"Why did I make this?"

That's the thought that (hopefully) runs through every artist's head when he or she looks back upon the highs and lows of his or her career and finds that one album or song that got released that really shouldn't have.

In the case of Namie Amuro, arguably the most well-known solo female artist of '90's Japanese pop, that album is, without a doubt, 2000's break the rules.

Produced by über-producer Tetsuya Komuro (the face of many '90's J-Pop artists; Amuro split ways with him after this album's release), Dallas Austin (yes, the one who worked with TLC) and Ricciano Lumpkins, the album -- which was released only eleven months after Amuro's third album GENIUS 2000 -- is a prime example of what happens when an album just doesn't work.

In what seems as though it was designed to appeal to both Japanese and American audiences, the album is neither straightforward pop (as much of Amuro's past material was) nor R&B-inspired material (as her later discography demonstrates), but rather a misguided mishmash of both. This concept could have worked had it not been executed so poorly; unfortunately, jarring-and-sudden switches in style interrupt any attempt at flow this album may have been trying to achieve (as is the case with GIRLFRIEND and NEVER END; the former, written by Austin and singer Debra Killings, is an eyebrow-raising R&B-light track with almost all-English lyrics, while the latter, a Komuro composition, is a drifting midtempo pop number written for the G8 Summit).

In addition to a lack of cohesiveness, each individual song on the album suffers in one way or another from rather uninspired composition (and, as will be touched on briefly, lyrics). While some of these songs start out intriguing and different (such as the album's best track, the single PLEASE SMILE AGAIN, a pop-rock track with some crunchy guitars, nifty "circus-style" synth work, and excellent, punchy vocals from Amuro), by the end of their running-time that which makes them enjoyable (the circus-synths and chorus in this case) has been used so much that the song, while enjoyable, is just bordering on one-too-many repetitions. In fact, the name of the game this album is playing is "repetition", as most everything here is dragged down by constantly pounding either the melody or the lyrics into the listener's head. Other tracks take far less time to make their blandness apparent; from the opening notes of break the rules, one of Komuro's attempts at creating a blend between R&B and pop, it's obvious the song isn't going to go anywhere -- and it doesn't: the same opening notes are repeated throughout the entirety of the song, and the rest of the instrumentation (an "eerie"-sounding higher-pitched synth line, a simple one-tap drum line, and some other garbled synth sounds) quickly becomes redundant and annoying.

Lyrics -- and not the Japanese ones -- also play a part in the sheer blandness of this album, although not as big of one as composition and arrangement. While they work at times (LOOKING FOR YOU, a catchy-but-unoriginal pop number, is Amuro's first attempt at an all-English song, while it comes across as slightly cliché, gets a pass for a memorable chorus), the English lyrics sprinkled throughout some of the album's tracks seem forced and unnatural when Japanese would have most likely fit better. break the rules again serves to illustrate this point; perhaps Komuro was running out of steam when he wrote this song, but Amuro's constant repetition of nonsensical lyrics like "Let's break the rules / I wanna show you how I do it / I wanna fight, that's the way" and "our life goes up and down" just seems unnecessary and, frankly, stupid. On the other end of the spectrum is English usage that works except for a couple words that come across as amusing; GIRLFRIEND is actually rather-catchy and Amuro pulls off the English well, but the line "I never wanna be your girlfriend / To me that's such a whack position" throws all the song's credibility out the window and makes me grin every time it's uttered.

Vocally, Amuro's all over the place: there are times when she sounds really good (PLEASE SMILE AGAIN; NEVER END; think of me, a gentle R&B ballad on which Amuro performs amicably, albeit bordering on histrionics at times), but there are also times she just fails to deliver (no more tears; break the rules; better days, a generic R&B-beat/synth-led song whose melody line gives Amuro nothing to work with -- it's literally very one-note and unmemorable). She tries her best, but the material here fails her more than it helps her.

In the end, it all boils down to one thing -- this album sucks. Yes, there are a couple tracks that stand out, but in the end they're lost amidst the generic-ness and sheer snore-inducing crap that makes up the rest of the album. Don't waste your money, because there's nothing here worth spending it on. Most certainly not recommended.

Namie Amuro: "break the rules"
[ CDA | AVCD-11867 | ¥3,059 | 2000.12.20 ]

01. RULE 8AM [ 0:32 ]
02. no more tears [ 5:47 ]
03. better days [ 4:24 ]
04. break the rules [ 4:03 ]
05. LOOKING FOR YOU [ 4:39 ]
06. PLEASE SMILE AGAIN [ 4:45 ]
07. never shoulda [ 4:23 ]
08. CROSS OVER (Album Mix) [ 5:03 ]
09. GIRLFRIEND [ 4:15 ]
10. NEVER END (Album Mix) [ 6:27 ]
11. think of me [ 4:45 ]
12. RULE 8PM [ 0:35 ]
13. HimAWArI [ 4:47 ]
14. NO MORE TEARS REMIX [ 8:59 ]

[ http://www.avexnet.or.jp/amuro ]

Other Namie Amuro Reviews:

Queen of Hip-Pop (2005)

Recommended: No