lv.99mastermind45: I grew up in a black pentecostal church. This sounds nothing like that.
FARSHOOTER3: Xeno: "I dont listen to music for the lyrics"

Also Xeno: "I'LL BE YOUR QUEEN BEE HONEY B. LOVELY, ILL BE YOUR ONE AND ONLY CHAMPION"
_deepcalm_: Anyone who said that song was supposed to be black gospel music ain’t never listened to black gospel music
4SkippyRoo: her behavior on Twitter is really very unprofessional & honestly wouldn't be surprised if it negatively impacts her future job offers
ehwick8175: Its cheesy music. Not for everyone.
Sohires: I found the music very disney-esque and it broke my immersion completely. Hated every second of that song because of that.
ReveredDead: My biggest problem with todays gaming and media space is that if people dislike something for a genuine reason and the creator or person involved just happens to be one of "those" people. They immediately disregard any genuine faults or issues with the product and immediately just say it's cause you're racist or a bigot. This is the world we live in.
severren1095: Smile plays at the part we are setting up the train to ram a building(Vanguard dungeon). We are setting up a Bomb to Smash into a building
And Smile plays... Not a good placement
enrei21: they thought they cooked with that song. They didn't.

They thought they cooked with Wuk Lamat as well. They didn't.
theredlie1988: "I don't like the notes they hit", my brother in christ they didn't hit a single note lol
elduardo2496: I'm Brazilian. I have no idea what black gospel music is, I've had zero exposure to it in my life. I don't think the song is too bad, but it did feel out of place. Welp, I guess according to Tw**ter I'm a terrible person?
LuffyDshanks: It honestly sounds like the main theme from Wish.
hawgacrux: Dark Knight has fallen so much it has become an insult now.
TheGreatMu: I'm black and I don't even like real black gospel music. Does that make me racist? Can somebody please ask that white woman for me? I'd hate to offend her.
LemonadeFlashlight: It's a terrible song. Wuk's voice actress just has a habit of trying to virtue signal everything even remotely negative about the FFXIV fanbase.
StripedSooner: people hate on the song because, much like wuk lamat's voice, the lead vocal seems out of place, low quality, and doesn't fit in. it has nothing to do with the genre, it just sounds awkward. sorry, but i'm not going to let the person playing pretend make believe tell me what i'm allowed to think is good or bad lmfao.
TheSpartanx9: Smile sounds like it would be in a live action lion king movie, not something you'll find in ffxiv
syeds8265: Sena about to block Xeno after watching this video LMFAO
thatcringe8827: Its just high school musical
Mathren1: Yeah, I've had to mute Sena pretty quickly on Twitter. She's done that a few times where she drops a "spicy take" on Twitter, people disagree with her, and then she says something like "wow so many people getting defensive about this." Kind of burning any goodwill people have toward her, and seems unprofessional tbh (you don't see Thancred or G'raha's VAs tweeting stuff like this all the time)
InterXMission: Song with multiple voices in the background of the chorus= "Black Gospel Music" Holy Rassismus.
Lyn685: The very moment XIV gets NA VAs again, shit like this happens.
Embarassing.
obamaorb7426: "Smile? This makes me wanna frown" is so stupid but it got me man
hirokjyotideka5571: If that's Gospel, then I'm Hans Zimmer.
TheSilverwolf1001: It's not gospel, it's very Disney like bad parody disney. (watched 4min of the video when typed this.)
It just feels like that to me. It's the only song I really have felt like this in the entirety of the game.
tyhjyys: -airhead with personal agenda gets polarizing roll in extremely popular media

