After a decade of million-selling Japanese-language albums released in her homeland, J-pop icon
Seiko Matsuda attempted to win an American audience with this bubblegum set stretched together by the likes of
Michael Jay,
Maurice Starr,
Emilio Estefan, and
Giorgio Moroder. She was unsuccessful. The main reasons lie in middle-of-the-road production and mediocre vocal performance. The songs themselves are catchy and inviting, as best evidenced by the yearning "With Your Love" and the pensive "Try Gettin' Over You." On these numbers,
Seiko's little-girl-quality voice shines through, contributing a certain innocence that helps the tunes run smoothly along. But on overly saturated productions such as "Goodbye My Baby" and "All the Way to Heaven," her otherwise pleasant tone only adds damage to the noise. Nonetheless, the subtle mid-tempo numbers "Everybody Feels Alright" (with background vocals by a pre-fame
Jon Secada) and "Who's That Boy" (the set's strongest moment, production-wise) are enjoyable listens. Overall,
Seiko doesn't live up to dance-pop standards set by
Madonna and followers such as
Debbie Gibson and
Exposé. Perhaps if the album had retained more of the elements of the singer's Japanese material, the results would have been more unique and consistent.