The music of the ''Kingdom Hearts'' video game series was composed by

Yoko Shimomura is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in video games. She graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the video game industry by joining Capcom the same year. She wrote music for several game ...

with orchestral music arranged by

Kaoru Wada is a Japanese composer and arranger. He has composed the scores for many anime series, including ''Inuyasha'', ''D.Gray-man'', '' Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'', ''Samurai 7'' and, more recently, ''Tesla Note''. He also became known to the We ...

.Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack CD insert. Toshiba-Emi Limited. 2002.Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack CD insert. Toshiba-EMI Limited. 2006. The original soundtracks of the games have been released on three albums and a fourth compilation album. The soundtracks to the ''

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square). It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square ...

'' games feature several musical pieces from both Square Enix and Disney works , including such pieces as "Mickey Mouse Club March" by

Jimmie Dodd James Wesley Dodd (March 28, 1910 – November 10, 1964) was an American actor, singer and songwriter best known as the master of ceremonies for the popular 1950s Walt Disney television series ''The Mickey Mouse Club,'' as well as the write ...

, "This Is Halloween" by

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

, and "One-Winged Angel" by

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the '' Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton ...

. They also feature several vocal songs, the most notable being the four main theme songs: " Hikari", " Passion", " Chikai", and "

Face My Fears "Face My Fears" is a song by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada and American record producer Skrillex, released on January 18, 2019, by Epic Records Japan. Along with its English-language counterpart, it serves as the opening theme ...

." The two themes were written and performed by

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

pop star

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

; in addition to Japanese, English versions of the first three songs were produced, titled "Simple and Clean", "Sanctuary", and "Don't Think Twice", respectively. Although the majority of the music has been released only in Japan, the first soundtrack was released worldwide and tracks from the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series have been featured in

Video Games Live Video Games Live (VGL) is a concert series created by Tommy Tallarico and originally founded by Tallarico and Jack Wall. The concerts consist of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized light ...

at multiple venues. The music has overall been well received and several tracks have received particular praise. The two main themes were well received by both video game and music critics, and did well on Japan's

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike i ...

Weekly Singles chart.

Musical pieces

The ''Kingdom Hearts'' games feature music that ranges from dark to cheerful to sorrowful. Several musical pieces are included that have either met with a positive reception or were already well known – mostly from Disney films. Such pieces include "Mickey Mouse Club March" by

; "Winnie The Pooh" by

Robert B. Sherman Robert Bernard Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) was an American songwriter, best known for his work in musical films with his brother, Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers produced more motion picture song scores than any ...

and

Richard M. Sherman Richard Morton Sherman (born June 12, 1928) is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brot ...

; "This Is Halloween" by

; "He's a Pirate" by

Geoff Zanelli Geoffrey Zanelli is an American composer working primarily in the medium of film, television, and video game scores. His early career was notable for scoring additional music on roughly 30 film scores written by Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Harry ...

Klaus Badelt Klaus Badelt (born 12 June 1967) is a German composer, producer, and arranger of film scores. He is known for his collaborations with Hans Zimmer, helping to write scores for dozens of critically acclaimed films including '' The Thin Red Line'', ...

, and

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...

; and "

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

" by

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and

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for '' The Little Mermaid'' (1989), '' Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ' ...

. Other well-known tracks include "

Night on Bald Mountain ''Night on Bald Mountain'' (russian: Ночь на лысой горе, translit=Noch′ na lysoy gore, links=no), also known as ''Night on the Bare Mountain'', is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian ...

" (rendered "A Night on the Bare Mountain") by

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

, and a remixed version of "One-Winged Angel" by ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The ...

'' series composer

. Some Disney worlds in ''Kingdom Hearts'' feature corresponding music from their related Disney film. Original tracks include the title screen track, "Dearly Beloved", and the two theme songs, "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary". The soundtracks feature a mix of piano and orchestral pieces. The main themes differ from the other music in that they are

pop songs Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the Un ...

. The series also features several vocal songs—the most notable being the two theme songs. ''Kingdom Hearts II'' includes more vocal songs found specifically in the Atlantica world, which features rhythm-based

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...

s set in the world of ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

''. Such vocal songs include "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea", both by

and

"Hikari" and "Simple and Clean"

is the theme song to the Japanese release of ''

'', the first game in the series as well as the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

sequel '' Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'' and its remake ''Re:Chain of Memories'', the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

prequel ''

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is an Action role-playing game, action role-playing video game video game developer, developed and video game publisher, published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios for the PlayStation Portable, serving as the si ...

