Music of the Kingdom Hearts series
The Kingdom Hearts series features an extensive array of music, with over 600 unique music tracks, ten original soundtracks, numerous compilation and arrangement albums, and several live concert performances. The musical history of the Kingdom Hearts series contributes to the identity of the series as a whole.
Yoko Shimomura is the primary composer for the series, with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Takeharu Ishimoto joining for later entries. Utada Hikaru created the theme songs, while a number of other artists have made arrangements and orchestrations for the series.
Terminology
Certain types of music tracks in the Kingdom Hearts series are divided into categories. "Field themes" are played when exploring a specific world outside of battle. "Battle themes" are songs played during combat – "boss themes" are a special type of battle theme used in boss battles, while "world battle themes" are used for standard enemies in a given world. Together, field themes and and world battle themes comprise "world themes".
Some specific characters have their own music theme used outside of battle, called "character themes", which almost always use the name of the character as the title of the track. Special tracks played during scripted events, such as cutscenes or mandatory encounters, may be referred to as "event themes". Additionally, some songs may fall into multiple categories under different contexts, while others may not belong to any of these groups.
Composers
Yoko Shimomura
As the primary composer for the series, Yoko Shimomura has created tracks for a wide array of uses; as such, Yoko Shimomura's compositions with respect to the Kingdom Hearts series are defined in part by their diversity. While her pieces are often characterized by piano and violin, her works throughout the series have included everything from traditional and exotic instrumentation to electric guitar and chiptune foundations. Shimomura's pieces are frequently rearranged by other artists, and Shimomura herself often quotes and re-imagines her old works in new compositions. Many of her pieces have been orchestrated by Kaoru Wada, and Shimomura has also collaborated with Natsumi Kameoka and Sachiko Miyano to orchestrate her songs beginning with Kingdom Hearts III.
Takeharu Ishimoto
Takeharu Ishimoto has composed music for many areas of the Kingdom Hearts series, including world themes, boss themes, event themes, and more. His tracks are straightforward and structured, typically with clear and repeating melodies, and are designed to feel "cool".[1][2] Several of Ishimoto's Kingdom Hearts pieces have compositional similarities to pieces from Final Fantasy scores for which Ishimoto was the primary composer.[3] Unlike Shimomura's boss themes and event themes, Ishimoto's pieces are never arranged or orchestrated by another artist, with the only exceptions being Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII's "CRISIS CORE Theme" (arranged by Sekito as "A Date with Fate") and his tracks' inclusion in medleys; conversely, Ishimoto infrequently arranges pieces by other composers. Additionally, Ishimoto's tracks are more commonly altered between the in-game version and the official soundtrack release.
Tsuyoshi Sekito
Tsuyoshi Sekito most frequently composes music for mini-games, although he is also responsible for numerous boss themes and world themes. In addition to his original compositions, Sekito has created several new arrangements of Shimomura's pieces. His compositions are typically characterized by an energetic, fast-paced, and exciting mood with many moving pieces, conducive to both lighthearted and urgent scenarios.[4][5] While Sekito often assigns the melody of his pieces to a solo trumpet or a high woodwind doubled by glockenspiel, he is able to compose with instrumentation that can vary from from guitar to folk instruments to synthesized electronic sounds.
Original soundtracks
Kingdom Hearts
The soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts was composed entirely by Yoko Shimomura. Nearly 100 original tracks were made for the game.[6] The international release of Kingdom Hearts featured two additional tracks, and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix included a further two more. A small handful of tracks were arrangements of existing Disney, Final Fantasy, or classical pieces, but the majority of the soundtrack was wholly original. Hikaru Utada composed the theme song pair, "Simple and Clean" and "Hikari".
Shimomura composed the soundtrack with the idea of having short, contained musical phrases that would connect different pieces together.[7] Several tracks near the game's climax incorporated the melody of the title theme, "Dearly Beloved"; songs relating to the Gummi Ship all share a two-measure melody; numerous songs relating to darkness are connected by a three-note motif: shared phrases such as these tie the soundtrack together.
Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
The Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories score consists of nearly 50 compositions, all by Yoko Shimomura. The soundtrack was remade in higher quality for Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, which also introduced three additional tracks. Just over half of the soundtrack is new arrangements of pieces from Kingdom Hearts, while the rest are new compositions. The original Game Boy Advance versions of these tracks have never been released on an album, while a few of the remade pieces from Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories were re-balanced and given higher-quality samples for the album release.
Due to the limitations of the Game Boy Advance, sound compression was a more important issue than it was for the first game on the PlayStation 2; as such, returning world themes were given new simplified arrangements. Very few tracks other than world themes are carried over from Kingdom Hearts, allowing the game to form a distinct musical identity. While short themed phrases are still implemented in the game – for instance, tracks relating to Organization XIII share a similar descending chromatic pattern, and tracks relating to Ansem, Seeker of Darkness invoke multiple motifs from Kingdom Hearts – the soundtrack does not solely rely on common phrases for cohesion. Namely, similarities in instrumentation also give the Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories soundtrack structure. Many major pieces incorporate harp and organ, giving the setting of Castle Oblivion a grand, yet ominous feeling.
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories was not bound by the same hardware limitations as the original title, allowing the songs to be remade in far higher quality.[8] Even though world themes returning from Kingdom Hearts already had arrangements designed for the PlayStation 2, the remake had new revamped recordings made from the simplified arrangements from Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. The only new track that was not a world theme, "Lord of the Castle", continues the trend of using organ backing and prominent harp phrases, while also taking advantage of the new system to produce a longer and more intricate piece than was possible on the Game Boy Advance.
Kingdom Hearts II
Yoko Shimomura returned to compose the Kingdom Hearts II soundtrack, creating around 90 pieces, with an additional 8 being added in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. The soundtrack consists of primarily of original works, as well as several new arrangements of old tracks; the game also featured a limited number of tracks directly from the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack. Although still relatively few in number, a greater amount of pieces were given full orchestration, all orchestrated by Kaoru Wada. Hikaru Utada composed the theme song pair, "Sanctuary" and "Passion".
The music of Kingdom Hearts II expands on the connecting musical phrases introduced in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, linking sections of the soundtrack with the world and characters. The soundtrack is equally concerned with reinforcing existing motifs (for instance, numerous tracks build upon "Dearly Beloved", "Destati", and "Another Side", which have been established as important and recurring musical selections) and creating new connections (for instance, many tracks concerning Nobodies share an original echoed pattern, and several parts of "The 13th Struggle" are repurposed and expanded to create a new tree of connections). In addition, the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts II is shaped by its rearrangements of existing songs. Returning world themes are given new arrangements distinct from the Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories versions; while some of these changes are more subtle, others are made more obvious to reflect the changes in the worlds themselves.[9]
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
At the time of the game's release, the original soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was the shortest in the series, with 13 new compositions and arrangements by Yoko Shimomura. The game also included 25 returning tracks which had to be compressed to fit on the Nintendo DS; such hardware restrictions proved difficult and limiting for both adapting old pieces and creating new ones.[10] Indeed, when the 13 new tracks were given an album release, the album used higher quality samples than were available with the in-game music.
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Out of the 23 tracks included in the original Kingdom Hearts coded, only one of them is an entirely new composition, written by Yoko Shimomura. Every returning song is a compressed arrangement of the original piece, owing to the hardware limitations of the P-01A. Five additional tracks were added in Kingdom Hearts Re:coded – three new compositions by Yoko Shimomura, and two arrangements of Shimomura's works by synthesizer operator Hirosato Noda. Even though the Nintendo DS is vastly more capable than the P-01A, it was still a challenge to compress existing pieces to play in the game;[11] the versions from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days were used when possible, and additional returning tracks were similarly compressed to fit on the DS. As with Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, only the original tracks were released on the album, and the official soundtrack used higher quality samples than available in-game.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep introduced Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito as composers, although Yoko Shimomura was still responsible for the majority of the 53 songs in the original soundtrack. Of the 7 songs added in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, Shimomura created 6 of them, while the final song was a new arrangement of one of her songs by Keiji Kawamori. This was also the first game to use streamed audio, allowing for a far higher sound quality in the base game.[13] As such, tracks originating in prior games were given new arrangements that took advantage of the system's audio capabilities; however, these 14 updated tracks were excluded from the soundtrack.
