Album Cuts: Crystal Kay – KTK & Telepathy

My introduction to Crystal Kay was “Kirakuni”. And by the time I had caught onto this song, the album it featured on, Call Me Miss…, was already out. And I was intrigued, as I’m sure many were. As I’d bet money that “Kirakuni” was an introduction for many to Crystal Kay.

I remember searching for Crystal Kay online, coming across her Sony artist page, listening to clips of Call Me Mis…, seeing that it was her sixth album, and asking myself ‘Who is this girl and why have I not heard of her before!?’. I was clicking through every track and everything was sounding good and leaving me in a state of disbelief. But I there were two songs in particular which made me say ‘BITCH’ and hop on over to HMV Japan and be subjected to extortionate prices for the CD.

There was something about “KTK” which just felt and STILL feels fresh to me. At a time in music when everybody was trying to do the same thing and everything was kinda sounding the same, here was Crystal with this album which didn’t lean into any trend, which is why Call Me Miss… still sounds great and timeless. But “KTK” felt other level fresh, in that it’s the one song on the album which feels kinda genreless. But also because it featured so much live instrumentation.

I’m a sucker for live isntrumentation and strings, so “KTK” ticked the shit out of those boxes. So for me to hop on the Crystal train because of a song like this, and to have live instrumentation and strings become re-occurrences on every album which followed, it was a great bonus.

“KTK” in and of itself isn’t a representation of Crystal’s sound and was unlike anything she’s done before. And yet, the song pulls from so many elements which were typical of Crystal’s sound up unto this point.

The harp. The vibe. The Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson of it all. The smoothness. At a time in J-R&B when everybody was trying to be hard, be edgy, and drop a song they could get Hype Williams to direct a music video to in their wildest dreams; it was refreshing to hear a J-R&B song which was so smooth and wasn’t trying to be a part of the noise. And it was also very on trend with what was happening with R&B in America, where the electronic blips, bloops and R2-D2 production trend had ended, and R&B was reverting back to the smoothness of the 90s.

But the gambit of this song for me were the vocal arrangements. They’re mesmerising. I hadn’t heard anybody in Japanese music arrange and layer their vocals in the way that Crystal had on this song. This was very much some US R&B, Janet Jackson, Jam & Lewis, LaShawn Daniels type shit – which just further cemented how much of the real deal Crystal was when it came to singing and R&B. It was just innate with her. And to then receive my copy of Call Me Miss…, listen to the song in full, and hear that the last minute of the song is just Crystal’s harmonies and a saxophone!? I was bald like Professor Xavier.

Call Me Miss… truly is a monumental album in Crystal Kay’s discography. And I’m not just saying this because of the personal attachment I have to it. Not only is it one of her most successful albums in terms of sales and charting, but two of her most well known songs are on this album. Crystal’s most known song outside of Japan is “Kirakuni”. And her most well known song in Japan is probably “Koi ni Ochitara”. So, where is the re-release? Where are the anniversary vinyl pressings? Also, nobody bothered to check the Apple Music and YouTube Music uploads of this album to correct ‘Terepathy’?

Gurl, fire the whole management and marketing team.