The Emotional Power of Songs in Movies and Games
You want to know a cheat code to ensuring I have fun watching your movie or playing your video game? Just give it some great music.
Oh right, let’s just pay the licensing fees for to get the perfect songs in here. Or compose an unforgettable soundtrack—so easy to do, huh?
Ok, so it’s not really a cheat code. It’s just that it really feels like most of my favorite things from the past few years place a lot of importance on music.
Of course, music alone can’t make me love a movie if other aspects don’t resonate. I love Daft Punk’s Tron Legacy soundtrack, but the movie itself is kind of wack. Another example: the Star Wars prequels, like all the main Star Wars movies, have amazing soundtracks by John Williams. You ever hear the love theme from Attack of the Clones? Without seeing the movie, that theme would make you assume the movie must have this dramatic, passionate love story. Then you actually watch it and see Padme fall in love with this super weird dude who whines about Obi-Wan and goes on a murder rampage. Not even Williams can make that story convincing.
But when you have both good music and a good story? Then you have some real power.
As much as I could say about memorable musical themes like Star Wars has, though, with this post I want to focus more on songs—you know, sung music, as opposed to just instrumentals.
Why? Well, practically every movie, TV show, or game has some sort of soundtrack, and I could go on forever about all the ones that I love—but works that use songs, specifically, and use them effectively to enhance the emotion of a scene, are less common. And maybe it’s because of the power of the human voice, or the words said, but they can hit particularly hard. So yeah, they’re what I want to talk about.
Three Types
Now, as far as I can tell, there are basically three different ways for songs to show up in a movie or television show.
First is the musical. That’s where the characters are singing in all sorts of different story moments, but none of them think it’s weird or acknowledge it at all. You could replace the songs with dialogue, and the story itself wouldn’t change, just the method of delivery (which would change the whole experience). I’ve seen like two stage musicals total, so I can’t really speak on those (I guess I’ve seen a few more school productions of musicals too). I may not have a lot of interest in the theater, but when it comes to movies, I know some people are very anti-musical. And I just have to ask them: what made you hate fun?
Then you have movies that aren’t musicals but feature songs that the characters are, in the reality of the story, hearing or possibly performing themselves. Any movie that’s about musicians tends to fall into this category, for obvious reasons. There are plenty of other reasons characters might hear a song, of course, because music is a big part of real life, too. I’m pretty sure some musicals actually overlap with this category, too—in some cases, music is a subject of the actual story and the device by which key story moments are told. But again, I’m not the expert.
And third, there are songs that, like a movie’s score, aren’t performed or heard by any characters and are just there for the audience’s sake.
The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are technically in the second category, since the songs you hear are what Peter is actually listening to on his Walkman, but they also feel like the third.
Video games are most commonly the third category, though the second can definitely happen too. I would say there aren’t any video game musicals, but I think one actually came out last year, so, good for that game.
I identify these categories simply because as I thought about this topic, I found it interesting how different ways of using songs in telling stories can all be incredibly powerful and can do some serious emotional heavy lifting.
So now I’m gonna talk about specific works I love.
Bocchi the Rock
Bocchi the Rock was a surprise anime smash hit in 2022. Not only was the manga it’s adapted from already a funny series with an incredibly relatable depiction of social anxiety, the anime went all-out in creating the songs of the fictional Kessoku Band, recruiting many prominent J-Rock musicians to compose them. You already know that I personally am crazy for the series and its songs.
One of the most powerful tricks manga can pull is the page-turn that reveals a full-page panel. I think these moments often lose some impact when they get turned into anime. In Bocchi, though, the opposite is true of these scenes. Even though seeing a rare full-page panel in a 4-panel manga is certainly impactful, it doesn’t compare to the energy of the anime’s live performances—they’re absolutely electric.
Red Dead Redemption II
The first thing I think of when I think about Red Dead Redemption II’s music is usually this moment a long way into the story. You make it back to the US after being stuck on an island for a bit, and it’s nighttime. You get on a horse to return to the camp, and when you do, this song “Unshaken” starts playing. There’s no talking, no shooting. You ride back hearing only this song. And it’s one of the greatest moments of the game.
As you approach the end of Arthur Morgan’s story, you will get the chance to reflect on the path you’ve chosen with an absolute tearjerker of a song to go with it.
But on the other end of the emotional spectrum, at a certain point you get “The Housebuilding Song,” which is just absolute an absolute delight.
