PA/NintendoKanye West’s new album Jesus Is King is inspired by the rapper’s strong religious convictions, as well as his experiences of being a born again Christian.
With references to biblical verses, Christian baptisms and, erm, Chick-fil-A Sunday closing times, West uses this gospel heavy album as a platform from which to preach his newly found faith.
Each line is influenced by his unshakeable sense of being on a theological mission; a contemporary prophet with questionable skills in shoe design.
PA ImagesHowever, some listeners have noticed a decidedly more secular influence hiding within the track Selah, a song laden with references to Noah’s Ark, Heaven, and – of course – the man himself, JC.
Now it’s admittedly been a few years since I sat in an RE class, but I’m pretty certain Jesus and his disciples never spread their word across the medieval-inspired kingdom of Hyrule.
And yet there are inarguable – audible – similarities between Selah and the song Gerudo Valley from The Legend Of Zelda soundtrack.
We are all aware by now that West is on a quest to spread his beliefs far and wide through his music, but could he also be drawing inspiration from Link’s quest to prevent Ganondorf’s takeover of Hyrule?
The surprisingly stark similarities were noticed by musician and illustrator Louie Zong, who drew comparisons between the two tracks via Twitter.
Zong noted how the two tracks share the same chord progression and sounds, albeit in a different key; sharing a clever mash-up.
And once you hear it, you really can’t unhear it. Zong’s mash up has been retweeted over six thousand times at the time of writing, and Zelda fans are putting down their controllers to offer their thoughts.
noticed something while listening to the new kanye album… pic.twitter.com/q1nRklkhf4
— Louie Zong (@everydaylouie) October 25, 2019
One person tweeted:
My daughter is a walking Legend Of Zelda encyclopedia,
I played this clip for her and simply asked for her to tell me what she hears. No other context. She answered excitedly: ‘That’s the Gerudo Valley theme!’ So yeah.
Another said:
Y’know I was about to make fun of you like ‘dawg you know this is a common 4-chord progression?’ but damn you’re right, that melody is damn close. Can hear it best in the piano at 1:06.
Of course, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest Selah borrowed the melody or sampled directly from Ocarina of Time. However, it’s still always amusing to find surprising similarities between supposedly very different pieces of music.
You can listen to Gerudo Valley in its entirety below:
Whether or not Princess Zelda will be in touch to demand her share of rupees remains to be seen…
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.