Songs from the Planet Earth - Commentary
4.2k words across 18 entries.
Songs from the Planet Earth Songs from the Planet Earth (album commentary) Listen on: Bandcamp
Steven Universe's music is expansive, diverse, and integral to its storytelling. With sweeping atmospheric background tracks, recognisable character motifs and showstopping vocals, music is a crucial part of many of the series' most memorable moments.
Needless to say, the show has inspired a wealth of fan music across the internet, from YouTube to SoundCloud, all produced in a stunning range of styles and subjects.
Following in a tradition with roots in the fan communities of such media as Homestuck and Undertale, Songs from the Planet Earth is a community album that seeks to celebrate and showcase the breathtaking range of musical and artistic creativity that Steven Universe inspires in its fans.
From rock overtures, to acoustic ballads, to chill synth instrumentals, here's a Steven Universe fan album for everyone! This is a passion project by 18 musicians and 10 artists in tribute to this groundbreaking series. Songs from the Planet Earth is, and will always be, free to download!
More information about the album and associated content, including artist and musician links, and interview content, can be found at sfpe.circlejourney.net
Growing Up Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your music.
I come from a musical family and have been drawn to musical instruments for as long as I can remember. After picking up piano, guitar, drums, and voice (at varying levels of success) I focused my creative energies on songwriting and composition. I've been working as a composer and sound designer for video games and film since then.
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track!
Usually I'll start either behind a piano or a guitar and hash out the basic chord progressions I want to use. Nothing complicated, just block chords that inspire me enough to write a melody. I like to move onto drums next to get a sense of how those chords are then "felt." Everything that follows that is a lovely process of trial and error with different instruments and harmonic lines.
Q: What's your favourite (official) Steven Universe song?
It's Over, Isn't It.
Q: What were your favourite moments in the show?
Every Lion episode and every Pearl revelation (especially A Single Pale Rose). I loved the slowly unfolding backstory, and the tragic history that the Crystal Gems tried to hide from Steven. Every time Lion had an episode, we learned more about that same backstory from Rose's perspective. Those were always the most powerful moments for me.
Q: Why did you decide to make a track about [coming of age]?
I think many people enjoy Steven Universe because they identify with the immense growth that his character goes through. He's just a kid, but he deals with some heavy topics regarding love, purpose, and sacrifice. I wanted the lyrical narrative of my track to capture this moment in time right before he "grew up" (and grew a neck), and some of the doubts that he wrestled with along the way. It's a process many of us deal with (or are dealing with), and in this way, Steven is almost a role model.
Q: What's your favorite thing about the track you made?
I think maybe the way it navigates through different musical styles. I've never had an easy time editing my choices in instrumentation, but I realized that part of what I love about the original soundtrack is its diversity. There are jazz, chiptune, showtune, and trip-hop influences scattered throughout, and I thought it would be a challenge to do them all (and in under 3 minutes). In this particular case, it felt good not to have to start with any preconceptions about what genre the track needed to be.
Lapis Lazuli (Extended) Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your music!
Hi! I live in Seattle, Washington and I make indie folk/rock music inspired by games, webcomics, anime, and cartoons. Particularly gay stuff. I used to run Chibi Chibi Con in Olympia and I wrote the song Fallen Back about Undertale, if that means anything to anyone! I've made music under this name for years, but am about to switch to releasing music under the name The Kingfisher.
Q: Describe the process of working on your songs.
Psithurist and I worked on this song for over a year! She did the amazing bass and guitar parts of the track. The hardest part was mixing it (when you already have everything recorded and just have to adjust the levels and panning/put effects/etc on the tracks). I spent several months on that. I don't. Want. To think about it anymore. It kills me.
Q: Who's your favourite Steven Universe character?
My favorite character is Pearl! I'm predictable and I appreciate responsibility, what can I say?
Q: Why did you decide to make a track about Lapis?
I desperately wanted to sing this song, but I thought it was "too short to sing" (whatever that means), plus Lapis was seriously pulling my heartstrings, so I took matters into my own hands.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the track you made?
