Liner Notes · No. 006
"Kiss from a Rose" by Seal: the B-side
Quick hall pass: the song Seal threw in the corner has now been a Batman ballad, a Super Bowl ad, a LEGO trailer and a seal choir. Here's the B-side.
📰 FAST FACTS
- The Batman Forever soundtrack came out May 30, 1995, on Atlantic. (Wikipedia)
- On March 22, 2023, Seal and Trevor Horn took the song apart on Song Exploder, episode 250: a 4-track experiment where Seal imagined what an orchestra would do. (Song Exploder)
- Live in Paris (2005) was Seal's first live album. (Wikipedia)
On this record
TRACK 1 · The cameo
Seal became a seal. Batman came back.
In 2025, Seal sang it as an actual seal in a Super Bowl ad. In 2026, a LEGO Batman trailer dragged it back to Gotham.
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The setup: You know the Batman part. Thirty years later, the song still can't stay out of pop culture, and in February 2025 it went somewhere nobody predicted: the Super Bowl.
The ad: Super Bowl LIX. Mountain Dew's "Kiss from a Lime." Seal turns into a literal seal on a beach and sings a lime-flavored parody of his own song to Becky G. Directed by Taika Waititi. Reactions ranged from bafflement to joy, which is also how most of us reacted to the original lyrics. Somewhere a marketing team said "what if Seal, but a seal," and nobody stopped them. Good.
The comeback: On May 7, 2026, WB Games dropped the launch trailer for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, set to "Kiss from a Rose" and packed with nods to the earlier Batman films. The game came out May 22 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The song left Gotham in 1995 and Gotham keeps dragging it back, now in plastic bricks.
Before any of that, though, Joel Schumacher tried the song somewhere else in Batman Forever. If you watched the pop-ups, this one's free points.
Before it landed on the end credits, where did Joel Schumacher first try "Kiss from a Rose" in Batman Forever?
No Googling. We'll know.
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- Seal borrows a street performer's guitar in Manchester, and a 30th-anniversary show with Trevor Horn on bass.
- A rooftop acoustic version, Seal as a seal, and a video of actual seals singing it.
- The new concert film, a summer in Germany, and where Seal is booked next.
Free, every Tuesday. One song, the story you never heard, and a 10-minute hall pass from the doomscroll. Already subscribed? Enter your email to unlock.
▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2 · The live one
A borrowed guitar and a Vegas reunion
A long Paris version, a busker's borrowed guitar in Manchester, and a 2024 Vegas show with producer Trevor Horn on bass.
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Paris, 2004: On July 6, Seal played L'Olympia. The whole show came out in 2005 as Live in Paris, his first live album, on CD and DVD. The live "Kiss from a Rose" runs 5:09, about a minute and a half longer than the radio edit. Nobody in Paris complained. The French invented taking your time.
Manchester, 2016: On July 1, in Piccadilly Gardens, Seal borrowed a street performer named Poppy's guitar and played "Kiss from a Rose" for a crowd that formed on the spot. Then he invited her to open his concert that night, reportedly for more than 2,000 people. Most of us, handed a busker's guitar, would play the first four notes of "Smoke on the Water" and give it back.
Late night, 2023: In January he sang it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! while announcing a 30th-anniversary tour of his first two albums. Thirty years. If that number hurts, the pain is yours to keep.
Las Vegas, 2024: At the Venetian Theatre, Trevor Horn, the producer who made Seal play the song he'd been hiding, played bass as music director. The show was filmed for Purpose: Celebrating 30 Years of the Classic Albums Seal I and Seal II. Producer on bass, singer up front, cassette in the corner nowhere to be seen. Full circle.
TRACK 3 · Cover watch
A rooftop, a lime and a choir of seals
Few dare cover a waltz built on stacked Seals. Those who did: a freezing rooftop, actual "singing" seals, and Seal himself, as a seal.
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Not many people try to cover a waltz stacked with layer after layer of Seals. The ones who did went in three very different directions:
- 2013 · Allen Stone. An acoustic folk version, played on a rooftop on a cold night for the Recording Academy's ReImagined series. Just a guy, a guitar and a wind chill. Brave.
- 2020 · Real Big Boys. Comedy writers John Haskell and Dan Opsal made a video of actual seals "singing" Seal's song. At the time, Seal hadn't commented. Seal has still not explained "the grey," so the seals are on equal footing.
- 2025 · Seal, "Kiss from a Lime." The man covered himself, as a seal, for Mountain Dew. When the internet's seal joke is too good, you might as well cash the check yourself.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which "Kiss from a Rose" wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're judging you.
TRACK 4 · Where are they now
Where Seal is now
A deluxe Seal II with an alternate take, a 2026 concert film and an anniversary tour. Still no new studio album announced.
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The vault: On June 14, 2024, Rhino released a 30th-anniversary deluxe edition of Seal II with 10 previously unreleased recordings, including a "Kiss From A Rose - Alternate Version," plus a Dolby Atmos mix. So the song you thought you knew has an alternate take. Your 1995 car stereo was not ready for Atmos.
The film: On February 13, 2026, the Vegas show came out as Purpose, directed by Keirda Bahruth, on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and digital, with interviews with Seal and Trevor Horn.
The road: In July 2026 he played four open-air shows in Germany, in Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Winterbach, under the "Celebrating 30+ years of the classic albums I & II" banner. A review of the Cologne show says the set was almost all songs from those two albums. No deep cuts from the new stuff, because there is no new stuff: no new studio album has been officially announced as of October 2026. More dates in Europe and South America are booked for later this year, including São Paulo on November 28.
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