My first submitted remix (Super Mario Galaxy ~ Luma/Sad Girl). Feedback appreciated!

[NarnianWarrior]

After having sat on this arrangement for over a year and receiving a lot of positive feedback from my (mostly non-musician) friends, I decided to submit it to OCR last night, but I suddenly started overanalyzing every aspect of the arrangement and production and wished I'd posted it here first. While it may be too late for the first submission of this arrangement, I don't think it's ever too early to prepare for next time. This is what I sent in; it's a remix of the two storybook themes from Super Mario Galaxy, and the title is "What Has Been (And What Can Never Be)." I'll paste what I wrote in the submission form here. Just something of note: I don't write music terribly often and it's just a casual hobby of mine, so I don't see myself moving out of Garageband anytime soon.

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"Hey guys! This is my first submission, and like all my EDM works, it was produced in Garageband iOS. Despite its reputation, it's a surprisingly capable little piece of software, especially considering that it comes free with every iPad! The only issue I had with it for this piece was the overly fake strings, but over time I came to appreciate the rather N64-esque sound that they have, which lends the piece a unique and nostalgic quality.

I've always adored Super Mario Galaxy and its soundtrack, and I wanted to do them justice with this arrangement. I particularly wanted to amp up the outer-spacey feel of the source, truly transporting my audience to the Comet Observatory and giving them the feeling of traveling through space with Rosalina and her star children. It is still a lullaby at its core, but it also has the energy, awe, and wonder that I associate with space travel and the night sky. It does also attempt to capture the sadness of Rosalina's story (hence the use of "Sad Girl"), but the overall message is one of hope. We may see upsetting change in our lives and see the ones we love desert us or die, but you can't chart your course based on the stars behind you. You can only use them to tell if your ship is where it's supposed to be.

Gosh, now I'm really hoping I didn't wax philosophical only to drop a mediocre track, heh.

P.S. The title comes from a beautiful but depressing bluegrass song by Nickel Creek called "The Lighthouse's Tale," which is another piece of media that, like Super Mario Galaxy, I'm quite nostalgic for. I also subtly referenced its chorus (which contains the line the title was taken from) in the section at 1:17. You can listen to it here: https://youtu.be/Jigp5IkagOY?si=eo79MChefkgdWYVv"

Any and all feedback is appreciated!

-NarnianWarrior

EDIT: I guess I should say that I'm not unhappy with the track as it sounds right now (aside from a minor problem with the music box sample I used). However, the judges may have issues with it that I haven't really thought about. I mainly just think I ought to have known what they look for before submitting. Oh well, live and learn.

Edited July 31 by NarnianWarrior