Who's Back?

Who's Back?

A woman holding her hair back.

CD/DVD and digital download editions cover
Studio album by BoA
Released September 3, 2014
(see release history)
Recorded 2010-2014
Genre pop, contemporary R&B
Language Japanese
Label Avex Trax
BoA chronology

Only One
(2012)		 Who's Back?
(2014)
Singles from Who's Back?
  1. "Woo Weekend"
    Released: July 21, 2010
  2. "I See Me"
    Released: December 8, 2010
  3. "Milestone"
    Released: December 7, 2011
  4. "Only One"
    Released: February 20, 2013
  5. "Tail of Hope"
    Released: June 26, 2013
  6. "Message / Call My Name"
    Released: October 23, 2013
  7. "Shout It Out"
    Released: February 26, 2014
  8. "Masayume Chasing"
    Released: July 23, 2014

Who's Back? is the 16th studio album by South Korean singer BoA. Her eighth Japanese language album, Who's Back? compiles all of her singles released since Identity in 2010.

Background and development

After her 2009 English language debut BoA (2009) and her seventh Japanese album Identity (2010), BoA focused on releasing music in South Korea. In 2010, BoA released Hurricane Venus, her first Korean studio album in five years, followed by Only One (2012). In 2011, to celebrate 10 years since her Japanese debut, she released a video single, "Milestone".

Three of the songs on the album were originally released in South Korea as singles: "Only One" and "The Shadow" from Only One (2012), and "Baby You..", a Japanese version of BoA's song "Geuleon Neo (Disturbance)" (2013). All three songs featured writing credits by BoA herself. The majority of the songs on the album were released as Japanese singles, with four of the remaining songs being B-sides for these singles ("The Shadow", "Baby You..", "Close to Me", "Fun"), and a single new song, "First Time".

Promotion and release

Many of the songs during their initial released had commercial tie-ups, such as "Woo Weekend" which was used as the 25th anniversary song for Disney on Ice Japan, and both "I See Mee" and "Milestone", which were used in commercials for Audio-Technica headphones.[1] Several songs were theme songs for television programs: the song "Tail of Hope" was used as the opening theme song for the drama Hakui no Namida, while "Message" was used for the online Bee TV drama Love Message!'s theme song.[1] "Masayume Chasing" was used as an opening theme song for the fifth season of the anime Fairy Tail.[2]

The song "First Time", the only new song found on the release, was used to promote Who's Back?, and received a music video, featuring footage of BoA recording the song. The song had minor success, charting at number 76 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart.[3]

Critical reception

CDJournal felt that the album, compiled of almost entirely previously released works, acted more like a greatest hits album than a studio album. The reviewers felt that the album was impressive in the wide range of genres and techniques used, going from "up-tempo dancable pop tunes" to "melancholic medium ballads".[1] For the individual songs, the reviewers felt that "Woo Weekend" had "relaxing light vocals" and a "comfortable, soft melody line", and praised her "poppy, colorful and innocent approach", and that "Only One" was a "perfectly expressed" ballad with a high level of skills.[4][5] They praised the "fresh" summer feeling of "Tail of Hope", and felt "Baby You.." (i.e. "Disturbance") was a high quality, adult song.[6]

Track listing

No. TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "First Time"  Sara SakuraiCiaron Bell, Chelcee Grimes, Wesley Steed, Chris Wahlberg 3:47
2. "Shout It Out"  SakuraiKanata Okajima, Daniel Sherman, Ricky Hanley 4:02
3. "Only One"  BoABoA 3:39
4. "Fun"  Akira (Palm Drive)Erik Lidbom, Martin Kleveland 4:05
5. "Message"  OkajimaLidbom, Andreas Öberg 3:06
6. "Woo Weekend"  Yoko HajiDaiki 3:56
7. "Milestone"  STYPaul Drew, Greig Watts, Pete Barringer, Rike Boomgaarden 3:07
8. "I See Me"  STYSTY 5:04
9. "Masayume Chasing" (True Dream Chasing)Junji IshiwatariSteven Lee, Caroline Gustavsson 3:41
10. "The Shadow"  BoAJoe Belmaati 3:22
11. "Close to Me"  Akira (Palm Drive)Ina Wroldsen 4:20
12. "Call My Name"  SakuraiNemin Harambasic, Anne Judith Wik, Ronny Svendsen, Yuta Nakano 3:44
13. "Baby You.."  BoABoA 3:19
14. "Tail of Hope"  SakuraiClaire Rodrigues, Sherman, Andrew Gilbert 3:49
Total length:
 53:07

Charts

Charts (2014) Peak
position
Japan Oricon weekly albums[7] 7
South Korean Gaon weekly albums[8] 19
South Korean Gaon international weekly albums[9] 3
Taiwan G-Music weekly releases[10] 13
Taiwan G-Music East Asian weekly releases[11] 1

Sales

Chart Amount
Japan Oricon physical sales[12] 17,000
South Korea Gaon physical sales[13] 600

Release history

Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalogue codes
Japan September 3, 2014[14][15] CD, CD/DVD, digital download Avex Trax AVCK-79214B, AVCK-79215
South Korea digital download S.M. Entertainment
Taiwan September 26, 2014[16] CD, CD/DVD Avex Taiwan
South Korea October 1, 2014[17] CD S.M. Entertainment 2461970

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "BoA / WHO'S BACK? [CD+DVD]" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ "New Fairy Tail TV Anime's Promo Video Previews BoA Song". Anime News Network. March 16, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Japan Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (in Japanese). September 10, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  4. ↑ "BoA / WOO WEEKEND [CD+DVD]" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  5. ↑ "BoA / Only One [CD+DVD]" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  6. ↑ "BoA / Tail of Hope [紙ジャケット仕様] [CD+DVD]" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  7. ↑ ＷＨＯ’Ｓ　ＢＡＣＫ？（ＤＶＤ付） (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  8. ↑ "2014년 41주차 Album Chart 종합". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  9. ↑ "2014년 41주차 Album Chart 국외". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ "G-Music J-Pop Chart" (in Chinese). G-Music. 2014 week 40. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  11. ↑ "G-Music J-Pop Chart" (in Chinese). G-Music. 2014 week 40. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  12. ↑ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree']. Oricon. Retrieved October 3, 2014. (subscription required (help)).
  13. ↑ "2014년 10월 Album Chart". Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  14. ↑ "【CD】WHO'S BACK? ［CD+DVD］" (in Japanese). Tower Records. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Who's Back?" (in Korean). Bugs. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  16. ↑ "寶兒BoA / WHO’S BACK？ (CD+DVD)" (in Japanese). G-Music. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  17. ↑ "BOA(보아) - WHO'S BACK? [통상반]" (in Korean). Hot Tracks. Retrieved November 3, 2014.