Music Producer Reacts: A Beautiful Song (NieR Automata OST) 

I just wanna say I really enjoyed watching this video. Even though I sang on many songs on this soundtrack I’ve never played the actual game so it was nice to not only hear your perspective of the music itself but also learn new things about the game that I didn’t know. Thanks so much for your kind words. On behalf of Keiichi Okabe, Emi Evans and everyone else who worked on this soundtrack, Thank you so much!

"the most beautiful thing about this game is not 2B, it's the music" truer words have never been spoken

"... When the most beautiful thing in this game is the soundtrack..." Yoko Taro: *Visible Frustration*

I was driving listening to city ruins and I drove past a massive construction site, the feeling was so real. Best music ever created.

The thing about chaos language is that is a mix of so many different languages that every person is bound to recognize a little bit of their native language in it. As a Brazilian, that segment between 4:19 and 4:23 to me sounds like "Me sinto só. Estamos sós." which translates to "I feel alone. We are alone". Like you said, it isn't actually what she's singing but it sure sounds like it, and it fits so well that I refuse to think it's a mere coincidence.

Fun Fact about the 8-bit version: It doesn't exist. At all. There is no sound file for it in the game. There is no sound file for any of the 8-bit versions in the game. Instead the built a code to convert their music into 8-bit so that everytime the hacking sequence occurs, they filter out the real track and play the 8-bit filter instead. Why did they do this? I have no idea. Guess they just felt like going further beyond.

"the most beautiful thing about this game is not 2B, it's the music" I totally agree. But I do have a soft spot for Devola n Popola also.

"Other than being black I'm also italian" Me, also a black italian: LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO💪🏽💕

Nier music is just godly 😍♥️

This was the hardest video to make & edit thus far, took me around 30 hours total of focused work, but DAMN if I enjoyed it! NieR Automata's music should be praised to infinity. Hope you guys enjoy it! PS. I was told I made a small mistake in the video, this song was infact composed by Keigo Hoashi (who's a member of Okabe's music team), and not by Okabe himself! Still, I think Okabe definitely supervised this piece with his expertise as it has different similarities with Weight Of The World - Prelude Version. You can listen to my analysis of that piece here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w80WSIBASzU.html

Interviewer: so, why does 2B have heels? Yoko Taro: Because i like women

Simone's story is just so damn sad "HE STILL WON'T LOOK MY WAY" she sacrificed everything for a desperate love only to be heartbroken the way it was

Simone's fight start as a sophisticated dance with graceful attack patterns. But as the fight goes on and you uncover her tragic past by hacking, it makes her go mad. She rips her clothes and start attacking erratically with jumps and kicks.

Nier Automata, the game you start playing because of 2B(ooty), but the game you remember because of what happens to her and how it's portrayed. It's always amazing how Japanese developers seem to be able to pull off things that you never see in games elsewhere. That perfect blend of gameplay, story, visuals and music. On another note... when's LA HEE reaction coming? :D

The contract between Nicole’s deep powerful vocals and evan’s light feather-like voice is absolutely perfect for this song. Evan’s soft vocals showcasing the innocence of a first love evolving into a dark obsession depicted by Nicole’s heavy, powerful lines. It’s absolute perfection

In my opinion, everything in NieR Automata is perfect. The music, the story, the characters, the gameplay, the graphics, the poetic meaning behind things like the androids.. This game caught me off guard and I adore it!

I just stopped playing NieR: Automata after 14 straight hours (only stopping to cook some instant ramen), just to enter youtube and see this video. How blessed can I be?

7:20 Oh my god, so I wasn't the only one that was hearing "Fa male qui nel cuore" (it hurts me here, in my heart) and match TOTALLY the character of Simone. Also: thumbs up because you are an italian brother!

J’Nique Nicole has a Goddess tier level voice that we are neither ready nor worthy. Absolute beauty!

