1994 single by Seal
1994 single by Seal
"Kiss from a Rose " is a song from Seal 's second eponymous album . The song was first released as a single in July 1994 and included in the film The NeverEnding Story III that year. It was re-released a year later in 1995 as part of the Batman Forever film soundtrack , helping it top the charts in the United States and Australia. It also reached the top 10 in several other countries, including Canada, France, Iceland and Norway. At the 1996 Grammy Awards , it won awards for Record of the Year , Song of the Year , and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance .[1]
Background [ edit ]
"Kiss from a Rose" was written in 1987, several years prior to the release of Seal's eponymous debut album from 1991. After writing the song, Seal felt "embarrassed by it" and "threw the tape in the corner". Seal did not present it to producer Trevor Horn until the recording sessions for Seal II . In 2015, Seal said of the song: "To be honest, I was never really that proud of it, though I like what Trevor did with the recording. He turned that tape from my corner into another 8 million record sales and my name became a household name."[2]
"Kiss from a Rose" was the second single taken from the Batman Forever film soundtrack, and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for one week in August 1995. It also went to number four on the UK Singles Chart , where it had originally reached number 20 in 1994. It also was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Song from a Movie in 1996 .[3]
Seal talked about the long, strange journey that the song went through on The Brian McKnight Show season finale that aired 30 May 2010. He described how the song initially dropped out of the charts shortly after its release. Joel Schumacher subsequently called Seal, and requested use of the song to play over a love scene between the characters played by Nicole Kidman and Val Kilmer in Batman Forever .
Music video [ edit ]
Two versions of the music video were produced:
The original version is set in a photographic studio and was co-directed by Matthew Rolston and William Levin. The 1966 film Blowup was heavily referenced in the video.
The second version was directed by Joel Schumacher and has Seal performing the song beside the Bat-Signal , interspersed with clips from the film Batman Forever . This is the more well known video of the song. The director of photography of this version of the music video was Neil Abramson.
Track listing [ edit ]
Between all the formats of the single release, bonus tracks include the non-album tracks "The Wind Cries Mary " (a Jimi Hendrix cover) and "Blues in 'E'"; remixes of "Kiss from a Rose" by Adamski (who produced the original version of "Killer "); and remixes of album track "I'm Alive" by Steve Fitzmaurice and Sasha with BT .
"Kiss from a Rose" (radio edit) – 3:38
"Kiss from a Rose" (album version) – 4:47
Charts and sales [ edit ]
Weekly charts [ edit ]
Year-end charts [ edit ]
Decade-end charts [ edit ]
All-time charts [ edit ]
Certifications [ edit ]
Cover versions [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
External links [ edit ]
Awards for "Kiss from a Rose"
1959−1980
"Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) " by Domenico Modugno (1959)
"Mack the Knife " by Bobby Darin (1960)
"Theme from A Summer Place " by Percy Faith (1961)
"Moon River " by Henry Mancini (1962)
"I Left My Heart in San Francisco " by Tony Bennett (1963)
"Days of Wine and Roses " by Henry Mancini (1964)
"The Girl from Ipanema " by Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz (1965)
"A Taste of Honey " by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (1966)
"Strangers in the Night " by Frank Sinatra (1967)
"Up, Up and Away " by The 5th Dimension (Billy Davis Jr. , Florence LaRue , Marilyn McCoo , Lamonte McLemore , Ron Townson ) (1968)
"Mrs. Robinson " by Simon & Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel , Paul Simon ) (1969)
"Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In " by The 5th Dimension (Billy Davis Jr. , Florence LaRue , Marilyn McCoo , Lamonte McLemore , Ron Townson ) (1970)
"Bridge over Troubled Water " by Simon & Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel , Paul Simon ) (1971)
"It's Too Late " by Carole King (1972)
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face " by Roberta Flack (1973)
"Killing Me Softly with His Song " by Roberta Flack (1974)
"I Honestly Love You " by Olivia Newton-John (1975)
"Love Will Keep Us Together " by Captain & Tennille (Daryl Dragon , Toni Tennille ) (1976)
"This Masquerade " by George Benson (1977)
"Hotel California " by Eagles (Don Felder , Glenn Frey , Don Henley , Randy Meisner , Joe Walsh ) (1978)
"Just the Way You Are " by Billy Joel (1979)