-suddenly thinks they influence that entire community with their own opinions

this happens all the time at this point
GodOfWar187: I live in the deep south and have been to church ceremonies at majority black churches. This hardly qualifies as black gospel. I have no ill will towards Sena Bryer whatsoever, but there's a reason she had to preface that tweet as a hot take - because it's just wrong. I can promise you nobody was thinking about black gospel when that song came up in the MSQ, especially considering the lead vocalist is Japanese-American.
ThatRedHusky: I mean I measured the singer and there were points where they were 34 cents off a Bb. That's over a 1/3 of a semitone which is VERY noticeable even by a non-musically inclined person.
TheIceLurker: I'm so tired of all controversy being linked to racism or gender. Like I'm black and everytime I hear this shit I feel so embarrassed
Soyofdarknes: Who greenlight this? we went from shadowbringers to this... terrible choices.
nonotorious1467: Bomb train is like if disney made an oppenheimer musical.
CombativeMedic: Sena Bryer is known for being antagonistic, and I honestly consider that casting a negative to FFXIV. Not just a bad performance, but also a terrible person.
chrisanderson6353: @Xenosys I'm a musician, and I agree with you. The text doesn't fit with the melody of the song. I also feel as though that, the key of the song doesn't fit. Maybe if it was in a lower key, then it would be a bit better. In terms of the vocalist, the phrasing is very off, and they seem to muddle the rhythm. There are some aspects of the choir vocals, that sound as if they are straining. Could be the technique implemented in teaching them the piece. Also, this is as far from gospel music as it can get. I wouldn't classify it as gospel. Maybe a ballard of some sorts.
starnyan7207: The song felt like Japan's interpretation of a Disney song to me. The "too many words" part is a great example. That technique of cramming lyrics like that is meant to invoke an emotional response of panic, but this is a happy upbeat song. There's nothing in it that justifies that use of "too many words." But I can see how someone who doesn't understand the language and music could hear a song using that, think it's cool, and just throws it in. Black gospel though? I don't hear it. But the VA is a white person so they gotta feel offended for some minority group when the song is appropriating from white culture.
suparockr: Sena Bryer is a professional victim at best and a humiliation fetishist at worst. Don't feed the trolls.
michealwatts7469: The "Just say you ", "Wow people getting super defensive for me posting this instead of saying "Oh this isn't me" " are terrible arguments. They have no basis since the person is basically saying criticism cannot be had here and if you have it you're a bad person who does bad behavior.

Cannot even stand that crap cause usually the accusation which is generalized and without any data to back it up is thrown onto a public platform specifically for bait. While it is best to ignore the morons, you kinda have to respond at times because you can't just let shit go unchallenged otherwise these kids get the idea that with no challenge they must be right. With challenge the opposition must be just a bad person.
negainferno6121: Sounded like a My Little Pony song where they solved a small argument amongst each other and decided to sing about it
epryn: The reason they cut to the llama in that scene is because overcoming her fear of llamas was the only real piece of character development Wuk Lamat had.
hundset: Song aside... I think the most important thing to take away from this is that this person should never have been hired.

Based purely on merit I think they did a poor job as a voice actor.

and ontop of that they're purposefully bringing polarizing and inflammatory accusations towards the playerbase and frankly being an all-around shitstirrer.
Bringing ideology where it doesn't belong and where it wasn't bloody wanted.
ariamachi: Wuk Lamat's voice triggers me. Idc what her voice actress says. The voice made me switch to japanese voice for the first time in 10 years
karlklein2263: The fart noise during the song fucking sent me bro
antonytomas1: Voice actress was fine. It nailed Wuks overbearing and annoying personality PERFECTLY.
onewingedangelo1611: I think that this Voice Actress forgot that some of the original 2.0 voice actors got replaced....... She's really trying her best to become another one....
robotom6595: People also found the StB MSQ final song a lil cheesy and awkward. Idk something about multiple voices coming together and singing in these 2 songs just instantly makes it feel like you're in a musical, even though it is thematically fitting
Zephy_Sky: The song grew on me a little bit, but there are still parts in it that just sound a little goofy.
Like it doesnt hit the ear right.

And it feels a little too cheery if that makes sense.
Like it belongs more in a childrens film.
Just felt kind of out of place
NeFlorence: I like the singer's work for Scream back in Abyssos but respectfully, she does NOT fit this song. Aside that, it's too "wordy". It's like they're trying to fit so many things into the song. Less is more. In this case, less verbal vomit and just try to have enough to fit the tone of the song.