'', as well as the theme to ''

Kingdom Hearts coded ''Kingdom Hearts Coded'' is an episodic action role-playing puzzle video game developed and published by Square Enix, in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, for mobile phones. ''Coded'' was a Japan-only release announced at the 2007 ...

'' and its DS remake ''Re:Coded''. Its English counterpart, "Simple and Clean", is the theme song to the English release of the games as well as the Japanese re-release of the first game, ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix''. Both songs were written and performed by

. This marked the first time they had produced a song for a video game. Although the two songs share a similar melody and background music, the meaning of the songs' lyrics differ as "Simple and Clean" is not a literal translation of "''Hikari''". The single, "''Hikari''", was released in Japan on March 20, 2002 and proved to be very popular; it sold over 270,000 copies in a week. "Simple And Clean" (full version and PLANITb Remix) is included on Utada's single release of "

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

", which debuted on Japan's

charts at number one and stayed on the charts for 19 weeks. It was later included as a bonus track on Utada's 2009 English-language album ''

This Is the One ''This Is the One'' is the third English studio album by Japanese American pop singer-songwriter Utada, released by Island Records in the United States digitally on March 24, 2009 and physically on May 12, 2009. The album was originally set to b ...

''. Both songs have a "PLANITb remix", which are

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

versions, and "''Hikari''" has a "Godson Mix". The different versions are used at various points in the game; the "Short Edit" version of the PLANITb remix is used for the opening sequence and the full version of the original song is used for the ending sequence.

"Passion" and "Sanctuary"

"Passion" is the theme song for the Japanese release of ''

Kingdom Hearts II is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hearts (video game), King ...

'', and the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in t ...

title, ''

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (subtitle read as "Three-Five-Eight Days over Two") is an Action role-playing game, action role-playing video game developed by h.a.n.d. and Square Enix (in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios) for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth ins ...

''. Its English counterpart, "Sanctuary", is the theme song for the English versions and ''Kingdom Hearts II FInal Mix''. Like the first theme, Hikaru Utada wrote and performed both the Japanese and English versions, and there are two mixes. The "~opening version~" mix is played during the opening movies, and the "~after the battle~" version is played after defeating the final boss of the games. "Sanctuary" and "~after the battle~" were both used in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for DS. "Passion" was included in the ''Kingdom Hearts II'' Original Soundtrack and a CD single was released on December 14, 2005. "Sanctuary" was first previewed on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

.com in early 2006. Both the "Opening" and "After the Battle" versions of "Sanctuary" were later released in May 2009 as bonus tracks on Utada's second American album, ''

''. The "After the Battle" versions of "Passion" and "Sanctuary" also serve as the ending theme songs for the 3DS game, '' Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance''.

"Chikai" and "Don't Think Twice"

"Face My Fears"

Creation and influence

composed the music for the three main ''Kingdom Hearts'' games and their remakes. She began composing video game music in 1988, and joined Square in 1993, but left in 2002 to work freelance. In creating music, Shimomura gathers inspiration from different things outside of her daily routine, like traveling or when she is emotionally moved. She has a respect for solo and orchestral pieces, such as Piano Sonata No. 7 by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

, Ballade No. 1 by

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

, and La Valse by

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

. Shimomura was initially hesitant to handle the music for the first ''Kingdom Hearts''; the mix of a Square-style story and Disney characters made it hard to imagine what the game would be like, which made it difficult to compose the music. Many of the musical pieces are

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

s of Disney themes, which Shimomura stated she enjoyed arranging. Shimomura felt a great deal of pressure working on such recognizable tunes, and made an effort to maintain the original mood and atmosphere of them while complying with the technical specifications of the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...

. For example, the original orchestrated arrangement of the song " This is Halloween" from ''

The Nightmare Before Christmas ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increme ...

