Qberto wrote:So, has anyone had any other thoughts about Yellow after a week or two?

So far, I am very pleased with the album after listening it over and over for the past few days. My favorite album of SCANDAL at the moment. It's a bit different in certain elements.

I understand Yellow will not be for everybody. But, let's see the reactions of our friends here on SH.

As long as their concerts keeps getting sold out, I wouldn't worry about SCANDAL.

Although I am a huge idol fan I was not trying to compare AKB to Scandal in anyway, I was just making the point that large numbers of CD's are still sold in Japan.

Qberto wrote:So, has anyone had any other thoughts about Yellow after a week or two?

Still feels like an experiment to me, an eclectic gathering of genres, but not like a cesspool, more like a yummy gumbo with different flavours, some of which are unfamiliar.

The song LOVE is slowly making it's way into my heart - Haruna's vocals are what has won me over. My favourites are probably still the same, Heaven na Kibun, & Suki-Suki (and Konya wa Pizza Party if that counts as a not-so-serious favourite), but Love Me Do has caught me enjoying it too much as well (kinda the same feeling I got when watching the mv for Pinheel Surfer for the first time). Most of the album is fun, and my impressions of it are A LOT more favourable now than the initial impressions I got from the first day of listening to it.

YELLOW is great and fun album, my favs are Heaven na Kibun, Love, Chiisana honoo, and Pizza Party .STANDARD is still no. 1 in my heart but Yellow has reach to no. 2, and they're both great albums that differ from each other.
I can't wait to see what Scandal will accomplish in the near future, of course it will be a long time for the next new song.

While their album sales may be lower in Japan this time, but in South Korea they smashed their records on the Gaon Chart!

Gaon Weekly Album Chart (overall):
#51

Gaon Weekly Album Chart (international artists):
#5

Their only other studio album managed to chart on the overall chart was Standard at #92! (their first compilation album Scandal Show charted at #90)

Their history on the international chart:

• Best Scandal (2009): failed to chart
  
• Temptation Box (2010): #41
  
• Baby Action (2011): #20
  
• QAT (2012): #35
  
• Standard (2013): #15
  
• Hello World (2014): #32
  
• Yellow (2016): #5
  

-----------------

• Scandal Show (2012): #21
  
• Encore Show (2013): #18
  

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Suki-Suki also managed to climb to the top spot of Radio Television Hong Kong's J-pop chart! This is their twelfth number one song on the chart after Takimi, Haruka, Satisfaction, Harukaze, Pin Heel Surfer, How Crazy (Yui cover), Over Drive, YnR, Image, Stamp! and Sisters.

MamiNoodles wrote:It's a shame that Oricon does not count that even CDs were purchased from online merchants based domestically.

Do you mean only international sales? They do count domestic sales from domestic online web sites. International sales I would think are probably pretty miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

If worst case scenario happens a few years from now (y'know what I mean), SCANDAL can doe well with the help of another record label either indie or new major label, with the help of international distribution, and more media exposure.

Scandal's following a pretty typical Japanese career trajectory. I don't think all the doom and gloom is really warranted; they're not going anywhere even if sales are lower. I could write a lot more about this but it'd probably be too off-topic.

Qberto wrote:So, has anyone had any other thoughts about Yellow after a week or two?

I've been listening to it on and off and know all the songs pretty well by now. My opinion on it hasn't really changed; I like the songwriting a lot, but I don't like the production or arrangement in a lot of cases (which I don't think is really the band's fault). It doesn't feel cohesive; to me it feels like a collection of b-sides, but I know it's not so it's impossible to enjoy in the same way I do Encore Show. I dunno; I like a few individual songs overall, but in most of the songs I can only pick out certain specific things that I like, whereas I feel like the overall song doesn't really work. And that unfortunately extends to the album as a whole. I don't think I've ever felt that way about one of their albums before; often their albums do have one or two songs that don't seem to quite fit, but the overall album always has a very distinct overall sound and direction.

