Are you annoyed/disheartned by the current state of Ayu's career?
 

Not really tbh..just wish she promoted more, in the past we got TV performances to promote when albums came out meaning we got performances of songs we would usually get performances of (JEWEL, Heartplace, etc) now we have to months and months for a-nation or CDL just to see a live performance of a single.

I've lost interest in Japanese pop as a whole; it's not just Ayu.

I feel that the J-Pop acts I've been keeping up with have either slowed down REALLY hard (Ai Otsuka, Ayumi Hamasaki) or just straight-up disappeared (Yuna Ito, MAA); or they did the BENI route and released a bunch of cover albums so I was like, "girl bye."

ANYWAY, This is about Ayu LOL! It's a little sad to see her not pop out anymore singles (must be afraid of losing that record I assume). So I just don't have the excitement of albums anymore. I haven't even listened to LOVE again because like...I don't care lol so I guess I'm just like...passive towards Ayu now? I still keep up with her, but I don't listen to any of her new stuff because I'm just not that interested.

Ayu, just pop out ayu-mi-x 8 please.

A bit, not a whole lot though. I guess it's sort of expected from an artist whose been working non-stop for 15 years, the public loses interest and tires from seeing/listening to the same artist over and over. Even I've had my times where I don't listen to Ayu from weeks to months because she just gets meh for me. I think she needs to slow down her career and learn to take a break, paired with excellent promotion. Right now, avex is just milking out whatevers left of her.

Not really... IMO she is doing it like she should be considering her actual moment.

Same here, kinda lost interest in Jpop lol. The fact is that Ayu's the only Jpop artist I follow now, that alone makes Ayu still doing a pretty good job to keep me interested in her stuffs IMO.

Not really, but I do wish that a few things were a bit different.

But at the same time, I haven't found any artist with a perfect career. I like people who take risks, and ayu with her team seem to be taking risks most of the time, and that keeps me going I guess.

Also, I found myself in her lyrics again, that's something that I needed for quite some time. Haven't felt this connected to her lyrics since Together When...

No not really anymore...I've stopped caring since about 2009 after that disaster of an album NEXT LEVEL came out...since then she's had more misses than hits I'd say....although I must add, I would have much preferred for her to bow out gracefully instead of slapping her fans with ridiculous gimmicks like this 15th anniversary business...she had a hit in her grasp with LOVE again...but the way it was released is kind of embarrassing tbh and it ruined the integrity of the album. Her accomplishments still stand though. A Namie-esque comeback isn't impossible. I'm just going to maintain hope like I have for the past 3 years or so.

meh. Beyond Koda, maa, and hikki, most of jpop is crap. Hikki only released one damn song. But it was the best song ever. :laugh I guess her tastes just cater better to my own.

I'm just kinda bored with her right now. It's just the same everything over and over. And while I'm happy that it seems to have gotten better, her vocals, music, etc...it's still going soo slow.

I kinda feel like my general feelings for her tours reflect the era.

Like...in 05, everything was just getting more glam and pretty...and it was beautiful and fun, even if the music was kinda meh.
Then in 06, everything was even MORE glam and grand and gorgeous.
07...it was like woah so over the top...but still fun.
08...Mirrorcle World and epic rock songs, less visual pollution, so that was a somewhat nice balance.
09...:tired
10...what even happened that year. omg is that SNSD over there?! :luv2
11...kinda reflective, but pretty. Nice feelings.
12...wth why are we getting the same stupid **** over and over again?

So...idk. Right now I'm bored with her everything. I'll see how I feel after this year's arena tour.

I like the way she looks with long hair, her new music and concerts. And I was impressed how good she sounded live.
What I dislike is that they call singles mini-albums and no TV performances.

No lol. I'm enjoying this lol.

I've only been a fan since Together when... And she hasn't upset me yet in any bad way.

I am so happy that Ayu still sings and releases new album. As long as she still wants to move on, I will always support her. Her stuff these days may not be such epic as in the past; however, those re still Ayuish, which can not prevent me from feeling excited. I still feel enjoyable and yearn for more from her. :)

No she's still going strong.


