[Delirium-Zer0]

Please please PLEASE read this everyone...

I know ayu has disappointed us alot lately, but did any of you ever bother to think that ayu's been spoiling us the past 5 years?

No one releases remix albums with the frequency that she does, not even strictly dance/pop artists. So we have no right to complain about ayu-mi-x 5 being late or not including an Acoustic Orchestra version.

Lots of groups release ballad albums, and most of them are COMPLETELY rehashed, no re-recordings or remixes or anything. So no right to complain about A BALLADS at all unless the quality of the tracks themselves is what we're complaining about.

Ayu Trance 2 was by no means a total rehash. There were alot of songs on there that were new. The megamix format is what got me angry because i wanted standalone versions of the new songs.

The wait for singles is not unreasonable. Ayu used to release a new single once every month or two. now it's about 3 or 4 months between singles, just like most NORMAL artists. a six-month wait, while annoying, isn't that bad all things considered. Ayu's job is rough. she needs a break occasionally, or sometimes she just can't get some lyrics write. If we want good-quality songs we'll have to wait sometimes. I'd rather have GOOD songs released slowly than crap churned out at assembly-line speed, personally.

8 songs also isn't that bad of a number when you think of how much she's already released.
A Song for XX had 16 songs.
LOVEppears had 16, plus a bonus track, plus 5 songs on the second disc, making a total of 22 songs.
Duty had 12 songs.
I am... had 15 songs plus "flower garden", making 16.
RAINBOW had 15, unless you count "+" as a song itself, which again makes 16.

That's 82 songs over 5 albums. Most artists release about 12 songs per album, taking them to only 60 songs at this point in their career, if they even make it this far.

Ayu will be up to 90 songs with this album. You'd have less songs than this if you bought every album by, say, B'z or Aikawa Nanase or Every Little Thing, and weren't a crazy single-purchaser, sure to get every c/w song as well.

You already have ALOT of songs and alot of remixes to listen to, people. The fact that there are less songs on this album shouldn't be anything you're complaining about.

Ayu has been working and working for over 5 years to keep her fans satisfied, and complaining about her releasing like a "normal" artist is how you thank her? Makes no sense to me.

Also take into account Avex's status. Because ayu's been so profitable for them up to this point, they've let her get WAY too powerful -- it's become dangerous to the company. At one point, Ayu was responsible for 40% of the company's stock. This means that if she left, the company would be worth about half what it was. Avex are beginning to promote more artists aside from ayu, like Nana Katase, Do As Infinity, Every Little Thing, the Cyber Trance/Cyber X group, day after tomorrow, m-flo, and BoA, among others. They're putting more money into them, and less into ayu. No one ever considered that maybe lower sales for ayu's releases are a GOAL for avex. Given the tension of her career, there IS the threat of her leaving the label and joining another. Avex doesn't want that now, not while she's worth so much to them. They're keeping her happy by not forcing her to work too fast, so that she doesn't suddenly up and leave, and they're letting releases slow down and get less expensive to produce while ayu's sales go down and other artists' sales go up a bit. They don't want their entire company to rest in the hands of one act, it's way too dangerous to the fate of the company.

We can expect to see more disappointing releases for awhile, until ayu becomes an artist who (heaven forbid) debuts at number 2 (*GASP SHOCK HORROR!* don't alot of NORMAL artists debut at #2 instead of 1 without us worrying that their careers are totally over?? YES. Jeez. x__x). This is not the end of ayu by any means. They're trying to ease her into normalcy, trying to make her not such a huge phenomenon anymore, but DEFINITELY not trying to kill her career.

Once there's equilibrium between ayu and the other artists at avex, the releases will level off and we'll be used to what we now consider disappointing.

In the meantime, keep in mind that most artists have never had 10-track singles or remix albums for every original album.

This album is disappointing for even "normal" artists, yes, but avex needs something to make ayu's sales go down (which they still might not, since this is a cd/dvd set and the holidays are upon us).