Its such a good catch that one part of the music keeps trying to pull you back, while the other wants to go forwards.. Because thats literally her character.
"It gives you this feeling of a lack of stability" How did he get Mr. Oshiro's character out OF THE SONG. A very unstable person with a very unstable hotel. He's both good at extrapolating meaning out of them and Lena Raine is so good at leaving these ideas on the tracks.
Not that anyone would care, but the character of oshiro reminds me a lot of a certain type of people, especially parents, who invents a narrative of prosecution in their own heads where they see themselves as dutiful, even martyrous providers, but never try to understand the needs of the people they think they are providing for. In the game, oshiro refuses to believe that Madeline would want anything other than staying at his hotel, and so when she asks to leave he interprets it as ingratitude and abuse against him, finally building up to the outburst where he attacks her. In real life, some people, especially parents, perceive themselves to be sacrificing for their children/partner/associates, but never try to understand what their children etc. really want, or believe that they “know better” than the people they are “caring” for. So when their unwanted “contributions” are rejected, they become indignant and abusive.
@@MusicTheoryforGamers fan fact some instruments represent characters like the piano and synth and the way they are played in the song represents the current emotions they have or the (like the piano in song 9 golden where it tries to rise up to be dominant but once the brushes come in it recedes into the background showing a setback of sort)
I love that the live chat chanted "Heeeeee ya!" during Confronting myself and counted up and then down during Reach for the Summit. We all have 1 braincell.
For "In the Mirror" the backwards instruments are most of the previous track "Quiet and Falling" in reverse. As for what the whispering says (SPOILERS): "Sometimes I... don't really know... who I am anymore. I just... look in the mirror, and... don't know who I'm looking at... or... who's looking at me. I think a lot about... where my train of thought is going... and it's not always a good place... and that scares me. I don't like scaring myself... I don't..." *sobbing*
i saw an interview with lena where she discussed going to music school basically being inspired by final fantasy music and being disappointed that music school for her tried to steer her into either "classical" or "jazz" tracks and talked about how she felt she needed to do both and more to make the kind of music she wanted to make
Oh my god… this makes perfect sense to me! I had a similar experience when going through my piano exams as a teenager and just being blown away by To Zanarkand on piano. I didn’t want to play any more Bach and Chopin (although to be fair i now as an adult absolutely LOVE Chopin 😂) I just wanted to play final fantasy music
Celeste's OST is amazing, but when combined with the original game and the themes and story explored in it, that's when Lena Raine's true genius appears and turns this into an absolute masterpiece. Entire essays can be written about the symbolism in each song, it's incredible. Take First Steps for instance. As you noted, the arpeggios throughout the OST represent climbing, as... well, what's what Madeline is doing. First steps sounds like a cheerful little song at first, but once you pay attention you realize it's actually quite saccharine; one set of arpeggios is rising, but there's an equal arpeggio that's falling. The two combine indicate a character who is immobile, who is stuck in place. The main synth lead sounds quite happy with its major key take on Madeline's theme, but the synth itself is uneven, uncertain, and in fact sounds a like Madeline's crying voice, distorted a little bit. It's less explicit than in In The Mirror, but it's definitely there. First Steps is about faking happiness while struggling with depression, basically. Every single song on this album can be explored like this. There's layers upon layers of hidden meanings, and it's incredible.
I literally want you to write a long form music essay for each track as you have done here for First Steps! Amazing writing and I couldn’t agree more. Take Starjump for example - the oscillating quiet arpeggios are like the feather breathing up and down - and then when the killer drum breakdown hits right as Badeline is starting to take over and throw Madeline down the mountain after Madeline said she wanted to leave Badeline behind was perfect. Simply perfect! It literally SOUNDED like trying to breathe through a panic attack and the breathing not helping at all as panic wins out. As a person who has experienced that exact phenomena many many times due to my panic disorder - I seriously was impressed by it’s sonic representation
I love his reaction for Scattered and Lost lol, the way he shakes his head, seems like he really enjoyed the OST. Can't wait for B-sides, Farewell and Omori OST!