Singles are pointless and I'm glad they're going away. All of the songs end up on the album anyway.

I found myself liking her stuff less around 2006 and it's just continued since. Nothing about her really appeals to me anymore, but hopefully one day she'll release something I enjoy again.

I absolutely forgot about her in 2007-2011, but then I joined AHS and started to follow her again. And these 2 years were kinda boring actually, because I still remember the days when she was everywhere on tv and etc. And now, everytime when she releases something I still expect some promotion and then she always disappoint me not caring about her releases.

her state in jpop world is not that bad, all jpop is in stae and kpop is sliding into that state too, I'mm quite satisfied with her being active

No,I'm far from being disappointed.Maybe it's the fact that I only got into her last year in February and into j-pop two summers ago,so maybe she's still fresh to me.But I think that it's her own problem if she still wants to continue releasing singles or not.I don't really care if she releases them or not as long as she continues to make good music.I think that her albums are more cohensive and consistent without any singles released,but I do agree that a little promotion wouldn't damage.Also,regarding LOVEagain we could say that this album has 2 singles :LOVE and again so in a form or another she kept releasing singles.

I only listen to Ayu as J-Pop. I don't care anymore about other artists. Am I disappointed? No, not really, I mean: her recent releases are fine and well, but I am not as excited as I was for the last time in 2010. I am just a bit bored with her. Still enjoy the music from time to time, but... yea

I don't know, i wish she'd do more promo like yeah tv performances but as long as she keeps making music I'm fine I guess.

Normally I don't bother about Ayu's personal life and so on, but the relationship with Maro throws part of my trust for her... What happen to the Ayu who puts her work and personal life part? Why was I seeing Maro all over, especially that mini albums?

I lose faith in the management too, the 2 mini albums release are just stupid, although I did not buy them, I feel bad for her fans who did(I doubt many casual fans bought them), I used to order every album and every single, but sigh....
Seriously does the streak matter so much that they have to risk Ayu's reputation? Please... These mini albums are just maxi singles, just sell them the way it should be, not cheating fans...

And nowadays, they are just selling Ayu mainly to her fans, we get the info from her site/forum and stuff, but where are those TV promotions? When was the last time Ayu went on a tv performcance, not counting Kouhaku?

The thrill of following Ayu for me has go down, I still buy Love Again album and I preorder HLS Blu ray, but the hype isn't there...

I'm kinda glad she's boring right now cuz that means I have more time & money to catch up on the older stuff, lol... I still haven't absorbed ayu-mi-x 7 yet, I still don't have a collection of Dome Tour 2001 merchandise, I have time to translate stuff... Being an ayu fan is hard work, she's giving me a break so I can catch up. I like it. :P

I'm not sure if I'm really disappointed. Of course I miss those times when she released singles and performed on TV but I feel that I've gotten so used to it that I don't even care anymore.

No, actually I kind of like the way she does things now. When she's really active, I can't even listen all those new things through but when she goes on tour and everything just calms down a bit, I can concentrate on listening her new releases in peace and take time to do it. :D

Of course, right now I'm too obsessed with K-Pop that I can listen LOVE again tho. :')

generally of cos i am disappointed, with the lack of tv performances and sometimes, the marketing strategies of releases..

but generally, ayu has been consistent yearly with her work. a yearly tour, a yearly album, one or 2 singles (or now-called "mini albums"), whatever she is doing now is enough for me to keep me interested in her.

so i am not complaining :)

as for her personal life, i dont really care. my general feeling is i dont understand what the hell is she doing with her love life.

At this point I don't care if she doesn't promote. However, I do care when she does things that make her look ridiculous like these perfectly timed relationship announcements or the absolutely lame frolicking around the beach like a teenager and getting abused PVs and most especially the 15th anniversary slap in the face to fans. Personally, I would rather she not even promote if its going to be pathetic and half a**ed. She needs to take a long hard look at what she has done to her image and legacy. Right now I'm happy for her to just release good music.

I'm happy with her output, I always really like or can at least appreciate her music.

