The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess "Twili Lamentations" 3:16

Azina's been wondering when her debut would see the light of day, so let's leave her in suspense no longer! Newcomer Azina debuts with her wispy edition of Twilight Princess's most popular theme, "Midna's Lament"! While they weren't looking to overhaul the arranged theme, the implication from the ReMixer was that each instrumentation decision was made with intention:

"As far as arrangements go, this begins with only small shifts. Fae-like playful piano accents electric guitar performing the harmonic structure typically played on piano. This continues until the second loop where a heartbeat rhythm is established in the low end, and choir-esque vocals underpin the very prominent main melody. The piece ends with a demure "victory theme" of my own making.

Extra notes: Care was taken towards preventing the -2dB hard clip and other conflicting lows. Significant time was put into trying to keep fullness of sound while also clearing all that up. Hopefully it comes through!"

Azina didn't have her production game fully realized the first time she submitted this, but some constructive mixing critiques from the judges -- including our own mastering matriarch in the Zelda-loving Chimpazilla -- set her on the straight and narrow, letting her nudge this across the finish line. With the production side tightened up, our difficult-to-please judge prophetik music was only singing praises for Azina's outcome:

"i love the delicate opening guitar work, with so much variety in how the instrument's being used. the fluttery, glassy burbles around the 1:00 mark are really nice. there's a bit of a break at 1:23, and we get a new feel coming out of that when the melody comes back at 1:35. the vocals are just light and distant enough to really add flavor without being able to focus on them - the spacing is really nice. there's an outro that's pretty rhythmic, and it's done. [...]

approach is simple but beautiful, and the vibe is great. nice job!"

Fellow judge paradiddlesjosh cited the combined powers of the ReMixer's instruments setting their rendition apart from Toru Minegishi's enduring original:

"Between the new accompaniment approaches in the keys and bells, the string elements and vocals, and the clean electric guitar, there's plenty of personalization in this to sell an otherwise straightforward take on the source material. Nice work!"

A lovely debut from Azina via her contemplative variations on an elegant, floaty source in "Midna's Lament". You can't spell Azina without AI, but thankfully we're not dealing with generative AI slop, just an artist working hard on upping her game. Welcome aboard, Azina! :-)