She Shines is the twenty-fourth and final track in the album Transistor: Original Soundtrack. It was written and produced by Darren Korb, with vocals provided by Ashley Barrett.
The song was produced as a bonus track for an "interactive digital experience" associated with the game's 2016 Apple TV release and was later retroactively added to all versions of the soundtrack album. It does not play during the game, nor can it be accessed on the Music Player in the Sandbox, and is also the only vocal track without an instrumental version, though an orchestral version was released later.
As with the other vocal tracks, it can be considered part of Red's discography in the context of the game's story.
Lyrics[]
Official lyrics from the Bandcamp album release:
I see the lights
Dance on the bay
All of the dark
Falls away
A glow from the heights
Glances along the water's skin
Nimble and bright
Swallowed in
I’m always breathless to see,
Growing so slowly to greet me,
Where I end and where she begins
When she shines for me at night
And her skies show green and white
She will keep us in her sight
We all lie beneath her light
Lost in the clouds
Like tears in the rain
Winking alone
All the same
Sleeping below
We never mind her diligence
Watching us all
Lie awake
Just on the edge of a dream
Growing so slowly to greet me
Tearing at all of its seams
When she shines for me at night
And her skies show green and white
She will keep us in her sight
We all lie beneath her light
When she shines for me at night
And her skies show green and white
She will keep us in her sight
We all lie beneath her light
History[]
She Shines was produced after the release of Transistor as a bonus track available exclusively during an "interactive download experience" when the Apple TV version of the game streamed in new data.[1][2] After this port's release, the song was retroactively added to all releases of the Transistor: Original Soundtrack album. No instrumental version has been released, making it the only vocal track without one, but an orchestral rendition was released as part of Supergiant Games' 10th Anniversary Album, The Songs of Supergiant Games.
The song does not play during gameplay, nor can it be found among the songs available on the Sandbox's Music Player. However, like all the other tracks with vocals, it can be considered one of the songs written and performed by Red during her career within the context of the story.
Trivia[]
- An mp3 file of the song is present in the Steam release of the game's files, unencrypted and separate from the rest of the audio files.
- The line "like tears in the rain" is a reference to the tears in rain monologue from Blade Runner, a movie considered to be a pioneer in the cyberpunk genre. In this speech the character Roy laments that "all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."
- The lyrics likely reflect Red's affection for her home city of Cloudbank, mentioning the bay near which the game begins and "green and white" skies suggestive of Farrah Yon-Dale's skypainting.
Gallery[]
References[]
| Transistor Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Vocal Tracks | In Circles (_n C_rcl_s) · Paper Boats · She Shines · Signals · The Spine · We All Become |
| Instrumental Tracks | Apex Beat · Blank Canvas · Coasting · Cut Apart · Dormant · Forecast · Gateless · Gold Leaf (G_ld L__f) · Heightmap · Impossible · Interlace · Old Friends · Sandbox · Stained Glass · Tangent · Traces · Vanishing Point (V_n_sh_ng P__nt) · Water Wall |
| Unreleased Tracks | Dread1 · HighriseStingerShort · MysteryStingerAuden |
| Unused Track | HighriseStinger |
| Albums | Transistor: Original Soundtrack · Transistor: Original Soundtrack Extended · The Songs of Supergiant Games |