When speaking of the greatest JRPG franchises in gaming history, it’s only a matter of time before Kingdom Hearts becomes an integral part of the conversation. Featuring one of the most convoluted narratives of all time, Kingdom Hearts is a testament to how much people can love even the most out-of-left-field collaborations around if they’re executed with the utmost finesse.
One of the best parts of Kingdom Hearts is the brilliant music of this series, with each game in the franchise featuring a beautiful and brilliant composition that will remain in your mind long after you hear it.
For diehard fans of Kingdom Hearts who want to know everything possible about these titles, here are some interesting things about the music and themes present in Kingdom Hearts.
11 The Soundtrack Of The Games Was Composed By The Legendary Yoko Shimomura
There was a time when the name Yoko Shimomura was fairly unknown in the world of gaming. However, that was before this now-legendary composer decided to show everyone what she was really about with her work on the Kingdom Hearts series.
Her work on the franchise helped in the creation of one of the most popular OSTs in gaming history, and the fact that she was considered a worthy replacement to Nobuo Uematsu for the Final Fantasy series is a testament to her immense talent as a composer.
10 Shimomura Was Rather Intimidated At The Prospect Of Composing The Soundtrack For Kingdom Hearts
Initially, Shimomura found the act of creating a soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts to be a daunting task. After all, composing a soundtrack for a game with a combination of elements from Disney and Final Fantasy was no small feat.
However, Shimomura soon discovered a wealth of musical themes that could combine the best of both worlds into one beautiful package. Speaking of which…
9 Emotions Were A Huge Part Of The Kingdom Hearts Soundtracks
Emotions were a huge part of what made the Kingdom Hearts soundtracks so legendary. This wasn’t an accident in the slightest — Yoko Shimomura insisted on hitting a ton of emotional strings with her music.
A great example of this is the battle music. Each track is tailored to resonate with certain emotions that players will go through during a fight… especially when it comes to some of the more climactic showdowns in the games.
8 A Lot Of The Music In Kingdom Hearts Are Rearrangements Of Existing Disney Tracks
Of course, it was only a given that Disney’s pre-existing library of brilliant music would also become a huge part of Kingdom Hearts. Yoko Shimomura made sure of this with some clever arrangements scattered across the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts.
Throughout the series, you’re bound to hear some recognizable tunes that have become legendary after being featured in Disney movies and shows. It’s a great way to pay homage to the second half of Kingdom Hearts’ collaboration.
7 The Original Version Of Dearly Beloved Was Composed Entirely On Piano
“Dearly Beloved” is easily one of the most popular tracks in Kingdom Hearts. Hearing the various versions of this theme across the Kingdom Hearts series feels like a metric to gauge the growth the series has gone through since 2002.
What most people probably don’t know is that this song was composed on piano before Shimomura added more instrumentals to make the track feel meatier.
6 Dearly Beloved Is Used In Many Other Songs
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The fact that “Dearly Beloved” is one of the most iconic songs in the series is a statement that is not taken lightly by fans of the series at all. After all, this theme is ever-present throughout the entirety of Kingdom Hearts.
Various songs in the games end up being inspired by “Dearly Beloved” in some form or other. Notable tracks include “Friends in My Heart,” “Always on My Mind,” “Birth by Sleep -A Link to the Future-,” and “Dream Drop Distance -The Next Awakening-.” Many of the songs in the series are variations of Dearly Beloved or use some of the instrumentals from it.
4 The English And Japanese Releases Of Kingdom Hearts Have Different Main Themes
The Kingdom Hearts series was massively hyped in both eastern and western markets. As a result, Tetsuya Nomura — the game’s director — and Square Enix decided to compose two different theme songs for the Japanese and English releases.
In the first Kingdom Hearts, the main theme for the Japanese version was “Hikari” while the English version used the theme “Simple and Clean” instead. Similarly, Kingdom Hearts II used the themes “Passion” and “Sanctuary” for the Japanese and English versions, respectively.
3 Utada Hikari Was The Only Person Nomura Had In Mind For These Themes
The vocals of the main themes in Kingdom Hearts are quite iconic. Utada Hikari really gave a strong performance in all four variations of the themes in Kingdom Hearts, and it shows in the end result.
Utada was easily the perfect choice for these themes, and Nomura thought so too. After all, he outright stated that he only had Utada Hikari in mind when it came to ideating the main themes of Kingdom Hearts’ soundtrack.
2 Utada Drew Inspiration From The Characters And Story Of Kingdom Hearts
Utada’s bold and fitting performance for the themes of Kingdom Hearts truly came from a place of love. Utada researched all the characters in Kingdom Hearts so that the performances would feel all the more authentic.
In fact, this wasn’t the only research Utada did for the vocals of these themes. Nomura also told an abridged version of the story in Kingdom Hearts so that the lyrics could be even more accurate to the source material.
1 Nomura Prefers The Vocals Of The Second Theme
A rather interesting tidbit about the main themes of Kingdom Hearts pertains to Nomura’s preferences. Specifically, he has stated that he prefers the vocals of the theme in Kingdom Hearts II as opposed to its predecessor.
To be more specific, Nomura was more vocal about the fact that the lyrics of the second game’s themes tied in better with the game’s story. Given that Kingdom Hearts II is a massive improvement over its predecessor, one can surmise that the soundtrack also received a significant upgrade as well.
