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sagethegremlin · 1 year

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since leitmotifs is your thing, I would love to see your personal analysis on the evolution of the ringtone "over the horizon" by Samsung. quite frankly, I think it is a very important thing to analyze, as something so trivial as a ringtone has shaped our view of a phone.

/hj and /lh looool

Ok so ringtones are something that most people never really think about in their day-to-day lives. It's a noise we hear all the time, and something that we most often will take for granted with how much it is "overplayed" to us. Personally, I've only ever had an iphone so I am not at all used to Samsung's ringtone, which I feel gives me a unique perspective on the matter.

So without further ado, I'll take this year by year and then analyze my results at the end

2011 (Galaxy S2): This is off to a great start. We have a good theme, and the percussion behind it is perfect. This is the kind of ringtone you want to have in your pocket. The kind that says "we're in a disney summer movie montage and we're living our best life!" Overall, a great start.

2012 (Galaxy S3): This one feels like it's trying to do too much. It still has the core leitmotif from the first ringtone, but gone are the feel good vibes of the percussion. Every note that is rung in here feels like it's trying to personally attack you, and that's not even to mention the drums! Everything here is too sharp, and the violins come completely out of nowhere. This definitely feels more like what you would expect a ringtone to be, rather then something that makes you smile when you hear it.

2013 (Galaxy S4): OH WE'RE SO BACK. This is definitely more aligned to the feel of the first one, but it also did so much more without seeming like it was trying to! This is the first one that really uses the core theme more like a leitmotif, and treats it as "this is the melody that you're used to, as a little treat, but check out this too!" and that's exactly what it should be! All in all, this one's just lovely.

2014 (Galaxy S5): This is pretty much just like the 2013 one but I definitely noticed that the parts where the orchestra crescendoed were much stronger, giving it a much more prideful feel.

2015 (Galaxy S6): Ok I'm not saying this one is bad, but it kinda comes out of nowhere and has this vibe to it like you're either about to get a news report or witness a major moment in a coming of age edited in imovie. It also just kind of abruptly cuts off? There's no musical resolution here and that makes me sad. :(

2016 (Galaxy S7): This one starts off so good. It's got a good beat to it and we're vibing so hard dude. But then, it uh, uh, it kinda struggles? I get that was how it composed but it honestly feels like someone on a marimba is struggling to keep time and it makes me nervous like girl we do not need these eighth and sixteenth rests in here we are perfectly fine without them thank you (still better than 2015 tho).

2017 (Galaxy S8): HELLO??? GIRLIE WHERE DID YOU COME FROM THIS IS THE BEST ONE YET! THE BUM BUM BAAS??? Anyway this one is genuinely so incredibly incredible. It starts off with a good beat that it continues to keep up throughout, it makes good use of the leitmotif, and there's a bunch of guys vocalizing in the background like who's idea was that that's incredible!!! :D

2018 (Galaxy S9): This is literally just the emotional climax of a coming of age story it isn't even a ringtone anymore.

2019 (Galaxy S10): Oh she wants to be the sims 4 character creator theme so bad. Anyway this one also doesn't really feel like a ringtone but not in a bad way! Girlie is going off in the string instrument department and it is paying off this just feels great. And the way they do the original leitmotif in the chimes at the end? Oh I love her.

2020 (Galaxy S20): This one is kinda sweet and chill. It definitely feels like it's being played on either a sitar or a mandolin, and it uses that to create a very chill vibe. There are no background instruments or percussion at all, so that really just further proves that these are straying more and more away from the sound of a typical ringtone (for better or for worse). I will say, this definitely feels like something I would try to fall asleep to, not like something I would use to remind me to pick up the phone.

2021 (Galaxy S21): She's so pretty??? I would say that this also has a similar vibe to the last one but I like it a lot more. The piano is absolutely beautiful and I really really enjoy it. And even though this also doesn't really feel like a ringtone, I'd argue that it's better at being one than the 2020 one.

(We're gonna stop there cuz I feel like it.)

If I were to rank all of these, I would say from best to worst: 2017, 2014, 2021, 2013, 2019, 2011, 2020, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2012

Ultimately, I feel like something like this is very interesting to look at. We can see overtime Samsung trying different strategies with this and how that reflects on their future models for it. For example, we ended up with most of these reflecting what I've been calling the "coming of age story" vibe, and we notice how they strive to create much more of a beautiful song to listen to than something trying to alert you of calls. All in all, an interesting look at such a mundane part of life.

#samsung #im adding that tag #look at my post boy #sagehavingagoodoltime

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