The music of the video game series Kingdom Hearts was composed by Yoko Shimomura with orchestral music arranged by Kaoru Wada.[1][2] The original soundtracks of the games have been released on three albums and a forth compilation album. The soundtracks to the Kingdom Hearts games feature several musical pieces from both Disney films and Final Fantasy, including such songs as "Mickey Mouse Club March" by Jimmie Dodd, "This is Halloween" by Danny Elfman, and "One-Winged Angel" by Nobuo Uematsu. They also features several vocal songs, the most notable being the two main theme songs, Hikari and Passion. The two themes were written and performed by Japanese pop star Utada Hikaru. Hikari and Passion were originally in Japanese, but English versions were also produced. Though the majority of the music has been released only in Japan, the first soundtrack was released world wide and tracks from Kingdom Hearts series have been played by Play! A Video Game Symphony at multiple venues.[3] The music has been overall well received and several tracks have received praise and their own positive receptions. The two main themes were well received by both video game and music critics, and did well on Japan's Oricon Weekly Singles chart.[4][5][6]
Yoko Shimomura composed the music for the three main Kingdom Hearts games, and their remakes. Shimomura began composing video game music in 1988. She joined Square in 1993, but left in 2002 to work freelance. Some of the music that Shimomura respects are orchestral pieces such as Piano Sonata No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ballade No. 1 by Frédéric Chopin, and La Valse by Maurice Ravel.[7] At the North American commemoration party for Kingdom Hearts II, she stated that the Kingdom Hearts series combined the scenes and music well. Shimomura also stated she felt very honored that her music has entered into people's hearts.[8] For Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, the tracks were reworked by Shimomura. She and her team spent much of their time working on the fight music. Shimomura wanted the different fight music to reflect different emotions such as happiness and sadness.[9] The two main theme songs were written and performed by Japanese-American artist Utada Hikaru. She wrote two versions for each, one in Japanese and one in English; the latter is used for international releases of the games. "Simple And Clean" and "Sanctuary" are the English version theme songs for Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, respectively, while their Japanese counterparts are called "Hikari" and "Passion". Utada was the only singer director Tetsuya Nomura had in mind for the first Kingdom Hearts theme song. This marked the first time Utada had produced a song for a video game.[10] Utada's involvement, along with the Japanese song title, was announced in January 2002.[11] Her involvement for the sequel was announced in July 2005.[12] According to Kingdom Hearts Nomura, because fans have associated Utada with Kingdom Hearts, he did not want to have a different singer perform the second theme song.[13] Utada derived her inspiration from the worlds and characters in Kingdom Hearts.[10] She also received written explanations of the stories from Nomura.[13] Nomura has stated that the vocals of the second theme tie in more closely with the game's story than "Hikari"/"Simple And Clean" did with Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories,[14] possibly because he gave Utada a longer explanation for Kingdom Hearts II.[13] Nomura has also stated that there were a lot of factors in creating the games that were influenced by Utada's theme songs.[13][15]
The soundtracks to the Kingdom Hearts games feature several musical pieces that have either met with a positive reception or were already well-known. Many were theme songs from Disney films. Such songs included "Mickey Mouse Club March" by Jimmie Dodd, "Winnie The Pooh" by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, "This is Halloween" by Danny Elfman, "He's a Pirate" by Geoff Zanelli, Klaus Badelt & Hans Zimmer, and "Beauty and the Beast" by Alan Menken. Other well-known tracks included are "Night on Bald Mountain" by Modest Mussorgsky, and a remixed version of the popular "One-Winged Angel" by Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu. Each Disney world in Kingdom Hearts featured corresponding music from their related Disney film.[16]Kingdom Hearts also features several vocal songs. The most notable are the two theme songs, "Simple And Clean" and "Sanctuary". In Kingdom Hearts II, more vocal songs were included specifically in the Atlantica world, which featured rhythm based minigames set in the world of The Little Mermaid.[17] Such vocal songs included "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea".
"Simple And Clean" is the theme song to the English release of Kingdom Hearts, the first game in the series. In addition, it is featured in the Japanese re-release, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, as well as the Game Boy Advance sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. "Simple And Clean" is the English counterpart to the Japanese theme song, "Hikari" (光,"Hikari"? lit. "light"). Both songs were written and performed by Utada Hikaru.[1] Although the two songs share a similar melody and background music, the meaning of the lyrics are different since "Simple And Clean" is not a literal translation of "Hikari". The single, "Hikari", was released in Japan on March 20, 2002[18] and proved to be very popular; by August 2002, it had sold over 860,000 copies in Japan.[10] In addition to the first Kingdom Hearts soundtrack, "Simple And Clean" is included on Utada's single release of Colors,[19] which debuted on Japan's Oricon charts at number 1 and stayed on the charts for 19 weeks.[20] There are also remixes of both the English and Japanese versions. Both songs have a "PLANITb remix" and Hikari has a "Godson Mix".[1][21] Different versions of the songs are used at various points in the game; the PLANITb remix is used for the opening sequence and the full version is used for the ending sequence.
