Wikipedia

Who's Back?

Who's Back? is the eighth Japanese-language studio album (thirteenth overall) by South Korean singer BoA. It was released on September 3, 2014, by Avex Trax and compiles all of her singles released since her previous studio album Identity (2010).

Who's Back?
A woman holding her hair back.
Digital and CD/DVD edition cover.
Studio album by
BoA
ReleasedSeptember 3, 2014 (2014-09-03)
Recorded2010–2014
Genre
Length53:07
LanguageJapanese
LabelAvex Trax
BoA chronology
Only One
(2012) 		Who's Back?
(2014) 		Kiss My Lips
(2015)
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"
    Released: October 23, 2013
  7. "Shout It Out"
    Released: February 26, 2014
  8. "Masayume Chasing"
    Released: July 23, 2014
  9. "First Time"
    Released: September 3, 2014

Background and development

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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 "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

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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 first thirteen episodes of the seventh 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

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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

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No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."First Time"Sara SakuraiCiaron Bell, Chelcee Grimes, Wesley Steed, Chris Wahlberg3:47
2."Shout It Out"SakuraiKanata Okajima, Daniel Sherman, Ricky Hanley4:02
3."Only One"BoABoA3:39
4."Fun"Akira (Palm Drive)Erik Lidbom, Martin K4:05
5."Message"OkajimaLidbom, Andreas Öberg3:06
6."Woo Weekend"Yoko HajiDaiki3:56
7."Milestone"STYPaul Drew, Greig Watts, Pete Barringer, Rike Boomgaarden3:07
8."I See Me"STYSTY5:04
9."Masayume Chasing" (True Dream Chasing)Junji IshiwatariSteven Lee, Caroline Gustavsson3:41
10."The Shadow"BoAJoe Belmaati3:22
11."Close to Me"Akira (Palm Drive)Ina Wroldsen4:20
12."Call My Name"SakuraiNemin Harambasic, Anne Judith Wik, Ronny Svendsen, Yuta Nakano3:44
13."Baby You.."BoABoA3:19
14."Tail of Hope"SakuraiClaire Rodrigues, Sherman, Andrew Gilbert3:49
Total length:53:07
DVD
No.TitleDirectorLength
1."First Time"Kenta Tanoue3:47
2."Shout It Out"Daisuke Ninomiya4:02
3."Only One"Toshiyuki Suzuki3:39
4."Message"Kwon Soon-wook3:06
5."Woo Weekend"Hideaki Sunaga3:56
6."Milestone"Masaki Ohkita3:07
7."Masayume Chasing"Ninomiya3:41
8."The Shadow"Kwon Soon-wook3:22
9."Tail of Hope"Toshiyuki Suzuki3:22
10."First Time (making clip and interview)"Kenta Tanoue 

Charts

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Weekly charts

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Chart (2014) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[7] 7
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[8] 19
South Korean Int'l Albums (Gaon)[9] 3
Taiwanese Albums (G-Music)[10] 13
Taiwanese J-pop Albums (G-Music)[11] 1

Sales

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Japan — 17,355[12]
South Korea — 600[13]

Release history

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Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalogue codes
Japan[14][15] September 3, 2014 (2014-09-03) CD, CD/DVD, digital download Avex Trax AVCK-79214B, AVCK-79215
South Korea digital download S.M. Entertainment
Taiwan[16] September 26, 2014 (2014-09-26) CD, CD/DVD Avex Taiwan
South Korea[17] October 1, 2014 (2014-10-01) CD S.M. Entertainment 2461970

References

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  1. ^ a b c "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. ^ As of October 27, 2014
  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.
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