00:31 Intro 01:33 Prologue 02:42 First Steps 06:20 Resurrections 15:58 Awake 18:28 Postcard from Celeste Mountain 20:00 Checking In 27:04 Spirit of Hospitality 28:50 Scattered and Lost 34:42 Golden 43:10 Anxiety 45:04 Quiet and Falling 52:30 In the Mirror 01:02:08 Madeline and Theo 01:05:18 Starjump 01:07:30 Reflection 01:13:24 Confronting Myself 01:17:34 Little Goth 01:20:32 Reach for the Summit 01:31:40 Exhale 01:34:01 Heart of the Mountain 01:40:08 My Dearest Friends 01:42:25 Outro
I LOVE how at the end of Starjump, the song gets all murky, and it's a perfect representation of Madeline landing in the pond at the bottom of the mountain after getting thrown down by the Part of Herself. You can FEEL how hard it hits her in the fade-out Also it's awesome how Reach for the Summit is the same rhythm and progression we've heard before, but this time it's ONLY THE RISING ARPEGGIOS. SHE GOT RID OF THE FALLING CHORDS THAT KEPT MADELINE IN PLACE BECAUSE SHE ACCEPTED THEM AS PART OF HERSELF MY GOD THIS GAME IS LEGENDARY
Re: your question about Lena's jazz background, if I recall correctly she mentions somewhere that much of her influences come from japanese video game music from back in the day, and a lot of _those_ composers have a jazz background. I'm not 100% confident though, so take this with a grain of salt.
You know, I’ve never been the emotional type, but I actually got teary listening to the ost and looking back through the memories of my first time playing Celeste. Reminds me of how my life was at the time, and just how much I love this game.
If you wanna hear more of Lena Raine, after all of the other reactions of course, I highly suggest listening to her Soundtrack for Chicory: A Colorful Tale. The game came out earlier this year and I've fallen in love with it.
I think Celeste might be my favourite of all time too…Ps, if celeste is your favourite game I assume you are similar to me and therefore you may really like a game called Outer Wilds. (Not to be confused with The Outer Worlds - a totally different game). If you like atmosphere, emotion, loneliness represented in video game and have any interest in space you should definitely check it out!. I’m a huge sci-fi fan and have played plenty of AAA titles based in space - to be honest not a single one of them was as good as Outer Wilds. Not a single one of them showed planets that actually rotate, actually orbit the star in the centre of the system, actually instilled a sense of wonder in exploration like Outer Wilds did. And it’s such a beautifully sad experience playing it. AVOID SPOILERS AT ALL COSTS. I wish I could wash Outer Wilds out of my brain so I could experience it all again for the first time.
One amazing thing about most of the ost’s is that they loop seemingly, most of he time when they change greatly, it is in a new part of the level. The resserections song is one of the best examples for this.
Yeah this is so impressive to me the way this works. It’s amazing that we can listen to the OST as an album of music, and it works just fine! But in reality thats not how it was designed, it was designed as multiple looping sections of video game “level” music that loops continuously for the duration the player spends in that “level” before seamlessly transitioning to the next “section/loop” when the player reaches the next “level” (of course in Celeste each of these “levels” is a checkpoint within an overall chapter). So the music needs to work in a loop without any obvious start/end, but then also play straight through to the next section without missing a beat when the player moves on. also Celeste is an incredibly difficult game! The player could easily be stuck in one section for multiple hours trying to clear difficult screens. i myself have 80+ hours in Celeste (All a+ b sides and Farewell) -and yet i never ONCE got sick of the music. I watched a really good RU-vid video before on how video game composers do this trick of looping into the next section. That video used Octopath Traveller boss theme as an example and showed how no matter what point in the music the player transitions into boss screen the music simply flows into the theme
I have absolutely no idea what half of the things you’re referencing are, but honestly seeing you just absolutely jam to this soundtrack, and simultaneously see an absolute art in it, is just invigorating. Thank you for doing this! Hope to see more soundtrack live reactions in the future!
I love how the Bass from the last part of ressurections is playing a crazy arp, resembling it chasing the main melody(the main character) but in reach the summit it sit under the melody like a strong support
This is super interesting to listen to you talk about (and a great opportunity to listen to one of the greatest osts of all time hehe) it makes me happy to see other people enjoying it so much! If suggestions are allowed, I absolutely recommend the soundtrack to A Hat In Time if you haven’t taken a look at that one already. It’s phenomenal.
Definitely recommend taking a listen to the Oneshot OST. It's a pretty underrated indie but there's some really nice dreamy tracks in that game similar to some of the songs in Celeste.
I actually recommend that people hear dynamic music like this in-game if possible, I think what makes this soundtrack truly great is how it transitions during the levels, and a lot of that is lost when listening to the OST versions. (But you can still pick up on a lot of things, like the instruments and leitmotifs representing different characters!)
i can't believe i was thinking about how you should review this OST and after finishing one of your streams I come to see your channel and 2 hours ago you reacted to Celeste lol
Since you asked about Lena's background, iirc she's clasically trained and has been involved with music since her childhood. She started in music working for Guild Wars 2 (which is almost entirely orchestral) and other games before Celeste, which was her breakout album.