All these unforgettable tracks and many more only play once each during the course of the story, which helps those big story moments feel incredibly important and distinct. Meanwhile, music for time spent wandering freely around the world is more subtle and unstructured, so you won’t get bored of it (or even really remember much of it). This game has its detractors, but who can deny the greatness of that soundtrack?
Your Name
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time where I was dismissive of anime. “Too much shouting,” I said. But I mean…doesn’t anime just refer to cartoons from Japan? Are all cartoons from Japan actually very similar to each other? That seems unlikely, given how many shows they produce. But when you’ve really only encountered battle shounen anime, that might be the impression you end up with.
Luckily, in 2017, a time when I still had little interest in watching anime, I watched the hit movie Your Name (Kimi no Na wa). And when the credits rolled, I felt so good.
Your Name is a visually gorgeous movie. It has a story with some wild supernatural timey-wimey stuff going on, yet a strong emotional core makes it easy to get invested.
It also has a soundtrack by Japanese band RADWIMPS, and it’s such a big part of why everything in this movie hits so hard for me.
The opening song “Dream Lantern” starts off very—uh, well, dreamy. But it soon kicks the energy into high gear as we get a nice sort of montage like a TV anime opening would have. It just gets me feeling good, ready to have a fun time.
“Zenzenzense” is the big hit song from the movie. It’s a high-energy, kind of pop punk-ish song, and it basically marks the end of the first act of the movie. It has this vibe of, “This is fun, this is romcom-ish, but this may also be a little deeper.”
“Sparkle” is a lovely song you hear during the climax of the movie. This is not what I’d consider typical movie climax music. Instead of emphasizing the high stakes, the song magnifies the beauty of the night sky in the scene. (I’m not spoiling nothing, so seriously, watch this movie, man).
The song “Nandemonaiya” begins to bring us to a beautiful resolution in the final scene. It’s calm and subtle, giving space for dialogue, yet increasing the feeling of anticipation for one final crucial moment. As the movie ends, the song backs off, but then starts up again as the credits roll. What a perfect way to bring us home.
So yeah, great movie, great songs.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Thinking back to the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which came out ten years ago, takes me to a time the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a lot younger. Guardians was so much fun. It was goofy and filled with stupid jokes. But it had heart. It also had a ton of songs from the 60s and 70s, which added such a unique flavor to all these shots of spaceships and alien planets.
There are a couple instances in this movie trilogy where the songs really pack an emotional punch. The ending of Volume 2 with the Cat Stevens song and the space fireworks—ugh, just so perfect and heartwarming.
And ending the third movie with “The Dog Days Are Over” felt so triumphant.
You know what else the third movie had? A crazy slow-mo action scene set to “No Sleep Til Brooklyn.” Now, maybe this song feels more overplayed than some other ones in this series—or maybe I just think that because it was in the Mario movie, which was overflowing with overplayed songs. But whether it is or not, it really didn’t matter at all, because this scene was just so well choreographed and I just found it incredibly fun to experience.
Yakuza
So last year I decided to get Yakuza 6 on Steam so I could replay it at a higher framerate, since it’s still locked to 30 FPS on PlayStation. Because I love Yakuza 6. But there was another twist to this, too: I downloaded a mod that restores certain songs into the game. See, the original Japanese version of this game as well as Yakuza 0 and others had songs that didn’t make it to the western release because Sega didn’t think it was worth it to pay the licensing fees at that time. As the series grew in popularity globally, they changed their minds, and ever since Judgment and Kiwami 2, we’ve gotten all the songs.
Keep in mind, the removed songs were replaced with original music, so it’s not like you’re just getting silence.
But man, putting the songs back where they belong really does make a difference. At least for Yakuza 6.
They’re these emotional ballads with a more traditional folk song sound, and they really fit both the family-centered storyline and the more rural Hiroshima setting. There’s probably some background to it I don’t even know about, to be honest. I just know the songs sound good and really made the scenes they were in more memorable.
I could talk about Infinite Wealth since the whole subtitle of the game comes from a song that plays at the end, but I already made that post. Great song though.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Sayonara Wild Hearts is described as a “pop album video game,” and once I heard that pitch, I knew I had to play it. It’s a rhythm game—rhythm-action, really—with a story you can play through in less than an hour. You get to take the protagonist on a journey across a dreamscape via motorbike on a quest to overcome heartbreak. I think it’s great.
You start off with a few brief instrumental tracks that ease you into the flow of the game. But I’m never gonna forget that first song. The one that goes like “Begin agaaaaaain, begin agaaaaaain.” You’re going through this crazy nighttime city, trying not to crash. The song and the design of the course you navigate through are so tightly coupled, it makes for a thrilling and emotional experience.
