Have you heard the song Simple and Clean? If you were a 90s baby, it might be a core memory. To Kingdom Hearts fandom it’s more than a song. It’s like an anthem. Kingdom Hearts is a video game series that follows the journey of three friends, who are Sora, Kairi, and Riku. Heartless separate the three and Sora must travel to different words within Disney’s iconic movies to find them [Since this post is not about the game, I am not going to go into extreme detail about it]. So, why is Simple and Clean a core memory?
Back in 2002, the song was used in promo commercials for the game in. Seeing Final Fantasy and Disney Characters in one Playstation 2 Game was unheard of at the time. Since then, different version of the song was remastered and remixed for we’ll call them backstory games. Technically, they weren’t spin offs, because they fill in time between the three main games. Also, some of the games explain how Sora, Kairi, and Riku ended up in this situation in the first place. Since TGIF is about the vocals behind the Kingdom Hearts franchise, I’ll end my game explanation tanget here.
There’s a debate on which primary storyline game has the best opening song. The other two are Sanctuary and Face My Fears. Personally, Simple and Clean is my favorite, but I listen to all three songs on a weekly basis. Yet, I didn’t notice that Hikaru Utada sang all three. To be fair, I am a fan of the series but Playstation is not my favorite console. Most of the time, I watched other people play or borrowed Kingdom Hearts I and II from a friend for a limited amount of time. So, I don’t have the same devotion to the franchise like I do for The Legend of Zelda. You see, Hikari Utada is heavily involved with each Kingdom Hearts soundtrack. If I played these games from start to finish, I would have noticed over the years. Alas, I did not. This is why Trisha Goes In Friday’s is about Hikaru Utada.
Hikaru Utada is a Japanese American Pop Singer. Her genres include J-Pop, R&B, Dance Pop, and Electronica. She’s also an actress with IMDb credits. Truthfully, she’s such an iconic part of the series.
“The only thing that is consistent about kingdom hearts is the songs.”
RandomJPop.blogspot.com
Truth be told, now that I know who she is. She’s definitely someone that would be featured on the soundtrack of my life. I randomly sing the chorus throughout the day for a few reasons. One, they are that good. Two, my favorite Pandora Radio stations are based on music from anime and games [I use this music to relax and work on future posts]. Come to think of it, That’s probably why some of my posts have random affiliation to Motivational Mondays and Mystery Post Tuesday… Three, the story boarding on the music videos are amazing, nostalgic, and genuinely tries to make sense of Kingdom Hearts elaborate timeline. To prove my point, I’ve gathered all three main openings here for your viewing pleasure.
What could make things better? How about a new opening song? During Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary, the fandom found out Kingdom Hearts IV is in development. The fact that we got combat footage of a realistic proportioned Sora is amazing. Since then, fans have shared their thoughts on the upcoming game.
I’m curious what the franchise next mesmerizing intro song will be?
If you want to play catch-up before the next game, Chain of Memories does a good job of doing that. Since it’s not traditional battle sequences. It’s more of a chill vibe with button patterns, achievable objectives, and the story narrated by Kairi. If you’d rather endure Sora’s journey the hard way go for it. After all, who will stop you?
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