It's sad to see her sales continue to decline though. At this rate if they ever release A BEST 3 they’ll have to retitle it A FLOP.

Slowly loosing interests in her to be honest.

Actually I'm just waiting for another trance album. Her best ballads/songs in general have been released a long time ago. Her vocals these days are way too deep. But I am still keeping up with her music, just to make sure I won't miss anything.

I wouldn't say I'm disappointed with Ayu as I have only been a fan since 2008. I'm so used to the release schedule of Western artists that Ayu's release schedule is ok with me. Yes it would be nice for Ayu to be everywhere again but I'm ok with her career right now.

yup, disappointed because of the marketing that they have chosen to do (if any). Her album is still strong, if she promoted songs like Song 4 u, Wake me up, SAKURA well, I don't see why there wouldn't be more interest and sales (though frankly I don't really care about sales because it's been already evident since a long time that her sales were dipping).

and yes J-pop is already loosing interest all over the world. Fans to begin with are simply following perhaps their FAVOURITE artist only. And sometimes, we can't all blame it to Ayu. I think Ayu has kept to a certain style. But there are just some more interesting music that appealed to us over the years. It's normal.

still my favourite artiste :)

i stop following ayu since about 2 years now. i have many other jpop artist to listen to so i will wait for when she back with really good music.

I wish someone could make a poll about this ^^, curious how many % feel disappointed.

I also feel like J-pop in general is at a really low point. Just the overall trends of what is popular has dictated an overall lack of quality in the actual music I feel. So few artists these days have strong melodies in their songs; beats are given priority over melody. Or if there is a melody, so many of the arrangements these days sound so messy and just have too much going on. That is one thing that I will say Ayu still has going for her - her songs still rely primarily on melody.

So many things have changed the last few years in the Japanese music industry - for one, where did all the rock music go? Where did all the variety go, period? I know all this stuff is still out there, but it is not popular anymore - you really have to go searching for it. imo, one of the things that drew me to Japanese music in the first place was the variety on the charts and now that is non existent. I also remember a time when it was really rare to lip synch on a Japanese tv program - now it is common place.(I mainly blame AKB and the Kpop invasion for this)

As for Ayu - it's unfortunate, but honestly people just aren't into her. Period. I don't think people fully realize that until they have been in Japan for an extended period of time. I've been here for 3 years now and outside of her concerts, the Ayu fans I have met I could probably count on one hand. Most people are indifferent about her, very few people have been like "Yeah, I like her too!" On the other hand, I have probably met more people who were actually disgusted by her. Why exactly I don't know because no one can really ever give me a definitive answer - they just have a general feeling of dislike. So, at this point I really don't know how or if she can even turn things around. People always say, well, she needs a better tie in, she needs to promote more etc etc., well the reason she isn't is because of what I just posted above, not because she is being choosy or too busy or whatever. So, honestly she is between a rock and a hard place right now.

im not annoyed/disheartned by ayu's career, but her fan base at this point.

Very much so yes.

After 2009 her career went to the drain. There are only about 5 songs that I liked after that.

As much as I like LOVE again, there are things that she's doing that bother me.

But as a singer, I enjoy her music still.

I don't really care about her popularity right now. I also don't think she'll ever be popular again. Amuro was never really "disliked" or "hated" to the extent Ayu is right now. Amuro just kind of switched gears and direction, and Ayu kind of took over as the person in the spotlight. Amuro had -years- to kind of find her niche without tons of eyes on her. Ayu has constantly had all eyes on her. Which was a blessing and a curse haha.

And as Sunshine said, Jpop in general right now is very bland. I mean, I watched CDTV for the first time in about a year and it was just so sad. It was the same groups and sub groups of those groups over and over again, along with anime songs (songs sung by anime seiyuu and such) and vocaloids. Bands were few and far between, and solo singers even more.

They did a flashback to the same week back in 2005 and it was so varied. Orange Range to Ayaka to Matsuura Aya.

