"M" is the nineteenth single by Japanese recording artist

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer-songwriter and producer. Nicknamed the "Empress of Pop" on account of her influence throughout Asia, she is widely recognized for her versatile music production, songwriting, and live performances. Hamasaki is the List of ...

. "M" serves as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

to her first

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

A Best ''A Best'' (stylized as ''BEST'') is the first greatest hits album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released on March 28, 2001, by Avex Trax and Avex Music Creative Inc. Hamasaki had originally planned to release a greate ...

'' (2001) and her fourth studio album '' I Am...'' (2002). The track marked Hamasaki's increased creative control over her music, as it was the first song she composed, under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

"Crea". The lyrics of "M" are about Hamasaki talking to Maria (the Japanese reference to

The Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loret ...

), or also possibly to

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

, hence the title "M". "M" received a positive response from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, praising the composition and songwriting. The single is to date one of Hamasaki's most commercially successful; it peaked at the top spot on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...

, selling over 500,000 units on its first week. Moreover, the single eventually sold over one million copies over its eighteen-week run and became a

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 prom ...

-certified million-seller; "M" also won the

Japan Gold Disc Award The is an award presented by the Record music Industry Association of Japan in the field of music. The Japan Gold Disc Awards have multiple Grand Prix categories, including: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year (download and ...

for "Song of the Year". Since its release, the single is listed as the 113th best-selling single of all time in Japan.

Background and themes

Shortly after the release of her studio album ''

Duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; , past participle of ; , whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, e ...

'', Hamasaki began writing "M". Before then, Hamasaki's staff had composed the melodies; Hamasaki only wrote the lyrics. However, with "M", Hamasaki felt that none of the melodies composed by her staff fit her vision of the song. Consequently, she decided to compose the melody herself. She began work on an electronic keyboard; however, as she had little proficiency in the instrument, Hamasaki eventually resorted to singing the melody into a voice recorder.Shikano Atsushi. ''

Rockin'on Japan ''Rockin'On Japan'', often stylized in all caps, is a monthly magazine that covers the Japanese music scene and various cultural events in Japan, such as art venues and culinary expos. History The magazine was founded in 1972, and focused on prov ...

''. February 2001. Volume 165. Throughout the song, Hamasaki addresses "Maria". Hamasaki is ambiguous as to the identity of "Maria"; however, she has stated that the song was inspired by a story told to her by a friend about a saint named Mary.''J-Point''. December 22, 2000. Volume 75. The story was pivotal in the shaping of the theme of the song, which, according to Hamasaki, is about a "woman who won't change with time". Finally, like other songs from ''I am...'', Hamasaki explores the topics of couples and love.

Composition and musical style

According to Hamasaki, the melodies composed by her staff for "M" did not fit her image for the song because they were too "warm"—she had envisioned a melody with a "cold" feeling. That, according to Hamasaki, meant a melody that was "difficult to grasp" and started in a lower key before progressing to a higher key. The song is written in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

and begins in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

before progressing to the key of

C-sharp major C-sharp major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has seven sharps. Its relative minor is A-sharp minor (or enharmonically B-flat minor), its parallel minor is C-sharp min ...

. The song uses

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

, and various stringed instruments. "M", unlike Hamasaki's antecedent songs, does not follow the verse-chorus form; rather, the song opens with an introduction that is followed by a brief instrumental bridge that precedes two verses.The sheet music of "M" from ''Ayumi Hamasaki - Piano Solo - New Piano Sounds Top 25''. Volume 7. The verses are followed by a pre-chorus after which comes an instrumental bridge; that is followed by a repetition of the pre-chorus and the verse. The chorus and a repetition of it follow; the chorus and its repetition are separated by another instrumental bridge. Finally, a second verse is sung before the repetition of the introduction, at which point the song ends.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "M", directed by

Wataru Takeishi is a Japanese music video director. He has created videos for Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer-songwriter and producer. Nicknamed the "Empress of Pop" on account of her influence throughout Asia, she is widely recognized for her versatil ...

, opens with Hamasaki singing the introduction against a

stained-glass window Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

. The first instrumental

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

follows, during which is seen the exterior of a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

. When the first verse starts, the doors of the cathedral open and glowing particles sweep into the cathedral; at the start of the second instrumental bridge, the particles merge and Hamasaki appears in a

wedding gown A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. Wedding dresses hold a significan ...

, at the intersection of the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

and the aisle, also in this scene she is wearing blue contacts. When the chorus starts, Hamasaki is seen outside the cathedral (no longer in a gown) singing with her band; subsequent scenes switch between Hamasaki singing outside the cathedral and standing inside. At the end of the video, the glowing particles sweep out of the cathedral and the gown-clad Hamasaki disappears.

