''Crystal Kay'' is an album by Japanese R&B singer

Crystal Kay is a Japanese singer, songwriter, actress and radio host. After releasing her first single, "Eternal Memories" (1999), Crystal Kay gained fame for her third studio album, '' Almost Seventeen'' (2002), which debuted at number 2 on the Japanese ...

. It compiles Crystal Kay's English language songs, and was released across Asia in November 2003. It was re-released in Japan on December 17, 2003, under the name ''Natural: World Premiere Album''.

The album features six cover songs and six original compositions of Crystal Kay's. All of the songs on the album had been previously released, except for three: "Can't Be Stopped ('Til the Sun Comes Up)", "I'm Not Alone" and the English version of "Boyfriend (Part II)", "Boyfriend (What Makes Me Fall in Love)". The already released songs are mostly composed of B-sides from Crystal Kay's singles between 1999 and 2003, including "Fly Away" from her debut single, "

Eternal Memories "Eternal Memories" is Crystal Kay's debut single, released on July 1, 1999. Kay was thirteen years old when this single was released. The title track was written by Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer best known for ...

". The song "Couldn't Care Less" was originally from '' 637: Always and Forever'' (2001), and "Love of a Lifetime" originated on ''

Almost Seventeen ''Almost Seventeen'' is Crystal Kay's third album. It is her second R&B dominant album and is produced by a similar team as worked on ''637: Always and forever''. A large part of the record was written and produced by Michico and T-Kura of Giant ...

'' (2003). Two songs are exclusive to the Japanese edition of the album, "Liberty", a

Masayuki Suzuki Masayuki Suzuki (鈴木雅之, ''Suzuki Masayuki'', born September 22, 1956, in Ōta, Tokyo) is a Japanese singer best known as a former member of group Rats & Star (previously called ''Chanels''), and for performing the opening themes for the ...

cover, and "No More Blue Christmas'", a

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

cover. "Liberty" was later compiled on ''Suzuki Mania: Suzuki Masayuki Tribute Album'' released in February 2004, and "No More Blue Christmas'" on Crystal Kay's 2007

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

'' Shining'' and her 2011 compilation album '' Love Song Best''.

Release and promotion

In November 2003, the album was released in Asian territories including

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. After Crystal Kay's fourth Japanese studio album, '' 4 Real'', was released on November 27, 2003, a Japanese edition of ''Crystal Kay'' entitled ''Natural'' was released in Japan on December 17, 2003, featuring two bonus tracks. To promote the release, Crystal Kay appeared at the

2003 Mnet Asian Music Awards The 2003 Mnet Music Video Festival (MMF) was the fifth of the annual music awards in Seoul, South Korea that took place on November 27, 2003, at the Kyung Hee University. Leading the nominees were duo Big Mama and solo artist Lee Hyori, with thr ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

on November 27, 2003, performing the English version of "Can't Be Stopped ('Til the Sun Comes Up)". This was her first live performance outside Japan.

Critical reception

Miwako Koyama of ''Shinko Music'' felt that the experience of listening to this album was different to listening to a regular Western release, despite all of the songs being sung in English. Because of how many songs were covers of songs from the 1980s, she felt as if she was being "immersed in the feeling of happiness" of a person playing their favorite songs for someone else. Tomoe Sato writing for

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records ...

' in-store magazine ''Bounce'' praised the English language versions of "Can't Be Stopped" and "Boyfriend (Part II)", feeling that the English language version emphasized the songs' quality and Crystal Kay's singing voice. She felt that all of the album's cover songs had "refreshing" and "lovely" arrangements, and that the album should be listened together with her studio album ''4 Real'' as a set.

Track listing

Chart rankings

Sales

Release history

References

External links

Crystal Kay — official website
{{Authority control 2003 compilation albums Crystal Kay albums Epic Records compilation albums

Contents