For me, I feel that ayu has never left her "basics", whatever those are. What defines ayu is her ability to change at a moment's notice and keep fans wondering what will come next, and how she manages to always come up with something nobody's ever expected. That hasn't changed, just look at how she throws out songs like SLT, Last angel, BRILLANTE. And another thing about her songs is that you just can't imagine any other artiste singing it. ayu's songs are just hers alone, no one else can do it the way she does, and that hasn't changed also.
Every fan will have their favorite album, and its human nature for us to want the next ayu release to match up to whichever fav we have in mind. A fan who loves m(u) will want another fun album with crazy variety, while a fan who likes Duty will crave for the next release to be bittersweet and dark. And because we all have different tastes, everything that ayu puts out will surely garner its own lovers and haters. With every release, there will be people who love, and people who hate. It's normal lol. The irritating thing comes when the haters go all out and diss the new release and ayu for "losing herself/not being classic anymore" when in reality what they mean is "ayu didn't release another
(insert fav album name) so BOO to that".
Personally, I think my taste in music is really really Japanese. AHS fan favs like alterna, do it again, BRILLANTE are totally not my cup of tea, and I'll listen to those "boring" songs like Days, meaning of Love, Last Links etc over them anyday.
Out of the songs in FIVE, BRILLANTE is my least favorite. But other than that, I love the rest of the album, features and all! (probably the one person here lol) So I hope she continues on the way she's going, whatever that may be.
Then again, I've never been truly disappointed in her songs before. Whatever she gives, I take and try to love. If I can't do that, then I just listen to past songs which I do love and wait for the new release. Easiest way to survive in the everchanging world of an ayu fan.
