Many will hate me for posting this, but I will. I think ayu has kinda lost her interest in making music. I do know she hasn't lost her interest in performing, though, because we can truly see how much effort she puts into that, but honestly, sometimes it seems like she's set music production as a second priority on her list.
Just a little joke, but, sometimes it seems like ayu is just sitting on a beauty & care saloon, doing her nails, when suddenly an avex agent enters it and says:
Agent: hamasaki ayumi, we have to decide something important.
Ayu: What is it? Can't you see I'm busy! my nails~~~~ how am I going to look pretty in the next VIVI cover if they don't look good enough?
Agent: Well, it's about your next song. H/\L and CMJK are already ready to prepare the composition and arrangements.
Ayu: hmmm...ok....look, I left my diary on my desk...go there and...*thinks of random number* use the writing N. 145 as the lyrics. Show them to H/\L and they'll know what to do.
Agent goes and finds ayu diary. It's separated by sections: "My summer memories [500 notes]", "Winter time [300 notes]", "About wings and roads to follow [950 notes]", "My deceased friend [200 notes]".
I know many will find this irritating to read, as I'm sounding harsh and blunt, but it's just that she has been using a simillar formula for so long and the same composers and everything. I mean, she's so conservative about her careeer, that sometimes, it really seems like things are just coming automatically, in a fordist way, as a production line. The summer single, the ballad single, the rock single, songs with simillar themes (I'm not saying I want her to shift to a Hip Hop singer but I kinda misss when she was daring enough to try medieval, arabian and religious themes in her music). Also, we hardly hear things like: "today ayu met the composer "y" famous for doing certain compositions for this and that. ayu decided she'll try something different this time and is she'll be working pretty close to him so that the final result will have her special touch, blah, blah" - i mean, things we see other succesful artists doing. All we hear about is how ayu is getting prepared to shoot a PV, or to shoot for a magazine cover, or working in her tours. We hardly ever get to hear about her getting involved in her music, I mean, there were obviously exceptions in which we got a few heads up: i.e RAINBOW - the song, HEAVEN, the Geo songs, but that's was about that
