Musings with the music meister of DLC fighters.

With his return to Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Cody also brings with him a new take on his classic theme. This new theme was the work of Daniel Lindholm, who also did a few other songs for the game — including those for other DLC characters such as Ed, Menat, Zeku, and Sakura.

Virginia Glaze recently held an interview with Lindholm for GINX Esports, where the composer got a chance to talk about the creative process behind these themes.

First up, to get it out of the way, Ed theme was loosely based on Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” as some have speculated. In fact, the similarity was enough that Capcom actually had them change it up a bit. “They said, ‘You managed to replicate that song, now please change it so we don’t get sued,” he states.

He ended up changing the bassline, this time taking inspiration from another well-known artist: Tupac Shakur. He took inspiration from “The Humpty Dance”, a song that Tupac did while as part of the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.

Among the themes that Lindholm has worked on, Zeku’s theme has become a fan-favorite. For the aged Bushinryu master’s theme, he decided to go with genres that today’s generation may not be listening to. Hence, we hear a lot of ’70s disco — something he felt went with the Zeku’s outfits. Said since Zeku does come from Japan, he eventually decided to substitute in a flute instead of the saxophone you’d usually hear in funk music. However, the unreleased Saxophone versions of the theme can be listened to on his YouTube channel:

Meanwhile, Sakura’s may be at the opposite end of the spectrum, with some players preferring the more classic sounding “Kasugano residence” stage theme. Lindholm explains that he wanted Sakura’s theme to reflect that she had grown up.

“I think the character resembles her growth from fanhood to womanhood,” he states. “Her character needs to be more mature, and that’s why we settled on this… not club-house, but straight-house music for her.”

As for Cody’s theme, Lindholm refers to the now iconic voice line from his Street Fighter IV theme – “Turn the beat back.” For Street Fighter V, he sampled this and cut it up, word for word. He also added in elements of New York hip-hop to bring life to the sound of Metro City. Interestingly enough, the initial versions sounded a bit darker.

“It ended up as more of the Bronx, as a darker hip hop. The brass section has been the same, but the bassline was darker in that part. It didn’t sound positive for Cody’s new perspective on life.” Lindholm continues saying, “He’s had this nihilistic view, but now that he has a purpose in life, I wanted to make it lighter. The intro was a small inspiration from SFIV.”

Of course, that’s just part of the interview, you can read the rest, including tidbits on his work on the music from the game’s story modes over at GINX Esports.

Source: GINX Esports