Not really... I mean... her previous years work was AMAZING!!! I would always find a piece of myself in her lyric but not at the moment lol. Maybe it's because I'm not in a lovey dovey mood XD LOVE again was a blah for me. I had a high expectation for it =.=" but it's ok ^^ I hope she'll continue to release NEW songs soon ^^

I am slightly. She's gotten slightly too generic and lost her personal touch she had with her lyrics. I would love to hear CREA make an appearance again.

I remember when Party Queen leaked, I expected to hate it, but I liked it very much. The exact opposite of Love Again, I expected to love it, but it was a major disappointment now that I think of it. None of it is memorable except for the mini album songs, sadly.

Oh Emi I think you've taken these words from my mind..the latest boring and repeatitive releases combined with her attitude,the decreased propensity for sharing with her fans..this has produced a PLATEAU in my mind.
I cannot even listen to the old favourite songs, because it went all absolutely boring.
I don't know if it's just me or her music, but YES I feel disheartened and annoyed

I'm sad about the current state of her career. I've been an Ayu-fan for more than nine years already. I fell in love with Ayu's music (and later also her personality), when I randomly downloaded the song "Endless sorrow" from a JPop-website. I had NO idea who "Hamasaki Ayumi" was, how she looked like or anything, but the title of the song spoke to me immediately.
Oh boy, I remember NOT listening to any other songs for days. :yes I researched her on the web after a few days and was so happy to find out that she was actually pretty big in Japan and went to get more stuff. I also started reading her lyrics and watching her PVs and I went WOW! :love :heart :smitten. They were deep, artistic and inspiring...

...and that's the main reason why I'm not so happy about the Ayu "now". I've been sooooo disappointed with "FIVE" and "how is the album call that came after, I pushed it out of my memory". :irked I liked "LOVE again", but only liked. So far I LOVED all Ayu-albums!! I went crazy over every release and even pre-ordered them (sometimes even the LE-versions!). I haven't bought any stuff (albums, DVDs, merchandise,...) since "Rock'n'Roll Circus". MAYBE I'll buy "Love again", but only the "CD only"-version. I always bought the "CD+DVD"-versions, but her latest PVs aren't worth it.

I hate to split artists careers into "old" and "new", but I just don't feel "new Ayu" at the moment. I miss her deep and powerful lyrics. I hate how repetitive her new lyrics all sound. Some are also pretty similar to lyrics of older songs. :yfrown And don't even get me started on the PVs! I WANT PVs with a FREAKING storyline again (and I'm NOT talking about "abusive boyfriends throwing girlfriends out of cars" :shakehead). I was SUPER excited for the "Song4u"-PV, because the preview looked SO promising, but in the end it was boring. They could have made so much out of it, but yeah...!

Also her photoshootings are not to my liking since a longer time. I know it's the "LOVE again"-era and blahblahblah, but do we really need the same concept for three different magazine shootings AND the covers AND the booklet? She also doesn't even look like herself in some of the shootings (but I don't blame her for that, but the people, who just use too much Photoshop on her! :grumpy).
Also no promotions or TV appearances don't make me happy at all!


Ayu and her music saved my life (and are still saving it), when I was/am in a VERY ****** place, mentally and physically. I'm so grateful to her; I can't even put it into words HOW much and because of that I'll always stay beside her and support her until the end of her career...but I wish I could get my "old Ayu" back. The one I fell in love with. It's totally fine when her career takes different turns and when she tries out new things. Ayu had such a huge variety of music since the beginning, but I just can't bring myself to listen to her new stuff much or watch her new PVs,... :(

I still listen to her older songs and watch her older PVs/tours on a daily basis (!!!) and that will also NOT change! "LOVE again" was good too. I just think that at the moment Ayu and her team are half-assing stuff and that makes me sad, because I - WE ALL - KNOW that our Goddess can do much better!!! :yes

No. I wish she would promote on TV and release singles again, but that doesn't really make me annoyed/disheartned with her carreer, it just would make me happier...