The choir is great, the instruments sound good. The vocals, lyrics and the constant key changes are shit and ruins it.
nathanc4183: When i first heard the song near the end of MSQ I was so thrown off - it's in a very awkward place and doesn't fit at all
Itama22: It's an awful song, but nobody can deny that the song fits this mess of an expansion perfectly
windsgrace688: When I heard Smile during the train part, I had to do a doubletake because I was like "Why is there suddenly a bad musical number?" As someone who has listened to the Japanese voice track for over 10 years since ARR, the one thing that pisses me off the most about Smile isn't the song itself. It's the fact that in the English localization they replaced every single version of the Japanese "笑顔" (egao) which literally means "smile" in English with "happiness" in the English localization but still had the nerve to have the song title be "Smile".

Wuk Lamat in Japanese is a cheesey dork but kind of cool at the same time. The entire reason the song is called "Smile" is because there's one recurring line from Wuk Lamat in Japanese that's basically some variation of "I want to protect everyone's smiles", which I'm pretty sure is a fairly common cheesey Japanese trope/line. They also replaced almost every instance minus a few missed text-only lines of Wuk Lamat saying "親父" (oyaji) which is like "old man" in reference to her adopted father (e.g. "Me and my old man went fishing") with "Papa" in the English localization which I never understood either. Maybe it was like an attempt to try and make her more likable, can't imagine why /s
Vokcas: Close the Distance was on point because it represent the current environment of all characters involved. Smile however missed the mark because it is a song about the journey the companionship has done.... That is the problem, people hated the whole being sidelined the entire MSQ to Wuk so of course people are not going to "relate", a song about companionship where you are the 3rd wheel and observer, where was the companionship?

Also you have the very big elephant in the room. People HATED how the MSQ end and was angry, frustrated and disappointed, of course they didn't gel with the song. Had the writers knew how to successfully tell a story, perhaps Soken song would of did justice.
Nihonguy: I damn near grew up on gospel cause my mom listened to it all the time, and i can say gospel has way more energy and soul then this song does
Johnist1983: They spend the good cash on the Boss Music because you're constantly farming the bosses, while the 'expansion title' music you hear maybe once or twice.
Ryioka: For me it sounds like this Coca-Cola Christmas commercial which they play on TV adds during Christmas season.
GarretDejiko: that fart sfx encapsulates what most people thought about the song
eyelesscrow69: The placement for the song 100% killed the song
DarkWartex: Never seen a XIV VA be so terminally online as her
essential_worker_no: Xeno singing isn't something I thought I'd hear today. He's actually not half bad.
theclawyaww3740: I can not imagine playing Dawntrail with English voice acting. I heard Wuk Lamats' first scene and was like, nope, switching over to japanese for this one.
Kiddy7180: I think it's sad that this is the same vocalist for Scream, cause apparently it is. And that song goes hard, at least for a pretty good majority.
kobo_47: Bro what? I'm black and thought the song sucked. People on the internet really love bringing race into everything huh. Didn't even sound like a gospel song either tbh. More like a strange Disney musical.
GuitarJoshB: Gospel musician here. Definitely not gospel music lol instrumentation was kinda cool but overall song was…. Ok. Just because a song has a choir doesn’t make it gospel what a reach by that person and weird take that if ppl don’t like this they’re “racist”. I personally think the song is trash…. definitely not Black Gospel (this is coming from a black musician that grew up in a black church). This song is Uplifting-Pop at best lol
davidknox8936: i find it funny that the tweet the VA of Wuk Lammat made was after Preach made his reaction to the MSQ, and he was not liking that song, i might be reading too much into that, and implying that its aimed for Preach
yrsa7637: New voice actress incoming for future patches lmao
Magflyer: I was actually blocked by the VA for no reason at all, and I haven't interacted with her yet lmao.
MrXxsnipesXx: Personally i think the song is fine but i dont like being called a racist if i don't like something lol, this actor is new to the FF scene and she's already making life hard for herself by having takes like this, am not saying censor yourself but maybe tone it down a bit otherwise it wont be any easier fro you going forward
fosterseven: man at this point i feel like voice actors shouldnt be allowed to comment or answer questions about the content they voice act for...
Prism_Heavy: They just need to fire Sena at this point. She's a walking PR nightmare. You KNOW this type of person will never be silenced on social media. They love the sound of their voice too much and need to rain their political opinions on everything. Then maybe they can hire an actual voice actress for poor Lamat.
kyoai: Every time I hear Wuk's "Sphene, listen to me" during the trial I am reminded of Willy Wonka's famous lines "Stop! Don't! Come back!" and "Help... Police... Murder...".
I wouldn't trust the authority of a voice actor who thinks that this delivery was a good enough effort.
TheHakinator: The only real problem is when they used it in the msq, both during the succession ceremony and train scene. Both times it just really didn't come across right, fit well, or just took people by surprise. If they had just saved it for the final cutscene after the msq it honestly would have been received a whole lot better.
PapaDeusVult: The worst thing about Smile isn't even necessarily the song itself.