'' was impossible to reproduce on the PlayStation 2's sound system. To keep aspects of it intact, Shimomura used a

trial and error Trial and error is a fundamental method of problem-solving characterized by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the practicer stops trying. According to W.H. Thorpe, the term was devised by C. Lloyd Morgan (18 ...

method to arrange the piece. In creating original music, Shimomura wanted to create compositions that would make players feel good while playing to accompany the action aspect of ''Kingdom Hearts''. She played the game and looked over scripts and illustrations for inspiration. After coming up with ideas, she discussed them with director

Tetsuya Nomura is a Japanese video game artist, designer and director working for Square Enix (formerly Square). He designed characters for the ''Final Fantasy'' series, debuting with ''Final Fantasy VI'' and continuing with various later installments. Addi ...

and the game planners. For the PlayStation 2 re-release of ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'', she and her team spent much of their time working on the fight music; Shimomura wanted the different fight music to reflect different emotions such as happiness and sadness. To handle the large workload for ''

'', ''

'' and ''

'', Shimomura composed the most prominent themes, while the rest was created by other composers. In retrospect, Shimomura has stated that the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series combined the scenes and music well, and she felt very honored her music has entered into people's hearts. She has also commented that she enjoyed working on the project, despite its hardships, and is proud of the work. Utada Hikaru 2004

The two main theme songs were written and performed by Japanese American artist

. They wrote two versions for each, one in Japanese and one in English; the latter is used for international releases of the games. "Hikari" and "Passion" are the Japanese version theme songs for ''Kingdom Hearts'' and ''Kingdom Hearts II'' respectively, while their English counterparts are called "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary". Utada was the only singer Nomura had in mind for the first ''Kingdom Hearts'' theme song. He considered Utada an iconic young singer whose music could break language and international barriers. Their involvement, along with the first song's Japanese title, was announced in January 2002. Utada's involvement with the sequel was announced in July 2005. Nomura chose not to have a different singer perform the second theme song because he believed fans associated Utada with ''Kingdom Hearts''. Utada derived their inspiration from the worlds and characters in ''Kingdom Hearts''; they also received written explanations of the stories from Nomura. Nomura stated that the vocals of the second theme tie in more closely with the game's story than "Hikari"/"Simple and Clean" did with ''Kingdom Hearts'' and ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories''. Conversely, Nomura commented that Utada's theme songs influenced several factors in creating the games.

Releases

Aside from being featured in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' video games, the music has been released via a variety of methods. Soundtracks for the first and third game were released shortly after the games' release. These were followed by a compilation set which featured unreleased tracks from the series, as well as new and rearranged versions of tracks from the re-released versions of the games. The first soundtrack was released in Japan, United States and Europe. All other albums were released only in Japan. Though the two main themes were released as part of the game soundtracks, they were officially released as

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

a week prior to the games' releases. Utada's 2009 album ''This Is the One'' features the theme songs "Simple And Clean" and "Sanctuary". Tracks from ''Kingdom Hearts'' series have also been played by

Play! A Video Game Symphony PLAY! A Video Game Symphony was a concert series that featured music from video games performed by a live orchestra. The concerts from 2006 to 2010 were conducted by Arnie Roth. From 2010, Andy Brick took the position of principal conductor and m ...

at various venues in the United States and around the world.

Arnie Roth Arnold Roth (born April 28, 1953) is an American conductor, composer, and record producer. His work includes conducting concerts for video game music. He is also a classically trained violinist and a member of the Grammy Award-winning music g ...

arranged ''Kingdom Hearts'' pieces for the ''Symphonic Fantasies'' concerts in September 2009. Music from ''Kingdom Hearts'' is included in Yoko Shimomura's best works compilation album ''Drammatica''.

''Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack''

''Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack'' is the official soundtrack for the video game ''Kingdom Hearts''. It was first released in Japan on March 27, 2002 by

Toshiba-EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. When ...

, and later released in Europe on November 25, 2002 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

and the United States on March 23, 2003 by

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its ...

. The soundtrack is a 2-CD set which contains most of music in the original version of the game along with two bonus tracks. The music was composed by Yoko Shimomura, with vocals done by Hikaru Utada for "Simple and Clean" and "''Hikari''". The orchestral music was arranged by Kaoru Wada and performed by the

New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra The is a symphony orchestra based in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1972 with Seiji Ozawa as honorary conductor laureate. The Philharmonic's primary concert venue is the Sumida Triphony Hall. From 2003 to 2013 its music director was Chri ...

