I've been listening to this album all day. Which is a first for me since the release of maybe NEXT LEVEL, and I loooove Love songs and FIVE so this says a lot.
I'm in love with this album, but it's a very different love than I have for her other albums. the only song that's kinda making me go "eh what?" is Eyes, Smoke, Magic, but I think it's just cause it's so different and "show tuney" and I don't like those.
I also usually don't like jazz at all but the Next Love is very good.
Right now my fave song is NaNaNa. I'm lollin' at people saying it's a ~timmy feat ayu~ song. Uh, how did those collab tracks on FIVE work for you then, cause they're on those tracks more than Timmy is on this one.
And for people who really hate Timmy (wow that didn't take long), I'm sure he'll be gone by the next two albums if not this next one. Ayu tends to cling to one or two composers for every album. Last time was TK, and although his voice isn't on it, his SOUND is infused in every single song he composed on that album, lol.
Also, I remember when MY STORY came out. It was the first full length Ayu album that came out after I became a fan. And I remember how divisive it was. People either thought it was the best ever or the worst. Personally I've always thought it was meh. It's a bit too long for me, given such a cohesive sound. I have to be in a certain mood to sit and enjoy it.
And we can't compare any album (except maybe LOVEppears) to ASFXX. That album is in its own category of pretty much everything, especially its place in Ayu's life. Her vocals may be unbearable a couple times (and some comps and arrangements rather generic for the time) but those are some of the most beautiful songs emotionally and lyrically we will ever get.