In addition to three miscellaneous event and mini-game themes, Takeharu Ishomoto composed all of the songs related to Vanitas, creating a compositional through line that ties together the character and his themes. Meanwhile, Tsuyoshi Sekito worked primarily on mini-game themes and new arrangements of world themes. Instead of unifying his tracks with a separate musical identity, Sekito focused on creating arrangements and compositions that would mesh with the existing Kingdom Hearts soundscape.[15]
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
As with Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito joined Yoko Shimomura to create the Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance soundtrack. There are a total of 52 songs on the soundtrack, including four classical pieces arranged by Nobuko Toda and three new arrangements of The World Ends with You tracks. In addition, around 30 pieces from previous games make an appearance. The Nintendo 3DS allowed for even higher quality sound than previous handheld consoles;[16] therefore, unlike the other HD releases, the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD is unchanged from the original (with the exception of borrowing new arrangements of "A Very Small Wish" and "Monstrous Monstro" from Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX).[13]
Takeharu Ishimoto's contributions to the score consist of his new The World Ends with You arrangements, the world themes of The Grid, and Flick Rush duel themes. Because his compositions only extend to self-contained worlds and mini-games, they do not follow the same compositional style as the rest of the game; indeed, Ishimoto purposely avoided using orchestral instruments to differentiate his tracks from Shimomura's and Sekito's.[20] Conversely, while Tsuyoshi Sekito also composed themes for Flick Rush as well as Dive Mode, his musical footprint further extends to numerous boss themes, including the final story battle. Most of Sekito's pieces are fast-paced and serve to drive the player forward; even his more subdued or ominous tracks have a certain energy to them.[21]
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX
The music of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX is a selection of fully re-orchestrated songs from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. The soundtrack is around 100 songs long. While every song from Kingdom hearts that did not originally have live orchestration was remade for the collection, only one song from Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded and five songs from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days received updated recordings. In addition, the Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance arrangement of "A Night on the Bare Mountain" was used in place of a re-orchestration of "A Night on Bald Mountain".
Like is predecessor, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX does not introduce any new tracks. Every song from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix that did not already have live orchestration was given a new fully re-orchestrated recording, making a total score of just over 100 tracks when combined with two selected tracks from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix. Rather than using a track from the remade soundtrack, the menu of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX uses an arrangement from Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts Union χ
The initial release of Kingdom Hearts χ was accompanied by 3 new music tracks. The remake Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ added an additional 2 tracks, while the subsequent Kingdom Hearts Union χ rebranding added a further 14. Yoko Shimomura and Tsuyoshi Sekito composed the soundtrack in nearly equal shares. With the exception of 2 new arrangements, the score of these games was released alongside the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts III. 2 new songs are lifted directly from the Final Fantasy series, and the game introduced a single new arrangement of a The World Ends With You track. The game pulls heavily from existing compositions, with around 100 songs being adapted from nearly every previous title. Since the unique release structure of Kingdom Hearts Union χ allowed more music to be added as the story progressed, the game also includes songs from Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover and Kingdom Hearts III, both of which released after the launch of the mobile service. Finally, the soundtrack also incorporated a few orchestral and piano renditions of songs from arrangement albums, although only in menus. Existing music implementation was kept largely the same with each new version of the game, only adjusting UI elements and certain non-critical encounters.
