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.

Original soundtracks

Kingdom Hearts

The soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts was composed entirely by Yoko Shimomura. Nearly 100 original tracks were made for the game.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.

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.^[3] Even though world themes returning from Kingdom Hearts already had arrangements designed for the PlayStation 2, the remake used updated recordings of 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.^[4]

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

^[5]

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

GAME TITLE

First paragraph: Information

Main composers, arrangers, orchestrators
Development notes (e.g. differing releases)
Theme song (where applicable)
Released in an album?

Second paragraph: The music itself

Musical analysis (where applicable)
Hardware limitations?
Common instruments/techniques?
Reusing tracks, or original arrangements?

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.^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[18]

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.

Arrangements and orchestrations

Short blurb about piano collections, orchestral concerts, etc.

Notes and references

^ 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."
^ 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)
^ 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."
^ 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)
^ 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."
^ Famitsu Weekly Interview, 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, 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 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 Orchestra -World of Tres- Interview, 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."
^ 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."

[1] 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)

[2] 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)

[3] 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."

[4] 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"

[5] 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."

[6] 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)

[7] 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)

[8] 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."

[9] 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)

[10] 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."

[11] Famitsu Weekly Interview, 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)

[12] 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)

[13] 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)

[14] 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)

[15] Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World of Tres- Interview, 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."

[16] 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."

[17] 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."

[18] 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."

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Music of the Kingdom Hearts series

Contents

Terminology

Original soundtracks

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts III

GAME TITLE

Kingdom Hearts V CAST

Other games

Arrangements and orchestrations

Notes and references

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