He's just like us for real: Final Fantasy 7's legendary composer spent 3 weeks going to work and thinking about Sephiroth

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Nobuo Uematsu says figuring out One Winged Angel was a tough one

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Sephiroth looking at their hand in contemplation
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has revealed he struggled with composing Sephiroth's now-iconic theme tune, One Winged Angel.

In the conversation with NewsPicks on YouTube just below, Uematsu recalls how he struggled to compose One Winged Angel and could only ponder Sephiroth for weeks at a time. "One Winged Angel was a song that I struggled with, actually. Every morning, I would go to work and think about Sephiroth and write something, about three or four musical phrases. And then I'd call it a day," Uematsu says (via a translation by @aitaikimochi on Twitter).

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"And then I'd repeat it the next day: go to the office in the morning, think about Sephiroth the entire time, and write some more music," Uematsu continues. "After two or three weeks, I had a lot of different musical phrases to choose from, and I was able to figure out how to piece it together, for example choosing which melodies came first and so on. It was really tough to write this song, but it was very fun," the composer adds.

The good news is that, after several weeks of struggling to piece the song together, One Winged Angel has since become an iconic track for the Final Fantasy series at large. Uematsu's theme song for Sephiroth has become synonymous with the character himself, and has even extended beyond the series itself, appearing as a powerful Keyblade in the Kingdom Hearts series.

In more recent Final Fantasy series news, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Queens Blood minigame is so popular that it might get an expansion. That's not a guarantee from Square Enix's developers, but game director Naoki Hamaguchi says that the response from players towards the card game has been so overwhelmingly strong that it's taken the developer by surprise.

If you've finished the latest in the remake trilogy, make sure to read our full Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's ending explained recap for a look at what went down in the final hours. 

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.