Talk:Japonesque (album)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Japonesque (album)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Diplomat's Son (talk · contribs) 00:59, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

Never been much of a Kumi fan, but "KO-SO-KO-SO" is one of the best J-pop songs in my opinion. Ayumi Hamasaki has had a slew of articles promoted to GA status; it'd be nice for the rest of J-divas as well, I suppose. At first read through, the article has some copy edit issues, but nothing that would warrant an immediate failure. The extensive use of liner notes citation is impressive.

Lead

Standard lead, nothing groundbreaking. Some repetition, and some in-depth trivia not suitable for an encyclopedia.

• It was released on January 25, 2012 by Rhythm Zone. It was also released just a little under a year after her 2011 album, Dejavu. Japonesque marks Koda's tenth consecutive studio album to be produced by Japanese producer and manager Max Matsuura, amongst many other producers, while she contributes to the album as the lead vocalist, background vocalist, and songwriter to majority of the songs. Recorded in Japanese with minor phrases in English language, Japonesque is a Japanese pop album with numerous musical elements such as dance music, R&B, electronica, and rock music.

↓

• It was released on January 25, 2012, through Rhythm Zone, a little under a year after her previous album, Dejavu (2011). Japonesque marks Koda's tenth consecutive studio album to be handled by record producer and manager Max Matsuura, amongst other collaborators, while she contributes to the album as vocalist and songwriter to a majority of its tracks. Recorded in Japanese with minor phrases in English, Japonesque is a pop album incorporating numerous genres such as dance, R&B, electronica, and rock music.

• Japonesque was recorded in Japan and the United States, making it Koda's third studio album recorded in the latter country; Additional production and mastering was handled in the United States.

↓

• Japonesque was recorded in Japan and the United States, making it Koda's third studio album recorded in the latter territory, where additional production and mastering was handled.

The following section is... a lot for a lead. I'd trim it down and incorporate it into the next paragraph.

• It was released in six different formats, with album artwork inspired by traditional Geisha culture.

• Reword: Upon the album's release, it was met with positive reviews from music critics who commended its production. However, others questioned the length of its material, Koda's songwriting, and opinion was divided over its assortment of genres. Japonesque was commercially successful.

• Capitalize "gold". Comma after "Singles Chart" and add "by the RIAJ"

Background and recording

Again, repetitive. Content is well sourced.

• Koda asked long-term collaborator and Rhythm Zone founder Max Matsuura to produce the album; this marked Koda's tenth consecutive studio album to be handled by Matsuura.

• "previous" to "previously"

Status query

This appears to have stalled. Any way we can get it going again? AIRcorn (talk) 22:37, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Aircorn, I don't see how, absent getting a new reviewer. The reviewer who took this stopped editing on Wikipedia a little over two hours after opening this; it's been nearly three months. Another of their open reviews was taken over by someone else and came to a successful conclusion about a month ago; Talk:Sledgehammer (Fifth Harmony song)/GA3 is the other remaining review they abandoned unfinished. BlueMoonset (talk) 20:02, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

Okay. I will look into this one as well. AIRcorn (talk) 21:09, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

One-month checkup on this one, Aircorn. dannymusiceditor ^oops 21:47, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