It's done!
Oceanic Flight Listen on: Bandcamp
I have been working on this since May last year and I'm excited to finally be able to release it! I've always loved Lapis' story (as you can tell) and I really wanted to do a rousing, high-energy musical tribute to her. Enjoy!
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your music!
I'm a hobbyist musician with a penchant for combining orchestral music with synths and instruments that should not be there. I enjoy spinning out nice tunes and harmonies and messing around with instruments until they sound right. I'm not a very methodical composer; I just make whatever sounds good to my ears and best evokes the feelings I'm trying for. And apparently, it works!
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track/illustration!
With Oceanic Flight, the whole song concept started with that big building chord right at the start. Then I wrote the lyric line, "free me, free me, free me!" I felt that the punchy melody really captured Lapis' desperation and fear of being forgotten, but it was just as easily flipped into a determined declaration ("take me, make me, break me!"). The rest of the song was structured around building up towards those lines.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the track you made?
Oceanic Flight is a big storytelling track and it goes a lot of different places, compositionally and instrumentally. I'm glad it manages to sound coherent even so.
Pink Listen on: Bandcamp
Levc:
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your music!
Im a composer, mostly for videogames but im allways experimenting. im also a writer in progress. other think, im not an native english speaker so, sorry if my english hurts to read.
Q: Describe the process of working on Pink?
I wanted to make a song for a topic that nobody would chose, so i just go with that. Also it was funny to me to do a videogame-ish song for this project, so i did pretty much what i always do, but triying to do it in a style similar to the official soundtrack.
Q: Your favourite thing about the track?
i think the harmony is really cool. also the instrumentation, idk i like to combine chiptune with some orchesta here and there.
Q: What were your favourite moments in the show?
It's valid to say that most peridot moments? if so that.
Q: What's your favourite song from the TV series?
I think one of the easy songs to pick is "stronger than you". i dont know, its the song that comes to me when i hear steven universe, mostly because it was the way i get to know the show.
WE ON THE MOON Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your art!
I've studied studio art as a minor in college, but am mostly self-trained. I mostly work with pencil, charcoal, and ink in traditional mediums, or draw digitally.
Q: Describe the process of working on your illustrations!
Steven Universe's landscapes have such a unique, light feel to them - I started there for WE ON THE MOON, hoping to emulate that with the space landscape. Then came about twenty sketches of just the moon base's shape, plotting the perspective and angle I wanted. Taking pretty much the single, front-on shot we get in the series of the moon base and imagining it in 3D space at an extreme angle was the most difficult part. I used a LOT of math, sketches, guidelines, basic shapes, and perspective tools to gradually build up the geometry of the base. Sometimes I had to remind myself that eyeballing the details, such as the door facade, was more efficient and sometimes more intuitive-looking than trying to reason out the math behind the perspective. I built out the geodesic dome with several transparent layers to render both the front and back. First came base colors, then curved outlines for the panels, and finally highlights.
Made of Love Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your music!
I'm in my final year of university, where I study Journalism and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. I grew up learning Carnatic music (a classical music style from southern India), and listening to anything I could get my hands on. I began to study Western classical music when I moved to New England in 2009. This is also when I started singing in choirs, playing the piano and, later, teaching myself the ukulele. One thing led to another, and I started experimenting with songwriting and arrangement. I'm excited to keep learning and growing.
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track!
More than anything, this was a learning process for me! It was the first time I dipped my toes into producing something at this level; other stuff I've done has always just been recorded on my phone and then layered in Audacity. Having to figure out the ropes, so to speak, of music production, helped me grow - and I was excited to learn how to actually make some of the sounds that I loved hearing in music. I always had so many ideas but never knew how to actually make them happen. With this project, I got a taste of that. I learned more about both the tools needed for the task, as well as what my musical tendencies are. It was also super exciting to see everyone else's work. The amount of talent! I was grateful to get feedback from the other contributors, because it made me think about things I never would have thought about otherwise. They inspired me so much, and made me feel comfortable enough to try things that were new for me. Besides, having a fresh set of ears is always helpful!(edited)
Q: Why did you decide to make a track about Garnet, Ruby, and Sapphire?
