Final Fantasy 7 composer Nobuo Uematsu has revealed that it took “two or three weeks” of thinking about the game’s antagonist, Sephiroth, to compose his boss theme ‘One-Winged Angel’.
Speaking to NewsPicks and translated by Audrey Lamsam, Uematsu revealed that ‘One Winged Angel’ – now one of the most iconic scores in gaming – was a song he “struggled” to compose.
“Every morning, I would go to work and think about Sephiroth and write something – about three or four musical phrases,” shared Uematsu. “And then I’d call it a day.”
“And then I’d repeat it the next day: go to the office in the morning, think about Sephiroth the entire time, and write some more music,” he continued. “After two or three weeks, I had a lot of different musical phrases to choose from, and I was able to figure out how to piece it together, for example choosing which melodies came first and so on.”
Looking back, Uematsu shared that ‘One-Winged Angel’ was a “really tough” but “very fun” track to write.
The composer’s hard work paid off, however, as the song is now one of the most recognisable tracks in Final Fantasy. Since debuting in 1997’s Final Fantasy 7, parts of the song have also appeared in the game’s prequel Crisis Core, along with 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Snippets of ‘One-Winged Angel’ also played in last month’s Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, though the full track – a large, choir-backed orchestral piece – is yet to be played fully in the remake trilogy.
Though it likely won’t appear until the final game in Square Enix‘s remake trilogy to hear the full song, fans may not need to wait as long to hear it, as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is getting an orchestral world tour featuring “beloved scores” by Uematsu.