does it mean something else to some people? I have no idea. Sounds like a term of obsession, to my ears.