ReMix:EarthBound "Piano Meets Girl" 2:34

I love this source; one of the more traditional pieces on a very non-traditional soundtrack, newcomer Steven Melin (VGPianoMan) takes on "Boy Meets Girl" aka Twoson from EarthBound with a beautiful, short-but-sweet solo piano arrangement that uses every second & every note to give the strong original melody a heightened emotional impact:

"I've been following OC ReMix for over a decade and love the community & content! This is my first submission and I look forward to submitting much more content soon! My specialty is piano arranging and I've had an active YouTube channel for several years. I've decided that it's finally time to partner with your community to share in this passion.

This track was recorded on a Steinway B grand piano. It was one of the first pieces of music in a video game that sparked a passion for me to begin composing music - now my profession! This track was recorded several years ago, so the source file has a tiny bit of high-end white noise. I EQ'd it the best I could to clean it up."

The meaningful connection to the source tune comes through in the initialrestraint and gradual blossoming Steven applies, and you can't ask for much more than a Steinway; recording may not be pristine, but it's good enough that the soul & craftsmanship of the instrument comes through, in addition to the expressive performance. Judges approved unanimously, the common vein being that while it's not wildly interpretive, everything that's here is here for a reason, and works. Sir_NutS may be wrong that JSON is better than XML, but he's not wrong about this mix:

"Pretty nice pacing and use of dynamics. Simple approach that just works, the switch to adagio to finish the arrangement was very predictable but, again, just works. Although this was pretty by-the-books, it wasn't boring at all, I quite enjoyed it. Not every track needs to put the source upside down in order to work."

There were some lower-octave bass decisions that I thought were less obvious, and the overall genre doesn't land cleanly in classical, pop, or jazz, but generally I agree: it just works. Nothing too flashy or zany, but a whole lot of heart & solid execution on a very enjoyable arrangement of a VGM classic... good stuff. Cute mix title that also "just works," too. I was all in the mood for a melody, and VGPianoMan has me feeling alright - great debut, looking forward to more!