It's that there is a part of the song which is what Amanda Achen sings in her section of the Dawntrail cinematic trailer.

We got this version instead of that one, and Amanda Achen's vocals haven't failed us yet.

What were the people in-charge of stitching Dawtrail together thinking when they chose this over Amanda Achen's version? Of course, this is assuming there even is a full version.

We were robbed, dudes. Absolutely robbed
NulshPhism: You need to make a cover of Honey B Lovely fr fr
sturmir15: Thank you for calling out this total brain fart of an opinion from the infamous now VA. Some opinions are better not shared online.
grimscriven: If they hadn't put that song in those weird spots in the MSQ, I doubt anyone would have cared about it. It made an already mixed received story experience worse for it.
Dartanis: The song isnt bad, it just doesnt fit the scenes its in. It clashes thematicaly with the rest of the audio in the entire expansion and feels jarring in the scenes its used in which is weird as FF14 usualy has really good music integration (see the entirety of the last quest of Shadowbringer), so what the hell happened here? This song isnt strictly the first time a song has been a missmatch for its scene or fight, the 2nd part of Shiva comes to mind. But even that wasnt as jarringly "off" as this when it plays. If we had the rest of the expansion with similar music or even a singular zone with similar music I could accept this but no other song matches the theme. Im not sure theres a song in the game period that is similar.
sneis95: Trying to turn every little thing into an accusation of racism does so much more harm than good and detracts from ACTUAL discussions of real racism. WL's voice actress cheapens the entire conversation with her weird virtue-signaling.
aeolussvichi7680: People don't hate the song itself, they hate the implementation of it within the msq.

It's jarring, out of place and cringe.

This version Xeno played is fine. I don't like gospel music myself either, but its fine.

The way it was used in the msq is what people hate, myself included. Nothing really to do with the song itself or its inspiration.

People need to stop painting people a certain color just because they don't like something with a certain inspiration or origins.

This was a bad take the VA decided to take.
pointdowguy9359: The song itself is fine, it's not bad, but it's implemented so strangely. Really out of place and not in line what's actually happening. Trolley building scene was dumb yes, but even when it was played after wuk lamats speech, like, if it was the last cutscene of the msq sure whatever, pretty corny but who cares, but it's just in the middle of the expansions msq, this quest is like a lv 95 quest, why are we putting this here. It's just so random and out of place
Vidyagameenjoyer: The life cycle of English Voice actors in FFXIV ARR.
ARR - American VA's, majority of them are pretty awful, only a few manage to do any good, like Alphinaud's VA. (Yes he is supposed to sound like a arrogant brat.) Universally panned for bad VA work.
HW - Fired all American VA, use British stage trained voice actors. No drama from any VA's.
Stormblood - Use British stage trained voice actors. No drama from any VA's.
Shadowbringers - Use British stage trained voice actors. No drama from any VA's.
Endwalker - Use British stage trained voice actors. No drama from any VA's.
9 Years of no issues and good voice acting.
Dawntrail - American voice actors hired -> Awful voice acting ensues, twitter drama from the cast itself and extreme unprofessionalism, calls playerbase racist and bigots.
8.0 - Fired all American VA, use British stage trained voice actors again...

Aug 19 2024

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