Critical response

"M" was positively reviewed by

. Jeff from Random.Access.Reviews stated that "M" was his favorite song on '' I am...''. He commented "It's a very chilled but introspective-sounding song (I can't be certain how introspective it is), a bit folksy at times but nice to listen to, plus it has some wild guitar work later on, reminiscent of

Guns 'N Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

of olde." Jeff commented that the globally acclaimed remix by Above & Beyond was great. Neil Z. Yeung called "M" the most moving and emotionally impactful song of the whole record. Michael McCarthy of ''Lollipop'' said that Hamasaki's delivery is intense and emotional in "M' and the rest of the record's ballads.

Chart performance and sales

"M" debuted at the number-one position on the weekly

on its first week of release, selling 541,350 copies, beating out "

Ren'ai Revolution 21 is Morning Musume's 11th single, and was released December 13, 2000. It sold a total of 986,040 copies and peaked at number two on the Oricon Charts. The lead vocals of this single are Natsumi Abe and Maki Goto. This single also marks the last w ...

" by

Morning Musume , formerly and commonly known as and colloquially referred to as , is a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most to ...

. The single remained atop the charts the second week; however, the total sales for that week had dropped to 185,290. The sales rose the third week: the single sold 246,150 copies; however, it was only able to reach the number-two position, as Every Little Thing's single " Fragile/Jirenma" debuted that week with 278,120 copies. By the fourth week, "M" remained at the number-two position with 95,770 copies sold. It remained in the Top 10 the following three weeks, dropping from the number-five position to the number-seven position. It remained in the Top 30 for two more weeks; it reached the twenty-third position before dropping out. By the end of its nine-week run in the Oricon Top 30, "M" sold 1,279,830 copies, making it the best-selling single from ''I am...'' and adding to Hamasaki's million-selling singles. "M" reached number-one on the Japanese ''

Count Down TV (also known as CDTV) is a Japanese late-night music television program, broadcast on TBS since 1993. The program is shown weekly, and features a Japanese music video hit chart countdown, live performances from musicians and music information. ...

'' Chart hosted by

Tokyo Broadcasting System (formerly ) is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network TBS Television and radio network TBS Radio. It has a 28-affiliate television network called Japan News Network, as ...

(TBS) for two weeks, and remained on the chart for seventeen weeks. The single is also

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

's last single to win the number-one spot on the montly singles chart for two consecutive months in the 20th century. By the end of 2001, "M" was ranked at number two on Oricon's annual singles chart, just behind

Hikaru Utada , also known mononymously as Utada, is a Japanese and American singer, songwriter, and producer. She is considered to be one of the most influential and best-selling musical artists in Japan. She is best known by international audiences for w ...

's " Can You Keep a Secret?"; it sold 1,319,070 units by the end of the year. "M" ranked at number 31 on TBS' annual chart for 2000, and ranked at 27th place on the 2001 edition of the chart. In the ranking of copyright royalty distribution amounts (domestic works) by the

Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers The , often referred to as JASRAC, is a Japanese copyright collection society. It was founded in 1939 as a nonprofit organization, and is the largest musical copyright administration society in Japan. Overview JASRAC's main business activity ...

(JASRAC), the song "M" ranked 7th for the year 2001. Since its release, the single is listed as the 113th best-selling single of all time in Japan.

Promotion

The song was aired extensively as a commercial song for TU-KA, in which she appeared, and a "limited edition Ayu model"

leopard print Animal print is a clothing and fashion style in which the garment is made to resemble the pattern of the skin and fur, feathers or scales of animals such as a jaguar, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, zebra, giraffe, tiger or cow Cattle ...

cell phone was released in honor of the leopard print she had shown on the jacket of " Surreal" from ''

'' released three months earlier. The other commercial features the remix and promotes the TU-KA funstyle mobile phone; the "𝓜 "funstyle Mix" used in the commercial for TU-KA's music data distribution service "funstyle" was specially re-edited for the funstyle sound source and later recorded as the "𝓜 "RANK-M Mix". She also appeared on a TV program at the time wearing an image of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

as she did in her music videos and jacket.

Accolades

"M" won the award for "Song of the year" at the 2001

Japan Gold Disc Awards The is an award presented by the Record music Industry Association of Japan in the field of music. The Japan Gold Disc Awards have multiple Grand Prix categories, including: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year (download and ...

