FF Music Original vs. Distant Worlds - Melodies of Life

Nikkolas

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So i heard the singer for Distant Worlds is going to be doing stuff for FFXIV. I was like "...okay. Whatever? I've never heard any of her versions of FF songs."

So I went to YouTube, the place to find any song you could imagine in a hurry.

Maybe it's nostalgia but I prefer the original singer more... What about you?



vs.



I'm just going to quote this review which sums up how I feel.

"Calloway is clearly a talented and expressive pop singer with a highly distinctive voice. However, I did not feel that she was the appropriate singer for the once-operatic "Distant Worlds" on the previous compilation, so I was worried how she would treat the vocal themes here too. For the most part, I found her voice to be a barely tolerable misfit for "Melodies of Life". Indeed, her emphatic pronunciation, pop-influenced stylings, and melodramatic elaborations are entirely incompatible with the mild and subtle melody lines of the original piece. It would have been much more desirable to listen to her perform a song originally intended for her voice."

http://www.squareenixmusic.com/reviews/chris/ffdistantworlds2.shtml
 
Ooh, I like the oboe in the second version :8F: However, I'm not particularly fond of the singer in it :hmmm: The first vocalist is much softer and better suited to a fantasy story, I think. The latter vocalist is a bit too clean and poppy sounding, more like something you would hear on the radio :/
 
I'm not all that fond of the singer in the original, I prefer fanmade versions or instrumentals... but the singer in the version above is not to my liking. I like the music itself, but not the voice.

I'm listening to the original now, though, and I really don't like the singer at all. If I had to choose between the two, the second would definitely get my vote.

Oh, and I'll shift this over to SE Music =)
 
I give a lot more credit to the Distant Worlds vocalist than the review - the original is sung primarily in falsetto while the 2nd is more belly signing. With a melody like this it's much harder to sing from your core.

I wouldn't call the voice a mismatch. She does a good job. Worst case it sounds like it's off a Disney soundtrack.
 
The second, newer version is awful. The song is meant to be gentle and heart-felt. The second just sounds like a classical-pop song. I don't FEEL the words in the second; I just hear them. The vocalist doesn't seem to feel the words either. :/ The arrangement is nice enough, but I still prefer the original.
 
That Calloway woman also destroyed Suteki da Ne by singing it in her ghastly style and in English. Don't like her at all...She does not have the voice type to sing this kind of song at all I think.
 
This coming from someone who's never played FFIX, but:

I rather prefer the Distant Worlds version, musically and vocally. I prefer the added "oomph", I think, rather than the softer first version, and I think the second versin has the more talented singer.

One could say that it is mean to be soft and heartfelt, but I find strong and more passionate feeling more appealing.
 
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