I tried to listen to the songs on their own, but most of them didn’t do much for me without the bike-riding gameplay, to be honest. But is that really such a bad thing? It’s not meant to be just an album—it’s a video game, and the songs are tightly coupled to the gameplay.
The songs are all original, though an arrangement of “Clair de lune” is part of the soundtrack too—and it’s used to great effect, I gotta say.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a simple story told with few words, and it’s very satisfying to play through. I highly encourage you to give it a try.
And frankly, games that feature original music as a core sales pitch of the product are something I’d like to see more of.
Disney Musicals
Like I said before, I don’t know much about musicals generally, but I do know Disney Animation Studio musicals. There was a time in my life (other than childhood) where I was pretty enthusiastic about Disney, actually. And fortunately, the movie Frozen released within that period.
Frozen was such a big hit that eventually everyone got sick of it, but its success was no fluke. I think most people who saw the movie early were really impressed by it.
I certainly remember when I first saw it. The movie actually opens with this choral number over the studio logos and title, and boy do I think that’s great. And right after that, you get a song from random dudes, introducing us to the setting that’s just like, “Hey man, ice is pretty crazy, huh? But beware the frozen heart!” It’s not the type of song kids are gonna be singing, but it’s such a good way to pull the audience into the story.
Then later you get the big showstopper of course with “Let It Go,” which is also the one that became the most overplayed. But it really was such a memorable moment, seeing that for the first time. The song is well-constructed and sounds very modern, the singing is (obviously) great, the sequence is visually engaging and beautiful.
My complaint with this movie is, to be very brief, the rushed ending. Maybe they should’ve added another song.
I think I prefer to watch Tangled, overall, but man, the songs in Tangled just did not feel as fresh, as fun as they were. (“Ive Got a Dream” is the funnest one, of course).
The biggest Disney musical classics are from the 90s, of course. I probably don’t even need to namedrop them, because some of those musical sequences are so iconic. “A Whole New World?” Come on, you’re never gonna forget that. That part in Beauty in the Beast where she runs up the hill? Gorgeous. Powerful.
Oh no. I just remembered how bad the live action version of that was. There’s a reason I’ve made a point of not watching every live action Disney movie that’s come out since.
Anyway though, yeah. The musical Disney movies always seem to have more CULTURAL IMPACT™ than the non-musicals. Except for that most recent one. Which I haven’t watched yet. Apparently the studio’s new renaissance era ended quite a while ago. Encanto was good though.
A few tearjerker songs appearing near the end of their respective movies
At some point in my life, having tears in my eyes at the movie theater became a much more frequent occasion. I’m not entirely sure why. But I like it.
A few years back I watched the Mamoru Hosoda movie Belle (Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime) when it came to theaters in the states. To be honest, through much of the movie, I felt somewhat frustrated. Even on rewatches, I found the motivations and actions of the main character to be kind of confusing. But I’ve gotta say, there’s this part towards the end where there’s a big concert and the whole crowd is singing too. That made me cry.
Let’s see, what else? Yeah, the Billie Eilish song in Barbie definitely did it, and not just because of the song. All the real home video footage onscreen, it felt like a celebration of being alive. But definitely the song was to blame too.
You ever watch the Pixar movie Coco? Thinking back to my three categories, it falls into the second. At the beginning of the movie, it’s like, “Ah, ‘Remember Me,’ what a fun song!” and then at the end of the movie “Remember Me” is like “Try Not To Cry Challenge.”
Anime endings in general
Anime, as a category, is famous for its hype opening sequences. As it should be. A good opening is a wonderful thing. A great song combined with well-directed visuals that show you what the series is all about and make manga readers point at the screen like that meme image—who can deny the appeal of that? Don’t forget the part where, right when the chorus hits, you get the most action-packed part of the opening. The camera might be going in a circle, or characters might be fighting in midair. Call it cliche but I simply can’t deny the thrill of it.
Anime endings are less discussed, however, because they usually don’t feature much animation. But honestly, endings are where I feel a real emotional bond with an anime. You go through a twenty-something minute episode, and suddenly, while you’re only getting more invested in this ongoing story, you find that you’ve reached the end as you hear music start to play. Endings are just so closely linked with my reactions to stories.
The way the music is edited can really make these special, too. Sometimes you just play the ending like normal. But in other cases, you let the song come in early, and then transition to the ending at the right moment.
Oshi no Ko had the music come in early in pretty much every episode—nothing like the feeling of wanting to get up and dance before the credits come in—but they also did a cool thing once where they had a string part come in with the melody of the chorus, before bringing in the song like normal. And suddenly an already memorable moment becomes even more memorable.
