Introduction
In this article I will bring up a multitude of tracks by the living legend Toby Fox and analyze them throughly. My focus will be primarily on tracks revolving around characters and so will my analysis center around characterization that can be found in his music. His other tracks are really great as well, but I feel like the descriptiveness and magic of his music is best demonstrated on character music. Yet there are some locations as well.
Note: I have not listened to Deltarune chapter 3+ soundtrack, and neither have I played them yet. Minor spoilers for Undertale and Deltarune ahead
In this article you can click on subheadings to listen to music. Try it below!
Dialtone
This track is composed very unusually from most musical tracks and uses unorthodox instrumentation. But that is Toby Fox for you! At first it has a chiptune synth instrument that reminds me of Nintendo Wii music - this instrument regularly gets cut off, somehow in a non-jarring way. This alone evokes the feeling of a shop and a digital one at that due to synth, but also tells us that something is wrong or broken due to it being cut off. Then it adds a quiet sad violin to the background of pixelated music which is not jarring only due to how quiet it is. A sad violin obviously stands for sadness or tragedy; it being quiet may imply it being hidden. The third and last instrument added is the sound of an analog phone ringing, a recurring theme of the character. Again, clashes with the music and is even a bit surprising when you listen to it. This is indicative of sadness and insanity - nobody picks up the phone. The character is also related to phones and the track is called "Dialtone" for a reason. The background violin also extends one note and only starts a new one when the music isn't cut off, similar to when a phone hangs up. This track perfectly characterizes the particular sad shop that Spamton runs - a lonely pathetic salesman who doesn't respond to phone calls. The very fact of how instruments are mismatched together could be used to say that the character/the shop is mismatched and assembled of various found parts with no attention to how they match or fit. The dialtone itself also plays in the pause of the music, letting listeners hear that it is, indeed, dialtone. The music gets slightly faster and higher pitch as it progresses and as the two instruments are added. Not only does it now sound dramatic, but it also has a sense of urgency and mystery.
The entire synth part of this song is actually the same as The Circus, connecting both of these tracks. The Circus itself is a very unusual waltz song played by blow bottles! You could try dancing to it. But unlike Dialtone, this track is a much darker and shorter track, with lower pitch and later added low-pitch piano playing both alongside the track and also in quick succession, making the track very eerie and even dangerous. While Dialtone does not feel like waltz at all because it slows down the the melody by a lot and makes it digital. And the dark piano is now also chiptune that plays alongside the track rather than over it, removing the eerie and dangerous feeling and reusing the track for sadness.
Queen
One of the tracks that I feel like even most sheet producers misunderstand is the Queen by Toby Fox. And by score producers I mean the people who try to put his tracks onto a notebook to play on real instruments at home. Anyways, I personally feel like this track is made up of 3 parts.
The first part feels very chaotic because it utilizes the swing rhythm and has an instrument that sounds like someone saying letter O and repeatedly tapping onto their mouth or just a sound of somebody laughing perhaps, and the pitch of the music is also swinging.
Then the track slows down, corrects itself - it is no longer in swing, and is almost formal or royal, but only almost so as the track sometimes tries speeding up or swinging the pitch slightly. The funny instrument also goes away.
Then the third part of the track speeds up, adds bass, and the voice is back, but is now slightly lower in pitch and reads more like angelic singing than laughing or goofing around. This part also gets faster and faster until it comes to a halt.
One instrument in particular sounds like a spinning wheel - in the first part it spins back and forth; in the second part it spins forward rhythmically; in the third part it starts constantly spinning forward.
The way this track feels is perfect for describing the character. I only need this track to tell who that Queen is. This queen is certainly very fun as depicted in the first part. However, after almost a flashing transition, the second part is royal and regal and formal, but still imperfect - after all, she's a queen and while she may be fun, she needs to do her duty and present herself. But she is still a human so the track wobbles a bit. The third part of the track is very grandiose with angelic singing and bass and the speed up, especially so compared to the less exciting second part. This part feels like the Queen wants to conquer the world or do something grandiose and almost villainous, given away by lower pitch in the wheel instrument and the bass. She's a true ruler of her nation and she has big plans for it, but she gets ahead of herself as the track speeds up more and more, and then she resets to the first part
Most score producers almost always feel the first part, but then they miss either the second or the third part. And there are many weird instruments here as well, just like in Dialtone - the O sound, the spinning wheel are very unusual and unexpected to see in a track about a royal figure, but they work and relay the character perfectly.
