Eternal Memories is still one of my favorite songs by Crystal. It has a real vulnerability to it. It's extremely well produced, imo. It's super nice to listen to on rainy days haha. I love it and still remember when I discovered it~
TBH, Crystal was actually the very first Jpop artist I heard aside from anything included in anime. I was browsing the Sony.jp homepage in late early/mid 2004, when CK5 was about to be released, and noticed an English name and clicked on it out of curiosity and fell in love with her.
I love her early sound, up until 4Real are my favorite moments. But she's definitely continued to grow over the years! She's had low points and high points.
It's weird that after Color Change, she released a best album that did pretty good. But then Spin the Music just did horribly, and then the subsequent Vivid did as well.
Meh, I can't get too upset over her sales. I know her music is good.
Also, she'll be holding another acoustic tour! Crystal Cafe 2013 begins on March 4th until the 10th. I believe the last one was small as well. I'm thinking about trying to get tickets. It'll be my first time seeing her if I do!
http://crystalkayonline.com/cafe/index.html
She also left a New Year's message on Excite Music's homepage:
http://www.excite.co.jp/music/newyear/?artist_id=31
It's in Japanese, but it's basically her summing up 2012. Vivid release, her tour, her collabo for "Where the wild things are", her collabo with Lionel Richie, singing "Eyes on me" in London for Final Fantasy's 25th anniversary, etc. And that her theme for 2013 is "New Crystal Kay" and that she'll continue "powering up" herself haha.