BoA Ready to Break into U.S. Market

Boa Kwon's first U.S. single, the contagious "Eat You Up," has already been rising up the dance charts. But that's hardly any reassurance for the 22-year-old Korean pop superstar, better known by her stage name BoA. Considering that fellow Asian singer Hikaru Utada--one of the biggest singers in the history of Japan--boasted a dance hit that winded up yielding poor album sales. BoA, however, has a better shot than her contemporary judging from the much more fierce promotion on her record label's part.

Two music videos have already been shot: one directed by Cha Eun Taek in Japan, Korea, and the United States, and the other directed by Diane Martel in California. Martel's version is much less dimensional and seems to have been made on a much lower budget than Taek's spectacular work, featuring breathtaking choreography from Misha Gabriel.

The track also has a much better chance of scraping Billboard's Hot 100 than anything on Utada's experimental Exodus. Utada's wealth of creative control hurt her more than it helped. BoA, in contrast, has always relied on the producers and songwriters to engineer hits for her. While Utada has seen phenomenal success in Japan with her self-penned creations, without a familiar-enough ear for America's vastly different music landscape, her work has remained vastly unheard outside of Asia. Producers Bloodshy & Avant and songwriters Remee and Thomas Troelsen crafted a sound that works well for BoA. Since the showcase of the song isn't the artist's voice, attention is taken away from BoA's accent and imperfect English. She's able to deliver the words in such a way that parallels the intensity of the music without distracting the listener, unlike Utada's cringeworthy disaster-of-a-first-U.S.-single, "Easy Breezy." Her subsequent single, "Devil Inside" faired better, ascending the dance charts. But club airplay hardly ever translates to album sales, as was the case with Exodus.

So with a high budget, creative dance video, a more mainstream sound, and a bigger promotional campaign ("Best of Asia," "Bring on America"), BoA may be lucky enough to establish a fan base bigger than the admirers of her Asian work here in the States. The forthcoming album, Look Who's Talking, is looking at a not yet determined 2009 release date. Since debuting with ID; Peace B in her native Korea in 2000 at the age of 13, BoA has gone on to conquer charts in the big Japanese market, racking up six consecutive number one albums (the last being this year's The Face). With her album and single sales on a decline, however, this American project may be just the reinvention her career needs.