Vs. Susie
Another 2 tracks that are genius are Susie and Vs. Susie. Obviously, these tracks describe a character named Susie. The track Susie are just harsh guitar riffs at the first glance. But if you listen closely, every guitar riff ends with a piano after-note. A lonely piano covered by an angry guitar. The riffs themselves are desolate, empty, one after another. No other instruments are present at all. A very simple and short track, but it very clearly describes the character. On the outside, she is harsh, desolate, empty, and aggressive. On the inside, she has a quiet piano.
The track Vs. Susie is an expanded version of the original track that tells us more about the character. Vs. Susie starts off as just a guitar that does riffs very close together, faster and faster, until a second guitar is added and they start overlapping eachother, almost like a cloud of anger building up. Then the bass drop hits, and apart from bass being added, a guitar plays in both a very aggressive, but also a very sad tone - as if the guitar is trying to play such a low sound that it "breaks" as if it's a voice breaking and instead plays both a very low and a high sound, resulting in sadness and futility, like screaming in the void on top of your lungs. The guitar itself sounds stressed, distorted and wobbly. The played riffs are identical to Susie, but are more more rich and detailed, faster, and more stressed. Almost like the same guitarist was asked to play the track while he was hungry, angry, and depressed. When Susie is meant to be finished, this track continues. And the continuation sounds like riffs stacking on top of eachother one louder than the previous one, like a mountain of pain and suffering. Each mountain is then lost into the void as it slowly faids out, before the next one comes. All with an aggressive bass.
The character is clearly deeply suffering and covering it up with hostility and aggression. And in Vs. Susie we can see the extent of this suffering. An aggressive guitar track that makes you cry out of sadness is truly masterful work.
You Can Always Come Home
Now let's go to something warmer - You Can Always Come Home. But first we need to analyze the track it bases upon - Home.
Home was composed much earlier. This track is played by 2 out of tune guitars with nothing else to support them. The majority of notes are identical. And the ones that are different are high-pitched and still out of tune. It's a home, but very boring, repetitive, and almost not meant to be. It does sound warm at first, but quickly makes you sick of it and want to leave.
You Can Always Come Home uses 2 guitars that are tuned, and much more varying, then it adds a triangle, then a clarinet and then a flute. Then when they stop playing, piano takes over with the Don't Forget leitmotif instead of the previous Undertale leitmotif. Home had a nice place at these exact moments to vary the track a bit, but did nothing. The last instrument are warm drums. At last the track wraps up, but then does a nice accord at the end - you can always come home, even after you leave.
The first track was a home you didn't belong to. That was desynchronized, uncared for, not fit for us, or interesting to us. It had life, but too little and too stagnant. The second track feels much warmer and makes you want to come back there. Don't Forget leitmotif fits here so nicely. Don't forget you can always come home. Speaking of that track...
Don't Forget
It is rare that I genuinely like a song, yet this one fits all the criteria of a good song. It is exceptional that it hits all of the boxes. First, you have to analyze the music, then the poetry, and then the interconnenction of music and poetry resulting in the song. That is proper song analysis rather than focusing just on lyrics or just on its overall sound.
If you listen to a version of the song with no lyrics, it first sounds tragic, then quiet, then hopeful, and even a bit mysterious at the end; and it is a very simple composition on a piano. Some may object saying that an instrument is a voice no matter what the voice is saying, and I agree with that - listening to the full version of the song, but paying no attention to the lyrics - in spite of how clear they are, which is sadly an unusual trait for a song - will reveal the same exact rollercoaster of emotions, perhaps even more powerful due to the gentle varying voice of Laura Shigihara which is sad, quiet, hopeful, and a bit mysterious at precisely the correct moments.