I just don't know why Music Station really has no respect for Ayu. No wonder why popularity has plunged... I don't know what's in MSta's mind or in Ayu's mind, but this is one reason why I'm really annoyed/disheartened at Ayu's career... And it's all because of the 2011 NY trip that had the eventual photoshoot for PQ, and then coming late all because she could not find a flight in time...

Since the release of RnRC she's been hit and miss for me, with everything. Songs, PVs, lives, etc.

Most of her PV's (starting from Love songs till now), are about break up.. I don't really like Ayu bringing her lover in her PV (except for Shu-Ya, don't mind him)...if only she use something else for the "Wake me up" pv, i definitely love it...

like what Del said, I don't mind that she's stagnant/boring now, cos it gives me time to go into her older works. I've recently gotten very addicted to the LOVEppears album and gotten to appreciate her lyrics from ASFxx to the I am... era.

currently, I don't think her new works are bad; granted, they are still very good songs albeit a little boring (I haven't spammed LOVE again like how I would for her older albums)... I don't know what she needs to spark her music again, but from time to time she does give us good gems.

what I'm the most disappointed about is how she handles her private life. there is something so different from Ayu pre-GUILTY and post-GUILTY. Honestly, I prefer pre-GUILTY Ayu a lot more because back then, she was a very impartial lady. she knew work was work and love is love, friends are friends etc... and there was very little crossovers among the aspects of her life, and even if there were it was never anything as jarring as we see nowadays.

i don't care if she feels her bf and friends are more important than her career now but i personally feel it's quite unprofessional to slap your new bf on your single/album covers and your PVs. it feels odd, like she doesn't respect her own music or something? i dunno. i prefer soft nuances in her old music that makes me think and wonder if it's about an ex, about Nagase, about her friends' relationships etc... now it's just... "oh snowy kiss should be about Mannie, it's so obvious Return Road was for Mannie" etc etc... i don't like how she's playing out her personal life now.

Exactly. It's like A Song for XX to GUILTY was a completely different singer at times. NEXT LEVEL was the end of the Ayu I knew. Even though I liked many things on NEXT LEVEL. She got never back to her old days ever since.

hmm not really, because i know the fact that not all solo/group artists will last long and always at their peak, so i kinda understand the current state of ayu's career. you know, if she's still popular and still everywhere in the japanese industry, people will get bored.
as long as she's still releasing stuff for the fans, it's more than enough =))

It's not that I hate the stuff she does know, but I maybe lost a little bit of interest. I still enjoy listening every other song from the new albums and some of the PVs, but there are extremely bad songs and PVs as well that I can't stand, but it always has been with ayu for me since the beggining. I still respect her though.
I think the only musician I never really dislike it's BONNIE PINK, she always brings out new things and I can say that out of her entire discography 350 songs nearly, there are maybe 2 or 3 songs I don't care that much about, not counting some dreadful remixes, I guess that's because she is more involved with her music rather then in herself (unlike ayumi XD).

Being an Ami Suzuki fan, I've been waiting years for a new release. In that perspective Ayu career is fine, she still gets to release lots of songs and great concerts. It's being a hard time for jpop artists (It's not only Ayu) and I'm sure her sales will rise within the next releases. :yes

I feel exactly as you Midori-chan, except my first ayu song is Dearest :)
Most of the points I want to make is already in your post lol and I agree with some of you who feel annoyed by how she put her lover and her friends right in front of our faces. At first I don't mind seeing dancers in BLUE BIRD it's realy fun actually but as time goes it became worse and worse. I don't care about her love life until she sticks Maro before me with the trilogy PV :|

In a way I'm disappointed about how her career went at this point, because so far this is her lowest point imo I still hope that someday she'll release something with the epicness of her older self. The artistic mysterious PVs and the meaningful lyric that doesn't talk about overall the same thing

Hmmm... I was actually thinking about this after listening to Love again for the month or so it's been out. And while I love the album on a musical level, lyrically it just doesn't touch me. I don't connect with the words as much as I used to and I think that runs through quite a bit of her latest material, imo. Most of the songs present on her last few albums have lyrics that, I feel, were just merely written because... Well... Something has to go with the music, right? Then there's the one or two songs on said album that I feel have a spark to them and I can connect to what she's written, you know?