New review

• Three singles were released from Japonesque, including one extended play and six promotional That adds up to more than three.
• In August 2011, it was confirmed by Kumi Koda and her record label Rhythm Zone that she would release a then-upcoming studio album titled Japonesque. Why is it a "then-upcoming". Seems redundant.
• with Junichi Shinohara, Makoto Yamadoi, Masahiro Kawata, Takeshi Takizawa, and Takuro Iwamoto. Who are these people? Why are they mentioned?
• Is it necessary to include the various studios?
• Koda, Rhythm Zone, and Avex Trax enlisted previous composers and arrangers for the album, such as Bardur Haberg, Mr. Blistah, Gad, Erik Lidbom, amongst others; these composers and arrangers started working with Koda back on Kingdom and further albums onwards. A little convoluted, could probably be tightened.
• Koda stated that whilst touring in Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan, Korean pop music became hugely recognized within the Asian and Western territories whilst Japanese music was not; she felt that Japonesque "was driven to make an album that would get played abroad and allow people outside of Japan to enjoy J-pop." I think his could be worded better. I am assuming Korean pop music was recognized before she started her tour. Not sure what Western territories means in this context. Whilst used twice. The quote doesn't work with the intro to it, the album is not driven to make an album.
• Why is there such a long quote from someones personal blog. It also breaks the flow having such a long quote. I am also not sure why such a quote is needed in composition
• Japonesque is Koda's final studio album after giving birth to her son in July 2012. Not sure what this means. Do you mean final overall because of her sons birth?
• First press editions including an obi and a bonus poster. Repeated.
• The first paragraph in "Release and Packaging" has a lot of sentences starting with "The box set includes ..." It is a bit repetitive. Do we really need to list everything (if so maybe a table would be better) or just focus on the unique items. The photo descriptions does this better.
• and a clear file of the album cover on the front. Not sure what this means.
• Some overciting here. I know it is to cover all the sleeves, but maybe it would be better combined as a note, especially as it is repeated.
• Some of the singles are in quote marks, while others are not. Same inconsistencies with italics.
• and failed to chart on any competent Billboard Japan or the RIAJ Digital Track Chart singles chart. Is competent the right word here?
• A little repetitive with the wording in the "singles" and "other songs" section.
• Koda went on her 2013 Japonesque Tour Not a great lead in. It should probably be assumed that she went on the tour. A little bit simplistic for an encyclopaedia. Maybe reword and combine it with the next sentence.
• Koda performed a small performance in order to promote her single "Love Me Back". Was this on the Japonesque Tour or the Premium Night Concert tour. It is not clear what a Premium Night Concert tour is.
• Where did the Japonesque Tour go?
• I mixed up the opening of the positive review sentences for you
• I also removed some inline external links to Asian Junkie. If you think he needs an external link they should be in the external links section, not the middle of the body.
• Again not sure why a personal blog is getting so much quote space (too many quotes are a copyright concern and they should be used sparingly. Gets a little confusing too, especially with quotes being used around the singles as well. The long quotes from Asian Junkie along with their unclear reliabilty is probably the biggest concern I have with the article.
• staying there for an entire week except for Saturday So six days? Or is their some significance to the Saturday?
• This became the highest selling album by a female artist for first week sales of 2012, but also became Koda's first album to sell less than 100,000 units in its first week of sales; her previous album Dejavu was her last with 132,000 units in its first week This feels like a strange conflation. It was also released in January so it is a little misleading, unless it is referring to all of 2012. The last part of the sentence doesn't really tie in either.
• It slipped to number four the following week, shifting over 24,000 units in that region What region is this? Same with the next mention.
• At the end of 2012, Japonesque sold over 151,343 units in Japan; this ranked the ninth best selling album by a female artist, just behind entries from Adele, Ayaka, JuJu, Superfly, Che'Nelle, Kana Nishino, and Namie Amuro. There are only seven other albums mentioned. Is one missing?
• An access date is needed for reference 7
• Translations would be helpful for reference 16, 22, 40, 57 and 58
• What makes "space shower" reliable?
• Assuming good faith on the Japanese sources
• Fair use rational for cover art seems fine
• Should probably make clearer that the geisha photo is not of Koda or the actual photo shoot.
• There is this [1] from earwig. It relates to the Asian Junkie blog I mention above and is something that will need to be resolved.

Thats all from me. Sorry it took so long to get this review done. AIRcorn (talk) 09:42, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

I will be going through the article to fix the aforementioned when I get to my home computer. Thank you for your review!Xenobia4 (talk) 02:05, 22 March 2019 (UTC)

@Xenobia4: Any progress. It is coming up to a month since I posted the review. AIRcorn (talk) 00:12, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Failing AIRcorn (talk) 06:36, 10 April 2019 (UTC)