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Surreal (song)

"Surreal"
Surreal1.PNG
CD only artwork.
Single by Ayumi Hamasaki
from the album Duty
Released 27 September 2000 (2000-09-27)
Format
Recorded
Genre Rock music
Length 4:22
Label
Writer(s) Ayumi Hamasaki
Producer(s) Max Matsuura
Ayumi Hamasaki singles chronology
"Seasons"
(2000)
"Surreal"
(2000)
Audience
(2000)

"Surreal" (stylized as "SURREAL") is a song by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki, taken from her third studio album Duty (2000). It was written by Hamasaki and produced by Max Matsuura. The song is a rock with elements of alternative rock. "Surreal" describes Hamasaki's madness and sense of confusion, while the themes of "Surreal" are based on Hamasaki's concept of loneliness, chaos, confusion, and the burden of her responsibilities, aimed mostly towards her public image as an recording artist. It was released as the fourth single from the album on 27 September 2000 by Avex Trax and Avex Taiwan.

Critical reception towards "Surreal" has been positive; majority of the critics commended the song writing and musical delivery, and highlighted it as an album and career stand out track. In Japan, "Surreal" became her sixth number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, and also reached the top spot on the Japanese Count Down TV chart. "Surreal" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of 250,000 units. Released as a DVD Single in December 2000, it reached number three on the Oricon DVD Chart.

The accompanying music video was directed by Wataru Takeishi, featuring Hamasaki walking along a beach front. With mysterious lighting hovering over several objects, she enters a jungle-like room to find a clone of herself; the clone wears the same outfit for the Duty and "Surreal" photo shoot. "Surreal" has been included on several concert tours and New Year Countdown shows held and hosted by Hamasaki, and has featured on majority of her greatest hits compilations.

"Surreal" was written by Hamasaki, composed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, and produced by Max Matsuura. Japanese band HΛL were in charged of arranging the song, which included instrumentation of guitars, keyboards, and a drum machine. "Surreal" was one of three songs from the Duty album composed by Kikuchi, the other two being "Vogue" and "Far Away". "Surreal" was his last collaboration with Hamasaki until composing her songs "About You" and "Replace" from her sixth studio album, My Story (2004). It was selected as the fourth single from Duty and was released in Japan on 27 September 2000 by Avex Trax, the same date Duty was released. The Maxi CD features the original track, the instrumental version, seven remixs of the track "Duty", and one remix of Hamasaki's single "Seasons". A DVD single and VHS was released on 13 December 2000 by Avex Trax in Japan, with a full-frontal body image of Hamasaki that is similar to the artwork of Duty. Both formats features the music video of "Surreal" along with the television advertisement for Duty and the video making for "Surreal". Avex released it as a digital EP.


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