best of ballade: empathy is the fifth compilation album by japanese singer shizuka kudo. it was released on november 20, 1992, through pony canyon. it is kudo's first ballad collection, followed by "" in 1998. half of the album is made up of ballads from previously released studio albums while the other half features new songs recorded for the album as well as unreleased ballads co-written by kudo, under the pseudonym aeri.