Then let's analyze the poetry:
When the light is running low, And the shadows start to grow, And the places that you know Seem like fantasy... There's a light inside your soul That's still shining in the cold With the truth - The promise in our hearts. Don't forget, I am with you in the dark.
While it doesn't rhyme very well, it is fairly creative, and most importantly, it makes a good point, regardless of how you want to interpret the person in the dark - it's a promise to not forget something good and to stay hopeful in crisis and to stay determined.
If we'll take a look at it verse by verse, the first verse depicts exhaustion in the first line, then fear in the second, and unreality, memory, or loss in the last 2 - overall this verse is about the external world falling apart. Then in the second verse, the internal world is shown - there is an inner flame, despite the harsh environment with a promise. The final verse doesn't say that things will be fine, but rather gives a personal anchor to somebody.
This directly follows the same pattern as the instrumental one - sad, then quiet, then hopeful, and a bit mysterious at the end. And the music changes at the exact time where the lyrics change tone, beautifully connecting the music and the poetry.
This song holds no useless repetition, it is very simple and short (which actually adds to it, making it a personal, sincere promise), and it checks all of the boxes - there was so much attention put into all the characteristics that make a song good. Every line wants to say the key line: "Don't forget, I am still with you in the dark".
Dummy!
It's time to get onto more popular tracks. First will be Dummy! Dummy is, of course, in classic Toby Fox fashion, a remix, specifically of Ghost Fight. Ghost Fight is jazz, indicated largely by instrumentation. But jazz or any genre of music really isn't just about the instruments used. Some key aspects of jazz are swing and pitch variation (the latter one also being known as "wrong notes"). Ghost Fight has swing. It also has a bit of variation in tone. I personally like using Ghost Fight to test sound quality - if you can hear the crowd laughing at Napstablook at about 33 seconds into the track, then the sound quality is good, otherwise it will sound more like generic noise than specifically laughter. Ghost Track characterizes Napstablook well - it's beginning is long and unsure, it's middle section is catchy and a little funny, and later we find out that Napstablook is disliked and laughed at and feels sad because of it and is why he was unsure at the beginning of the track.
Mad Dummy's in-game animation matches the music
However, Dummy's tempo at the beginning is twice as fast, showing fast growth of feelings. It also has a new low instrument, indicating that this feeling is rage and it is overflowing. A part of the music starts repeating 3 times occasionally as if the person is stuck on some feeling and can't get over it - in fact, Mad Dummy's main dialogue quirk is that he repeats things 3 times, getting louder each time such as "Futile. Futile! FUTILE!" or "Despicable. Despicable! DESPICABLE!". The main part has got even faster tempo and drums and has more frequent repetition signaling impatience and rage. However, my favourite part of the track is when Ghost Fight ends. There is no laughter, but when the track is suposed to end, it just continues playing its signature theme in a very very swing manner - the pitch is swinging, the tempo is swinging, and it feels exactly how Mad Dummy moves during the fight (image above) - up, down, up; left middle right and back, all while the entire body is shaking and contorting. Then the track starts over again with no prelude, as if somebody can't calm down and immediately relaunches into fury again. But then the finish of the track is sudden and is exactly the same as in Ghost Fight, almost embarassingly calming down from its rage, revealing that this rage was just a veil behind insecurity and that he is just as insecure as his cousin. It really feels like an aggressive tantrum ending up with the person being embarassed by what they have just done.
Chaos King
Now let's go to Deltarune. Chaos King is also a remix - of Card Castle this time. Card Castle is a track so simple it could probably play on NES just fine. The track depicts a slow boring old dark castle with its slow low notes and sad high notes with low bass later. In the game, the castle is very long, completely black and white, with room after room and floor after floor. A great musical depiction of this barren, boring, and sad place. It has Lancer's leitmotif connecting the character to the castle, but not much else.