. Because ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'' was released after the soundtrack, additional tracks from it were not included. The soundtrack has met with an overall positive reception. IGN listed the opening track for ''Kingdom Hearts'', "Dearly Beloved", as number four on their top ten list of RPG title tracks. In their "Best of 2002" awards, ''Kingdom Hearts'' was nominated for the "Best Sound in a PlayStation 2 Game Editor's Choice Award" and was a runner up for "Best Sound in Game 2002 Reader's Choice Award".

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

rated the first soundtrack a 3 out of 5.

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the Ga ...

described the soundtrack as "pleasant, melodious, and most of all fitting for the various situations in which it plays" and complimented the English translation of "Simple And Clean". Track listing

''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Additional Tracks''

''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Additional Tracks'' is a separate CD that features new tracks from the re-release of the first game, ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix''. It was released in Japan on December 26, 2002, by

''Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack''

''Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack'' is the official soundtrack for ''Kingdom Hearts II'' video game. The album contains musical tracks from the game, composed and produced by Yoko Shimomura, with the main orchestral tracks arranged by Kaoru Wada and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Vocals were performed by Hikaru Utada for the theme song, "Passion". The soundtrack was released in Japan on January 25, 2006. The soundtrack received positive remarks from critics.

G4TV G4 (also known as G4TV) was an American pay television and digital network owned by Comcast Spectacor that primarily focused on video games. The network was originally owned by G4 Media, a joint venture between the NBCUniversal Cable division ...

awarded ''Kingdom Hearts II'' "Best Soundtrack" at their 2006 G-Phoria awards show. GameSpy complimented the soundtrack but stated it was not as good as the first game's soundtrack.

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 ...

called the musical score "unforgettable".

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

stated the "superb soundtrack" further enhanced the gaming experience and rated the sound a 9 out of 10. Track listing

''Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete''

''Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete'' is a

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

of the

video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led t ...

from the three main games in the series, ''Kingdom Hearts'', ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'', and ''Kingdom Hearts II''. The boxset contains music composed and produced by Yoko Shimomura, with the main orchestral tracks arranged by Kaoru Wada. The album also features various unreleased tracks from the series, as well as new and rearranged versions of tracks from the two ''Final Mix'' releases and ''Re:Chain of Memories''. The compilation boxset was released in Japan on March 28, 2007. The collection has printed images on each disc and includes a deluxe booklet containing new illustrations designed by director and character designer

and comments from Yoko Shimomura. A special CD carrying case featuring artwork of Sora and Roxas was also released as a bonus. The soundtrack comprises nine discs with 229 tracks in total. Discs one and two contain unaltered tracks from the ''Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack'' while discs three to six contain lengthier and looped tracks from the ''Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack''. Discs seven and eight contain tracks from '' Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories'' while disc nine contains bonus tracks from ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'' and ''Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix''. Track listing

''Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts''

On May 27, 2009, Square Enix released a collection of ''Kingdom Hearts'' music arranged for the piano. The tracks are popular pieces chosen by members of Square Enix's music website. A mini concert was held on April 2, 2009 in Tokyo to preview the album, attendees of which were drawn from a lottery held on the Square Enix Members website. There, composer Yoko Shimomura described the album as consisting of easy listening piano solo arrangements. Tracks 5 through 8 are a sonata on the various themes of the series. "The Other Promise" and "Roxas" are used for a cutscene of ''Kingdom Hearts Re:coded'' in ''

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX ''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix'' is an HD remastered collection of three games in Square Enix's ''Kingdom Hearts'' series: ''Kingdom Hearts II'', '' Birth by Sleep'' and '' Re:coded''. A successor to the series' '' HD 1.5 Remix'' collection, it ...

''. The Piano Collections arrangement of "Dearly Beloved" also features in the title selection screen of '' Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX'', ''

'', ''

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue ''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue'' is a compilation of games from the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios. A successor to the '' Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Re ...

'', and ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX''.

''Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts Field & Battle''

''Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts Field & Battle'' is the second compilation album of compositions from the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series arranged for solo piano by Sachiko Miyano and Natsumi Kameoka. Unlike the first album, which features mostly character themes and background music, this compilation features themes from battles and worlds. Square Enix announced it at the 2009

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. T ...

, and released it in Japan on January 13, 2010.

''Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days Original Soundtrack''

''Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days Original Soundtrack'' is a three-disc album containing music from the games ''Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep'' and ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'', as well as ''Kingdom Hearts Re:coded''. Unlike previous soundtracks, this set features a collaboration between composers

Takeharu Ishimoto is a Japanese video game composer and musician. Formerly employed by Square Enix, he joined them in 1999 as a synthesizer programmer on ''Legend of Mana'', and worked for them on several games. In 2002, he was promoted to the role of composer, b ...

, and

Tsuyoshi Sekito is a Japanese video game composer, arranger, and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 1995. As a composer, he is best known for scoring ''Brave Fencer Musashi'' (1998), '' Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children'' (2005) and '' The Last ...

, containing musical compositions from all three.. It was released on February 2, 2011. Discs one and two contain music from ''Birth by Sleep'', and disc three contains music from ''358/2 Days'' (tracks 1 through 13), ''Re:coded'' (tracks 14 through 20), and ''Birth by Sleep: Final Mix'' (tracks 21 through 27). Tracks from ''358/2 Days'' and ''Re:coded'' are in pure orchestrated form, and are not digitized as they are in the original game releases. Track listing

''Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Original Soundtrack''

''Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Original Soundtrack'' is a three-disc album containing music from '' Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'', released on April 18, 2012. Among the songs included are tracks from ''

The World Ends with You ''The World Ends with You'' is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Jupiter and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS. Set in the modern-day Shibuya shopping district of Tokyo, the game uses urban fantasy elements insp ...

'', originally composed by Ishimoto, who remixed them for ''Dream Drop Distance''. Orchestral arrangements were provided by Kaoru Wada. Track listing

''Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection: Melodies & Memories''

''Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection: Melodies & Memories'' is a 2-CD album made in commemoration of the series' 10th anniversary. The tracks included in the album were chosen by fans in the series' official website. It was released in Japan on September 19, 2012. Track listing

''Kingdom Hearts: III, II.8, Unchained χ & Unchained χ – Original Soundtrack''

Track listing

Reception

The music of ''Kingdom Hearts'' was overall well received. Greg Kasavin of

felt the background music was appropriate for each setting. However, he complained that the music loops were too short and repetitive. IGN reviewer David Smith was impressed by the production values that went into the music of ''Kingdom Hearts'', namely the use of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and arrangements of pieces such as "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Under the Sea". He also praised composer Yoko Shimomura's ability to maintain the atmosphere while keeping a "common thread of character running through the soundtrack". Daniel Kalabakov of SoundtrackCentral.com called Shimomura's orchestral composition "sophisticated", and stated that the score possesses unique qualities. He also stated that though the album is "excellent", he considered it one of Shimomura's weaker albums overall. In reviewing Shimomura's compilation album ''Drammatica'', SoundtrackCentral.com reviewer Adam Corn considered the ''Kingdom Hearts'' tracks one of the highlights of the album. Jim Cordeira of Gaming Age stated the music was one of the best aspects of the first game and the orchestrated soundtrack is better quality than the "midi-sounding" tunes of previous ''Final Fantasy'' games.

's Benjamin Turner had positive comments about the main theme, but found some worlds' background music weak. A second GameSpy reviewer, Gerald Villoria, complimented both PlayStation 2 game soundtracks, but stated ''Kingdom Hearts II''s soundtrack was not as good as the first game's. Several tracks garnered extra attention and their own positive reception. "Hikari" debuted at number one on the

Weekly Singles chart in Japan. It stayed at number one for three weeks and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks. "Hikari" sold more than 270,000 copies during its first week on sale, and by August 2002, it sold over 860,000 copies in Japan. In 2008,

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

listed it as the best-selling video game theme song in Japan. Kalabakov complimented Utada's singing and the instrumentation of "Hikari", but commented that he was not a fan of pop songs. Turner was impressed by the translation of "Hikari" into English, and felt Utada's vocals were a good addition to the opening and ending segments of the game. "Passion" debuted at number four on the

Weekly Singles chart in Japan where it stayed on the chart for nine weeks. G4TV's Miguel Concepcion was particularly pleased by "Dearly Beloved", the track that plays during the title screen. IGN echoed the sentiment and listed it as number four in their top ten list of RPG title tracks. They commented that the track lifted the doubts they had about the game's potential. Kalabakov referred to it as a fitting "fairy tale-style" piece to the game's setting. He further stated that it was a simple piece that was "not short on emotion".

References

External links

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Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

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