Wanted Ayu to release A BALLADS?

[Nicolas]

I think the question was something like "Considering how upset Ayu was about the forced release of A-BEST in 2001, was the release of A-BALLADS something that was forced upon her and if so, did it upset her as much". I imagine the poster has read Masa's articles about the A-BEST affair.

I think Ayu was probably ok about A-BALLADS. But she probably would rather have released RAINBOW as a single and clearly wanted to add additional value to A-BALLADS by re-recording several songs and even including a new one. But because A-BALLADS was not really a Best-Of album in the strictest sense, she didn't feel so worried about it and perhaps she was reassured by the fact that that A-BEST didn't mark the end of her career, as was one of her irrational fears for its release, she was more confident about her own career. But the main reason is probably because it wasn't really a major Best-Of.