Crystal Kay makes an appearance at Distant Worlds and covers Faye Wong’s "Eyes On Me" from Final Fantasy VIII
Unfortunately I'd left my copy of Vivid at home, so I couldn't throw it at her. And my battery died as a result of me using my sound recorder and camera simultaneously to digital savour the event. But as luck would have it, lots of fans in attendance recorded the performance, which you can view below.
"Eyes on me" is one of the most famous and well known Final Fantasy vocal pieces and one which fans hold dear. So for Crystal to cover this song and knock the performance out of the park is not to be overlooked or taken lightly. Faye Wong has her fans, and rightly so. But Crystal found a way to honour Faye's version whilst making it her own. The second Crystal crooned the words ♪ I never sang my songs... ♪ I got chills.
Several other singers have performed "Eyes on me" and done an amazing job. But it was refreshing to hear Crystal sing it, as she's a new voice to take on the song, and her voice and singing style is very different to Faye Wong, Angela Aki and Susan Calloway's - all of whom have performed "Eyes on me" in an official capacity a number of times. Angela and Susan's voices are as clear as a bell, where-as Crystal has texture to hers, which gave her rendition a nice edge along with the pop and R&B slant she put on certain phrasings and notes. I just hope the studio recorded version for the Final Fantasy 25th anniversary album still features Crystal's vocal warmth, as it's easy for that to get lost in studio recordings of songs.
It's a shame that by the time she began to get truly comfortable with the song and put her own mark on it that the song had pretty much come to an end. But if she performs it from here on out, she'll surely begin to put more of a stamp on the song as Faye, Angel and Susan have done and continue to.
I don't think Crystal realises how good a job she did of this song and how "Eyes on me" stans were ready to pounce when she stepped onto that stage. But she won everybody over and received the most rapturous applause and a long-ass standing ovation for her efforts.
Square need to keep a bitch on a Rolodex for the next Final Fantasy theme.
Several other singers have performed "Eyes on me" and done an amazing job. But it was refreshing to hear Crystal sing it, as she's a new voice to take on the song, and her voice and singing style is very different to Faye Wong, Angela Aki and Susan Calloway's - all of whom have performed "Eyes on me" in an official capacity a number of times. Angela and Susan's voices are as clear as a bell, where-as Crystal has texture to hers, which gave her rendition a nice edge along with the pop and R&B slant she put on certain phrasings and notes. I just hope the studio recorded version for the Final Fantasy 25th anniversary album still features Crystal's vocal warmth, as it's easy for that to get lost in studio recordings of songs.
It's a shame that by the time she began to get truly comfortable with the song and put her own mark on it that the song had pretty much come to an end. But if she performs it from here on out, she'll surely begin to put more of a stamp on the song as Faye, Angel and Susan have done and continue to.
I don't think Crystal realises how good a job she did of this song and how "Eyes on me" stans were ready to pounce when she stepped onto that stage. But she won everybody over and received the most rapturous applause and a long-ass standing ovation for her efforts.
Square need to keep a bitch on a Rolodex for the next Final Fantasy theme.
I don't have any comments on who sings it better, I'm just glad she did a great job with the song.
ReplyDeleteOf all the other singers that have tried to sing this song, I think CK did it the best [not counting Faye]. Her voice is lovely and she did good - although she did have a shaky start and sometimes I think her voice is so strong that it doesn't convey the vulnerability of the song. I have to disagree with her outdoing Faye though.
ReplyDeleteI never found Faye's version to be that amazing, because I never feel anything when she sings it. Technically she sounds great and hits every note. But her delivery feels so cold to me. If I were to rank all of the singers who have sun "Eyes on me", Faye would rank last tbh.
Deletesmh kys
Delete*smiles*
ReplyDeleteCrystal was at her absolute best. I'd expect nothing less from a singing goddess like her.
Sincerely,
Ckay fan for life <3 :)
Is this song really all that popular in the Final Fantasy Universe because this is the first time I'm hearing of it
ReplyDeleteWhere is it from?
Final Fantasy 8 I believe, but don't quote me on it. Also yeah, it's one of the more well known pieces (with vocals that is). There's also Kiss Me Goodbye by Angela Aki, but it's not nearly as popular (despite being the better song imo).