SUKI SUKI , PIZZA PARTY, Chiisana Honoo, HEAVEN NA KIBUN, SUNDAY DRIVE, Room .07 are my faves

2nd tier favorites are sister, stamp, love me do 

heaven na kibun is the only song from this album that sounds really different and it sounds like an American rock band or whatev' it is, it's kinda dark.
i was expecting that they'd produce another song like onegai navigation or burn, but overall... i think this album is pretty good

spacecadet wrote:

MamiNoodles wrote:It's a shame that Oricon does not count that even CDs were purchased from online merchants based domestically.

Do you mean only international sales? They do count domestic sales from domestic online web sites. International sales I would think are probably pretty miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

I forgot to edit my post. Please bear with me.

I was referring to online purchases from CDJapan, Tower, and HMV Japan shipped to international address.

MamiNoodles wrote:I was referring to online purchases from CDJapan, Tower, and HMV Japan shipped to international address.

I believe it's been previously discussed about CDJ, but yes, CDJ says that sales to international addresses do NOT count towards the Oricon charts.

Items you purchase through CDJapan will be calculated into the daily and weekly sales data for Oricon music charts, as long as they are shipped within Japan. This applies to all items available through our website. Please note that Oricon does not count any data of products that are sent overseas from any shop, and CDJapan is no exception.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/guide/help/product/oricon

HMV is most likely the same way. Tower and most other domestic online CD stores do not ship to overseas addresses, but I would assume that they still count sales that are sent to domestic forwarding services such as Tenso, since they technically are being shipped to a domestic address at first.

Having put this album on rotation with the whole of my music collection, I really got the feeling that these songs could have been playing on the local American radio.  I don't know if that makes them unoriginal but I think the songs on this album reach for a more diverse audience than Japanese pop-rock.  Heck, the last song is a remake in English. 

As a bit of music background, my interests go back past the early days of grunge, through the flashy rock of the 80s, past the ear bleeding sounds of AC/DC, and end crash upon the shores of Elvis Presley. 

Do I like the album?  Yes.

Reading back through the thread, I don't think SCANDAL will be forced to disappear anytime soon.  Of course, they may do so for other creative reasons.  If you follow any other of the other older rock bands, their fans (balding, grey hairs) find a way to make the club concerts and buy the swag.  Just look at the pillows as a great example.

Qberto wrote:So, has anyone had any other thoughts about Yellow after a week or two?

 - My opinion has changed about the album but only a little bit. Now I filtered out 7 songs (Heaven na Kibun, Morning Sun, Chiisana Honoo, Stamp, LOVE, LOVE ME DO and SUKI-SUKI) as my favorites. But still under this 7 I still haven't pick my sole favorite in the album.

But I still love the rest of the songs.

I thought it was fun to go back and compare the translation attached to the Hello World album thread to the official English version of Your song. 

Not being fluent in Japanese myself, I'd always wondered how close the translations are to the real intentions of the band.  I know enough of the language to know that there are many things that don't translate directly.

I finally made the purchase (I tend to procrastinate). I'm happy with all the songs. Scandal still has the capacity to make songs that bring a smile to my face.

@Saldiven - what to say about me? Although my purchase was made few weeks ago (JPU edition) - it was brought to me by friend from London, so I opened package just today. As I though Heaven Na Kibun is powerful (for Scandal ), and most likely for me it will be best song of this album. As for album as a whole? Damn, quite high level of diversity, but at the same time - great level of quality. In this company Sisters sound somehow more acceptable For few days it will be in endless loop. Most likely I will also piss off my friend - because I will use Yellow a lot while helping him to move car from Poland to England (yup, whole 15-18 hours of driving with at least half of it in Yellow musical colours ). I will check quality of Sunday Drive as driving song that way
As for now I can only say this - Good work, girls!
PS. I was able to fit in T-shirt, so next European live You should be able to identify me. Yeah, right... that guy in Scandal skull t-shirt... But which one?

