I've got a sense that Ringo has really been disturbed lately. I mean, I know that KSK was written at a difficult point in her life ("Kuki" having some allusions to her 9/11 nightmares), but in the last few years I've really gotten a sense that she's genuinely unhappy with her life. A lot of the interviews surrounding "Sports" dealt with her personal struggles as well as the frustrations she had concerning her band. I loved the recent interviews but they made me a little concerned for poor Hata as well.
Some people believe that Ringo has been slacking off in recent years, but I don't think it's so much that she's lazy as much as it is she's
distracted. I adore SR's work in and out of Jihen, but if she needs to take a break she should. Right now I'm wondering if that's what she wants/needs to do. I try to keep a healthy distance from Ringo's personal life as it's not any of my business, but maybe something's going on behind the scenes she needs to attend to.
Speaking of which, I enjoy her recent work, but it seems kind of emotionally distant to me. Maybe as a 20 Y.O. male I'm having difficulty relating to her as a 31 Y.O. mother and established pop icon. Or maybe it's something going on with her. I don't know. I look forward to more compositions by Ringo, but I want it to happen when she's ready...