User:Jude da Dude/Sky-High and Smitten
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"Sky-High and Smitten" is a cityscape stage theme from Kirby: Planet Robobot which plays in the first, second and fourth stages of Rhythm Route, composed courtesy of Jun Ishikawa. Additionally, this theme is the 43rd track in the game's Jukebox.
Composition[edit]
"Sky-High and Smitten" has a funky, jazzy feeling at its core, being composed with brass, synths, soprano sax, slap bass, and woodwind. It is set in the key of A minor, 4/4 and 104 BPM. The song starts with a brief harmonic fanfare by the trumpets which afterwards, jumps to the main melody, being played by a flute and synth. The melody is nostalgically reminiscent of the famous "Gourmet Race" theme, although the bulk of it is original.
The first part of the melody, notewise, features descending minor triads which complies to the semitones' prescence and tendency to adjust between the song's chord progression while also paying heed to its tonal stability. The melody's second section features a muted trumpet and soprano sax, performing a rhythmic pattern in descending major-ninth triplets with the bass slap illustrating the funky atmosphere. As the third (but not last) section draws near, the sax concludes the preceding phrase with a mediant three-note fanfare as the brass instruments dominate the following phrase in major thirteenths. As the synth responds to said phrase, the melody concludes with a familiar harmonic fanfare heard in the song's intro.
The other half of the song is largely the same as the whole melody, albeit with different instrumentation, with the muted trumpet performing the descending triad progression before the flute's turn, for example. The sax and synth perform an improvisational passage in jazzy flavor, once again in triplets, before the strings make an appearance to finally conclude the song's whole phrase. The synths and trumpets congregate to perform one last three-note fanfare before the song, at last reaches its loop point. On the Kirby: Planet Robobot Original Soundtrack, the song does not actually play for a full loop, fading out during the second half.
Trivia[edit]
- In an interview, Jun Ishikawa recalled being shown concept art of Kirby in an entertainment district with bars and neon lights, and since he thought that the juxtaposition was funny, he wrote the song as adult-oriented rock with the idea that "it smells like alcohol, even though it's Kirby". Because of this, Shinya Kumazaki named the song 「摩天楼に酔いしれて」 (Intoxicated by the Skyscrapers) in Japanese.[1]
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | 摩天楼に酔いしれて Matenrō ni yoishirete |
Intoxicated by the Skyscrapers |