At the top of the castle is the Chaos King. Chaos King is composed similarly to Dummy. At first it starts just like Card Castle, but with tempo being twice as fast, and then a new gritty low instrument gets added just like in Dummy. This instrument is a distortion guitar which sounds like a chainsaw and is very aggressive and brutal. A synthetic instrument then starts playing elevating the track slightly and making it more grand. Then the Lancer motive starts playing with the same speedup, drums, and distortion guitar, connecting the two together. A choir also starts playing, making this feel more important, regal, grand, and like a prophecy. The Lancer motive doesn't play normally like it does in Card Castle, but instead the track stops on the last note and plays it 7 times before playing it again. Then my favourite part comes up when the Card Castle would've ended, but Chaos King continues by playing the Legend leitmotif. This leitmotif sounds very hopeful, but quickly gets distorted into lower notes - to me, it feels like the King imagines or is even sure that the heroes (high notes) are about to defeat him (low notes), but then crushes this and insists on his domination before dealing with this again as this part repeats. But when it repeats it gets stuck on the last 5 notes and repeats them again and again and again and again with ever increasing pitch and speed, while the background music does a long note with loud drums for a second and then collapses and after its collapse the theme still plays 5 notes again, weaker, and then again, even weaker. The very last note is not high like you would expect, but rather low - the king is still hostile even at the very end.
If Dummy was mad, but would ultimately calm down and realize he's futile, the Chaos King is pure hatred and rage - the last part feels like he's so focused on domination and the prophecy (The Legend leitmotif) that he screams over and over again, more and more angry, until his voice breaks and he still tries to continue screaming. In the middle of the song he also shows extreme hatred with distortion guitar and repeating one note 7 times. Unlike Dummy, this isn't jazz as Chaos King is meant to be menacing and scary while Mad Dummy is meant to be angry and futile. Dummy hides his insecurities behind a veil of rage at society. Chaos King is so spiteful he lost his mind and lives in constant terror. Why is he like that is not clear beyond what's presented in the music and in the game, but the music makes it clear that he is a menace who is extremelly aggressive and unhinged; while the supporting elements make it clear that he's an important, royal figure, and that this is some sort of a final battle with real stakes.
THE WORLD REVOLVING
Now this song has no prelude at all and starts immediately. It's a very fast paced clown theme with the revolving carousel music added in. The carousel goes in one direction, then in a different direction, then in one direction closer to us, and then it comes to us and now we're inside of the carousel. The carousel music is constant and all around us, and the clown theme is still there, and a synthetic instrument is occasionally added to make a rotation sound in different ears. It feels like being stuck in a very fast moving carousel with a loud clown inside of it. The foremost notes then go up and down and then rotate as if there is a rotating horse or a clown inside of a rotating carousel that jumps up and down and up and down - which is exactly how Jevil moves. Alternatively, this also sounds like winding up a toy three times before releasing it and seeing how it spins up very fast in the opposite direction. Then the track slows down and plays the infamous Freedom motive using lower notes, and the rotating synthetic instrument keeps reappering. The freedom motive expands as the carousel and the synthetic instrument get more noticable as well. A new ethereal instrument also gets added and it sounds like ascension, or complete freedom. Yet there are many lower notes as wel from all the spinning sounds, the beat, and even the freedom motive itself is played not only by a high fanfare, but also a low blow bottle at the same time with powerful reverb. If you think about it, reverb is also a kind of a spin as the note revolves back, and this track features a lot of it. This composition then repeats a whole 8 times again! And the last time only a fanfare plays while the remaining instruments don't - even ending the song in a funny way.