So in that particular area, yeah... I am quite disheartened at her career right now. The fact that ALOT of her early stuff connected with me lyrically and made me feel emotions other than "Yeah... This song sounds awesome" dissapoints me. I mean, it's really the main thing that drew me to her in the first place. Don't get me wrong, though. I think, musically, everything has been top notch.

As for her popularity? It never bothered me. I mean... I was a fan of hers for two years before I realised how big she actually was in Japan (found out roughly around 2004). As long as she's happy enough to keep releasing new music... I'm happy too.

I just think she needs a few months away. A few months to get inspiration in her writing.

Maybe she is just writting about stuff that aren't interesting or touching to you... and this is very different from "writing anything to the songs have lyrics. IMO her lyrics from her lastest 3 albums are far more interesting than her lyrics from her peak for example.

That's part of it, yes. But look at the lyrics in most of the Love again album and go back through a fair bit of her really early stuff and they're so similar to each other that it just feels like she kinda put those lyrics together for the sake of it. I could be wrong, I'm not hanging out with ayu in her house or anything. Maybe she's pouring her soul into these songs but it just doesn't feel like it for me. I also felt kinda the same about Love songs

Most of Party Queen didn't connect with me even though she tried something different. Reminds me, Return Road and Tell me why had me watery eyed just reading the lyrics but the rest I literally felt nothing for. In that respect you're partially right.

I am one of those people, though, whose a big fan of the I am.../RAINBOW/Memorial address/MY STORY eras so I do somewhat compare literally everything she does to those albums. I try not to! Honestly :P

I hope you don't think I'm trolling or bashing her or anything. I still adore the woman and l still love what she's coming out with. It's obviously personal to me that I don't find myself as emotionally connected to her as much these days. I'm sure some day she'll fuel that spark again for me, though :)

I don't think you are trolling or a hater, it's just that sometimes she does cover subjects that have littlte to zero importance to me, and when this happens, I feel nothing even if she put her heart into it. But lyrics like crossroad, Love song, Do it again, Virgin Road, Like a Doll, Sending mail, Last angel, call, letter, Reminds me, the next Love, E.S.M., Wake me up, Snowy Kiss, Sweet Scar, Petal, etc. either describe feelings I can relate myself with or at least find interesting, so, they are obviously among my most favorite lyrics she ever did.

I was trying for a long time not to be disappointed, but sadly I have to say I am. The first time I started to realise that she drastically had changed was when "A BEST 2" covers came out. I mean, the Ayu I discoverd was the A BEST Ayu and somewhat natural. Comparing the "A BEST" cover with the "A BEST 2" covers was quite like a shock for me. xD And "NEXT LEVEL" again featured this over photoshoped and painted woman. Although I liked a lot of songs on "NEXT LEVEL" it had little to do with Ayu for me. I was very happy with "GUILTY", 'cos it felt like "Ayu is back!!!".^-^ "Rock'n'Roll Circus" wasn't bad, but the title was very poorly chosen and I was expecting something different. "Love songs" was a really great album and I had nothing against "FIVE".
Musically "Party Queen" would also be a really great album, but I just can't listen to it because of all the things surrounding it. Don't get me wrong, the whole Mannie episode didn't bothered me. I mean, it's not that her music was getting bad or something and I noticed for a while that Ayu as a person had changed. That's totally ok with me but I couldn't stand all the self-pity on twitter and so on. I don't get why she was writing things along the lines of "I'm back in the cage of Duty" and so on. When people write something like this on facebook I delete them. xD I feel that lately everything is so overdramatised and that when she performs it's only for self-display somehow.
I think that's what really bothers me. I could write also a few other things about her attitude but I think that wouldn't be fair, 'cos people change over time and Ayu also has the right to change. But all the self-pity and self- and overdramatisation isn't necessary I think.

Nope.
I'm more annoyed by avex and their lame marketing strategies.
The whole maxi-single (I know they're labeled as mini-albums but for me, they're not) thing was just embarassing.