. In early 2014, in honor of Hamasaki's sixteenth-year career milestone, Japanese website Goo.ne.jp hosted a poll for fans to rank their favorite songs by Hamasaki out of thirty positions; the poll was held in only twenty-four hours, and thousands submitted their votes. As a result, "M" was ranked at number two, behind "

Seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

", with 93.2 percent of the votes. Additionally, the Above & Beyond remix is considered a

vocal trance Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe. Trance music is typically characterized by a tempo between 120 and 150 beats per ...

classic, ranking at number 653 in Trance Top 1000 in 2011, and number 177 in

A State of Trance ''A State of Trance'' (often abbreviated as ASOT) is a Dutch Trance music, trance radio show, hosted by Armin van Buuren and co-producer Ruben de Ronde, that first aired in June 2001. It is currently aired weekly every Thursday at 20:00 (CET) a ...

Top 1000 in 2021.

Track listings

Japanese maxi-CD single # "M" (original mix) # "M" (Dub's Hard Pop remix) # "

" (Yuta's Weather Report mix) # "M" (Nicely Nice Winter Parade remix) # " Far Away" (Laugh & Peace mix) # "M" (Rewired mix) # "M" (Smokers mix) # "M" (Rank-M mix) # "M" (Neurotic Eye's mix) # "M" (original mix instrumental) Japanese 2×12-inch vinyl E.P. :A1. "M" ( Above & Beyond Typhoon dub mix) :B1. " Boys & Girls (

Push Push may refer to: * A type of force applied to an object Music * Mike Dierickx (born 1973), a Belgian producer also known as Push Albums * ''Push'' (Bros album), 1988 * ''Push'' (Gruntruck album), 1992 * ''Push'' (Jacky Terrasson album), 201 ...

instrumental dub) :B2. "

Unite! ''I Am...'' is the fourth studio album by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released on January 1, 2002 by Avex Trax and was distributed throughout Asia in both physical and digital formats. Hamasaki enlisted long-time collaborato ...

" (Airwave dub) :C1. "Unite!" (Airwave remix) :C2. "

Appears "Appears" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released by Avex Trax on November 10, 1999, as the sixth single from her second studio album ''Loveppears'' (1999), which was released on the same day. Alongside thi ...

" ( Armin van Buuren's Sunset dub) :D1. "Unite!" ( Moogwai dub) :D2. "

Audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

" (

Darren Tate Darren Tate (born 22 October 1972, in London) is a British record producer, film composer and club DJ. Biography As a classically trained musician, Tate has worked with international artists and songwriters with whom he collaborates regularly. ...

instrumental) German 12-inch vinyl (Part 1) :A. "M" (Above & Beyond Typhoon dub mix) :B. "M" (Above & Beyond vocal mix) German 12-inch vinyl (Part 2) :A1. "M" (Van Eyden vs. M.O.R.P.H. remix) – 7:31 :B1. "M" (Tectonic Shift vs. André Visior remix) – 7:55 :B2. "M" (Above & Beyond instrumental mix) – 7:47 German maxi-single # "M" (Above & Beyond edit) – 4:20 # "M" (Van Eyden vs. M.O.R.P.H. remix edit) – 4:19 # "M" (Tectonic Shift vs. André Visior remix edit) – 3:36 # "M" (Above & Beyond Vocal dub mix) – 8:11 # "M" (Above & Beyond Typhoon dub mix) – 8:31 # "M" (Above & Beyond vocal mix) – 8:01

Personnel

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

: Ayumi Hamasaki * Melodic Composition: Ayumi Hamasaki (under the pseudonym "Crea")Takeuchi Cullen, Lisa.
Empress of Pop
. ''

TIME Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. Retrieved July 5, 2008. *

Arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

HΛL Hal (stylized HΛL, replacing the Latin "A" with the Greek "Λ" or Lambda) is a Japanese pop band formed in 1996. They have worked with several Japanese pop and rock stars and also have won two Japan Record Awards for their musical arrangements ...

* Mixing: Koji Morimoto *Production:

Max Matsuura , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese record producer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Avex Group, one of the largest music labels. He is known mainly for discovering and developing new artists into stars (most notab ...

*Sound production: Naoto Suzuki *Production assisting: Yuka Akiyama * Mastering: Shigeo Miyamoto

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time chart

Certifications

Release history

References

*Walters, Barry.
Turning (Japanese) Point
. ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

''. May 5, 2002. Retrieved July 5, 2008. *The liner notes for "M" (Overseas CD version).

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

. AVCD-30197

External links

*
M
information at Avex Network. *
M
information at

. * {{authority control Ayumi Hamasaki songs 2000 singles Oricon Weekly number-one singles Songs written by Ayumi Hamasaki Song recordings produced by Max Matsuura 2000 songs