I haven't played the game, and yet _Reach for the Summit_ made me want to cry from how beautiful it was. I heard it's about confronting anxiety... just finishing to type that last sentence made tears well up in my eyes ❤🥺
As a gamer with fairly severe panic disorder playing through Celeste was an EXPERIENCE. In a good way, an intense way, but a very good way. The music and gameplay and story are all in alignment and really illustrate how depression and anxiety feel
While my single favourite track in the game is 4B, the Summit’s recurring arpeggios with the lead note of the arpeggio crawling up the octave giving the player a visceral sense of going higher and higher and higher is my favourite part of the entire soundtrack
Your videos are an absolute joy. I watch reactions to soundtracks to find out what other people think of a soundtrack I love very much. However, you're teaching me things I didn't notice myself having listened to the tracks a few times already! Really great stuff, you're so locked into the medium and your observations are always on point. I look forward to watching a bunch more.
I don't think anyone else mentioned it *Edit: someone did* , but the different instruments, synths, piano, drums etc. represent the characters of the game and the interaction between them, which is really cool. (I don't remember all connections, but Madeline, the main character is the piano and the synths are Badeline, her bad counterpart looming over her and sometimes surpressing her. Scattered and Lost is a great example for this.)
I found this really interesting to hear a more experienced musicians ideas on the soundtrack it’s kinda eye opening to me! Especially since it’s one of my favourites!
Great catch re: comparing the synth From quiet and falling with a link to the past, I’ve got a pretty great year myself but it wasn’t till you said they could totally place exactly where in the soundtrack they matched
@@MusicTheoryforGamers the base soundtrack is ~1hour and the dlcs soundtrack is another 45 minutes. Some soundtracks namely one called “the uncertainty principle” you might want to skip after a little as that one is mostly some ambient noise
Wow i was literally just replying to another person here who said Celeste was their favourite game of all time that they should consider checking out Outer Wilds. Obviously they are very different games but i feel if someone appreciates Celeste they are likely to appreciate Outer Wilds and Echoes of The Eye as well! Both incredibly well made and unique experiences. I wish I could wash Outer Wilds out of my brain and experience it all again for the first time. The true ending of the game had me so overwhelmed with emotion
If you want some video game OST that heavily focuses on guitar in an extremely unorthodox but amazing way, I recommend giving "Zero" from Ace Combat Zero a shot. A lot in the community regard it as the franchise composer's best work.
Sir, you should hear the ost of the game Journey, composed by Austin Wintory. It was the first full video game album to be nominated for a Grammy. On his RU-vid channel he has a very good video explaining his songwriting process.
I personally loved watching you react to this. Slowly explaining while the music is going on, “live reaction” instead of pausing every 5 minutes and explaining. Also enjoyed the peace as the music went on not an over reaction screaming or an over exaggerated expression. Loved it and love you
I'm not a music composer guy so.I don't understand some of what you talked about but I liked your reactions to the music and this soundtrack that I love. I think I would enjoy seeing your reaction to the gameplay and story alongside the music so you can get more context for the music.
What is being said at “In The Mirror” it is not spoilers. She is simply saying she doesn’t recognize herself anymore and that feeling scares her. This game is about Madeline finding herself and be ok with that person again. Even when alone, because most people can’t stand to be alone with themselves.
I love how in Little Goth it's similar energy to that section in Resurrection, it has all that energy, but it's not in the way, it's not negative and angry
I won't be recommending Celeste b-sides and music from both Ori games because enough people already do it (very much deservedly), but I haven't seen yet anyone recommended ost from Crypt of the Necrodancer, The Messenger, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Child of Light, The Binding of Isaac (both Wrath of the Lamb and Rebirth have amazing soundtracks), Katana Zero, Nier Automata and Nier Replicant. If you gonna listen to any of them im sure you gonna love it! :D (sorry for any mistakes, im not native english speaker)
I really like these live reaction when I made a drawing. Thank yoooou ❤ It could be cool to have a live reaction of the music of GRIS which is a great game
Idk why but quiet and falling creeps me out like there is something there but in reality there isn't. Even though it sounds peaceful.......I just get this feeling of being scared
I love how each part of the level merges in the ost. Every shift is usually a different part of the level and it is such beautiful masterpiece both game and soundtrack!
I've recently started watching your videos and they've been really great to just have in the background while I do homework and such. I really hope you'll react to the OMORI Ost!