As for Ayu, I'm more concerned about music rather than worring if people in Japan don't like her or if she will not sell millions of copies anymore :shrug. Some times I think people are a bit overdramatic, I wonder what would happen if Ayu would sell like Ami Suzuki lol.

Talking about music, I think she can do better than this. I enjoyed LOVE again, but nothing really stands out. Most of the songs lack of creativity and that spark only Ayu's songs could have among other japanese female idols imho. They're all good, but they're nothing special neither.

Overall I'm satisfied with Ayu, but in the other hand I wish she would be more creative.

she was dramatic all the time, just in different ways, that 2oo4 interview tells a lot how she overdramatized herself by pushing the limits of her image being all over the place and rerecording things all over just to go against the label, the way she described herself being where she was and how she felt.
I think now there's more ways to open up than it was years ago so it looks more all over the place, since social networks and news websites can get updated after the minute the announcements were made. She does less magazines and less promo but she's still around on twitter a lot and facebook she's got more open about her love life. i think she's equaly dramatic it's just more into your face by her OWN personal words instead of images and actions. I think the method of her dramatism has changed not the level of it lol

She's still interesting to me.

Every era is so different.

I don't think the state of her career is what I'd describe as poor or anything, and as long as that's not the case, I'm fine. I definitely think that she could use some different kind of advertising and pattern to her releases (as a fan, I'd always like to see something new and different), but I'm fine with things as they are. Quality of her music? That's a different discussion.

I think after RnRC, Ayu has just been mellow. Compared to Loveppears-I am... era, she's not as focused on a tight schedule and now she's doing what she likes aka living her life. Granted, she's been in the music scene for more than a decade and has a new flavor for every album I think she really needs to rest for a while.
Her music isn't TERRIBLE b/c compared to her, many new & now J-Pop artists have been releasing recycled tunes and spitting them back out. And let's not forget the K-Pop scene is the new J-Pop. And the audience wants more brightly neon colored clothes, 100 member dance/ "singing" groups, and cute (sometimes plastic) faces that borders the line of androgyny to complete transgender.
BACK TO AYU!
I also think that Ayu is now truly experiencing life for what it is. You ask why? Before she was famous, she often spoke about how her life wasn't great (who's is lol) especially after her grandmother died. She was in an uncertain place up to her mid-career life. And IDK about her personal life too much but the only person she's dated for a while was NT and after him she was often seen by herself. So she was probably lonely and gave herself more workloads to occupy time. Then here comes MANNY! She met him for a short time and was attracted then BOOM! MARRIAGE! Like many of her fans said it wouldn't last long and it didn't and what did that leave us? 3 albums with central themes of love/love lost (LS, PQ, LA) , almost 7 PVs of the same theme (The LS trilogy, LA trilogy, Return road), and a quick rebound bf (who is cute!) by the name of Maro. Ayu is going through relationship problems that may or not be solved right now. And like many of us boys and girls (no pun intended lol) she's letting the ones closest to her, aka the fans, have a little peak in her world and how she's either hurt or loving the situation she's in. The best way to show it is through the music and PVs, true they haven't been on par as of late but who cares?! All of her contemporaries (Namie and Kuu-chan in particular) have had MAJOR slumps only to bounce back and be on top. So it's Ayu's turn and maybe a while from now we'll see her doing that odd/super crazy stuff that made us love her so much!

Thinking of it you're right I guess. But I still can't stand this "in your face" dramatism. xD

On some of her recent lyrics I believe she shows she is more aware that sometimes she is a ***** instead of the world being evil to her... :P

About twitter, I just believe being dramatic is an safer way of showing she is annoyed than telling her fans/the media to just **** themselves \o\

Mostly, I'm just bored with her. When her music is exciting, her image is dull. When her music is dull, her image is exciting. But most recently, both her image and music are dull. And this Manny-Timmy-Maro business is just ridiculous. And I'm not even a hard core Kuu fan, but when I see what Kuu is doing this late into her career, I just feel like saying, "Get your **** together, Ayu."