In 2024, the American singer-songwriter Loren Allred took part in a Japanese YouTube channel named The First Take, and delivered an exceptional performance of “No Promises To Keep”. The song serves as the official theme, and ending theme, of the video game Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. When playing video games, it can be easy to skip songs that are played; however, performances like this should teach us all to take an extra minute and appreciate the time that went into such incredible performances.
In the clip, Loren Allred is joined by Nobuo Uematsu, who is a game composer best known for his work in the Final Fantasy video game series. He is a self-taught musician who learned to play the piano at age twelve and began to learn how to compose from then onward. His musical style in video games tends to lean towards progressive and symphonic rock, which suits the fantastical style of the Final Fantasy series.
Alongside Loren Allred and Nobuo Uematsu in this performance is Uematsu’s band, Contiki. With such a delicate yet powerful track to perform, all in one take, there must be quite a lot of pressure on each musician throughout the performance! However, their talent and abilities make it look effortless, as they glide through the performance with smiles aplenty. Each performer is in their element in this performance, and it’s clear that performing brings a lot of joy to them all.
The First Take is a Japanese YouTube channel where musicians attend the show and perform a full song, but have to do it in one single take. For many artists, this can be a challenge if they are not prepared, but each performer who comes onto the show gives it their all and demonstrates their wealth of musical talent. The show typically features Japanese artists, with some of them performing anime songs. One such performance is from Hiroshi Kitadani, who performed the theme song for “ONE PIECE”:
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second part of a large three-part project to remake the highly successful 1997 RPG, Final Fantasy VII. The first part, Final Fantasy VII Remake, was released in April of 2020 and overall, received a strong critical reception. The third and final part of the project is, so far, untitled and unannounced.