Every original composition is either a world theme or menu theme, and these tracks are outnumbered by returning tracks 5:1. As such, the soundscape of Kingdom Hearts Union χ is largely defined by its reuse of existing music. Many of the returning tracks are used in identical contexts to their original appearances (returning world themes are used in their respective worlds, returning bosses are accompanied by returning boss themes, scenes also depicted in prior games reuse the same battle and event themes); for others, their meaning is reinforced through similar implementation (tragic, tranquil, or mysterious event themes are played in matching contexts, and boss themes associated with Heartless, Disney, or Nightmare bosses are appropriately chosen for each encounter); others still are redefined and given new connotations (for instance, "Scent of Silence" was originally an infrequently-used mysterious and remorseful event theme, but was transformed into a principal theme of the Union leaders). In this manner, Kingdom Hearts Union χ is a celebration and culmination of the series's music up until this point.
Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover
Only 4 new tracks and 2 new arrangements were created for Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, all by Yoko Shimomura, with Sachiko Miyano orchestrating several of the pieces. 5 of the tracks were included with the album release of the Kingdom Hearts III soundtrack. In addition, 9 songs were lifted directly from existing soundtracks.
The music original to Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover is not connected instrumentally or motivically, as is the case with many prior entries. Although many share a degree of unique compositional experimentation – be it with modality, archaic instrumentation, or non-melodic improvisation – and several tracks share a two-part structure, there is no single concrete unifier. The borrowed music tracks are used in line with their existing connotations and are largely consistent across scenes shared between the cinematic and the original Kingdom Hearts χ. There is great variety in these pieces' origins: some are series mainstays, such as "Night of Fate" and "Dive into the Heart -Destati-"; some are more modern compositions, such as "Link to All" and "Shaded Truths"; and one track, "Scent of Silence", had gone unused since its original appearance in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories 13 years prior.
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- only introduced 6 new music tracks, mirroring the diminutive size of the game itself. Yoko Shimomura returned to compose a single piece, Yuko Komiyama created three arrangements of Shimomura's works, and Sebastian Schwartz contributed a one similar arrangement. Sachiko Miyano and Tomomichi Takeoka orchestrated Shimomura's and Komiyama's arrangements, respectively, while PUNPEE remixed Hikaru Utada's music to create the game's theme song pair, "Simple and Clean -Ray Of Hope MIX-" and "Hikari -Ray Of Hope MIX-". Nearly 30 tracks from previous games are also included in Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Seep -A fragmentary passage-. The original songs were released alongside the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts III.
With four out of the five original in-game tracks being arrangements of other pieces, the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- concerned itself more with adapting and reusing old themes than creating new ones, a trend which would continue into Kingdom Hearts III and Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory. Komiyama's arrangements transform Shimomura's originals into dark, unsettling, moody pieces through frequent use of dissonance. The corruption of these peaceful, energetic, or emotional pieces complements the similar decay of the worlds and characters. In addition, the returning tracks in Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- are placed deliberately; tracks such as "Destiny's Union", "Hunter of the Dark", and "Always on My Mind" are deployed in similar contexts as in prior games, further establishing a musical through line that binds the world and characters of the series to this most recent entry.
Kingdom Hearts III
The scope of the Kingdom Hearts III soundtrack is unparalleled, introducing 200 new music tracks and pulling dozens of songs from nearly every game before it.[22] To handle such a large amount of music, Yoko Shimomura, Tsuyoshi Sekito, and Takeharu Ishimoto all returned as composers, joined by a dozen new and returning orchestrators, arrangers, and guest composers.[23] Around a third of all songs were recorded with a live orchestra, a massive leap from previous entries.[24] However, because the enormous scale of the soundtrack, just over half of the songs were able to be included in the soundtrack release, leaving nearly 100 unnamed tracks without any official release, most of them being single-use cutscene tracks. The soundtrack also added unique endings to several themes that ordinarily loop during the game. Utada Hikaru composed the ending theme song pair, "Don't Think Twice" and "Chikai", and collaborated with Skrillex and Poo Bear to create the opening theme, "Face My Fears".
The music of Kingdom Hearts III is a celebration of the musical history of the entire series. Around two-thirds of the music created for the game is comprised of new arrangements of existing melodies, with even more tracks being directly pulled from old soundtracks. Rather than establish a new and unique musical identity, Kingdom Hearts III adapts and re-imagines the music of the entire Dark Seeker Saga, bringing the arc to a grand musical finale.
