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Well... I do believe Ayu latest release always reflect her mood at that period, and that this should be taken in consideration when u try to understand her... Taking the latest albums as reference:
Rock n Roll Circus was her first album directly dealing with some of her darker problems, like her hearing loss, her loss of relevance in the jpop scene, etc. It's just natural that the main focus of that release was the lyrics, and the music chosen to fit them, instead of fitting a higher album concept... Even If it's one of her worst releases to me, I can understand why it was done the way it was, why it's not a cohesive album (something important to me) and how it was important to her at that time.
Love songs was recorded on the time she was dating her now husband... It's an album about losing and finding love, it's so focused on that, the last song and central single is about marriage... No wonder it's a ballad heavy release.
FIVE was created because of all the disasters in Japan last year... It's more mainstream them all of her releases since God knows when, so it could reach more people outside her fanbase, and it's ballad heavy again because, let's face it, that wasn't the moment for upbeat festive stuff... not on the sense of how Ayu try to reach people with her music, or even on the sense of how she was feeling about it.
You don't really need to go into obscure interviews or hardcore discussions to get those stuff, they are all in the lyrics, on her visual material, concerts, etc. I always say this, and I think this is a good thread to say it again: Ayu is not releasing music for anyone over here, she doesn't know us, doesn't know what we like and this is the best thing she can do as an artist... Cuz in the moment her albums and concerts start being planned having in mind to please us, everything will become a reciclied version of her fanfavorites... So, let the girl do what she knows best... Surprise us, for the best or for the worst, releasing what she wants, not what we want.
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