I'm sorry to all the Ayumi Hamasaki fans (of which I am one myself, @ least part-time) here, but ignoring our obvious preference for Utada in general, this mini-album is PROBABLY going to be somewhere (and I say this w/ relative objectivity) between mediocre @ best and absolute crap if the obscure, naked preview of "Progress" and listed collaborators is to be believed...

I know she's a naturally prolific artist and likes to be THE trend-setter with many things, but Ayu simply does not have the musical legitimacy or general career intrigue she once commanded, especially since the (Miss)understood era give or take a few outstanding singles (which was uncoincidentally her 1st organic studio release to distribute but fail to sell @ least a million units domestically). Ignoring the general sales decline of physical music products, which happens 2 every1 eventually and is more the rule than exception in the current industry, every Ayu album since Mid-2000s have been uneven w/ excessive interludes and filler or instrumental tracks w/ second-rate compositions @ best for a proclaimed "Empress of J-pop." Its surprising especially given that she actually started producing her own melodies along w/ the lyrics during the I AM... & RAINBOW eras (which were collaborative with that Do As Infinity guy Dai Nagao notably), which still remains her overall best work, a fact further magnified by her subsequent output. It was incredible that Secret performed as well as it did around Asia and bombed in Japan (where 1/4 of its 2 million sales total was made) even despite the massive tour and promo behind it; not a bad album by any means, J-pop or otherwise, but it did set the diminished critical & commercial template that continues for Ayu until now as far as albums are concerned; that specifically is: two or three inevitable #1 singles that, despite diminished chart power, sound suspiciously dissimilar to the now many that precede it sandwiched between pleasant if forgettable interludes or instrumental tracks and album-only songs that are nothing more than surplus, lifeless filler to an otherwise well-hyped and aesthetically brilliant product. I like the pictures, outfits and PVs she creates for all her projects always (its something I wish and think Utada will get back to upon her return) but eventually, past the awards and other accomplishments she continues to rack up, you really become disconcerted by the fact a Living Legend of Japanese music and culture is comfortable w/ recording and performing this disinteresting of music, even as her singing and lyric writing skills have ironically only improved since Day 1 more than 13 years ago...

I'm not saying she's a terrible or even irrelevant musician, a notion that couldn't be further from reality either, but for fans of artistic innovation practitioners and genius genre benders (i.e. Utada, Shiina Ringo and Mr. Children, to name a consistent few) her exhaustion and lack of better developed music and ideas is REALLY manifesting. Its not like her earlier albums (from A Song From XX, LoveAPPEARS,Duty,I AM...,Rainbow,Memorial Address to My Story) didn't have many interludes or self-indulgent filler either, but the whole musical experience, themes and cohesion were far superior and well-crafted than anything recent, whether or not she was composing it, often not. Not to mention she was just a much more fascinating artist, idol and person, possibly because she hadn't become the over-exposed 'Avex product' she @ first opposed, than liked, and now seems more complacent than ever before to being despite the end of her greatest commercial performance and ubiquity. You've just got to wonder why she feels like she has something to prove after all that she's done, but she really is needlessly coasting even with her deafness, marriage and greater popularity outside of Japan and increased negligence from within. After this number of compilations, remix albums, concert/tour DVDs, photo books and other endorsements, you'd think she'd conclude herself how desperate a hiatus (2-5 years anyone???) she needs, just to come with something TRULY fresh and noteworthy again (even Namie, a subjectively lesser pop star, seems to be embodying a great advocate of the latter point and is outselling all her major female rivals, Utada and Koda as well, 2nd to none nowadays in both singles and albums physically at least).

I know its all unlikely but really, I couldn't tell you the difference between 'Startin'/Born To Be' and 'Blue Bird' or 'Glitter/Fated' to 'Rule/Sparkle as singles or GUILTY and SECRET as a whole to ROCK 'N' ROLL Circus as albums (its like she's basically cutting and pasting everything she's already done and adding in an indispensable producer/composer like Tetsuya Komuro every now and again just for the sake of evidentially distancing herself from perceived though often prominent repitition)...I don't even know why she made 'Sunrise/Sunset ~Love Is All~' as a physical single, as they were the EXACT same thing in every aspect possible except the latter just driving slower! We all know that no matter how forgettable or flat out throwaway much of the record is, it'll get its well-marketed and intended #1 debut, but after you press stop, is there any greater significance or reason to re-play it? LOVE SONGS as a more live, stripped instrument sound and NEXT LEVEL as a techno/electronica statement were the only two newer moments were she really seemed determined to breakaway of these conventions but still fell quite a ways short (even more so in comparison to say, Hikki's SCV2 EP and ULTRA BLUE respectively; she may have alienated fans of her earlier stuff yeah, but as an artistic statement and progressive singer-songwriter creation, they blew all that preceded or were presently released around them them away!)

I am @ least glad not a 1 physical single preceded it, and likely no re-cuts, just to further amplify its commercial viability, but if it ends up sounding like her immediately preceding material of 2 years or so (even the 'DREAM ON' duet), there will be nothing redemptive or complimentary about it besides being another #1 in her back catalogue. 'Progress' (aptly titled) isn't nearly as boring and uninspired as any of her 'Road to 50th singles,' which were about as much of a degrading economic vacuum as any label can put on one of their own (ala' UTADA THE BEST); ultimately though that gavel can't really fall I guess until we hear it in full form, but I'll be inclined to get it from some file or peer-to-peer site if I'm interested 'enuff (I don't see her mixing her J-pop tendencies to the less viable K-pop sounds being a successful venture either). I don't expect her to making a new revolution or adjoining new disciples of it @ any rate but hopefully we'll get the only thing Ms. Hamasaki REALLY hasn't put her money or mouth to considering yet, and that's an all English album! Don't know if it'd necessarily be worth her time or effort, but its something @ least unexpected and exciting (something she's beyond bankrupt for). Just my 10 cents!