Jevil's in-game animation also matches the music
This is a very intense track at 190 BPM and constant rotation effects. However, this track does give Jevil a lot of characterization and isn't just a very frantic, trippy, and cool track. I could figure out most of Jevil's character through this musical track alone. I can say that Jevil finds the most freedom in fun - a hedonist so to speak. And a very unhinged and insane one as this music does not hold back. Jevil is also nihilistic, as the entire compositon is about fun and freedom and absuridity and nothing else. Other sources help us with that conclusion. A character which always reminded me of this track is prince Valkovsky - complete lack of empathy towards others for his own gain, belief in the meaninglessness of life. Jevil is very similar - he even wants to kill the heroes for his own amusement. The entire world rotates to his every whimsy and bodily want as he wants to live in pleasure and be satisfied and achieve freedom this way, yet Toby Fox ironically puts him inside of the cage of a carousel, which can even be heard at the beginning of the song - it is only in his world that ideals or higher morals don't exist, and while Jevil believes that his world, lacking such things is more liberated, he really is inside of the cage, with no ability to experience many thoughts and feelings. And what kind of freedom is that? Jevil is a mad, empty, off-the-rails insane and nihilistic character. The core theme of Deltarune are choices and whether they matter. Jevil believes that life is meaningless and the choices inside of it are there only for self-serving and amusement. Depicting him as a jester also helps convey this point as jesters are masters of fun. Fun is chaotic in general, but this anarchy is a result of a lifestyle. The song only stops when he's so tired he cannot continue it and ends up with a trumpet, just like in the fight itself. Just like Chaos King he repeats one part of a leitmotif numerous times, but this time it's freedom leitmotif and it repeats in the exact same manner. Because it repeats so fast and identically, I like to imagine that someone is asking for more, and then for more, and for more, and so on, until he's too tired to continue having fun. It feels like complete liberation to have as much of any indulgence you want, which is why the music ends up repeating the freedom motif.
BIG SHOT
Now, BIG SHOT is an another track about Spamton and an another secret boss track. This track is made entirely out of other tracks and leitmotifs. It starts with Mettaton NEO leitmotif standing for new body, continues into playing Spamton theme with the soundfont of Dummy! standing for being mad at the wrong body! Very clear! He uses both Mettaton NEO and Dummy! soundfonts throught the fight, sounding like Metal Mario in some sections. The background has random rings and screams and voices, telling about the pain the character experiences from phone rings. Then he starts saying "now you can be a big shot" right after which the freedom motif starts playing - Spamton's freedom is being a big shot, to have a lot of money, power, and influence, that I believe he wants to be able to bargain with or defeat the death itself. Now during the freedom leitmotif, a call happens with Spamton begging for help over the phone, while the motif itself plays entirely using a single synthetic instrument. What kind of a freedom is that? That's a phony freedom! The rest of the track plays Spamton's, Mettaton NEO's, and Dummy's theme in patches exchanging various soundfonts from each. The song first does a fake ending with a Dummy's ending playing, but then picks back up before finishing abruptly with a sped-up and cutoff Dummy's ending.
While very incoherent, this track does say a lot about Spamton. For example, that he stole his music from others! And look at what compositions did he borrow from exactly - Power of 'NEO' for new powerful rebirth form and Dummy! for being angry, but also pathetic in a way. This patheticness clashes with the theme, especially seen in the anticlimatic ending; and the powerful Mettaton NEO's theme clashes with the jazzy Dummy. So he is raging due to an insecurity and got a powerful body that didn't overcome that insecurity. In other words, whatever he was trying to free himself from, he was trying to free himself to a massive body and a lot of power. Yet in the track, he remains insane and still begs for help - he has not transcended his trauma, nor has his new form changed him in any way. Even after becoming empowered, he is still on the strings and is defeated by cutting them. The entire fight actually happens because he wants to suck Kris's soul to share the body with him to gain internal support. Yet this doesn't happen because Kris's friends prevent this from happening. The lesson is that friendship beats power.
Conclusion
This is why I believe that Toby Fox is a genius. His musical writing evokes the exact feelings that he wants to evoke, tells us a story, or teaches us a lesson, often without saying a single word. They work great to describe a character, a location, a situation, and they even work well in a vacuum. I made this article specifically to appreciate his work and try to decipher its meaning through attentive listening. I chose the tracks that I felt would be easier to explain (besides the last 2), but Toby Fox has much much more great music and works even greater than some of the ones I covered. But I am too tired to cover ALL of his tracks, so I am finishing my article here.