End of the World (track)

"End of the World" is a musical composition by Yoko Shimomura that appears in Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
"End of the World" primarily serves as the field theme for End of the World, but also appears in cutscenes.

Cutscenes

 * End of the World: "End of the World," "Remains of The Worlds," "Is This My Island?," "A Meaningless Effort," "Return to Darkness"

Composition
"End of the World" is approximately three minutes and fourteen seconds long in both Kingdom Hearts and the HD remake of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. It has a time signature of 4/4 and a tempo of 78 beats per minute.

For instrumentation, each version uses the same instruments, though for games not in the HD remakes, some voices are covered through electronic means- such as synthesizer. In general, the instrumentation includes: strings, orchestral bells, piano, harp, and chorus.

There are several references to previous themes, primarily "Dive into the Heart -Destati-" and "Dearly Beloved". Ironically, both are themes heard at the beginning of the game whereas this is heard at the end of it. For the "Destati" theme, this is heard in the vocal part and violin. Both treble and bass clef voices repeat the word "Destati" alongside choir-ahhs as one would hear in the original "Destati" theme. For "Dearly Beloved," the rhythm is slightly different- now rhythmically faster and more choppy. The orchestral bell part occasionally interrupts with this motif. The piece has a very subjective tone. There is a haunting beauty to the piece, yet an overlapping sadness, knowing and seeing a world frozen in the middle of destruction due to the Heartless invasion. Overall, the piece has a desolate feeling to it.