The most beautiful thing about NieR: Automata isn't even just the music, it's how the entire game comes together to tell one of the most humanistic stories I've ever experienced. 2B's rear-end is indeed a very nice trick to get you initially interested in the game. :'D

You really feel it even more in game when you get to hear Simone yell "I MUST BE BEAUTIFULLLLLLLLLLL" and the speech distorts and transitions into the song. Like, damn. And the section you mentioned where J'Nique says that line that sounds very similar to a phrase you know always has me close to shedding a few tears even without knowing what it means. Because music is awesome.

This boss fight right here. The music is intense, beautiful, tragic. The tone of the song matches so well to the boss you're fighting. From a gameplay standpoint, my favorite part is how the fight is synced up with the song. The choir comes in a second time right as the boss starts shooting lasers.

Nier: Automata is probably the best game in this console generation and has hands down the best sound track. It's the only sound track that I listen to since when I have beaten the game (multiple times, as you know). Every song reminds me a specific part of the game and, most important, what I have felt while playing it. The dynamic version of the wretched weaponry gives me goosebumps every time. Also the song of the Eve boss battle is a masterpiece.

Actually my favorite track in Nier Automata is sung by J'Nique - "Memories of dust" the desert ost. I mean who likes to roam a desert that's usually known being a vast of nothingness from a general view. Yet for me the desert in Nier is full of something because of her. The intro tells you something good is coming when entering the location for the first time and yes it always sounds like you're hearing the song for the first time. The way her voice blends with those chords, 🤤🤤🤤.. my goodness. I will roam the desert with no objective listening for that experience. I even pause the game & hack the machines just to hear the different variations. It's just that good.

Emi Evans and J'Nique Nicole's voices in this soundtrack contrast and compliment each other so well in this soundtrack. Both outstandingly beautiful voices. Nier Soundtrack is just perfect.

When you were talking about the vocals of J'Nique Nicole, it's so weird that you describe it in a vague way "it has a certain amount of soul that I don't find anywhere else", but somehow it hits the mark with me. The way the voice is "deep" yet clear and powerful, it's very unique to the way Black people's voices are I think, and almost instantly recognizable.

I love your passion when it comes to discussing her vocals. I haven't been able to put into words why exactly this game's soundtrack evokes so much emotion and truly feels so different until now. It reverberates and resonates with such power and pure feeling that is truly pushed so explosively by her voice. At times it can be almost too much for me, and at times I got distracted while I played the game simply because the music was so overbearing and oppressive, but in a good way. So special and so unique.

If you liked this one, you NEED to cover Nier: Gestalt's "Shadowlord".

I always get teary-eyed whenever i hear any of the NieR Automata tracks. Especially "The End of YoRHa"... when the choir starts there i turn into a sobbing mess. "A Beautiful Song" is a masterpiece as well, but that True Ending medley just hits me like nothing else in the game.

J'Nique Nicole sings a lot of songs on this soundtrack, and you can always hear the *body* in them as opposed to the more ethereal sound of Emi Evans. And when you get the chance to hear them together? Perfect. If you like this song, you really should listen to the whole soundtrack, along with the original Nier. (Take a look at the music for the intoners from Drakengard 3, too). I love your views on these! Fun fact about Chaos Language: Everybody hears something different, like there's a certain song where I hear "You need to, right now" in english but (being mildly bilingual) also hear various things in french depending. Its because Chaos Language *is* a mixture of sounds and syllables from so many languages that your bound to hear something that resonates within you, no matter what language it is you speak.

This analysis was just awesome. Subscribed!

So informative! Thank you for making me understand an amazing song even more!

This is so good man! I agree about the warmth and also the sadness, great to get a deeper look at the science of how Okabe wrenches our hearts out of our chests!

"It hurts here in my heart" Chaos language is (in concept) all languages at once, if you hear the phrase there, at that point especially, then there's no reason not to beleive that wasn't the goal.

Ier Automata: the game where we came for the plot, and stayed for the plot.

Man I love your passion and analysis! Subbed hoping for more content like this!

