Coming less than a year after her previous project GENIUS 2000 (2000), break the rules continues Namie's transition into a more Americanesque style of pop music, being influenced by the R&B and hip-hop styles of American superstars like Janet Jackson and TLC (the latter of which she would collaborate with later on in her career). Like her previous album, break the rules sees major contributions from Tetsuya Komuro and Dallas Austin; however, this would mark her last collaboration with the former until her 2017 compilation Finally. Unlike it, though, is the fact that break the rules feels less discombobulated and more cohesive than its predecessor. Whereas in GENIUS 2000 the throwaway ballads were all shoved into the second half of the album, break the rules makes a better effort of being an enjoyable listen from front to back, something that makes up for the lack of polish on this record.
break the rules consists of 14 tracks, but out of those, 2 are interludes and 1 is a remix of the opening (full-length) song "no more tears." The intro and interlude "RULE 8AM" and "RULE 8PM" are... interesting. In their essence, they're just 30 seconds of supermarket noise which kinda reminds me of her sophomore-but-also-debut-album SWEET 19 BLUES (1996) in the sense that they made interludes out of the most random shit on that album. I guess in this context it works when you look at how the album photoshoot portrays Namie living out her American fantasy in Los Angeles carrying out mundane, day-to-day events. It could also be a commentary on American capitalism considering how apparently to Namie one of the defining features of America was a supermarket... but I don't think that's what she was going for.
The first full song on the album, "no more tears," is an upbeat, yet chill and carefree dance-pop song which I think sets the tone for the album, though I was honestly a bit surprised to see this being the opening track, as this felt more like a closing type of song to me. That being said, I don't mind it as an opener either and I think it's interesting that she chose to start the album off with a more laidback song like this one. This vibe continues with the following track "better days", which evokes imagery of walking down the street on a bright summer day. Speaking of summer, this album feels very summery which is ironic when you realize it was released in December... seems to be a common theme for J-Pop artists considering I also feel this way about Ayumi Hamasaki's RAINBOW (2002).
One thing break the rules does well is how catchy the songs on it are, which doesn't come as a surprise when you enlist hitmakers such as TK and Dallas Austin to write and produce for your album. The fact that a lot of the album is written in English also helps, at least to an English-speaking listener like me. In fact, the song "LOOKING FOR YOU" is written entirely in English, while "GIRLFRIEND" is written mostly in the language. I wonder why Namie never ventured into promoting overseas in The States, as she seemingly has always had a fascination for singing in English which is further evidenced with her later albums such as Uncontrolled (2012). Not to mention the fact that Namie's music has always been inspired by more Western styles of music such as Eurobeat (though over the years this genre has become more and more associated with Japan thanks to gyaru and Para Para subcultures), R&B, hip-hop, house, etc. At least in this album specifically, that Western influence is very marked not just in the sound, but also the visuals of the album, which I think can be enjoyable and more accessible to people who are trying to get into Namie's music or J-Pop in general.
Despite the fact that this album is mostly R&B and dance influenced, two tracks stick out from how different they sound from the rest of the record, and those are "PLEASE SMILE AGAIN" and "CROSS OVER." These are actually two of my favorite songs from this album, but the pop-rock sound of "PLEASE SMILE AGAIN" and the electronic soundscape of "CROSS OVER" do feel a bit out of place. However, I don't think that it necessarily works in the album's detriment, but it is a noticeable detail. I will say that the producers actually seemed to have made an effort to make the tracks fit as well as possible on this album, as both of these songs, as well as "NEVER END," received brand new mixes for their inclusion on it. Most noticeably, "CROSS OVER" features a pretty lengthy rap outro from American rapper Poppa LQ which actually goes pretty well with the song. I do prefer this version over the single version, as that one sounds more like a demo than anything. This seemed to be a common issue with Namie's songs at this time cuz some of the tracks on break the rules do suffer from questionable mixing, hampered by the fact that Namie was sick while recording this album, most evidenced on the semi-closing track "HimAWArI" (yes that's actually how it's capitalized lmao). It's then no surprise that she would want to re-record several of the songs ("HimAWArI" included) for her 2002 compilation album LOVE ENHANCED ♥ single collection.
As I previously mentioned, this album carries a more moderate number of ballads compared to its predecessor, and I have to say, the few ballads this album has are really good. On the album mix for "NEVER END," Namie ditches the choir of children for a choir of gospel singers and invites a lusher production on the song which is reminiscent of her later single "I WILL" (2002). "think of me" gets a lot of flak because of her vocal performance... but I actually really like this song and prefer the album version to the version found on LOVE ENHANCED. Something about it feels very raw and emotional, and I think Namie really sells the sorrowful feeling of the song. "HimAWArI", while it is the most obvious display of Namie's sickness while recording this album, is a very sweet and heartfelt song. Reading the lyrics, I theorize this song could be about her mother, who had been brutally murdered the year before, though I don't know about how accurate that theory is since Namie herself didn't write the song. Still, I really do like it and I think it's one of my favorite ballads from Namie, though I do prefer the addition of the harmonies and more polished vocals on the LOVE ENHANCED version. Before the album can end, we are greeted to one last dance party with the Junior Vasquez remix of "no more tears" which clocks in at a whopping 9 minutes in length. I actually really like the addition of this remix as it tells me that the people behind the album also thought "no more tears" would make a good closing track.
