ReMix:Undertale "Toriel's Pain" 2:10

Big Undertale energy from Mexican newcomer Charlie Atom with his intense EDM tribute to Toriel! With some big musical wins already under his belt, Charlie explained how he's now tackling VGM to expand his reach:

"I got more than 2.5 million plays on Spotify, played as DJ in EDC twice and toured in China. My songs got support by big DJs like KSHMR, Don Diablo, Blasterjaxx, Breathe Carolina, and more.

I want to make EDM gamer music, I'm trying to promote my name this way now."

Congrats to Charlie on the success he's had thus far (now 5+ million Spotify plays, BTW); with stuff this fun, we're definitely in Charlie's corner on getting his name out there. Ever since Toby Fox's game dropped in 2015, Undertale's chiptune soundtrack has been a go-to for arrangers, with the score's copious catchy hooks ripe for expansion and interpretation, and Charlie Atom continues the VGM arrangement community's new tradition with this power-packed treatment of "Heartache". It's a melodically conservative but an extremely personalized arrangement with a well-designed sound palette, along with great dynamic contrast. Judge Emunator was initially on guard at seeing the short runtime, but as we've said, it's not how long an arrangement is, it's how developed it is, and Emu was attuned to what we're looking for:

"I'm inherently skeptical whenever I see a submission come through with just over 2 minutes of runtime, but I actually feel like the waste-no-time approach to arranging suits your track well here. While there is, of course, room for more substantial exploration of the theme, there are a number of breakdowns, builds, and other various ear-candy interspersed between the (admittedly repetitive) choruses to help this stand on its own as a complete arrangement. It lends itself to looping while still providing enough meat to enjoy as a standalone piece.

The production quality lives up to your credentials - the drums hit hard, each synth sits nicely in relation to the other sounds without anything ever being *too* dominant. Sounds like a pass to me!"

This initially passed on the condition of reducing the overcompression, and Charlie was also able to not only do that but also slide in a touch more variation for the last verse with some additive writing, so you'll be enjoying Charlie's most optimized presentation, retaining every bit of its punch while enhacing the ability to distinguish all of the great electrosynths, beats, bass drops, chip sounds, SFX, filters, and effects this piece brought to the table. Charlie Atom's debut is short and sweet, and you're gonna hit repeat!