Surreal

SURREAL Single by Hamasaki Ayumi Released 27 September 2000 Genre Pop Length Label avex trax Producer(s) {{{Producer}}} Album Artwork Gallery Hamasaki Ayumi Chronology SEASONS (2000) SURREAL (2000) AUDIENCE (2000) SURREAL is Hamasaki Ayumi's 17th single under the avex trax label. The song itself had no commercial tie-ups, but "Duty," the song for which all the remixes on the single are, was featured in commercials for Takanoyuri Beauty Clinic. "I think the recording process for 'SURREAL' went very smoothly," Ayu says, "But...with this song I wanted to have a more rock feeling, but I didn't say enough about it... The guys in HAL might not have understood how far to take this, so that part of communication took a long time. At the time, I thought 'SURREAL' was like the beginning of a new stage in my life, but listening to it now, I feel like there was some fear or uneasiness [regarding] being face-to-face with my sound completely changing." The single reached #1 on Oricon charts and stayed on the charts for a total of seven weeks. In all this single has sold a total of 417,210 copies. Track Listing # Track Name Length Credits 1. SURREAL "Original Mix" 04:45 2. Duty "Eric Kupper Big Room Mix -Radio Edit-" 03:54 3. SEASONS "BUMP & FLEX RADIO EDIT" 03:41 4. Duty "Under Lounge club Mix" 05:52 5. Duty "nicely nice remix" 04:35 6. Duty "STEPPIN' DUB MIX" 05:28 7. Duty "Sky Modulation Mix" 08:30 8. Duty "Dub's mellowtech 002 Remix" 08:42 9. Duty "GENIUS BEAT MIX" 05:35 10. SURREAL "Original Mix -Instrumental-" 04:42

Music Video File:surrealpv.jpg The PV for "SURREAL," directed by Wataru Takeishi, shows Ayu waking up in her bed, and looking around to see that she's on a beach. She hikes up a mountain and ultimately to a brightly-colored garden, where she sees herself as a wildcat. Ayu's comments on the PV shoot: "We shot the PV on Lanai Island, and I remember during one morning of the shoot, I was doing my makeup in the back, and my tired-looking manager suddenly takes out a multicolored pen and writes 'HAPPY' in English, lol. Neither me nor any staff were sleeping or resting at all, even since before the shoot actually started. So yeah... I think we were broken, lol. But why he wrote 'HAPPY' is an enigma." Director: Wataru Takeishi (Dee DRIVE inc.) Producer: Ryuzo Shoji (to max inc.) Assistant Producer: Kiyoshi Utsumi (to max inc.) P. Producer: Yoshiko Ishibashi (Dee DRIVE inc.) Director of Photography: Tetsuya Kamoto (JPN Production) Light: Masami Noguchi Stylist: Koji Matsumoto Assistant Stylist: Takako 'ESP' Mishima (OFFICE an-gel) Hair & Make up: CHIKA (artifata) Assistant Hair & Make Up: Junpei 'inocchi' Tanaka (artifata) Nail Artist: Kanako 'Bancho' Miura U.S. Coordinator: Kohki Nishitani (MAGIC ISLAND Production, inc.), Johnnie Mitsuru Purvis, Stanley Izumi Kim Live Performances [2000.09.23] CDTV All Hits [2000.10.02] SMAPxSMAP Autumn Special [2000.10.06] Music Station [2000.10.08] CDTV [2000.10.09] AX Music Factory [2000.10.11] Sokuhou! Uta no Daijiten!! [2000.10.14] Pop Jam [2000.10.16] Hey! Hey! Hey! [2000.10.25] Music Enta [2000.11.18] All Japan Request Awards [2000.12.02] Digital Dream Live [2000.12.03] MUSIX! [2000.12.30] CDTV Special [2001.03.14] Japan Gold Disc Awards Internal Links Hamasaki Ayumi External Links