"Endless Sorrow" is a song recorded by Japanese singer
Ayumi Hamasaki
is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...
, released as her 22nd single on May 16, 2001.
Background
This was Hamasaki's fourth single to be composed by herself using the pseudonym ''Crea''. Its original single version, which features strings, piano, and
rock leanings, was arranged by CMJK and Junichi Matsuda. For Hamasaki's fourth studio album ''
I am...'' the song re-arranged by CMJK in a version entitled "Gone With Whe Wind ver.", which has a calmer soft-rock oriented sound. "Endless Sorrow" was used as theme song of
TBS's drama ''Mukashi no Otoko'', which aired from April to late June 2001. One of the b-sides of the single, "Vogue (Kirari Natsu Ayu Mix)" was used in TV commercials for Kose Visee mascara, starring Hamasaki herself.
Music video
The music video of "Endless Sorrow" inspired by the film
Equilibrium depicts a young boy living in a society in which speaking was prohibited by law. The boy, however, climbs a tower, meeting a man (presumably a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
because of his clothing) and a one-winged
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inc ...
who looks exactly like the boy. Apart from shots of the cover of the Endless Sorrow single, Hamasaki does not appear in the original version of the PV, but in a later version, Hamasaki appears at the end of the video in a trench coat and fedora, and picks up the feather dropped by the boy.
Ayumi Hamasaki – Endless sorrow
/ref>
Track listing
Lyrics: Ayumi Hamasaki - Music: Ayumi Hamasaki
# "Endless Sorrow"
# "Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
" (Kirari Natsu Ayu Mix)
# "Endless Sorrow" (Natural Green Dub Mix)
# "Endless Sorrow" (Nicely Nice Skyblue remix)
# "Never Ever" (Dub's Uncategorized Mix 001)
# "Endless Sorrow" (Ram's Advance Mix)
# "Endless Sorrow" ( Brent Mini's gothic mix)
# "Endless Sorrow" (Liquid Heart Mix)
# "Endless Sorrow" (Juicy Ariyama Mix)
# "Endless Sorrow" (Instrumental)
Live performances
*July 1, 2001 - CountDown TV - Endless sorrow and Unite!
"Unite!" is the twenty-third single by Ayumi Hamasaki, released on July 11, 2001. It is her sixth single released in Germany.
Unlike most of her other A-sides and some of her B-sides, Unite! has no PV. It has been performed on various occasion ...
*December 2, 2001 - Digital Dream Live - Endless sorrow and Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
Charts
Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)
* RIAJ
The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include ...
certification: 3× Platinum
References
External links
''Endless sorrow''
information at Avex Network.
''Endless sorrow''
information at Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...
.
Ayumi Hamasaki songs
2001 singles
Oricon Weekly number-one singles
Songs written by Ayumi Hamasaki
Japanese television drama theme songs
2001 songs
Avex Trax singles
{{2000s-Japan-single-stub