Sunday, June 15th-

I used to post my music to YouTube and Soundcloud. It’d be annoying, having to make a video of the song… The process was boring, and ultimately took time from my day and space from my harddrive. This is all to say, I was looking at my YouTube this morning. One of the things I did really enjoy about that platform was recieving comments, feedback, and seeing discussion generated by the videos of my music. I had posted this video of a mashup I made of Meg’s Her, Kesha’s JOYRIDE, and Gerudo Valley from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and under it, somebody left the kindest comment, complimenting the way I was able to make the songs feel like one. I hadn’t remembered getting that comment, so seeing it lit me up and got me thinking about the remixes I make that incorporate sounds from gaming.

I’m also deep into this gay self-help book, and it encouraged me to think about what my 13 year old, closeted self would want from his adult self. And so that I did, and what stood out to me was just how much my younger self adored Nintendo. Hell, my present self: The Switch 2 came out last week, and I think I’ve made half-a-dozen remixes that sample Nintendo games in the week leading up to its release. And it just made me realize, that yeah, doing this kinda remix is probably my favorite kind.

This remix of 365 by Charli XCX features a composition from a Wii U game from when I was probably about 13 years old. It’s the song that plays for a level in Super Mario 3D World, which would be called Beep Block Skyway. Not the biggest fan of the name, but the song stuck with me. I made my own remix of it, like I was a composer for a Smash game. I had a lot of fun with this one. Imported the Soundfont from Super Mario Sunshine and used a few of its samples for the synths in the remix I made!

Then, with my song playing in the background, I opened my Apple Music library and hit shuffle, continuously skipping forward until I found a song that matched the remix I had just made. I only pressed forward a few times before 365 started playing. And that song begins with such a cute colorful little synth, that I’ve honestly always said is very Nintendo-like… And sure enough, it went with the Nintendo song.

I think I made a remix that would satisfy my 13 year old self. I don’t remember my reaction to this level, my early thoughts of the song. But I imagine I was a fan, considering how it popped out in my memory years later. I also loved pop music: Just as I enjoy Brat now, I imagine my younger self would be into it too. With that in mind, I bet he would’ve loved hearing a combination of a gaming song he loved and a pop song he jammed out to. That didn’t exist then, but it does now. And how cool, he was the one who ended up making it.