I must say that if it is R & B, I may just really like it. I really enjoy Hikki's earliest Japanese works, which have the heaviest R & B qualities to them. It's my Hikaru-flavour of the moment.
If she's going to co-operate with Timbaland, it's not going to be a point of contention for me. I really enjoyed her song Exodus '04.
Beyond that point, there is little else that I could say, as I don't have any knowledge of popular music. Poor me.
There was a very good point raised by Blue42 in that if there were more producers, we may get an album with more mass appeal.
At the end of the day, I'm one of those crazy fans of her Japanese works that somehow hopes that her English stuff sounds like a port over of her Asian tunes. This of course would never be commercially viable. But I love Utada Hikaru's music, and not so much Utada's.
I'm starting to anticipate this album more than I am dreading it; I hope that the reports of her releasing it in the final fiscal quarter of 2008 is not erroneous.