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Music Artists and theme songs in Final Fantasy……

By: wsim

     Ever wondered more about the artists that had done various theme songs and such to the FF games?  They may not be exactly the most popular artists around, nor common names but I’m pretty sure that at least some FF fans may have taken note of their histories and accomplishments.  Theme songs from actual music artists didn’t take place in the FF games until Final Fantasy VIII.  Since then, we’ve seen other themes from Koda Kumi and several others too.

     Popular Chinese pop singer Faye Wong sung “Eyes on Me”, which happened to be a theme song found in FFVIII.  The song has two versions, an English language one and also a Mandarin version as well.  Supposedly, she was reported to have been paid 1 million US dollars to sing the song.  Eyes on Me can be found on the FFVIII Official Soundtrack and the single itself was a pretty big hit in Japan.  She won many music awards in Asia over her career and is one of biggest names in the Chinese pop scene.  Here is a quick profile of her:

Name:  Faye Wong
Age:  35
Height:  172cm

     As well, she has done a few acting spots over the years too.  While she isn’t nearly as active now, she is indeed a very popular and familiar face in the Chinese music scene. 

     The main theme in FFIX was entitled “Melodies of Life”.  It was sung by the Japanese pop singer Emiko Shiratori.  The song has both an English version and Japanese version.  She has also done themes to games such as Zelda: Ocarina of Time and for some Japanese drama series as well as anime.  Believe it or not, she debuted in 1969 and has been around for a very long time.  I do not know her age or any other personal information however.  She has also performed songs for both the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics and the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

     Japanese folk singer Rikki, otherwise known as Ritsuki Nakano sung the theme song to Final Fantasy X called “Suteki Da Ne”.  Nobuo Uematsu felt that Rikki was the perfect fit to sing the theme song because he wanted someone with a gentle singing voice along with a sweet tone to it.  Which was similar to Yunas’voice found in the Japanese and English versions of the game.  The song was released in 2001 and hit #10 on the Oricon top charts.  Her music combines both the traditional elements of Japanese folk music along with some pop.  Rikki was born in 1975 and became the youngest winner of the Japanese folk music awards at the young age of 15.  Rikki also helped produce an image album for the popular anime film “Spirited Away” in 2001.


 

     The songs “Real Emotion” and “1000 words” were sung by the Japanese pop singer Koda Kumi.  She also did the voice acting for the character Lenne in the Japanese version of FFX-2.  Koda Kumi was born in 1982 in Kyoto, Japan.  Her single “Real emotion/1000 words” did pretty well on the Japanese single charts and marked her big break in the J-pop industry.  She has released several more singles since then and is scheduled to release her 4th album later on this year.  Koda Kumi is also known for her relatively skimpy and revealing outfits when she does perform on stage. 

     The very popular Japanese rock band L’arc en ciel has also helped out with the Official Soundtrack to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.  They produced the song “Spirit Dreams Inside” which was composed by the band’s lead vocalist Hyde.  The band took a hiatus of several years to pursue various solo careers and projects but returned in late 2003.  Now back and better than ever, they continue to be one of the most popular Japanese rock bands around.

     “Shiroi hana” was the name of the image song that was featured in various commercials advertising Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GBA.  The song was performed by the J-pop girl band ZONE and was released in 2002.  ZONE is a group for four teenage girls from Hokkaido and they are one of the most popular girl pop bands in Japan.  The group is disbanding this year after their final live on April 1^st.  They made their major debut in 2001 and are best known for their hit song “Secret base ~kimi ga kureta mono~ which was the theme song to a popular kids drama series.