The music of the Kingdom Hearts video game series was composed by Yoko Shimomura with orchestral music arranged by Kaoru Wada.^[1][2] The original soundtracks of the games have been released on three albums and a fourth compilation album. The soundtracks to the Kingdom Hearts games feature several musical pieces from both Square Enix and Disney works , including such pieces as "Mickey Mouse Club March" by Jimmie Dodd, "This Is Halloween" by Danny Elfman, and "One-Winged Angel" by Nobuo Uematsu. They also feature several vocal songs, the most notable being the four main theme songs: "Hikari", "Passion", "Chikai", and "Face My Fears." The two themes were written and performed by Japanese American pop star Hikaru Utada; 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 at multiple venues.^[3] 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 Weekly Singles chart.^[4][5][6]

Music Samples:

Dearly Beloved

7 second sample from Yoko Shimomura's "Dearly Beloved", a short, slow piano piece.

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Passion ~after the battle~

30 second sample from Hikaru Utada's "Passion ~after the battle~", the Japanese ending credits theme of Kingdom Hearts II.

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The Kingdom Hearts games feature music that ranges from dark to cheerful to sorrowful.^[7] 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 Jimmie Dodd; "Winnie The Pooh" by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman; "This Is Halloween" by Danny Elfman; "He's a Pirate" by Geoff Zanelli, Klaus Badelt, and Hans Zimmer; and "Beauty and the Beast" by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Other well-known tracks include "Night on Bald Mountain" (rendered "A Night on the Bare Mountain") by Modest Mussorgsky, and a remixed version of "One-Winged Angel" by Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu. Some Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts feature corresponding music from their related Disney film.^[8] 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.^[9] 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 minigames set in the world of The Little Mermaid.^[10] Such vocal songs include "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea", both by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.

Yoko Shimomura 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.^[20] In creating music, Shimomura gathers inspiration from different things outside of her daily routine, like traveling or when she is emotionally moved.^[7] She has a respect for solo and orchestral pieces, such as Piano Sonata No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ballade No. 1 by Frédéric Chopin, and La Valse by Maurice Ravel.^[20] 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 arrangements 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. For example, the original orchestrated arrangement of the song "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas was impossible to reproduce on the PlayStation 2's sound system. To keep aspects of it intact, Shimomura used a trial and error method to arrange the piece.^[7]

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 and the game planners.^[7] 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.^[21] To handle the large workload for Kingdom Hearts coded, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Shimomura composed the most prominent themes, while the rest was created by other composers.^[22] 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.^[23] She has also commented that she enjoyed working on the project, despite its hardships, and is proud of the work.^[7]

The two main theme songs were written and performed by Japanese American artist Hikaru Utada. 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.^[11] Their involvement, along with the first song's Japanese title, was announced in January 2002.^[24] Utada's involvement with the sequel was announced in July 2005.^[25] Nomura chose not to have a different singer perform the second theme song because he believed fans associated Utada with Kingdom Hearts.^[26] Utada derived their inspiration from the worlds and characters in Kingdom Hearts;^[11] they also received written explanations of the stories from Nomura.^[26] 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.^[26][27] Conversely, Nomura commented that Utada's theme songs influenced several factors in creating the games.^[25][26]

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 a week prior to the games' releases. Utada's 2009 album This Is the One features the theme songs "Simple And Clean" and "Sanctuary".^[19] Tracks from Kingdom Hearts series have also been played by Play! A Video Game Symphony at various venues in the United States and around the world.^[3][28][29] Arnie Roth arranged Kingdom Hearts pieces for the Symphonic Fantasies concerts in September 2009.^[30] Music from Kingdom Hearts is included in Yoko Shimomura's best works compilation album Drammatica.^[31]

The music of Kingdom Hearts was overall well received. Greg Kasavin of GameSpot felt the background music was appropriate for each setting. However, he complained that the music loops were too short and repetitive.^[56] 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".^[57] 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.^[9] In reviewing Shimomura's compilation album Drammatica, SoundtrackCentral.com reviewer Adam Corn considered the Kingdom Hearts tracks one of the highlights of the album.^[58] 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.^[59] GameSpy's Benjamin Turner had positive comments about the main theme, but found some worlds' background music weak.^[4] 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.^[43]

Several tracks garnered extra attention and their own positive reception. "Hikari" debuted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart in Japan. It stayed at number one for three weeks and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks.^[5] "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.^[11][13] In 2008, Guinness World Records listed it as the best-selling video game theme song in Japan.^[13] Kalabakov complimented Utada's singing and the instrumentation of "Hikari", but commented that he was not a fan of pop songs.^[9] 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.^[4] "Passion" debuted at number four on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart in Japan where it stayed on the chart for nine weeks.^[6] G4TV's Miguel Concepcion was particularly pleased by "Dearly Beloved", the track that plays during the title screen.^[60] 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.^[35] 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".^[9]