It's a shame she's not going back to kouhaku. I actually really liked many of her performances, and it's a tv performance. Not that may of them otherwise. Her progress performance was great I think.
BTW on the topic of bests, actually, this recent gaga interview really reminded me of some of the things ayu expressed when she released a best regarding doing what you like and doing what you have to do. I guess all artists face the same issues at some point, but it was interesting nonetheless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNic2PH1Wmg