Although Yoko Shimomura only arranged around 25 new tracks for Kingdom Hearts III, her arrangements form the basis of nearly two thirds of the soundtrack. Her contributions consist primarily of new world themes and boss themes, along with a few other compositions for important menus and pivotal cutscenes. The majority of Yoko Shimomura's compositions were orchestrated by Natsumi Kameoka and Sachiko Myano. In fact, Shimomura only composed a single track without a co-composer, co-arranger, or orchestrator, being "Little Lovely Moments". Because Shimomura was in control of a lesser portion of the soundscape, and because the music of Kingdom Hearts III is largely concerned with revisiting the wide musical history of the series, her songs do not have a strict structural, instrumental, or motivic unifier as with many previous entries. Regardless, Shimomura still introduces several new motifs and musical ideas in her original compositions.
Tsuyoshi Sekito composed 15 original songs, being responsible for the majority of Gummi Ship and mini-game themes. As with his previous works, his compositions are lively and energetic, with the goal of being "thrilling, exciting, bright, and fun."[25] Some of Sekito's tracks were adapted from scrapped arrangements intended for Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and others are adapted from the score of Imaginary Range.[26]
Takeharu Ishimoto created exactly 21 tracks for Kingdom Hearts III.[27] Ishimoto personally arranged all new versions of his tracks from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, including three unnamed and unreleased versions of "Shaded Truths". His original compositions include the world themes of The Caribbean and San Fransokyo and three non-specific boss themes, and he arranged the trio of final boss themes using some of Shimomura's melodies as a base. Many of his pieces have a lot of similarities to his compositions from other titles, namely Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.[3] Ishomoto makes frequent use of low brass hits and choir shouts, giving his battle and boss themes a grand and aggressive feel. The in-game versions of his pieces frequently do not loop correctly; in the soundtrack release, the loop points were changed or smoothed over, and other changes were made, including re-balancing parts and even swapping out instruments.
In addition to orchestrating many of Shimomura's compositions, Natsumi Kameoka made a large musical footprint as an arranger. She created new arrangements of nine world themes, and co-arranged "Guardians of Light" with Shimomura. Sachiko Miyano also arranged a pair of world themes.
Certain composers were assigned to specific worlds. Yoshitaka Suzuki composed music for Olympus and The Caribbean, assisted by Sawaka Kanai. In Olympus, he composed a pair of world themes orchestrated by Natsumi Kameoka, as well as event and boss themes which are arrangements of Shimomura's pieces. In The Caribbean, Suzuki composed original cutscene tracks, many of which needed to score lengthy cutscenes. Unable to simply rely on the soundtrack of the films, Suzuki created an original set of motifs for the world, such as a repeating six-note phrase that represents Davy Jones.[28] Shotaro Shima's compositions were likewise concentrated in two areas, in addition to a few miscellaneous arrangements of Shimomura's pieces. He created the cutscene music of Kingdom of Corona and Arendelle, both composing new songs and arranging Shimomura's tracks. Shima also created a large number of themes for the final confrontation in the Keyblade Graveyard, focusing on those concerning Roxas, Axel, and Xion.
Similarly, Yuko Komiyama created most of the new arrangements in Toy Box, as well as themes for Attractions, Link Summons, and a few additional arrangements of Shimomura tracks. Yoshiki Nakamura was responsible for the new arrangements in San Fransokyo and a variety of other arranegements of Shimomura's pieces throughout the game. Hiroki Hirose arranged three Gummi Ship themes and arranged one of Shimomura's field themes as a mini-game theme. As with previous games, Kaoru Wada arranged the orchestral versions of Utada's theme songs and orchestrated Yoko Shimomura's "Dearly Beloved" arrangements and the ending medley.
