Blogger at Japanator names NEXT LEVEL as one of the best albums of 2009
 

Yay, NEXT LEVEL gets some recognition!

Not sure how big this blog is, but I know it's been around for quite a while..

Link to the blog entry

Quite nice. I've seen more negative than positive words about NEXT LEVEL, so it's refreshing to know that someone else out there [along with some AHSers] appreciate the album as much as I did, woo~

A lot of my friends who are are into mainstream western pop music love NEXT LEVEL. :yes

Even some of my friends at work love it!

Yay for good reviews~~ ( :yes ) !

that's cool. i think it's definitely the best album of 2009 so far :yes most of the other artists i like who released albums this year were just mediocre imo. i love how if i'm disappointed in other artists, ayu is always the one i can count on to release top quality music that suits my tastes perfectly. :heart

I've been disappointed with my other favorite artists also. D:
Next Level was, at first, a disappointment. Now I've grown to love it! It's one of my favorites.
List of top 5 Fave Ayu albums:
(miss) understood
Guilty
My Story
Next Level
Secret

lol He's obviously never been to (or seen) one of her concerts. Most of the people at them are extremely into the concert and are "pumping their fists" a lot of the time.

I've never heard of this blog, though, and I don't know how big they really are (their website seems really crammed, though :/), so I'm not expecting this review to help garner her a few more fans. lol

I don't think NEXT LEVEL is a bad album. If Ayu had just debuted with it I'd think it was the best thing ever. It's just... compared to her older albums I felt like this album lacked something. A lot of her older songs started out softly and then built-up and ended spectacularly. For NEXT LEVEL I felt like it was opposite. They all started amazingly and then after the beginning the song just kind of... repeated over and over. The best example I can think of at this moment is LOVE 'n' HATE. I loved the beginning but I could never listen to more than half of the song because by then it was just repeating itself without any build-up towards something better.

But like I said, had she not already had so many amazing albums I wouldn't have anything to compare this too and I'd love it :).

I don't think I would consider it the best of 2009 though.

They seem pretty big.. probably one of the premiere Japanese-culture blogs out there, haha.

I've never heard of this blog before, it seems pretty interesting. It's nice to hear some positive words about NEXT LEVEL. I, personally, love NEXT LEVEL. So, it's not as amazing as some of Ayu's previous albums, but it still delivers delicious music for me.

I also love how Kanon Wakeshima is directly under Ayu too. X3

Oh my god, that's incredible
t4p i love next level too

yay; NEXT LEVEL is really a spectacular album! :yes

the next level covers may be blah but i love the music!! (wait except for energize)

I love everything about NEXT LEVEL!

good one... i love that album too~

Not the biggest fan of NL, but it's good to see Ayu's getting favorable reviews. :yes

I like NL for what it is, but it isn't one of my favorite Ayu albums. Glad to see the positive review though

congrats NEXT LEVEL!!
and thanks for the info.

NICE ^^ ~

I cannot agree more :yes