Hoo boy, not only is it about one of the best game soundtracks of all time, but in the first 2 minutes of the video there's already a recognition of the musical reference to Ghost in the Shell, and a comparison to Sigur Ros. That's a lot of my favorite things in a very short amount of time!

YES REVIEW WAYWARD DAUGHTER PLEASE! Also, the song "Tsukuyomi's Pain" in the orchestral arrangement is very interesting as well, it's a suite consisting of three tracks from the game orchestrated into the full orchestra. Father's Pride, Lunacy and Wayward Daughter back to back as a single track. It's 👌👌👌

Thank you for the continued awesome content. Keep it up man!

I learned so much after watching 2 vids from this channel. Keep doing great work 👍

"Am i in Ghost in the Shell" that's it, that the moment, that's when i dropped my like Some days ago you said you were open to the idea of doing more analysis/react videos and i'm glad you sticked to the idea. My fav song and you did it justice, great job as usual PS: J'Nique Nicole did an amazing job with this song but my god knowing french makes it impossible to keep a straight face when thinking about her name :')

Congrats on 30k subscribers. The OST is so good! J’nique’s vocals are beautiful and so so soulful. Have you checked out her vlogs on RU-vid?

As one who listens to Automata's OST pretty regularly, I'm finding it really difficult to stay and watch this video due to me just wanting to drown within said OST, haha. Bipolar Nightmare ftw.

man those deep cut comparisons to previous works in anime and video games made me subscribe, solid work! keep it up

Please, react to Kaine Salvation. It must be my favorite track from Nier

After the persona videos, i subbed just because i was waiting for this right here. great videos!

Honestly makes me pretty happy to rewatch this and see how excited you were for 30K subscribers, and now, almost exactly one year later, you have close to 250k! Definitely well deserved, keep up the fun and awesome work!

You bring me immense joy Alex

6:27 This gentleman truly gets it! The real theme of Nier Automata indeed are "us", and what "we" leave to those who come after us.

Loving this. By the way since you mentioned it, the chaos language (at least the one Emi Evans made for the original NieR, which appears to be very much the same one used in Automata by the other singers too) does borrow from Italian, but also of Scottish Gaelic, Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and Japanese. Because of this wide mix of phonetics, you're bound to hear something familiar. Hell, I'm Dutch and I could swear I heard Dutch cadence in her pronunciations from time to time. It's a beautiful way to connect to people from anywhere. Now I know you're usually doing more intense music, but if you're ever going to re-visit NieR: Automata, would you consider doing Kainé Salvation? It plays in only one area with pretty much nothing in it aside from a beautiful vista, but the song itself is the most angelic track in the game. And that's not me being sassy towards other tracks. Quite the contrary, I love every bit of the soundtrack. It's the only soundtrack that ever managed to move me to just put down my controller, close my eyes and just listen for... I don't even know how long. Turns out it's based on a track from the original NieR and Kainé was one of the player's companions. Never played that game but now I'm stuck listening to her soundtrack.

Thank you for making a video about this. I couldn't quite explain to people why I love the game and the music so much, but this really does help with that. Theres not just emotion in the story but emotion in the music and they both enhance eachother!

You have so much passion for this, it's refreshing to see, I hope your channel continues to grow!

Wayward daughter is such a good song. Honestly i would really like if you have the time to review it.

Spoilers *Finishes Nier* "That wasn't too bad, it was a happy ending." "I can play as 9S now? Cool!" "..." ._. T.T

omg i loved your intro scene, got me goosebumbs

This is the best channel to feel goo about videogame music. Nice work Alex!

Dude I'm also Italian and I though that I was the only one that noticed that "Fa male qui nel cuore". It fits the music so damn well, beautiful. Non pensavo fossi Italiano, continua così che fai video molto belli!

NieR Automata's ost totally destroyed my whole entire playlist. Now I just listen to A Beautiful Song at least three times a day lol.