Garnet is my favourite character on the show! She holds a lot of significance to me, as well as many other people. Plus, Ruby and Sapphire are just so precious.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the track you made?
I loved playing with the synth sounds and figuring out where each component fit into the larger work (sort of like putting together a puzzle!). My favorite section is the second-to-last one, the little cover of "Waterfall Training Montage".
In the Depths Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Q: Tell us more about yourself and your music!
I'm a 22 year old musician from the United States who hopes to one day make music for games and TV. I primarily make homestuck fanmusic with the Paradox Music Team, but I dabble in other fandoms as well. My music is a bit all over the place, but I do tend to write weird ambient stuff.
Q: Briefly talk about the process of creating your tracks.
Looking back In the Depths was probably my most ambitious song at the time I wrote it. I really wanted to capture to Malachite's unstable nature and the internal tug of war between Lapis and Jasper. To do this I utilized a lot of instrumental contrast to represent to the two conflict halves. The more natural sound elements of the song are meant to represent lapis while the distorted synth and guitar are meant to represent jasper. While I definitely think the song suffers because the musical inexperience I had at the time, I'm still pretty proud of what I was able to do. Fun Fact: those ominous synth hits, were inspired by the opening notes of the main theme from Shin Megami Tensei IV.
Barn Buddies Listen on: Bandcamp, YouTube
Q: Briefly talk about the process of creating your tracks.
I wrote barn buddies for gems living at the barn. I wanted to capture that iconic old country feel. So I used stuff like acoustic guitar and violin to hammer that feeling home. I also combined it with some chiptune sounding synths to try and remain true to the sound of Steve Universe. This track also has a bit of interesting history, as this version y'all heard on the album is fairly new. I wrote the original version of this song around the same time as In the Depths and it had a lot more electric guitar. However, because of my lack of experience the original turned out pretty bad. Very little of original song remains but you can still hear bits of the original melody. It was super cool for CJ to let me come back and redo it and make a better version of the song.
Q: What's your favourite Steven Universe song?
My favorite song has got be Stronger Than You. The moment it plays in the show is probably the most cathartic experience I've ever seen on television
Q: And what were your favourite moment(s) in the show?
My favorite moment is when Steven fuses with himself after being split by white diamond. Seeing his entire arc culminate in him being able to be truly himself was really powerful and meant a lot to me.
My Diamond Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Tell us about yourself and your music!
I make covers of video game music! I'd like to say "I make music inspired by video games", but that's simultaneously not 100% true, and I haven't done anything original in ages (there's stuff in the works, though). Perhaps in a more general sense, I'll just say I make music inspired by whatever happens to inspire me, and a lot of that (but certainly not all!) is video game music, and right now a lot of it is covers. I think that's accurate!
I try to draw my influences from various places - I'm inspired by Japanese composers in video gamesand anime (Nobuo Uematsu being a big one, Yoko Shimomura, Yuki Kajiura, more recently Keiichi Okabe), more contemporary indie composers (Lena Raine, Chipzel, Austin Wintory, and of course Aivi and Surasshu), and electronic pop acts (Caravan Palace and Porter Robinson, to name a few). I'd like to shoot for something that kind of mashes all of these things together, which is some combination of ambient/ethereal, melodic, jazz/orchestral, pop, uh, a sprinkling of other stuff?
I like to straddle genre lines is what I'm saying. Or try to, anyway.
Currently most of my music gets released either on Bandcamp or Youtube, either on my own (links below!) or as part of Materia Collective's community albums (see: https://www.materiacollective.com/). Materia Collective is, by the way, a collective of musicians passionate about video game music and the covering of them. We're cool!! You should... check it out...?
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track.