Total sales till date: 36,722 copies sold

Well this is the least sold studio album ever

Got my CD & T-shirt plus the Documentary DVD this week!
1st time I heard the album I considered it good but lacking some bite...After repeated hearings, I like it a lot, as the songs transfer the feelings and experiences of the girls.
I'm aboard their train, let's see where they take us next!

I finally got my CD a week and a half ago, so I decided to give my thoughts on Yellow.  First, if the theme/concept of the ladies was to convey a feeling of happiness, then the smile on my face after listening to the album must mean they succeeded, at least for me.  In terms of audio quality, I think the Western mixing engineers and mastering made a difference.  In particular, the drums sound great.  There is good separation of the instruments and vocals.  My only complaint is the bass doesn't come through enough in the mix.  I love hearing Tomomi's bass lines as a bassist and a fan.  Artistically, I love the new sounds they experimented with and I don't mind them expanding the scope of their sound.  As long as they do it organically and not to try to latch onto a new trend or just to gain a new audience.  Room No. 7 is a great rocking tune and instrumental, I Love Stamp!!, Love Me Do is engagingly catchy, Morning Sun does sound like a peaceful morning, I thought Sunday Drive was energetic and infectious, Konya wa Pizza Party was a great ska-punk tune although I'd love to hear it without the sound effects in the middle section, Heaven na Kibun is soooooo gooood(the guitar solo seductively wraps itself around you like a boa constrictor before squeezing tight), Suki-Suki is classic Scandal, Love is not just reggae by the numbers but they really are feeling the spirit of it, Sisters works in the context of the album for me and I think Rina does a wonderful job, Happy Birthday hearkens back to the garage rock of Best Scandal, , Chiisana Honoo is so blissfully gorgeous, and I commend the attempt to sing entirely in english on Your Song and I liked the harder mix(closer to their live sound).  A great first album of their own material.

Just to add to my previous post - as long as Girls can crank up songs like Heaven Na Kibun I can rest at ease assured that any excess popishnes is hold firmly at bay

I can't remember what article I read it in (Billboard Japan?), but while SCANDAL's YELLOW and Silent Siren's S had close sales numbers, YELLOW's album lookups far exceeded S's by a large margin.  Each album lookup is counted when the album is looked up in an online database, like Gracenote.  I can't remember how it exactly works in the grand scheme of things, but album lookups factor a lot in an artists popularity and rankings in this era of rentals and digital distribution.

I don't know if that helped anyone a bit, sorry....If only I could remember where I read that article....


Ah, going back a bit....While I don't particularly like the business practice of buying multiple copies of a CD for certain premiums, idols are hardly the only artists doing that nowadays.  A lot of artists have had a "buy both copies for a special present" deal for a while now.  It's all for additional sales, and at the same time rewarding those that decide to shell out the extra cash with a "present." Even SCANDAL has that going on now too, though not by their fault, I imagine.  They've been having a buy a copy of YELLOW at the release events for a prize lottery, right? A couple of people I know on Twitter who attended the events bought multiple copies of YELLOW for a chance to win.  One person bought I think was 5 or 6 copies with at least one of each edition, but his gamble paid off in the end as he won a poster (signed, I think), a backstage handshake meeting with Haruna, and personalized, signed copy of the album. w  

MICHIO87 wrote:I can't remember what article I read it in (Billboard Japan?), but while SCANDAL's YELLOW and Silent Siren's S had close sales numbers, YELLOW's album lookups far exceeded S's by a large margin.  Each album lookup is counted when the album is looked up in an online database, like Gracenote.  I can't remember how it exactly works in the grand scheme of things, but album lookups factor a lot in an artists popularity and rankings in this era of rentals and digital distribution.

Bearing in mind that Silent Siren isn't as readily available on iTunes overseas, if at all. All those iTunes lookups for Yellow would probably add to a lot. Wouldn't read into it too much.

Yellow total sales: 38,059 copies

S total sales: 28,094 copies

They both are out of the top 100 this week