I absolutely love your videos man, it feels like the first time in my life I know someone else that can hear and feel the immense raw power of story telling through music. Music is one of the only 2 forms of media that can make me cry. Even if it isnt a sad song. Sometimes a song can be simple but tell a complex story and that moves me to tears when I hear it in practice. I'm just so happy there's someone else that understands. Keep up the good work

I LOVE how you also catched the "fa male qui nel cuore" cause I'm italian too and as I heard that and discovered Simone's story I felt woaaah. Very happy to see you pointing that out! Good job man!

This song always makes me cry. Like opera music always makes me feel such strong emotions. This one has such strong feelings of sadness, I can't help but cry

As someone who is currently playing Nier Automata, hearing analysi like these is always fun because it allows me to look at the music, and in turn the game itself in a different light. Also Wayward Daughter review?! Yes PLEASE!!!

Really nice video from u Alex keep for the best

Loved the analysis Alex

I am really curios about your thoughts on the Metal Gear Rising Soundtrack. I know it's a type of music of which you don't talked before, since i don't see metal specialized video on the channel. Of course if you don't know the soundtrack i invite you to listen it.

I found it amazing that the bells heard in this song during a playthrough were not part of the song but the sound effect of Simone's attacks timed perfectly to complete the song

Oh my God that Italian-sounding line that you described just brought me to tears. This is my favourite song possibly of all time and to see this in the first video of yours that I've seen just makes it particularly momentous qwq Thank you, cheers from Malaysia!

Glad I stumbled on this video! Most music reacts vids from other channels are pretty lack luster, but you did this song the justice it deserved. The whole soundtrack is amazing.

Man, Wayward Daughter had me fight Tsukuyomi through tears. I think it's a big part to why we even feel sad for Yotsuyu's fate at the end of the quest.

I would love you to do Wayward Daughter from FFXIV, City of Ruins from Nier Automata and ZOE 2 intro since you mentioned it. Would love your insight on these. And so many more! Keep doing your thing, I love your analysis.

You have a great perspective, this game and especially this fight really had me in a roller coaster of emotions. Was dead ass crying by the end of the fight and honestly throughout the entire game... A super underrated game with arguably one of the best sound tracks to grace our senses! Thanks for the video!

I love watching these videos to see just how excited he gets by this music. It’s moving seeing people being so moved especially by something that I love myself.

I'm italian and I didn't even realize the "fa male qui nel cuore" part 😂 someone pointed it out in the comments of a video and now I can't help but hear it, which is totally fine because it's so damn fitting

The game is about philosophy, about meaning in life. It has one reference after the other to great thinkers of the past, all hidden in the mascarade of alluring bodies and clothes to trick us. (spoilers) The machines were build to destroy humanity in the name of an alien species, but the machines were so hungry for power that they eradicated that alien species and humanity together. [Humans were already dead when the aliens arrived so if someone could correct me instead of being a massive dildo in the replies, thanks in advance] The androids were build to defend humanity against a disease, perhaps inflicted by these aliens. All humanity is eradicated though. Project Yorha is an attempt to give the androids a meaning in life again, yorha tells the androids that humans are still alive on the moon and that androids need to destroy machines in order to keep these humans safe. It turns out that there are not even humans left on the moon though. So why does Yorha lie? The past has shown that androids become empty shells, entirely void of hope and joy, without humanity they have nothing left to life for, it was their only purpose. Everything is pointless. The machines show that trying to find a purpose always ends in ruins: Pascals village is destroyed, The forest kingdom loses their baby king and goes rouge, adam and eve are both killed by their desires and finally the super ai creates an enemy just so there is conflict and war, killing itself in the process. The line between machines and androids is blurred, much like the line between animals and humans. The androids 2b and 9s show that they have conciouaness, conscience and shame, pity and reason. They are what comes closest to us humans, and they portray us. They portray how we deal with conflict, love and with decisions. I wanted to write this just for people that have this ignorant opinion on this game that it in some way would only be a japanese maid hack and slash title. its one of the greatest games ever created. I only talked lore. This vide talked music and tbh, just go out there ans find out about the gamemechanics yourself now :)

Loved this! Not only this game has some of the best music but the way that is implemented on the gameplay was great.

