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I wonder if the problem is not that she's overworked but underworked. I know her job is stressful enough as it is, but it seems to me that she turned out her best material when she did everything herself--lyrics, composition, art direction, etc. I remember reading somewhere that she was listed as the producer of some record (I think it was Duty or Surreal or thereabouts), and Max Matsuura commented that there was no mistake in the credits--Ayu had her finger in so many pies that she was on the level of producer or something.
I know some people still expect Ayu to make lyrics like she did in her early years, but I think that this is unrealistic; if Ayu is as honest in writing her lyrics as she says she is, then there's really no reason why such a happy, successful person should write another ASF××. However, ever since she started delegating everything to her staff, her sonic and visual artistry has become a bit blander: her concert performances don't show any of that "inharmonious" or "conflicting" beauty or arcane symbolism of her earliest tours. Her rock songs are beginning to get repetitive. And so on.
So maybe it's time for Ayu to get off her butt and take the reins from people like ... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
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