[taskinillusion]

Originally Posted by ccsharumun

^I think the question of nostalgia bias is very legitimate in these discussions about the quality of Ayu's present work compared with that of the past. We are naturally drawn to the Ayu era that first captured us.

But I think it's also quite clear that many fans have noticed a "negative" change that has nothing to do with nostalgia. After all, some of us did not come in 10 years years ago when Ayu was at her prime. The (miss)understood/Secret era is my Ayu nostalgia, and it wasn't until Next Level that I bothered to even look at anything prior to that (save the classic M). I remember being shocked and amazed the first time I listened to Duty (album) and other tracks she produced over years before I first listened. And I noticed even then that there was Power, and Cohesiveness (between lyrics and music and image) in her earlier works that wasn't as present in (miss)understood or Secret, as much as I love those albums.

In my opinion, she rarely has the intensity/power of self that she once exhibited all over the place. But even that aside, I feel a larger problem, or at least what happened with PQ, was that lyrcis, music and image just didn't cooperate well. This.. in-cooperativeness is probably the largest problem I have had over the last several years.

For example, lyrics and music worked well for me with crossroad, but the video was painful. Or, I loved the words of Lady Dynamite, and the video was okay for me, but the music just didn't hit home at all. Party Queen has been the epitome of this clash and messiness for me.

To be clear, I am not arguing that all the work she does today is unappealing or altogether crap, or that she never does anything that shows the aforementioned qualities. But those instances are rarer, and while her music is great, is not as... generally effective, shall we say, as the stuff she once did.

Yes, yes! I definitely agree!