DeleteI'm a fan of Final Fantasy, played many games from the MAIN series AND spinoffs, not a poser like many people... And i only remember Kumi's and Angela's song... J's a total STAN of this woman... I wonder why, i see nothing special on her nor Michi, and those are his faves.
DeleteYou only remember two songs from a series of legendary music?
DeleteNot a poser like you're not a loser; get out.
Lulz you may not even know about spinoffs of the series or sequels *David goes and googles the shit*
DeleteI remember tons of instrumentals like Sky Blue Eyes, i was writing about songs with vocals ;)
@Fokin RG
Delete"Eyes on me" is the most popular / iconic vocal themes of the Final Fantasy series, hence why it is near enough always part of any Final Fantasy concert setlist. No other FF theme gets set-listed the sheer amount of times that "Eyes on me" does. As an FF fan, surely you should know this. The only other piece of music with a vocal which is just as (if not more) iconic within the series is "Aria di Mezzo Carattere" from Final Fantasy VI. But this wasn't a theme song as such.
I'm not saying this performance was amazing because it was Crystal Kay. I'm saying it was amazing BECAUSE IT WAS. A good performance is a good performance and Crystal Kay did an amazing job here. If you don't like Crystal Kay, then that's fine. I'm not one to get defensive over that because I respect everybody else's tastes and preferences. But if you can't recognize a good performance when you see / hear one, then... *shrugs*
@ Inner rise:
DeleteYup. What Mel said. "Eyes on me" is from Final Fantasy VIII. It featured in the ending to the game. An ending which I think was one of the best endings in a Final Fantasy game to date. VIII's story was a mess. But the cinematics in the ending were on POINT and it concluded everything nicely. Then there's the song which suited it to perfectly.
@FokinRG, you're such a troll. I don't know why you remember Kumi's version when they didn't even use it for the English version of Final Fantasy because her English was so fucking bad. Jade sang the English version, and she did a hell of a better job than Kumi might I add.
Delete@Mel
DeleteTHANK YOU. First person other than myself who liked Jade much better than Kumi. Not to mention the English lyrics are so much better than the Japanese.
@J, yup it was a nice performance, homegurl can sing, but i still see nothing special on her for what her stans always say and hope she will make it big sometime in the US or even Korea...
Delete@Mel *Trollface* *laydown laydown and ahreydown da raw*
I always thought Jade's English Version was better than Kumi's English Version.
DeleteI did like Kumi's Japanese Version of "1000 Words" though Jade's English Version is still better. Especially her adlibs at the end.
*Slayed like Romney*
I'm surprised. I thought it was unanimous with Final Fantasy fans that Jade shat on Kumi. There's no question about it imo.
DeleteI thought Crystal did a great job with the song, and I prefer it to Faye's version. I guess it's all a matter of preference. Crystal brought the power and rich tone that Faye just can't.
ReplyDeleteStill doesn't even touch (nor grazzzzee) Angela's version.
ReplyDeleteI like both of their versions for different reasons, notably because they both take on the song is such different ways.
DeleteI love the simplicity and intimacy of Angela's version. And LOVE how she takes the song and makes it hers. The way Angela takes other people's songs and makes you disregard the original is so wrong it's right. She glued Faye Wong's backside to a seat years ago. The woman is still trying to cut her ass free now.
But I love richness / purity of Crystal's tone and the general feeling she exudes in the way she sings it. And then there's the dress. She gets extra EXP for dat dress, because her booty was looking ON POINT in dat dress.
You got front row seats to her ass; shaky fan videos filmed on potatoes don't show anything. :(
DeleteThank you for the up-to-date CK coverage! Were you the fan she met outside of the Hall afterwards that she tweeted about? :D
ReplyDeleteP.S. She said on her blog that checked YouTube videos of this performance and heard the applause at the end and cried, awww. She is such a sweetheart.
ReplyDeleteSweet
DeleteThank you so much for posting this video ! I got my life off this she put on her Minnie Riperton and Whitney Houston Wigs on and let hair on this song I don't know ! If she told she wrote I believe her cuz she sang that song like she met the love of her life and was announcing it to the world! Crystal Kay is no singer shes a SANGER!
ReplyDeleteCrystal Kay sucks! Faye Wong version (Ending Theme, orchestrated) is BY FAR the best version of this song. Shame on you Uematsu!!!!
ReplyDelete