Where were you the first time you heard Utada Hikaru’s “Simple and Clean”? More importantly, which version of the song was it?
Goofy and Sora preparing to throw down against some baddies. Image: Square Enix
Sony revealed quite a bit of new information about Kingdom Hearts 3 at this year’s E3 conference, but one of the more noticeable things about the developer’s demonstration was how seemingly out of place the game’s new theme song is.
“Don’t Think Twice” is perfectly fine on its own, but it’s mixed into the newest Kingdom Hearts trailer in a weird way that makes it stand out from the rest of the audio bed, and highlights how the music’s energy doesn’t really match the overall tone of the game as presented.
It’s become a tradition for every Kingdom Hearts game to launch with an unforgettable theme song, performed by singer Utada Hikaru and released in a variety of different arrangements and languages.
“Simple and Clean” and its Japanese counterpart “Hikari” are both moody pop songs with heavy folk influences that play in the final moments of the original Kingdom Hearts – but the versions that everyone’s most familiar with, from the game’s commercials, are the pulse-pounding remixes arranged by PlanitB.
The trend continued in 2006 with Kingdom Hearts 2‘s “Sanctuary” (“Passion” in its Japanese release), another decidedly slow, sombre song that benefited from being introduced with its full orchestral arrangement.
The straightforward arrangements of both “Simple and Clean” and “Sanctuary” perfectly capture dark, brooding aspects of Kingdom Hearts‘ larger overarching story. But Sony understood that neither song struck quite the right note to set off a whimsical, sprawling adventure game about teaming up with one’s favourite Disney characters.
Both songs needed to be reworked a bit to get you in the mood to return to Kingdom Hearts‘ world(s), and it just so happened that a bit of electronica was exactly the right ingredient.
This is what makes “Don’t Think Twice” as frustrating as it is lovely to listen to. To be clear, “Don’t Think Twice” is a nice enough song all on its own. I can totally imagine it playing as Kingdom Hearts 3‘s credits start rolling. But it isn’t a song that will hype you up for a game that you’ve been waiting over a decade for.
Listening to it, you can tell that “Don’t Think Twice” would immediately lend itself to being remixed – all of the necessary raw ingredients are there. It just needs to be reimagined with a bit more bass, a higher BPM, and a more energetic vibe that screams “welcome to Kingdom Hearts, you nerds, we’ve been waiting for you”.
We’re still seven months out from Kingdom Hearts 3‘s impending release, so there’s still plenty of time for someone at Sony to get the song’s master track in the hands of a skilled producer to create something wondrous. Kingdom Hearts 3 deserves it, and so do we.
Comments
One response to “The Theme Song For Kingdom Hearts 3 Needs An Official Remix”
I just assumed if would get a remix for the intro as it’s always been.
Otherwise, the track in its current form always plays at the emotionally driven parts of the trailers and matches quite well considering.
To be honest the song is perfect as is, no remix needed and it fits the tone of KH3 just fine.
And on that note ‘Don’t think twice’ will be perfect for the credits, imagine if the ending is crushing( Nomura did say it would be hard to swallow) and then that starts during the credits, won’t be a dry eye in the house.
Kingdom Hearts III is even including characters from Jerry Bruckheimer’s Pirates of the Caribbean movies including Jack Sparrow voiced by Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, and even academy award winner Geoffrey Rush. Toy Story on the other hand includes the voices of Tom Hanks Tim Allen and even John Ratzenberger. Shit even Kingdom Hearts III is including the Monsters Inc. characters including Mike Wazowski voiced by Billy Crystal and James P. Sullivan voiced by John Goodman. Disney and Square Enix you really are knocking me off my socks.