PlayStation 5 Bundle Astro’s Playroom It is full of amazing tracks, but the highlight is definitely his ode to the console’s powerful graphics processing unit (“GPU” for friends). In celebration of the game’s official soundtrack that will be released on March 12, composer Kenneth CM Young recently shared behind the scenes details about the process of bringing your catchy GPU-focused music For the life.
“I’m Your GPU” was actually Young’s first song for Astro’s Playroom due to the stage at which it appears, GPU Jungle, being the most advanced in terms of gameplay when he joined the project. Naturally, the song started out relatively barebone, but after a few tries, Young established a distinct sound with basic lyrics that evoked the feeling of a love song. In this blog, he provided an initial view of his concept:
“Before I even started working on the game, I was thinking of personifying the PlayStation 5 console by giving it a voice,” explained Young. “It hit the idea that maybe you’ve always known PS5 or somehow found it before, as if it were your true love. But I was saving that idea for the CPU Plaza area, as it seemed like the most appropriate place. But now that I was starting again in music for the Jungle GPU, I saw an opportunity to introduce this concept to the team. “
When it came to the real words, Young found himself walking the tightrope between wanting to include real technical terminology as a nod to the talented engineers who worked on the PlayStation 5, without alienating people who might not be able to connect with more obscure jargon. Around that time, he recorded a version of the song with lyrics closer to the final version, presenting his own voice before any editing was done to make it more robotic:
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Since it was the first track, Young said that “I’m Your GPU” had to “carry the burden” of the whole project when the musical direction of the game came into focus. That meant a lot of iteration and feedback from Sony folks and Astro’s Playroom Developer Asobi Team.
“You learn something from each small misstep and, if you persevere, each one leads to something that clicks,” said Young of the songwriting process. “Rinse, repeat. Then, at some point, you realize that it’s cooked! Composers tend to discuss work through the lens of the finished product, but our ideas are rarely, if ever, born fully formed. Musical direction is achieved through a journey. “
More work-in-progress versions of this track can be found at PlayStation Blog.