Amanda Achen, the solo singer for Flow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Shadowbringer’s Main Theme from Final Fantasy XIV joins me for a music listen and chat of the Flow Music video.
ENDWALKER SPOILERS HERE (Despite me still not being finished with Endwalker)
Amanda Achen Socials – – – – – – – – – –
@amandasingsthings
Suggestions- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
https://patreon.com/marcomeatball
JOIN THE DISCORD – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
https://discord.gg/zHVsbYk87G
SOCIAL MEDIA – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
https://twitter.com/marcodmeatball
CHAPTERS – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
00:00 Marco Intro
00:21 Introducing Amanda
1:38 Flow
7:07 Initial Reaction
7:39 Amanda’s Thoughts
7:55 Discussing Soken
8:22 Marriage proposal
8:49 Marco’s Thoughts
10:10 The Differences between Styles
13:00 Making the Mic your friend
15:13 Is Context Important?
16:00 Is Context Helpful/Harmful?
18:01 We don’t NEED Context
19:26 What Was it Like To Record?
20:13 Soken’s Favorite Singer
20:37 MIDI is Weird
21:30 Tessitura Benefits/Dangers
22:30 Rubato Chat
23:10 Hair Issues X_X
25:22 FanFest Recap
27:50 Practicing without Singing
28:29 What’s Next for Amanda?
29:22 Amanda and Distant Worlds (2018)
30:20 Concerts With Joe Hisaishi
30:43 Luck + Positioning = Opportunity
31:04 Artistry and Becoming the Vessel
31:58 Wrap Up Chat
CREDITS: – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Developer: Square Enix
Designer: Nobuaki Komoto
Composers: Masayoshi Soken, Nobuo Uematsu, Naoshi Mizuta, Tsuyoshi Sekito
Singers: Sam Carter (Architecs), Amanda Achen
FINAL FANTASY is a registered trademark of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
© SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
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Amazing interview!
Amanda Achen is such a wonderful performer, I saw her performances at FanFest and she was amazing: she nailed the playfulness in What Angel Wakes Me and the desperation in Return to Oblivion, and Flow is just… wow. I hope to hear a lot more of her in the future. <3
I really like the rubato on "Flow", I think it works great to pair with other version of this song, "Flow Together" (careful as a lot of the rips on youtube have spoilers), which doesn't have as much rubato because it has a rock backing. Would love to hear your thoughts on "Close in the Distance" once you've finished the MSQ for Endwalker.
For Amanda: Thank you so much for giving your all for your performances in FF14! Like you said, it really is about personal interpretation, but there's still so much to be said about a competent (understatement, I know), thoughtful interpretation being presented to someone, in this case your interpretation of the music that was put to recording, that helps drive it home so much harder. I can proudly say that Flow is one of the songs that never fails to bring me to tears when I really listen to it, right up there with Answers. (Also the band arrangement was sick!)
For Marco: Thank you for all that you're giving us, and the message that you're sending through your channel! It's so cool that you got the chance to talk with Amanda here, and you both brought up some amazing points. I truly appreciate the sort of almost insider PoV you bring to your analyses, not only as a talented vocalist, but as a performer and storyteller. One of my favourite VGM reaction channels by far.
I loved this so much. FFXIV has many vocal tracks that I adore, the performances are excellent and the compositions themselves are very creative and often very fitting to the story/context. Flow is definitely one of my favourites from this FF.
Hoping there were some real good interviews of the "voice behind the FFXIV songs" to me and there are and this one is great!
Achen says that it's not perfect, and that is understandable as any artist of any kind wishes they could keep on fine tuning their work to absolute perfection. But what is the entire soul of the song is that it is a perfect representation of the happiness, melancholy, struggles and endless hope and love that the story conveys. It is such a perfect song to wrap up the story with as it hits the same emotional beats that our entire journey was.
Achen did an amazing work in conveying the complexities and the emotions of the ten year long journey, and at the same time, conveying the warmth and homely feel of hope.
Thank you for this interview!
No words, just chills and flow of tears every time I hear this song! Loved this video too.
What headphones would you suggest we use to increase the inmersion?
can you react to Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn Cinematic and the Song '' Answer'' ?
There are only two songs that make me cry every time I listen to it and this is one of them. An incredible performance for an incredible story.
Edit: maybe the other song would be a good one to react to, it's Cara Mia Addio from Portal 2
Was there an issue with the audio? When you speak, it seems to mute Amanda even on your end, and you're a little louder than she is. It's a shame; I think we missed a couple of her answers, though it was enjoyable to see her reactions to the questions.
this song is so powerful… just listening to it made my eyes water from all the emotions, i love it!
Fantastic interview. I always love the technical insight!
I LOVE AMANDA.. I love her so much!! Such an angel!
will you do a reaction on this again when you finish endwalker? 🙂
Please react to
At what cost- fire emblem three houses
End of all- fire emblem fates
As someone who played French Horn in a junior symphony in High School and got stuck playing Wagner…I completely understand the 'I regret not asking for a lower key'. XD I still feel the pain trying to play in the upper register for 5-10 minutes straight with 4-5 total measures of rest.
