Steven Universe fans, rejoice! The music featured on the LGBT-friendly cartoon series has finally been released on iTunes and Spotify!
Steven Universe follows Steven, a half-human/half-alien-gemstone-species, who has to learn to control his powers, protect the Earth from future invasions with the help of the Crystal Gems, and fulfill the legacy his mother left for him. The gems, an all-female species (except Steven), have complex and sometimes romantic relationships with each other, and the television show is beloved by many in the LGBT community.
Music has become a vital part of the series, whether it's for a few silly laughs or showing how two characters fell in love or their struggles with anxiety and loneliness. The openly bisexual series creator and composer, Rebecca Sugar, sat down with io9 and discussed her songwriting process and how music has become an integral part of the universe:
"I’m a big believer in songs that progress the characters in the story. I don’t want it there to just be a song for the sake of their being a song. I want it to be a very necessary feeling—something that can only be expressed through song.
There’s a quote from Bob Fosse that I just love—I’m going to butcher it, but he basically says that when it’s not enough for a character to just say something they should sing it and when that’s not enough they should dance. It needs to be a feeling so heightened that that’s the only way this person can express it. So when I’m starting, I ask myself what the story is that’s going to make that going to happen."
^ Iconic.
Sugar also opened up about how the music is intertwined with some of the children show's heavier themes, like unrequited love and loss:
"All of the characters are struggling, but there’s so much beauty in that. They’re struggling with loss and with love, but love is beautiful. The way that they feel is beautiful. That’s where a lot of where my desire to express how all of these feelings are complicated comes from.
Even in 'Mr. Greg,' Pearl is trying so hard not to be awful and jealous and to be strong about this. But she feels like she’s failing and she’s taking it out on herself and the people around her in that way that I think whenever you take things out on people around you, you’re also doing it to yourself. Everyone reflects you and you reflect everyone.
To me, the beauty in that is the ambition you can have to get better—that where even when things start to become bleak, you can have hope. It’s the fact that you can have love and support and family and find beauty in what the situation is in that moment. Even if the situation doesn’t get better, you can better yourself. That’s where I think the optimism can continue to live."
Read Rebecca Sugar's full io9 interview here! And buy the Steven Universe soundtrack on iTunes here!