The remaining musicians were brought on for just a few tracks. Yasunori Nishiki arranged a single track, "Forza Finale", and orchestrated Shimomura's two epilogue themes. Yui Morishita worked on a single piece, collaborating with Yoko Shimomura to create "Dearly Beloved -KINGDOM HEARTS III Version-". Finally, Kenichiro Fukui, the composer of Einhänder, joined to make a new arrangement of "Thermosphere", and his original versions of "Thermosphere" and "Afterimage" were also put into the game.
Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind introduced another 15 arrangements on the soundtrack and about 15 new unreleased unnamed arrangements. 11 of the tracks are new arrangements of Shimomura's boss themes for the Real Organization XIII's Recreated Data; Sachiko Miyano, Natsumi Kameoka, and newcomer Yuki Kishida arranged and orchestrated several of these themes, and Yuko Komiyama arranged several that were orchestrated by Tomomichi Takeoka. Additional field and event themes were arranged by Tsuyoshi Sekito and Yuko Komiyama, with the only completely original composition "Nachtflügel" being a collaboration between Yoko Shimomura and Sachiko Miyano. As for the unnamed arrangements, the majority of them are single-use cutscene tracks, as with the base game.
Kingdom Hearts Dark Road
The music of Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is unique in that it is the only installment to introduce zero new tracks. Almost the entire soundtrack draws from the Kingdom Hearts Union χ soundtrack – which in turn is primarily taken from other entries in the series – while a handful of additional tracks are pulled from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and Kingdom Hearts III.
Much like in Kingdom Hearts Union χ, returning worlds and bosses use the same world and boss themes as their prior appearances. The greatest musical impact of Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is how it strengthens the meaning of event themes; several newer pieces, most notably "True Darkness" and "Distant from You...", are implemented in a manner that clarifies and expands their thematic purpose.
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory
The Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory soundtrack only contains two songs, but an additional twelve unnamed arrangements from the original cutscenes were excluded from the album. The title theme was arranged by Yoko Shimomura and orchestrated by Kaoru Wada, and the ending theme was co-arranged by Yoko Shimomura and Natsumi Kameoka and orchestrated by Kameoka. For the unreleased cutscene tracks, Shotaro Shima and Yoshinori Nakamura are credited as additional composers, while Yuko Komiyama and Yoshitaka Suzuki are credited as arrangers. In addition to the numerous songs from previous games, Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory also includes three songs from Disney films that had yet to make an appearance in the series, as well as five arrangements from piano and orchestra albums.
Although the original tracks are few in number, Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory uses its new music to experiment with and expand upon motifs new and old. The unnamed cutscene arrangements continue to explore melodies from early games in the series, such as "Merlin's Magical House" and "Night of Fate", in addition to better defining newer motifs, such as those from "Stranded Beyond" and "Nachtflügel".
Kingdom Hearts V CAST
Because Kingdom Hearts V CAST was produced independently of Square Enix's development process, Yoko Shimomura did not return to compose the score. Instead, the soundtrack was created by Ian Livingstone, his only contribution to the Kingdom Hearts series. The soundtrack is only ten songs long, with four of those being five-second jingles. According to Livingstone, the entire score was likely created in the span of one month.[29] None of the tracks have ever been released on an official album.
The hardware limitations of Verizon phones severely restricted the scope of the soundtrack.[30] Each world has only a single theme, and each theme loops in under 30 seconds – the Wonderland theme, for instance, is only 14 measures long. Although the soundtrack is devoid of any explicit motivic material from Kingdom Hearts, Livingstone took style and instrumentation cues from that game's soundtrack: the use of a descending piano pattern in several tracks was inspired by "Dearly Beloved", and Livingstone made stylistic decisions in the themes of returning worlds Wonderland and Agrabah that evoke similar tones to Shimomura's existing field themes.[31]
Other games
The spin-offs Kingdom Hearts Mobile, Kingdom Hearts Magical Puzzle Clash, Kingdom Hearts Digital Painter, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Gummiship Studio, Kingdom Hearts Collaboration: Gummi Ship Campaign, and Kingdom Hearts VR Experience do not feature any original music. These promotional and companion releases may borrow tracks from full Kingdom Hearts titles – for instance, Kingdom Hearts Mobile offered ringtones from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, while Kingdom Hearts Magical Puzzle Clash used two songs from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – but they do not contribute to the discography of the Kingdom Hearts series.
