Final Fantasy XV just gained a heavy hitting power ballad thanks to Florence and the Machine and her classical style rendition of Stand By Me by Ben E. King. She discusses the beauty of songs in video games and the under appreciated genre of game music.
The score in a game is such a fundamental part of the experience, fans of a series will recognize the sounds from anywhere. Whether it be the jaunty and light Super Bell Hill of Super Mario 3D World or the epic opening theme of the Elder Scrolls’ Skyrim. There is no shortage of amazing game music that, unfortunately, goes over looked. If you’re lucky maybe your local classical station will do an homage to these amazing songs but largely they go unnoticed.
Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine was fascinated by the idea of video game music, something she called “incredibly beautiful and emotional.” Thrilled with the chance to add her voice to the Final Fantasy series she helped compose a version of Stand By Me for the upcoming game.
These kind of collaborations always serve to strengthen a game’s experience. Being such a unique form of media video games can allow players to feel a piece of music in a way that creates lasting connections to a game and a series. Who doesn’t know the Great Fairy Fountain theme from Zelda?
And collaborations work both ways. Team Teamwork mixes up Zelda songs and sampled hip-hop beats to create the some pretty catchy songs and the makers of Scott Pilgrim put together an 8-bit version of their song Threshold, or even Animal Crossing remixes from Ben Briggs!
Songs in games are so impactful and inspiring it’s not hard to see why Florence wanted to become a part of the Final Fantasy XV score. Collaboration in video game music can create some pretty amazing tracks and thanks to that collaboration players may get that sought after and rare moment where a song gives them chills.