Best album I’ve heard, since i was eleven i have been obsessed with it, quite literally have spent the past few years spending all the money I’ve got on her vinyls and cassette tapes which was SO WORTH IT. My favourite song has to be in the mirror I’m so happy she’s getting the recognition she deserves
Chapter 1(First Steps) You start to climb Celeste Mountain. Anxiety is locked in you. Chapter 2(Resurrection) You awaken your anxiety and doubting self. You have to run away as it chases you. Not letting go of what little spirit you have of climbing this mountain. Chapter 3(Checking In) You find hope in a hotel, with a ghost friend. Until last second everything is fine, but he goes crazy after you want to leave. Great chase and sick beats all I gotta say. Chapter 4(Golden) You are halfway, you feel your anxiety is getting to you. You are high up in the mountains, knowing you can lose it all. Then out of nowhere, the wind starts to push you, and you must go forward with everything making you slide. Chapter 5(In the Mirror) You start to realize how much anxiety got to you. The inside of you cannot handle, and forces you to try and fight back. It's not enough, your anxiety is consuming you, almost whole; all you have is your hope and will to get through it all just barely. Looking at yourself, trying to make it all better. Chapter 6(Confronting myself) Hence the name, you are mad. You cannot handle your anxiety self no longer, and you must either set it free or make friends with it. It's stubborn, doesn't want to let go of you, only wants to set you back. You fight it, no matter what you lose or what will happen to you. After all, it's the only way to stop your pain that prevents you from making it any higher. Amazing boss fight 100/10 Chapter 7(Reach for the Summit) You are almost at the top, you can feel it. You have overcome your fear, you have teamed up with your anxiety. Nothing can stop you now, you are so close to finishing this journey. Victory at reach. All of the songs previously are jammed into this one. You can hear all of them, letting you know how far you have come. Chapter 8(Heart of the mountain) You thought you have finished this mountain but all you did was discover new things. You find your way into the mountain with the help of a granny. Now it's your chance to take the heart of the mountain, and claim it as your own. (Other songs are with some of the chapters but these are the main imo) I hope you react to B sides, and farewell!
Lovely descriptors! would love to read more if you wanted to write out the same but for the Farewell checkpoints (Power Source, Event Horizon, Determination, Stubborness, Reconciliation …)
OMG HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS UNTIL NOW. Thanks so much for reacting to the Celeste OST bro, I really appreciate it... You should also check out the CrossCode OST. It's a much lesser known game so I'm not asking you to do a stream on it. Maybe check it out in your free time or something. But it would be really cool if you did do a reaction ;) Edit: Also Omori, Hades, and JS&B
If you liked this, you'd really like Chicory: A Colorful Tale's ost. It's composed by the same person, Lena Raine, and is very good. Lots of chill themes, but also some real bangers in there.
Btw this is my 2nd comment on this vid. I'm gonna check out the most requested OSTs and build a proper Playlist to them all since some have DLC and many Playlists have repeats or missing songs (For example, A Hat in Time which has around 20 songs missing from most playlists AND a lot of the B-Side OSTs are slightly different versions of some other major songs so gonna exclude the least significant ones. I'd be very happy to help with that :^).
Was waiting for him to notice the motifs were the same between first steps and resurrections The slower songs definitely make good use of rubato. Golden definitely makes very intentional use of that bass synth and the tempo, it represents the windspeeds in the level. No wind, the arpeggios are very slow, the bass is barely audible Noticeable wind, moderate arpeggios, bass coming in in waves Intense wind, intense arpeggios, bass far more active than the rest of the song. When listening to the more intense sections of Golden, I almost have to remind myself to breathe. When listening to Anxiety, I almost literally have to fight to stay calm till it calms down again. The intense part of In the Mirror represents a feeling that makes me want to hide under my covers and maybe cry It feels like it's very easy to tell when the bass or specific synths are being used to represent anxiety and fear, they always create this very tense feeling, either an undercurrent during something else, or literally drowning out other instruments in others.
Gonna give this a watch later while doing College works! As always I hope it'll be a joy! Always tuning to see what's next! I really hope you get to do one of these Livestreams for Pac-Man World 3 for a big surprise in tone and flow of the songs, It is a very special OST I think everyone should listen to. It's also full of Leitmotifs to one main theme.
48:57 I might be late on this (and I am) but you're absolutely right, the synth melody that you're thinking of comes from the song Water World in Donkey Kong Country 3 I'm certain. I see some people saying it's aquatic ambience and it could be, but the sound definitely reminds me more of Water World!
Not a video game OST, but if you need good music for more reaction videos, I suggest “Strong Bad Sings (and other type hits)” which is a blast from the past from the genius minds behind the old flash website Homestar Runner. Some serious bangers in that album!