Notes and references
- ^ Dengeki Online (2020-11-18), Tetsuya Nomura: "Ishimoto is involved with the Dissidia series, as well as The World Ends with You. He's great in creating cool-looking songs." (Translation by Ryuji)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World of Tres- Premiere Interview, Yoko Shimomura: "Mr. Ishimoto's are straightforward and rocky. Those songs are snappy." (Translation by Mio-chan and Katie Armstrong)
- ^ a b Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World of Tres- Brochure, Tetsuya Nomura: "Of late, I had mostly been asking him to take care of Final Fantasy-related titles and I felt a lot of his composers[sic] were leaning too much in that direction. It's perfectly understandable, but still, I remember requesting multiple retakes for the Carribean."
- ^ Dengeki Online (2020-11-18), Tetsuya Nomura: "As for Sekito... his forte is creating bright and cheerful songs." (Translation by Ryuji)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World of Tres- Premiere Interview, Yoko Shimomura: "Mr. Sekito's songs contain many elements. It feels like there is a lot of stuff moving in and out. It leaves an impression of something that is very elaborate. Many of the songs he's in charge of are exciting, even battle themes are bright and cheer me up." (Translation by Mio-chan and Katie Armstrong)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Ultimania, Yoko Shimomura: "Also, the number of songs on the CD soundtrack was 76, but the game’s data actually has 99 songs. I said, "I don't want to have any more than 100!" and I stopped at 99." (Translation by KH Ultimania)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Ultimania, Yoko Shimomura: "I used small themed musical phrases for this game. For example, the main song is a phrase that expresses 'precious memories', and that phrase was used in some other songs. Scattered fragments of that phrase was used in the End of the World's song, but were you able to catch that?" (Translation by KH Ultimania)
- ^ KINGDOM HEARTS: Memories of Dearly Beloved with Yoko Shimomura, Yoko Shimomura: "The GBA had so little memory, I think the sound quality is massively improved compared to the first version."
- ^ Symphonic Fantasies Interview, Yoko Shimomura: "In this case, the reuse of the music was mainly to establish connections between the games — such as between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II — particularly in the common worlds. Although the initial compositions were popular, I also try to make sure there are some differences to reflect differences between the worlds, for example "Hollow Bastion" in Kingdom Hearts II"
- ^ Symphonic Fantasies Interview, Yoko Shimomura: "However, the DS device is still a big challenge that I worked hard to overcome on the Mario & Luigi RPGs and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days."
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Ultimania, Hirosato Noda: "There are of course huge differences between the PS2 and DS hardware, so it was necessary for trial and error, and to do things such as the equivalent of culling inconspicuous parts of data, not simply port the things that were made for the PS2. In particular, the track in which the chorus comes in gave me such a hard time, memory capacity-wise." (Translation by goldpanner)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Ultimania, Yoko Shimomura: "In order to bring out the old Nintendo-like nuance in the music added to Re:Coded, the bass has basically no release time (the time for which the finished sound lingers before it fades away)." (Translation by goldpanner)
- ^ a b Dengeki PlayStation Interview, Yoko Shimomura: "Birth by Sleep onward uses streaming, where the recorded source audio is inserted, so the HD versions don't need anything in particular to be processed." (Translation by goldpanner)
- ^ Famitsu Interview (2011-02-16), Yoko Shimomura: "It's the oldest story in the series, and the main character wasn't Sora, so we were talking about adding a lot of new songs. The music is... generally dark." (Translated)
- ^ Famitsu Interview (2011-02-16), Tsuyoshi Sekito: "Rather than trying to bring out my individuality more strongly, I tried to keep the balance with the existing songs while keeping the production points firmly in mind." (Translated)
- ^ Nintendo Enthusiast Feature, Yoko Shimomura: "The 3DS hardware is truly brilliant... This time, I was able to use a streaming source which enabled me to compose music in a higher quality, which I am very happy about."
