^EXACTLY! I feel like she tried to do this with beloved, but it didn't work out too well. I mean, hbya was pretty good though!

^ ugh, beloved. It was good at the beginning and then it died. The orchestra version is better i think. But, you can't blame the composer, he's hit and miss. He DID work on ASfXX and we all know how that sounds.

Hbya, despite being stale with emotion, is definitely better than beloved. I agree :P

ASFXX was plagued with dated arrangements, but that can be fixed easily.

beloved is fine just the way it is imo though.

Just look at what A BALLADS did to ASfXX. Magic. also pure bliss.

^That's definitely true!

I don't know, beloved is really a strange song for me.

It's quite bland but sometimes I'm really into the feel to listen it xD

listening to untitled ~for her~ right now, and I think blows beloved out of the water.

Beloved is good, but just weak for me.
Hbyr on the other hand is pure amazing.

When would be hear about the DEC 8 release?
On this sat, it would be officially 6 weeks before DEC 8 so...we should hear about it soon?

^ would be great, but I think two weeks later, near LOVE release

yes, I think it's one of the most underrated ballads.

beloved is nothing like meaning of Love to me. I don't even remember how they sound both. Melody have a very high chance to be one of these ballads.

some say that Curtain call sound bland, but I STILL remember the lyrics, the melody, is simple - but in some amazing way, very memorable (hbya have that too, but mostly because it does have english verses that are easier to catch if you're not japanese. And the PV made it maybe more interesting.)

^ i love untitled~for her~ and Curtain call. they are very simple but i think yet to me they leave something.

i tought Missing is going to be one of those songs i will not really repeat, but after a couple of listens i realized i absolutelly adore the vocals, and with a HQ short version i can say that i'm gonna love it! Already DO!

^ because Missing is actually a power ballad [imo] (fast chorus, very emotional lyrics and vocals) since the "other ballads" are quite predictable. Even Missing sound generic to me, it's pretty memorable.

I am a sucker for every simple ballad she released the last years: untitled, Curtain Call, meaning of Love, beloved...

Curtain Call is one of her best imo.

So easy to catch and listen. And being in the end of NEXT LEVEL makes it carry more meaning.

What I would love is a photobook similar to the one on A COMPLETE. Except this time they include albums and multiple unreleased/unused photos per release :love or they could even like go the extra mile and have Ayu talk about the albums/singles again and how she feels about them 15 years later omg please avex

No recent Ayu ballads jump to mind when I think about which ones I consider her best. I played hbya a few times when it came out, but these days I cringe when I listen to it. But, I'm super excited for the mini!! I think that all of the songs sound great.

I don't think its that hard to do that :P

It's the worst one after Close to you...

Ayu had so many amazing ballads in the last few years.

well yeah for so many people here it's the worst, but honestly even tho i am a sucker for dramatic arangements and variations and bla bla i still think that simple things are beautiful too, you just have to look/listen to them very closelly to find that. i can't say i don't love the powerful ballads she has but i try to appreaciate every single song somehow....most people here want the fancy stuff. Curtain call is very simple, but i find it very clean and sincear, because it doesn't have 25354536 layers of sounds and vocals to hide the main thing. ;)