That said, this must have been an extremely difficult project to record, particularly going off MIDI files during composition. It's a dang credit to Achen's work to nail the emotions in these songs so well. Part of me is also wondering if some of the 'imperfect' takes were deliberately chosen. I remember stories from the making of The Little Mermaid, and that Howard Ashmen and Alan Menken specifically chose takes that Jodi Benson did not get 'perfect', but because those imperfect takes captured the emotion Ariel was feeling.
Musically and Lyrically the song captures the feeling of a mother's love but also a sense of an adventurous peer sharing their passion for exploring the beauty and sorrow of the world. It's such a neat bow to tie up the end of the story.
Hits me in the heart every time.
Amazing content, bravo!! Would love more contents like this too in the future if possible, where you feature musicians and VAs who works in game industry. Gosh I'm geeking out over this 😆
Jeeeesus Christ that is the hardest gut punch I have ever experienced
I love that song so much !! and Amanda joined you that was so cool omg ?? always left me on tears
btw I highly recommend you to listen to one of genshin impact new's ost, it's called ''Nail Battle theme'' or you can also find it by ''the chasm battle theme 2 — crystal cave'' the transition from calm to rushy battle music is a masterpiece and I'd love to see your reaction to that, I know it will give you some good chills. Keep this going ! you always hit the nail on the head without having any context of what's going on. Cheers !
Before watching the video, Flow offers something that's incredibly unique to the story of XIV. Within XIV we are made well aware of a motherly figure whom we got to know briefly, but have had always known her.
She's there from the beginning, and like any moment in someone's life when we learn our parents are just people. We learn how wonderful this person is, how they loved so deeply, how they love us so, so, so deeply. This song is that love made real.
Then, you can break this down as well in the context of death. The lyrics discribe what can be viewed as the process of a soul returning to the star. It's a reassurance that your life is worth it. Your life was this amazing spark of joy, experiences, hope, love. The choices you made weaving through and through everyone else's lives. And this warm embrace of when it's finally time to go gently, back to that process of living, knowing, and dying, you will flow like water back to the land. You will flow.
The most impressive part for me is that this song has no chorus or repetition. A leitmotif or two, here and there, but it just "flows". Starting small and up close and just ending in that huge operatic space
Amanda's voice is so beautiful
I haven't been able to get this song out of my head since I first heard it. No words of how amazing it is on all angles.
It's so good I put flow on repeat and could listen to this for 12hours
omg this is so cool! tell amanda I really respect her work and to please plug her other stuff so we can send her love!
I saw the loss and sadness of this song, but the last one gives me hope.
She is an amazing singer. Nothing but respect for her.
What's so amazing to me is how synergistic not only Amanda's voice and style(s) is with Soken's, but even her personality and general energy are a lot like Soken's. Just that sweet, genuine, almost manic excitement for the craft.
Thank you for everything, Amanda. You have moved so many of us in so many ways.
I hope you and Soken continue to work together long into the future.
This song made me cry like a baby in so many scenes this expansion…Amanda and Soken, I have no words for you. The gratitude and appreciation is real! The FFXIV community loves you <3 Thank you so much for this masterpiece!! <3
This song broke me. I wasnt able to listen to it without crying for a while.
Ghost of Tsushima: The Way of the Ghost
Amanda's song is my favorite in the entire game! And I have a weird conundrum with the song, because I love Amanda's singing the best but I also love the rock version by FamilyJules and Adriana Figueroa. It's so hard to say which version of the song I like the best but I can say for certain that I love Amanda's singing more.
One of the best pieces of video game music ever created, I've listened to it hundreds of times now, I love it so so much
Good video, btw you should listen the Made in Abyss ost!
Always happy to hear more from Amanda. Her not knowing the context for Flow makes her performance so special and Soken's use of that performance in the game is used so well that it emotionally destroys everyone whenever it's used.
Ah! Amanda! ❤️ Literally would nickname her the singing voice of Hydaelyn herself. I love love love her voice! Soken’s master pieces still make me cry and give me goose bumps each time too.
I still get chills
Singing along to the robot made me HOLLER!!!!!! Amanda most definitely has the range.
Before the song starts, my reaction is: she has such a fun bubbly personality. Incredibly talented vocalist. My favorite of the tracks she did was return to oblivion.
I think we would do disservice to not point out how amazing of a pianist Osaki Keiko is, btw…
holy shit!! grats on getting her on your channel.
This song makes me cry instantly every time.
Speaking on Soken and his sheer versatility, I cannot imagine FFXIV without him. It's just impossible for me. Very, very few times have I heard music in this game and it has not fit perfectly. The man has a way of dragging out of you whatever emotion he wants, whether its heart wrenching sadness or true joy and elation… sometimes in the same song.
when that part where you call her Venat and chorus kicked in…that almost got me to actually cry. my heart just shakes from that scene and still am now.
Lovely interview! I can't listen to Answers, Dragonsong, Flow, Close the Distance, or Hopeful Dynamis without bursting into tears lol
The scene that plays during this song is elevated SO much by this beautiful music. I can't say much without spoiling it, but I can visualise every moment of it just from listening to the beautiful piano and gorgeous vocals. As always, the music in this game is beyond outstanding thanks to the incredible talent that works so hard to make it. The game wouldn't be FFXIV without the music.