- ^ 1UP.com Interivew, Yoko Shimomura: "I kept in mind the concepts of 'dream' and 'night.' Many times, I came up with musical phrases that were sort of fun, out of the ordinary, and fluffy."
- ^ Famitsu Weekly (2012-04-26), Yoko Shimomura: "For this title, it was 'dreams' and 'night'. Working with an image of a glittering night time theme park in my mind, I wanted to create tracks that were adorable and yet seeming to hold secrets... [Tetsuya Nomura] also told me he wanted me to make the music generally up-tempo, with a busy feel." (Translation by goldpanner)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance Ultimania, Interviewer: "Please tell us about the concept for the music of this title." / Yoko Shimomura: "Dreams!!! And then, because of '3D' I consciously used a little triple metre." (Translation by goldpanner)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance Ultimania, Takeharu Ishimoto: "The scenes I was in charge of needed individuality, so they naturally are different. I personally didn't use any orchestral instruments, so I think you can feel the difference between the works by the other two." (Translation by goldpanner)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance Ultimania, Tsuyoshi Sekito: "I was aiming for fantastic, grand-scale musical pieces, and musical pieces that, during even battles that seemed lost, would spur you on with a 'why you little!'" (Translation by goldpanner)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts III Ultimania, Keiji Kawamori: "This time around, including cutscenes and smaller tracks, 200 tracks were implemented into the game..." (Translation by lunesacree)
- ^ Dissidia FF NT Soundtrack Release Commemorative Interview, Tetsuya Nomura: "You [Takeharu Ishimoto] have been working on some music and various soundtracks for the Kingdom Hearts series, but now you've decided to work together with Mr. Sekito (Tsuyoshi) on Kingdom Hearts III music. Up until now the number of songs have been increasing, and because we need songs that form and go along with important battles, I hope you keep continuing with us." (Translation by NihonScribe)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World of Tres- Brochure, Yoko Shimomoura: "Up until KHII, we were using internal sound sources. We started using streaming technology from BBS, and this time around, the big difference was that we used many songs performed by a live orchestra. Up until now, only several of the instruments in a piece were recorded with live sound, or just the song Dearly Beloved, or just the ending. This time, even the field music was performed by a live orchestra."
- ^ Kingdom Hearts III Ultimania, Interviewer: "Please tell us the concept for the tracks in this game." / Tsuyoshi Sekito: "Nomura told me 'fun!', so the concept was 'thrilling, exciting, bright and fun!!'" (Translation by lunesacree)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts III Ultimania, Tsuyoshi Sekito: "Some songs used generally in various areas are unused tracks from KH3D that were greatly fixed up and polished. The reason the atmosphere of the intro sounds similar to a certain composition from KH3D is because, since things ended up this way, it can be said they exist as brothers and sisters to each other." (Translation by lunesacree)
- ^ Kingdom Hearts III Ultimania, Interviewer: "Which scenes' tracks were you responsible for?" / Takeharu Ishimoto: "The Caribbean, Big Hero 6's scenes in San Fransokyo, as well as a lot of tracks for cutscenes and boss fights. In total, there were 21 tracks." (Translation by lunesacree)
- ^ Twitter (@yos_compose), Yoshitaka Suzuki: "I couldn't use the original song in Kingdom Hearts, so I composed the Pirates of the Caribbean cutscene. And I made the motif of Davy Jones with my sensibility."
- ^ Q&A with The 13th Vessel, Ian Livingstone: "The developer Superscape had some deal with Verizon and were doing lots of fast turnaround titles at the time – think I did roughly one a month."
- ^ Q&A with The 13th Vessel, Ian Livingstone: "We had such a tiny amount of memory available for the mobile midifiles the pieces had to be very short."
- ^ Q&A with The 13th Vessel, Ian Livingstone: "I did listen to Shimomura's excellent soundtrack for style and orchestration, the descending high piano motif that appears in a few of my cues was definitely a nod to her main theme, but I was also conscious to write an original score which is what was needed."