So actually I was doing something else (a medley of SU songs) but it wasn't progressing very well, and then 2 days before the deadline I was like "screw this, I'm making something else", so I started a blank REAPER project and went, ok, who from the show do I like the most?
The answer is Pearl.
So I swiped a couple motifs - from "Do It For Her", "It's Over, Isn't It" and the memories in "A Single Pale Rose" - and built something on top of it. The vibe of the song is largely inspired by Keiichi Okabe's "City Ruins" from NieR: Automata. I like that song probably more than is healthy.
Threw it together in 6 hours and slid it in and somehow didn't get yelled at.
Q: What's your favourite (official) Steven Universe song?
Stronger Than You. Is good.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the track you made?
I like taking little motifs and stringing them out and combining them with other motifs. Have fun spotting them!
What Once Was Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track/illustration!
I really only composed on What Once Was. It was an experiment with instrument sounds, but I found it hard to continue. So I put the unfinished track in the server, and I don't remember how it happened but Grace stepped in and offered to finish it, and I thought her style would fit my vision for it perfectly. She overhauled the instruments, produced it to realise the sound I was going for, and bam, we had some album-worthy material!
Q: What's your favourite Steven Universe song?
Oh, this is tough, but I'm gonna say Peace and Love (On Planet Earth)! It captures a peaceful but critical moment between life-threatening conflicts. It casually juxtaposes life and death, peace and war, without making a big deal about the drama of it all. It's just Peridot learning about Earth with Steven, and coming to a gradual realisation that it's worth protecting. For a song that marks such a transformative moment, it's very subdued, and I love it for that.
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your art/music!
Not much to tell! I'm a hobbyist who likes projects like this, because it gives me an incentive to actually finish my art, haha! I've been working full time for almost three years but I recently got into university, so hopefully now I'll have the time to do more art.
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track/illustration!
The Murals [editor's note: since retitled to What Once Was] track art was trickier, and I actually spent two weeks trying to make another concept work. But the night before deadline I realized I had to scrap it and start over. So I went more stylized, more dynamic and interesting to look at. I actually love the end result and I'm glad I started over.
Q: What were your favourite moments in the show?
When Steven travels into Pearl's gem and sees Rose kill Pink, only for Rose to look up with Pearl's eyes. It was such a good payoff for the entire mystery and at least to me it was super impactful. Truly a feeling of a final puzzle piece falling into place.
Other than that I really love when Blue was fighting the crystal gems. She's my favourite character and I was thrilled with the screen time, haha.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the illustration you made?
For Murals, the fact that it's not the idea I originally had, haha. I really like Pink's pose and I think the starry sky behind the black silhuette of her palanquin looks really pretty.
Q: What do you like most about [the character(s)/location(s) that you drew]?
For Pink, I like the Utena-ish aesthethic. She's just a fun character. For the locations, all I can say is that I think they look cool, haha!
What's The Use of Feeling Blue Cover Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Why did you decide to make a cover of "What's the Use of Feeling (Blue)?"
this song instantly became my favorite the second i heard it. just listening to patti lupone sing this makes my heart ache! yellow diamond is an interesting, complex character, so i figured i'd play with her sorrow for pink's death through this song.
Q: What's your favourite thing about your song?
fun fact about the beginning of this cover: when blue (or i guess myself lol) says, "why can't you just let me grieve?", that was actually me crying. things just sort of lined up for it to happen, so i quickly grabbed my microphone and said the line! it became a little detail that i was proud of.
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track/illustration!
The first one with Blue Diamond was easy, I had the concept thought out from the start and simply incorporated a few more ideas along the way, like the flowers (tansy for Yellow, meaning "war", and a single lily for White, meaning "purity").
Q: What's your favourite (official) Steven Universe song?
What's the Use of Feeling Blue, I'm a sucker for villain songs. And I will forever mourn the fact that White changed her mind before she could get one.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the illustration you made?