One of the first anime series I watched was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The fourth ending sequence, which features the song “Shukan Sentimental,” is so hype! I was feeling like, “Aw man, things are really gettin real here.” The cool animation of the circular tunnel adds to the exciting feeling, but the song, as usual, is the main factor setting the tone.
I feel like I’ve gotten the feels from so many different anime endings that it’s hard to even narrow down which ones to talk about. I am intrigued by the ending songs for Insomniacs After School because even though I was lukewarm on the show, the late night vibe of this song is so strong that I can’t forget it.
Speaking of late nights, the series Yofukashi no Uta, or Call of the Night, was inspired by a song of the same name by Creepy Nuts. And then the song actually became the ending to the anime. Song’s a banger. Actually, that whole anime is another example of using music alongside beautiful visuals to create an unforgettable impression.
One anime ending I really associate with heartbreak is Toradora’s second ending “Orange.” Something about when it ends with the harmonized “suki da yo” just really gets to me, man. It’s a fun, lighthearted show, but it still really makes me care a ton about teenagers’ emotions.
But if we want to talk about getting the feels from anime endings, I gotta talk about what I know best: Love Live. Just about all the Love Live endings tug at my heartstrings. They have a tradition of including string parts that add some extra layers of harmony, and that definitely is a big part of why—violin is kind of known as a “sad” instrument, right? But overall, I don’t know if I can fully explain why these are so emotional. Lots of anime have ending songs sung by the characters in the show (like Toradora). But with µ’s or Aqours, it feels a little different, because being a singing group is kind of their whole thing. You get to know each character and see them encounter challenges at different points in the story. But then, with very few exceptions, each episode is gonna end with this same song, where the same characters you’ve been watching (or at least some of them, because only some episodes feature the ending song sung by everyone) come together to share in the joy of singing and being together.
The way there’s always a left-to-right motion repeated in rhythm at some point in the sequence really magnifies the feeling of unity, too. Except then mean old Superstar season 2 had to go and break the tradition. (Nijigasaki also broke the tradition but they’re a different kind of story; they’re exempt anyway).
But yeah, that’s my best guess for why these ending sequences started to resonate with me so much.
Oh and then you actually factor in the lyrics? “I'm feeling happy, so I'll go see you. I'm feeling lonely, so I'll go see you.” (Translation from the wiki). Now you may look at those and say, “Uh, so what?” But to me, when it’s sung in the way it is, it’s a pure, heartfelt expression of loving someone. Something all humans can relate to. I hope.
And what about Love Live Sunshine’s second ending?
Try and be brave
I know it's actually scary
It's not like I was able to do it from the start eitherI messed up a lot
I was really frustrated
But that gave me strength, so don't give upYour eyes are wet, saying they want to try believing
Say bye bye to your hesitation and tears
Now, let's go!
This is what this story is all about!! And the image of Chika running forward, never once looking back, just symbolizes her character so perfectly! (And just wait until episode 11 of season 2. Oh man).
Of course, then you have Nijigasaki’s ending, and like I said, that’s a very different story—one that I felt less invested in. But after a while, the ending song still made me emotional just with the sheer beauty of it. Those multiple key changes, followed by the resolution on the chorus are just powerful! So maybe these songwriters are just straight-up good! (Actually I just looked it up and this particular song and the Sunshine song I was just talking about are by the same composer. Also “Mitaiken HORIZON,” which has similarly beautiful key changes).
Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow
What? Dude wants to talk about Love Live even more?! I know, but the thing is, I got the whole idea for this post when I was trying to write a review on the Love Live Sunshine movie and struggling to see the point of a normal review. So this is what it evolved into.
This movie, which picks up right where season 2 left off, has songs that I think would have to go in my “musicals” category. I think a lot of Love Live songs don’t fit in there, the way I see it, because they aren’t really telling the story. The girls are singing usually because they’re trying to win the Love Live competition, not necessarily because they have something to express as characters—though the lyrics still connect thematically. Season 2 ends with “WONDERFUL STORIES,” however, and that really is a musical style song that just ties up the whole journey Aqours went on. Though there’s also dialogue sandwiched in there in case the song wasn’t convincing you. Actually I’m glad there’s that dialogue because it’s a satisfying resolution to Chika’s whole arc. But anyway.
With the first song in the movie, it really feels like not only are they doing some recap on how far the group has come, they’re also just telling you, “Hey, welcome to our movie. You’re gonna have a good time.” Because it’s really that kind of grand opening number. And I like the part where the tempo and key change and somebody is going crazy on the acoustic guitar for a little bit.