"What a Fool Believes " by The Doobie Brothers (Jeffrey Baxter , John Hartman , Keith Knudsen , Michael McDonald , Tiran Porter , Patrick Simmons ) (1980)
1981−2000
"Sailing " by Christopher Cross (1981)
"Bette Davis Eyes " by Kim Carnes (1982)
"Rosanna " by Toto (David Hungate , Bobby Kimball , Steve Lukather , David Paich , Jeff Porcaro , Steve Porcaro ) (1983)
"Beat It " by Michael Jackson (1984)
"What's Love Got to Do with It " by Tina Turner (1985)
"We Are the World " by USA for Africa (1986)
"Higher Love " by Steve Winwood (1987)
"Graceland " by Paul Simon (1988)
"Don't Worry, Be Happy " by Bobby McFerrin (1989)
"Wind Beneath My Wings " by Bette Midler (1990)
"Another Day in Paradise " by Phil Collins (1991)
"Unforgettable " by Natalie Cole with Nat King Cole (1992)
"Tears in Heaven " by Eric Clapton (1993)
"I Will Always Love You " by Whitney Houston (1994)
"All I Wanna Do " by Sheryl Crow (1995)
"Kiss from a Rose " by Seal (1996)
"Change the World " by Eric Clapton (1997)
"Sunny Came Home " by Shawn Colvin (1998)
"My Heart Will Go On " by Celine Dion (1999)
"Smooth " by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana , Chester Thompson ) featuring Rob Thomas (2000)
2001−present
"Beautiful Day " by U2 (Bono , Adam Clayton , The Edge , Larry Mullen Jr. ) (2001)
"Walk On " by U2 (Bono , Adam Clayton , The Edge , Larry Mullen Jr. ) (2002)
"Don't Know Why " by Norah Jones (2003)
"Clocks " by Coldplay (Guy Berryman , Jon Buckland , Will Champion , Phil Harvey , Chris Martin ) (2004)
"Here We Go Again " by Ray Charles & Norah Jones (2005)
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams " by Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong , Mike Dirnt , Frank Edwin Wright III ) (2006)
"Not Ready to Make Nice " by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire , Natalie Maines , Emily Robison ) (2007)
"Rehab " by Amy Winehouse (2008)
"Please Read the Letter " by Alison Krauss & Robert Plant (2009)
"Use Somebody " by Kings of Leon (Caleb Followill , Jared Followill , Matthew Followill , Nathan Followill ) (2010)
"Need You Now " by Lady Antebellum (Hillary Scott , Charles Kelley , Dave Haywood ) (2011)
"Rolling in the Deep " by Adele (2012)
"Somebody That I Used to Know " by Gotye featuring Kimbra (2013)
"Get Lucky " by Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter , Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo ) featuring Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers (2014)
"Stay with Me " (Darkchild version) by Sam Smith (2015)
"Uptown Funk " by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars (2016)
"Hello " by Adele (2017)
"24K Magic " by Bruno Mars (2018)
"This Is America " by Childish Gambino (2019)
"Bad Guy " by Billie Eilish (2020)
1959−1980 1981−2000 2001−present
"Beautiful Day " – Adam Clayton , David Evans , Laurence Mullen & Paul Hewson (songwriters) (2001)
"Fallin' " – Alicia Keys (songwriter) (2002)
"Don't Know Why " – Jesse Harris (songwriter) (2003)
"Dance with My Father " – Richard Marx & Luther Vandross (songwriters) (2004)
"Daughters " – John Mayer (songwriter) (2005)
"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own " – Adam Clayton , David Evans , Laurence Mullen & Paul Hewson (songwriters) (2006)
"Not Ready to Make Nice " – Emily Burns Erwin , Martha Maguire , Natalie Maines Pasdar & Dan Wilson (songwriters) (2007)
"Rehab " – Amy Winehouse (songwriter) (2008)
"Viva la Vida " – Guy Berryman , Jonathan Buckland , William Champion & Christopher Martin (songwriters) (2009)
"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) " – Thaddis "Kuk" Harrell , Beyoncé Knowles , Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart (songwriters) (2010)
"Need You Now " – Dave Haywood , Josh Kear , Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott (songwriters) (2011)
"Rolling in the Deep " – Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth (songwriters) (2012)
"We Are Young " – Jack Antonoff , Jeff Bhasker , Andrew Dost & Nate Ruess (songwriters) (2013)
"Royals " – Joel Little & Ella Yelich O'Connor (songwriters) (2014)
"Stay with Me " (Darkchild version) – James Napier , William Phillips & Sam Smith (songwriters) (2015)
"Thinking Out Loud " – Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge (songwriters) (2016)
"Hello " – Adele Adkins & Greg Kurstin (songwriters) (2017)
"That's What I Like " – Christopher Brody Brown , James Fauntleroy , Philip Lawrence , Bruno Mars , Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip (songwriters) (2018)
"This Is America " – Donald Glover , Ludwig Göransson & Jeffery Lamar Williams (songwriters) (2019)
"Bad Guy " – Billie Eilish O'Connell & Finneas O'Connell (songwriters) (2020)
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Soundtracks
Songs
TV series Batman Batman Returns Batman Forever Batman & Robin