For What's the Use of Feeling Blue, her face and the writing on the wall. I try to show some personality through faces, and I actually think I nailed it here; she looks just like I wanted her to. And for the writing, it's the most complex background I've ever made and I honestly think it turned out great!
Q: What do you like most about [the character(s)/location(s) that you drew]?
I just really love how elegant Blue is. I tend to really fall for the older, mature, elegant women in shows and she fits the bill, villain or not.
I'm Perfect Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your music.
Yo! I'm Mercy Rose! I've been writing for a decade, but "I'm Perfect" is my first release in almost four years. I couldn't be more excited to be a part of this project! I have another single in the works from the perspective of an ex that really forced me to question my own intentions. It's called "wHAT i wANT." If you like "I'm Perfect," I hope you'll give it a chance!
Q: Briefly describe the process of working on your track!
It all starts with the lyrics for me. They come as naturally as breathing. From there the melody and meter flowed. I started with the orchestra and piano as the main instruments because I wanted the track to have a very dignified sound. White Diamond is a classy gem, so the lyrics have that undeniable Broadway vibe. Underlying everything is just a bit of distortion and dissonance to symbolize how even the most perfect cut of diamond has its faults.
Q: What's your favourite (official) Steven Universe song?
I WAS FINE // WITH THE MEN // WHO WOULD COME INTO HER LIFE NOW AND AGAIN...
I cry every single time I listen to It's "Over Isn't It." Pearl's story and sense of identity are all too real to me. She's absolutely one of my biggest role models.
Q: What were your favourite moments in the show?
Watching Pearl grow beyond the pain of losing the woman she thought she'd spend her life with hit painfully close to home. I recently lost the love of my life. Moving past it feels impossible. Pearl's journey is such a reality to me. She's my solid ground.
Q: Why did you decide to make a track about White Diamond?
White Diamond is the perfect example of an overbearing, controlling parent. It was too tempting to explore the psychology of that Mother-knows- best mentality that's all too familiar to me.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the track you made?
I love how White Diamond's twisted perception was met with a deceptively bright track. The nature of what she's saying betrays your instincts. I had a lot of fun exposing this concept.
Q: What's your favourite thing about your illustration and the character you drew?
I think I like how the simplicity of White Diamond can be so imposing. That character design is brilliant. On one hand, you could see a beautiful and comforting figure, but something about the starkness and the angle and the perfection itself is off-putting. And there's something about the "static" in the background when she's portrayed in the show (and in my piece) where it really hammers home that there is no "emptiness" around her, as though that negative space is really "white" noise
Q: So, what are your favourite moments in the show?
In general, I love Connie being the butt-kicking, sword-swinging heroine she is. She's smart, determined, and fierce, and I've seen a lot of myself in her. So those moments where she trains with Pearl and finds her own unique way of partnering with Steven delight me.
Home Listen on: Bandcamp
Q: Describe the process of working on your track.
Like most things I write, it started with playing around with chords on the piano. The melody came pretty soon after that, and I knew I wanted it to have that feeling of safety, and of a story coming to a close. The end of the song subtly quotes the theme song of the show as a sort of bookend.
Q: Why did you decide to make a track about the end of the show?
The idea of Home was to capture that feeling of lying on the beach with your friends, looking up at the stars, and feeling free. Free of responsibilities and the pressures of the world, if only for a while. The soft ocean noises help to paint the picture, and the chords rise and fall in interesting ways to capture those moments we feel in life, and the triumphs of a job well done.
Q: What's your favourite Steven Universe song?
It's really hard to decide since there are so many good ones. I think Here Comes A Thought is such an evocative message that it's impossible to go past it, but I love Stronger Than You and Giant Woman a lot too. For just backing music, I love Amalgam, Obsidian and the music that plays in Serious Steven when he's going through all the traps.
Q: What's your favourite thing about the track you made?
There are some really interesting chord changes I enjoyed experimenting with, and to be honest, I liked the simplicity of working on it, since I'm a pretty busy guy!
Songs from the Planet Earth
Main album (1–21)
Bonus tracks (22–29)