In the past YOSHIKI mentioned the album would be titled JADE and that JADE would be the 1st single.
That would have made sense,
had the album launched shortly after JADE hit iTunes.
Ok...so Dahlia was performed live
long before Dahlia became an album title.
However, we now have another option that molds well with what X JAPAN is trying to achieve.
I'm talking about doing something that no Asian band has ever done.
Becoming a 'household' name in America. To clarify, the kind of exposure that would mean if you randomly surveyed people walking down the street, 2/3rds of them would know what an X jump is.
With that in mind, wouldn't BENEATH THE SKIN be a fitting title?
As I see it, there are 2 issues that stand in the way of this happening.
i) Historically album titles have been songs where both music and lyrics are composed by YOSHIKI
ii) Beneath the Skin musically may not be representative enough of X JAPAN.
The song is amazing, don't get me wrong. It has quickly became my favorite of the new tracks...but unlike Dahlia or JADE, it is less representative of X JAPANs overall sound.
As a bold catch phrase that invites the listener to look beneath the skin and experience the melody, the drama, the brilliance of X, without judging whether the band is from Japan or from time to time singing in a language that they don't understand.... It's brilliant.
I guess it will be a choice YOSHIKI has to make. Will he allow SUGIZO to take some of the limelight.
He obviously really likes the song.
He literally brought it back from the dead where S.K.I.N's memory lays dormant.
He also cleverly used it in the MSG promo video ontop of that Press conference footage from the Rocker feller centre.
3. Now on to the wild card...
a self titled album... X JAPAN.
For the sake of art, I sincerely hope there is a real title. Self titling is a boring, lazy practice that does not suit X.
4. IF (depending on your perspective) you consider blue blood their major debut as their 1st album and you do not consider Art of Life as their 3rd post debut studio album... Then IV might be viable. The 4th? Album? ....It is also the song that launched their reunion...
I think Jade has more of a chance,
but I'll leave it as a IVth option.
1. Blue Blood
2. Jealousy
3. Dahlia
4. IV
