Florence + the Machine made some Final Fantasy 15 songs
At least it's not Leona Lewis.
English indie rock band Florence + the Machine has today released a selection of new tracks recorded for Final Fantasy 15. Titled Songs from Final Fantasy 15, the collection comprises three tracks; Too Much Is Never Enough, I Will Be and a rendition of Ben E. King's classic, Stand By Me.
First announced at the Uncovered: Final Fantasy 15 event in LA earlier this year, where I sat in the audience and quietly died inside while celebrities Lena Headey and Aaron Paul enthusiastically proclaimed they had always felt a special affinity for Final Fantasy despite never having touched the games, Florence's whispery version of Stand By Me was first played under footage of the moody protagonists driving around in their fancy car and looking broodingly out of a window. And then smashing monsters in the face with a magic sword. We may never truly know whether King had that image in mind for the song when he first penned the lyrics.
"In some ways the landscape of Final Fantasy and my own internal landscape seemed to fit quite well, it's mythical and beautiful and epic," is a real sentence Florence uttered on her decision to collaborate with Square on this project. "I've always seen Final Fantasy as a beautiful and creative game so I don't think I could have worked with another video game. It wouldn't have made sense."
FF15's director Hajime Tabata also commented on the collection's release, saying, "Music has always been a hugely important and much beloved part of the Final Fantasy series, and with these three tracks we really wanted to create a musical experience to live within the game, and that will transport listeners, whether new to the series or not, into the epic Final Fantasy 15 Universe."
He's right on that first count; Nobuo Uematsu's compositions are central to the soundtrack of my and I suspect many other Final Fantasy fan's childhoods. But ah, how sweet the sound of brand collaboration.
One thing is clear, though. With an all-star cast for the upcoming feature-length prequel film Kingsglaive (including Sean Bean, no less), a six-part online anime series, a promotional tie-in with Audi R8 and now this high-profile music collab, Square is going all-in on the marketing for this launch next month.