"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 toward her public image as a 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; the majority of critics commended the songwriting and musical delivery, and highlighted it as an album and career standout. 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 500,000 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.
Background and composition
"Surreal" was written by Hamasaki, composed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, and produced by Max Matsuura. Japanese band HΛL arranged 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 remixes 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 feature 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.
"Surreal" is a rock song that borrows influences from numerous genres including alternative rock. The song was noted for its musical similarities to other tracks from Duty. "Surreal" describes Hamasaki's madness and sense of confusion, while the themes of "Surreal" and other tracks from Duty are based on Hamasaki's concept of loneliness, chaos, confusion, and the burden of her responsibilities, aimed mostly towards her public image as a recording artist. Based on her songwriting, she described her feelings after the writing all the tracks from Duty as "unnatural" and was constantly "nervous" for the final result. A reviewer from Amazon.co.jp commented on all the tracks on Duty and praised the songs for embracing a "healing effect" that was absent on Hamasaki's two previous studio albums.
Reception
Critical response
"Surreal" received favorable reception from contemporary music critics. Alexey Eremenko, who wrote her extended biography at AllMusic, highlighted the song as an album and career standout. A reviewer from Yahoo! GeoCities singled out "Surreal" and album tracks "End of the World", and "Seasons" as highlights. Morimasa from Nifty.com was positive towards the tracks "Surreal" and "Audience". He liked how the tracks were placed in the middle of the album, which he believed highlighted the musical and lyrical delivery. Hamasaki hosted an online voting poll for fans to choose their favourite tracks to be featured on her Ayumi Hamasaki 15th Anniversary Tour Best Live Tour, and "Surreal" was featured on the list. The song was remixed as an orchestral song for her remix album ayu-mi-x III Acoustic Orchestra Version (2003), and was commended alongside other tracks for its "rich melody".