Jump Up, Super Star!

"Jump Up, Super Star!"
Song by Kate Higgins
from the album Super Mario Odyssey Original Soundtrack
Released	February 28, 2018
Recorded	2017
Genre	Video game swing jazz
Songwriter(s)	Naoto Kubo
Lyricist(s)	Nobuyoshi Suzuki

"Jump Up, Super Star!" is a song by voice-actress Kate Higgins in English and songwriter Aimi Mukohara in Japanese. ^[1] Composed by Naoto Kubo and written by Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Jump Up, Super Star! was used as the main theme of the 2017 video game Super Mario Odyssey, being used as the theme used in the Menu, as well being used at the New Donk Festivial in the Metro Kingdom level of Super Mario Odyssey. ^{[2] [3]}

Jump Up, Super Star! was concieved while writting character work for Pauline. During development, they gave her an interest in jazz music. This led her to becoming a singer. Jump Up, Super Star! was first released worldwide on October 20, 2017, as a single titled "Super Mario Odyssey - Jump Up, Super Star!" on the iTunes store. The song was also used in the E3 2017 trailer for the game.

Development

Kate Higgins, who previously worked with Nintendo with their 2012 3DS video game Fire Emblem Awakening returned as a singer for Jump Up, Super Star!

Nobuyoshi Suzuki, the sound designer of Super Mario Odyssey, wrote the first draft of the lyrics in Japanese. According to Yoshiaki Koizumi, the song had been created as a direct result of their developing the character of Pauline, and they had a discussion on whether words such as "1UP" should be used. The music was finalized before any English lyrics were written. They sent all of the documents they had to the localization members to create the final lyrics, due to English being a more global language, as Koizumi stated. ^[3] Early drafts of the lyrics were recorded as demos by Rob Tunstall, and these demos would be sent back to the Japanese team for feedback. Originally, the English lyrics had more obvious references to the Super Mario franchise, but the Japanese team requested that they should be as subtle as possible, resulting in a back-and-forth process of refinement between them and the localization members. The lyrics were finalized with less than three weeks to go before the recording session. ^[4]

The English version was the first to be recorded with voice actress Kate Higgins providing the vocals. According to herself, Cup of Tea Productions, Inc. was in charge of the voice acting. When asked if she was interested in doing the voice, she agreed and auditioned for the role by sending samples of her voice to Nintendo of Japan, and she was ultimately selected for the role. Weeks before the recording session, Nintendo of Japan sent her a demo sung by an unknown Japanese singer and a lead sheet, with the music already recorded. Several people from Japan and America were present in the final recording. ^[5]

Composition

Jump Up, Super Star! lyrics references many gameplay mechanics in the Super Mario franchise, like jumping, collecting coins, and 1-UPs.

The song uses an upbeat, big-band jazz style and is most notable for being the first song from the mainline Super Mario series to feature lyrics, something rarely heard in songs from games of the overall Super Mario franchise. The song has Pauline detailing an adventure across the worlds of Super Mario Odyssey , referring to herself as Mario's "1UP girl." The lyrics are also printed on the inside of the game case for all regions.

References

1. "JOYSOUND独占！人気ゲーム『スーパーマリオ オデッセイ』がカラオケに登場！". JOYSOUND.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-04-15.
2. Walsh, Doug and Joe Epstein (October 27, 2017), Super Mario Odyssey: Prima Collector's Edition Guide, Roseville: Prima Games, p. 136, ISBN   978-0-7440-1887-5
3. "『スーパーマリオ オデッセイ』小泉Pに訊く、心に刺さる驚きを目指した"箱庭マリオ"の革新と、名作が続く任天堂開発の秘訣". ファミ通.com (in Japanese). 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
4. Log, Nintendo Treehouse. "Localizing "Jump Up, Super Star!"". Nintendo Treehouse Log. Archived from the original on 2025-04-09. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
5. Hilliard, Kyle. "Kate Higgins On Playing Pauline And Singing "Jump Up Superstar" For Super Mario Odyssey". Game Informer. Retrieved 2025-04-15.

Text was copied from Jump Up, Super Star! at Super Mario Wiki, which is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license.