"Sanctuary" is the theme song for the English release of Kingdom Hearts II as well as the Final Mix version; it is the English counterpart to the Japanese theme song, "Passion". Like the first theme, Utada Hikaru wrote and performed both the English and Japanese versions. The "~opening version~" of the song is played during the opening movie; the "~after the battle~" version is played after defeating the final boss of the game, much like the theme song of the first game. As of June 2007, "Sanctuary" has not received any sort of official release on CD, though "Passion" was included in the Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack. The CD single for "Passion" was released on December 14, 2005[22] and "Sanctuary" was first previewed on MTV.com early in 2006.[23]
Release
Aside from being featured in the Kingdom Hearts video games, the music has been released via a variety of methods. Soundtracks for the first and third game were released shortly after the games' release. These were followed by a compilation set which featured unreleased tracks from the series, as well as new or rearranged versions of tracks from the re-released versions of the games. The first soundtrack was released in Japan, United States and Europe. All other albums were released only in Japan. Though the two main themes were released as part of the game soundtracks, they were officially released as singles a week prior to the games. Tracks from Kingdom Hearts series have also been played by Play! A Video Game Symphony at various venues in the United States[3][24] and around the world.[25]
Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack is the official soundtrack for the video game Kingdom Hearts. It was released in Japan on March 27, 2002 by Toshiba-EMI.[26] It has also been officially released in Europe on November 25, 2002 and the United States on March 23, 2003 by Virgin Records.[27][28] This 2-CD set contains nearly every piece of music that was in the original version of the game along with two bonus tracks. The music was composed by Yoko Shimomura, with vocals done by Utada Hikaru for "Simple And Clean" and "Hikari". The orchestral music was arranged by Kaoru Wada and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.[1] Because Kingdom Hearts Final Mix was released after the soundtrack, additional tracks from it were not included. The soundtrack has met with an overall positive reception. IGN listed the opening track for Kingdom Hearts, "Dearly Beloved", as number four on their top ten list of "RPG Title Tracks".[29] In their "Best of 2002", Kingdom Hearts was nominated for the "Best Sound in a PlayStation 2 Game Editor's Choice Award" and was a runner up for "Best Sound in Game 2002 Reader's Choice Award".[30]All Music Guide rated the first soundtrack a 3 out of 5.[31]GameSpy described the soundtrack as "pleasant, melodious, and most of all fitting for the various situations in which it plays" and complimented the English translation of "Simple And Clean".[32]Track listing
Kingdom Hearts -Final Mix- Additional Tracks is a separate CD that features new tracks that were in the re-released video game Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, but not included in the previous album. It was released in Japan on 2002-12-26 by Walt Disney Records. The new tracks do not included any newly composed music, but are arrangements by Yoko Shimomura.[33][34]Track listing
Disc one (0:14:34)
"One Winged Angel" (from Final Fantasy VII) - 3:52
Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack is the official soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts II. The album contains musical tracks from the game, composed and produced by Yoko Shimomura, with the main orchestral tracks arranged by Kaoru Wada and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.[2] Vocals were performed by Utada Hikaru for the theme song, Passion. The soundtrack was released in Japan on the January 25, 2006.[35] The soundtrack received positive remarks from critics. G4TV awarded Kingdom Hearts II "Best Soundtrack" at their 2006 G-Phoria awards show.[36] GameSpy complemented the soundtrack but stated that it was not as good as the first game's soundtrack.[37]GameInformer called the musical score "unforgettable".[38]GameSpot stated the "superb soundtrack" further enhanced the gaming experience and rated the sound a 9 out of 10.[17]Track listing
Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete is a compilation album of the video game music from all three games in the series, Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II. The boxset contains music composed and produced by Yoko Shimomura, with the main orchestral tracks arranged by Kaoru Wada. The album features various unreleased tracks from the series, as well as new or rearranged versions of tracks from Final Mix and Re:Chain of Memories. The theme songs, "Hikari" and "Passion", were composed and sung by J-pop artist, Utada Hikaru. The compilation boxset was released in Japan on March 28, 2007.[39] The collection has printed images on each disc and includes a deluxe booklet containing new illustrations designed by Tetsuya Nomura and comments from Yoko Shimomura.[40] A special CD carrying case featuring artwork of Sora and Roxas was also released as a bonus.[41] The soundtrack comprises nine discs with 229 tracks in total.[39] Discs one and two contain unaltered tracks from the Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack while discs three to six contain lengthier and looped tracks from the Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack.[40] Discs seven and eight contain tracks from Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories while disc nine contains bonus tracks from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. Track listing
The music of Kingdom Hearts was overall well received. GameSpot felt that the background music was appropriate for each setting. However, they complained that the music loops were too short and repetitive, giving the audio an overall 8 out of 10.[42]IGN was impressed by the production values that went into the music of Kingdom Hearts, namely the use of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and excellent rearrangements of pieces such as "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Under the Sea". They also praised composer Yoko Shimomura's ability to maintain the atmosphere while keeping a "common thread of character running through the soundtrack".[43] SoundtrackCentral.com called Shimomura's orchestral composition sophisticated and stated that the score possesses unique qualities. They also stated that though the album is excellent, they "still feel that this is one of Shimomura's weaker albums overall".[44] Gaming Age stated that the music was one of the best aspects of the first game and that the orchestrated soundtrack is better quality than the "midi-sounding" tunes of previous Final Fantasy games.[45]GameSpy had positive comments about the main theme, but found some worlds' background music weak.[4] They complemented both PS2 game soundtracks but stated that Kingdom Hearts II's soundtrack was not as good as the first game's.[37] Several tracks garnered extra attention and their own positive reception. G4TV was particularly pleased by "Dearly Beloved", the track that plays during the title screen,[46] as was IGN, who listed it as 4th best title screen track in their top ten list of "RPG Title Tracks".[29] SoundtrackCentral.com referred to it as "kind of slow" and "simple", but stated that it had an "unmistakably 'magical' quality to it" and was "not short on emotion".[44] "Hikari" debuted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart in Japan. It stayed at number one for three weeks and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks.[5] SoundtrackCentral.com complimented Utada's singing and the instrumentation of "Hikari".[44] GameSpy was impressed by the translation of "Hikari" into English.[4] "Passion" debuted at number four on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart in Japan where it stayed on the chart for nine weeks.[6]
References
^ abcd Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack CD insert. Toshiba-Emi Limited. 2002.
^ ab Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack CD insert. Toshiba-EMI Limited. 2006.
