I think it's more likely that waiting until next year will mean far worse sales for a new album. Ayu's been in decline for awhile. She's not going on hiatus. And unlike Utada, Ayu's discography is massive, so even waiting several years to release a new album means we probably won't hear anything remotely close to the kind of fan craze Fantome turned out to be compared to HEART STATION.
I don't know where I fall on Ayu releasing a new album this year. A part of me would like a new album, but I certainly don't want something as minimal-effort as MADE IN JAPAN was. That album had the sound, but it's so symbolic of how much Ayu has retracted from the Hamasaki Ayumi of yesteryears. I would love Ayu to do something akin to (miss)understood again... just go into the studio and write songs and interludes that are all about Hamasaki Ayumi. Put a lot of them on the album. And make a record that's as serious as it is fun again.
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