Just discovered this channel and this is awesome!

ANOTHER ZONE OF THE ENDERS BOY HAS BEEN REVEALED YEEEESSS

Music and its synergy with in-game moments is on absolutely unbelievable level. I cant even imagine how its possible for human to made this. Keiichi Okabe is genius no doubt

First video ever i see from you, might be cause i'm italian as well, might be cause i get goosebumps with this game and cry everytime, but you earned a big sub man, amazing work!

please do more nier music breakdowns!!! i love it when you nerd out while explaining OSTs

Honestly Tsukuyomi's three tracks are among my favorite ost so an analysis would be awesome

Didn't know u were Italian.. Mi piacevi già da prima ma ora mi piaci ancora di più frate 🇮🇹

Your video is very informational! Thank youu

Oh man I just found you on a whim and I'm so glad I did. What you do so much differently from other professionals dissecting/reacting certain aspects of popular/nerdy media is that you understand the CONTEXT of what you're talking about. It was interesting to hear the musical and emotional parts of what the song portrays, but more importantly to me is that you actually played the game and understood Simone's song through her story, and how it correlated with her song. I definitively want to hear more dissections of Nier, Bloodborne and anything you love!

All yes to wayward daughter! listening to the male chorus makes me automatically tear up for some reason. Oh and about the italian part in a beautiful song, the chaos language is mix of many european languages so it's quite possible that it is indeed italian that she sings at this part :)

I feel the 8 bit versions of the songs don’t get enough credit cause it’s such a small attention to detail but it makes such a huge difference in the atmosphere along with adding something a little light hearted and fun

I appreciate your review...I couldn't say it better with how you worded it....this track is so beautiful and I love what the composer did such a beautiful piece of art.

So detailed and emotional, thanks 😊

This entire game was awesome, no joke. First ever game thats brought tears to my eyes

WAYWARD DAUGHTER YES YES YES !!! And i recommend some Ar tonelico hymnos songs too

At the 8 bit part, when you started dancing, I suddenly started remembering how much fun I had watching all of the vids from your channel through this whole week. Then I couldn't help but to think "This guy is THE coolest!". My favorite youtuber, by far * --- *🎶

So play amazing. Her voice is magnificent and so powerful with powerful musics. Awesome video as always !

Ah Z.O.E, that haunting backward singing. Good job Kojima.

I have over 100 hours in NieR:Automata since I just love this game so much and what got me to play it was its soundtrack, it's amazing, simply amazing. And yeah, Chaos language is a mix of a lot of languages, mostly Latin based languages like Portuguese, French, Italian and some others. You can, if you listen carefully, hear a lot of lines that seem/are from those languages. In the first NieR it was much more prominent but as Chaos language was refined it sounds more and more subtle now but IMO it adds a lot to the actual song, and to the goosebumps. As a fan of all of Yoko, Emi Evans, Okabe and Nicole, thank you for this video.

Mi stavo riguardando le tue reazioni e considerazioni di alcune canzoni, non pensavo fossi italiano, appena l'ho scoperto ne sono rimasta sconvolta haha. Apparte questo, rivedere ogni volta come reagisci a certe perle mi mette una felicità incredibile, complimenti ;)

what a great breakdown of the song...thank you

Oddiooo già ti adoravo prima, ma sapere che sei italiano aumenta solo la mia stima bro

There is a song entirely in Italian in the OST of "Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex" (2ng gig as it's called) which is called "I do". I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one! The lyrics are also very poignant and very in tune with the theme of the whole series.

My favorite song from Nier :D I love your videos, they really help me have a greater appreciation for music and see (hear) things I might not have noticed before.

I literally got CHILLS when you threw in beyond the bounds from ZOE!! I listened to that song almost everyday for years when I was a kid, and no one ever talks about how much of a masterpiece it is! Thank you thank you for the throwback!