I don't think NEXT LEVEL is a bad album. If Ayu had just debuted with it I'd think it was the best thing ever. It's just... compared to her older albums I felt like this album lacked something. A lot of her older songs started out softly and then built-up and ended spectacularly. For NEXT LEVEL I felt like it was opposite. They all started amazingly and then after the beginning the song just kind of... repeated over and over. The best example I can think of at this moment is LOVE 'n' HATE. I loved the beginning but I could never listen to more than half of the song because by then it was just repeating itself without any build-up towards something better.
But like I said, had she not already had so many amazing albums I wouldn't have anything to compare this too and I'd love it
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I don't think I would consider it the best of 2009 though.