Really it’s a great arrangement, except I wish it used real instruments instead of the synth ones, which just sound cheaper.
I get emotional at the part where it slows down, but then they sing “Zero janai, daijoubu!” (“It’s not a zero, it’s all right!”) as the song speeds up again, because that’s what Sunshine has always been about: even when you face something difficult—which in this case, is the third-years moving on—you rise again and press forward.
So yeah, this song is such a fun introduction for the movie. It makes the upcoming story feel exciting and important—which is good for when it’s following up an anime that had a pretty great conclusion already.
There are several other songs in the movie, of course, but the only other one I feel like I gotta talk about here is the ending song “Next SPARKLING!!” I really like how this song sounds big, but not too big. There are quite a few different little synth sounds in it, now that I listen to it again, like this sort of subtle harp-ish sound and the bells. But the standout features are the big electric guitar and the big drums. Of course, they make way for the vocals. And once again, it’s a case where the chorus is in a different key from the verses. Which always is gonna make me feel something, I guess. Anyway, this song is the emotional ballad to take us to the credits and close the book on Aqours’ anime, and it’s really good at its job.
The movie is all about how even though the third-years have graduated and Uranohoshi has closed, “everything is here” still. You know. In the hearts of Chika and her friends.
And the song brings the idea to life with a verse by the third-years, who, physically, are not on stage in the reality of the story.
This song gets even better after you watch the live performance. Ha.
Now that Aqours has announced their “Finale LoveLive” I am sure this song will take on a whole new meaning. Yeah, I’ve been feeling heavy since they announced that last Sunday, believe me. Time to make a Japan trip a reality next year, I guess.
##Persona
Why does the ending credits theme of every Persona game I’ve played make me cry? Heck, the Persona 3 one kinda made me cry even before I actually played the game.
There is something incredibly beautiful and sad about the harmony of the chorus of “Kimi no Kioku” or “Memories of You.” That alone inspires strong emotion. And then you think about the lyrics. And then you think about the actual story of the game. Try not to cry.
I’m not gonna say Persona 4’s ending song is as much of a tearjerker, but man, it still kind of is. Especially when it gets to the part that’s the same melody as the main menu theme when you’re starting up the game. Something about playing a long RPG and spending so much time with all these characters, it’s hard to not get a little emotional when you complete the story and hear melodies you’ve been hearing throughout the entire game—but now with lyrics.
Of course, Persona soundtracks are full of bangers; it’s not just the ending songs. But when we’re talking about music that heightened the emotions of a story, I really gotta shout out “Life Will Change” from Persona 5. The idea in this game is that we’re doing these heists to fix society’s wrongs. I’ll always remember the feeling I got from hearing the song (the instrumental version at least) as I was about to steal the treasure in the first palace.
I know I said I was mostly gonna talk about songs more than instrumentals—and Persona has a lot of songs. But I do want to talk about some instrumentals while we’re here—both the songs and instrumentals are written by Shoji Meguro anyway.
Persona 5 is really good with introducing a few musical themes that will eventually coalesce for one climactic moment. “Swear to My Bones” is an important one. On its own, it’s an emotional song. It lingers on this kind of melancholy mood for a while, until eventually there’s a change into a melody that may not seem that memorable at first but will feel more important later on.
I find it a little humorous that the funny flute tune “New Beginning” is also a melody that will return in epic fashion later on. But that goes back to, like, the power of friendship and stuff. Am I right?
Of course if you want to talk about climactic moments in Persona 5, the songs for the new final boss in Royal are next-level. You get “I Believe,” the ultimate pre-game hype song for the final showdown—and guess what, the guitar part from “Life Will Change” is here too! And then the song for the actual fight…. Dang.
We gotta go back to Persona 3 again for a minute though. If you’re gonna play Persona 3 Reload, you gotta make sure that at some point, you listen to the opening song from the original game, which is called “Burn My Dread.” It’ll make the game even better. You’ll know what I mean eventually.
Did I actually need this many examples to show how a needle drop in a movie or a well-written song in a musical can enhance storytelling and emotions? Of course not. Because hardly anyone would disagree with that argument anyway. The point is really just to list stuff I love and try to get across why I love it! Which is the sort of thing that gets out of hand quickly, to be honest. But hey, I’m finishing this post now. Hope you can relate to some of the stuff I talked about and maybe even feel like trying out something new.
And wow, I could talk about anime endings for way longer than I did, to be honest.