Stephanie Economou has received a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games & Other Interactive Media for Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok” at the 2023 GRAMMYs.
Recording Academy is the world’s leading society of musical professionals and is dedicated to celebrating, honoring, and sustaining music’s past, present and future. It’s also known as the show where Beyonce always wins a Grammy every year.
The nominees for best Video Games Soundtrack were:
- Austin Wintory’s soundtrack for “Aliens: Fireteam Elite”.
- Bear McCreary’s work on “Call of Duty: Vanguard”.
- Richard Jacques’ soundtrack for “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy”.
- Christopher Tin’s score for Old World.
- Stephanie Economou’s soundtrack for “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok”.
Watch Stephanie Economou’s acceptance speech for receiving the first ever Video Game Soundtrack Grammy:
Stephanie Economou acceptance speech transcript:
“[Music]
Wow! Thank you thank you all so much, thank you to the recording Academy for this incredible honor.
I want to say I’m so grateful to Ubisoft and Simone Landry for inviting me into the rich rich Legacy of Assassin’s Creed, to Lakeshore records White Bear craft angle and especially John Clark without whom I would be on no stage anywhere. [Thanks] to all of the remarkable musicians who had a hand in shaping the sound of this score: Wayne Ingram, Wilder On, Ari Mason, Anar Silvik, Jake Baldwin, John Monroe, I share this with all of you.
[Special thanks] to my family dad, mom, Nikki, and my incredible husband John, you inspire me more than anyone and I love you so much.
Lastly, I just want to recognize all of the people who fought tirelessly to bring this category of video game music into existence. Thank you for acknowledging and validating the power of game music! This is truly such an honor, thank you!
[Applause]”
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök – Full Game Soundtrack:
- Assassin’s Creed : Dawn of Ragnarök Main Theme (ft. Einar Selvik) : 00:00
- Old Friends and Gentle Jailers (ft. Ari Mason) : 03:19
- Wrath of the Muspelheim : 05:47
- Ghosts in the Shadows : 08:01
- Dark Fields : 09:20
- The Blade of Surtr (ft. Wilderun) : 11:58
- Svartalfheim : 14:52
- Through The Embers : 17:34
- Forsaken : 19:20
- The Hunting Ground : 21:33
- Cracking The Vault (ft. Wilderun) : 24:53
- Bound Warrior : 26:53
- Stranger in a Strange Land : 28:37
- The Adversary : 30:45
- Sanctuary : 32:52
- In Memory of a Very Fine Smithy : 35:55
- The Snare Tightens : 38:12
- The Eitri Crater : 39:23
- Sinmara : 41:03
- The Salakar : 42:49
- Not Fated to Die : 44:26
- Jötunheim : 45:34
- Bitter Fruits (ft. Ari Mason) : 46:44
- Odin vs The Elderstahl : 48:43
As fellow gamers it’s safe to say we’re all very happy to see Video Game soundtracks finally getting the long-deserved recognition they deserve. Heck, I’ve heard some 8-bit GameBoy soundtracks like Trip World’s overworld chiptune theme by Phase Out (Tsutomu Ishida, Masayuki Iwata & Atsushi Mihiro) that deserve high praise and those are from the 1980 & 90’s! So this has been a long time coming.
But my favorite gaming soundtracks are the ones I must’ve heard 1,000’s of times. Command & Conquer and Red Alert’s soundtracks by Frank Klepacki are *chef’s kiss* perfection!
Laura Shigihara is another composer who always puts out great work if you enjoy relaxing ethereal songs. She composes for lots of indie games, including her own, so fingers crossed she gets a Grammy one day too.
What are your favorite video game soundtracks?