A question about the SURREAL lyrics?
 

I'm not really sure of the meaning behind my favorite part. I mean yes I have the translation, but even with that I don't understand what she's trying to convey:

どこにもない場所で
私は私のままで立ってるよ

in a nonexistant place
i stand as i am

Now "SURREAL" is not my favorite song, but I like it A LOT! I really just want to understand what she means by, "in a nonexistant place". I know that she is saying in plain words that there is a place but it is nonexistant so really there IS no place that she stands as she is? Like being herself? So she has to be herself here? In this place? And really I just run myself into the ground because I don't understand. I get confused. Anyway, it's my favorite part of the whole song :D I mean I guess I could add the rest of the chorus at the end where she talks of wanting everyone else to be themselves forever. Never changing really. So I guess out of context it doesn't make sense? And yes I have confused myself again.

I'm thinking of getting the lyrics tattooed on me so I just really want to know what everyone here thinks she is trying to say. What does it mean to you?

I think she means in a place that doesn't exist at all. XD

Or maybe she means a place deep inside her (that is not known in the world outside), that deep inside she is the real Ayu and she can be herself.

Okay, that didn't make any sense, XD I suck at this.

I love that part of the song too, and partly because, the way I see it, she's basically saying that she cannot be the real herself in this world/reality and wants the listener to be able to be the real him/her even in this world.

doko ni mo nai basho = a place that is nowhere, nonexistant. So it's like she can only be the real her in her imagination/mind, that's how I've always thought about it.

^ I got the same understanding too

Okay, you know how Ayu believed that there is an Ayumi Hamasaki that is her singer self, and an Ayu that is her true self?

I think by "nonexistent place" it means the place that Ayumi Hamasaki is because technically they are the same person, Ayumi Hamasaki and Ayu. So what Ayu means is that in the place that doesn't exist, as in, her Ayumi Hamasaki exterior in which the fans see, Ayu stands as she is. Like, she is being herself.

So despite having to pretend to be this Ayumi Hamasaki, Ayu is still standing as herself in this "non-existent place" that is, well, the 'pretense'. Or the mask, something like that.

I think Masa wrote a really good essay explaining this. On the website.

Yeah ^^ Agree with what K-Queen has said. masa wrote a really insightful article about SURREAL in his website... it's a great enlightenment ^^

Thanks! I'll check out his article! I like everyone's insight and now I understand it more :D

thanks keikeiaznqueen, i understand it more now :D

haha... one amazing thread... ayu's lyrics have a lot of things to be guessed

wow interesting part of the lyrics...surreal isn't my favorite either but I love it...especially the piano parts in the beginning....It is actually my favorite non vocal ayu song....the piano part anyway,...its so beautiful...its so sad and I get a lot of imagery from it.

This was one of her deepest songs up until that point in her career and it's very much connected to the PV. Maybe watching the PV will give better insight because it's more or less the lyrics of the song in visual form.

i don't really understand about....

Loneliness that you feel together is worse
than a loneliness that you feel
by yourself.

can someone explain this in a simple words??
thanks before ^_^

^it means that when you are alone you often feel lonely (that's a normal thing), but it's even worse if you have someone with who you should feel happy but for some reason you still feel lonely (because of lack of understanding, or lack of love, you are next to the person, you are together but still apart for some reason, it's terrible)

Oh would you mind posting the URL? I'd really love to read it.

Basically she's saying that in this world (the real world) that she can't be herself, also the "you" of this song (the other person she's singing to) can't be their self in this world... basically she wishes that she could get away from this world where the two of them could just be themselves.

SURREALs meaning is really deep. i think it can interpreted as a song about someone who is closeted you know? And feels like they can't be their trueselves.

I hope this isn't too late, but http://homepage2.nifty.com/morimasa/duty1.html super interesting article on the Duty album... and you can check around for some more insights for her earlier albums too~

SURREAL is one of my favourite songs and i can really feel the impact of the lyrics. I especially like the part about protecting yourself when you fall even though you claim to have completely given up on yourself. The 'place that does not exist' struck me as pretty cool too. I interprete as a non-physical place, a space that is shared by herself and the people she cares about. It's a form of understanding between herself and those people (because at the end of the song, she requires them to be themselves too).

wow... thanks for your explaining....
i understand now and absolutely i agree :yes