[Bad Wolf]

I also just noticed something -- this may be one of the first Ayu albums to AVOID having those summer/winter trope songs. And you know what? THE ALBUM IS BETTER OFF WITHOUT THEM.

Does that mean I don't like summer songs and winter ballads? Of course not. I love those songs. But the fact that their absence doesn't take anything away from the enjoyment of the album says to me that Ayu is (1) taking a risk, creatively, by not throwing them in and (2) is probably happy to do without them, after all these years.

MOON / blossom may have been released in the summer, but neither track really feel like a summer song to me. Nor did any of the songs on L, not even Sweet Season. Maybe if you want to get technical, Sweet Season could have been her belated summer song, but it doesn't feel like the poppy, dance-y kind that all the summer song predecessors have been, you know? There's definitely a pattern with summer songs, and this year Ayu did without them. In fact, this entire album makes me think of a warm, spring breeze... which is a fascinating feeling to conjure up in every single song, considering this album is an Xmas gift to us fans, and it's being released in the cold cold cold wintertime :3 (for us in the northern hemisphere lol)