History Main / IMageSOng

** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' has Rainbow Dash's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V46wBBd5CM "Awesome As I Wanna Be,"]] whose chorus calls back to her part of "At The Gala", which inspired many fan music pieces. The OST-exclusive second verse even includes her [[MemeticMutation memetic]] {{catchphrase}} [[TwentyPercentMoreAwesome "20 percent cooler."]] There's also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOEKu8L5UqQ "Tricks Up My Sleeve"]] for Trixie, and Hasbro later released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eTef5Iqe0Y "My Past is Not Today"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl88FPaxwEQ "Life is A Runway,"]] for Sunset Shimmer and Rarity respectively.

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* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' combined this with ForgottenThemeTuneLyrics to create ''Super Mario Compact Disco''. Oddly enough, Peach is only mentioned ''once'' throughout the soundtrack (specifically during the "Super Mario USA" song), as the rest of it is spent playing up Daisy as Mario's LoveInterest.

* As a game that uses StoryBreadcrumbs to tell an overarching narrative, one of ''VideoGame/MementoMoriAFKRPG'''s major selling points is this, giving every playable [[WitchSpecies witch]] (even the ComMons) their own song — "Lament" — that each tell their personal stories and feelings from before and/or after meeting [[PlayerCharacter the Successor]], sung by famous Japanese singers. Bonus points to the Witches of Qlipha and a select few normal witches for having their Laments sung by their own voice actresses.

A song specific in content and tone to a character from an anime, often sung by the character's voice performer—usually on a soundtrack CD.

* ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Marvin, the Paranoid Android had four such songs sung by Stephen Moore, his actor from the original incarnations. The soundtrack of [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy the movie]] included as bonus tracks one of the aforementioned Marvin songs and the hilarious campaign song "Vote Beeblebrox."

The animation houses which produce anime are nothing if not masters of cross-marketing and cross-promotion. One means by which a series is promoted and supported in the Japanese media marketplace is (as is sometimes the case in the United States) the original soundtrack CD. In the early days of this practice, such [=CDs=] usually contained nothing more than the program's opening and closing themes, as well as most or all of the incidental music heard in the show. Eventually, though, the producers of such discs began to take advantage of the fact that most Japanese voice performers are also professional singers, often of the "idol" variety which drives the Japanese pop music market. They began to write songs that typified—and sometimes explored more deeply—the characters.

Thus was born the "Image Song", a uniquely Japanese variety of AllThereInTheManual. While a viewer can enjoy and understand a series without ever hearing the soundtrack, those that do listen to the music often receive a "bonus" in the form of a deeper understanding of the nature of the characters. Occasionally the Image Song makes its way back to the series, where it may appear as a character's theme music, or to punctuate a sequence which features them. As time goes on, this has become more frequent, to the point where in some shows the Image Songs almost (but not quite) supplant the traditional soundtrack entirely. And in some cases, the show's [[AnimeThemeSong theme song]] is treated as an Image Song -- usually sung by the most important female member of the cast, but also remade any number of times by other voice performers from the show.

Since the 2010s, Image Songs are limited to IdolGenre series only. This is because IdolGenre series by nature consistently release music and IdolSinger fan culture guarantees that there will be a dedicated fanbase that will buy [=CDs=]. As a result, most of the resources are invested there instead.

The Image Song differs from the {{leitmotif}} in that it primarily exists outside of the show, whereas a leitmotif is created specifically for use in the show to represent a character or idea. In Western musicals, the CutSong has a similar function. IAmSong and IWantSong are similar but occur in the show.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is fond of doing this as extras on the season soundtracks. So far Sarge, Donut, Caboose, Church, Tucker, and York have all had one.

[[quoteright:350:[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/haruhi_suzumiya_vol_2_yuki_nagato_cd.png]]]]

* Creator/{{Pixar}} put out cassette tapes with corresponding songbooks including songs "sung" by the characters in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' and the first ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory''.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6oUz1v17Uo Picard Song]] for Captain Picard from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' closely fits this trope, including being "sung" by Patrick Stewart through some very well-edited voice clips.

** In Germany, there are multiple German [=SpongeBob=] albums that contain original/cover songs sung by the characters, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4thxGmdDl4 Bargeldlos (Mr. Krabs)]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPyWT1wN478 Tief im Ozean (SpongeBob and Patrick)]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsdwCzG1wc Witzig, Witzig (Sandy)]],[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzOp0JIZGUs Weil ich ein Burgerbrater bin (Spongebob)]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3i5Le87KH8 Lecker Lecker (Spongebob)]].

* Music/REM's "The Great Beyond", written for ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' as a SequelSong to their song about Creator/AndyKaufman that the {{Biopic}} is named after, is an IWantSong told from Kaufman's viewpoint.

* Similarly, the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fandom create many songs sung from the perspective of one character or another. Merely some of the more popular ones include ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4tyvJJzSDk Lullaby for a Princess]]'' (a TearJerker about [[MyGreatestFailure Celestia's greatest failure]]), ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDdL4z5qfr4 Picture Perfect Pony]]'' (complete with show-quality animation), ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvWxZ0Apclg Knights of Time and Space]]'' (a duet between [[EnsembleDarkhorse Derpy and Doctor Hooves]]), and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4dWMxTWTXE Anthropology]]'' ([[MemeticBystander Lyra]] singing about humans). And the parody series ''WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft'' gave its version of Pinkie Pie ([[FanNickname known as "Gypsy Pie"]]) the [[LyricalDissonance tragically cheerful]] ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LohgzBKXLY Gypsy Bard.]]''

** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' pares back the per-form image songs and doesn't have the cast performing them; while established band everset and a few for-the-show singing duos of Astronauts ([[Music/MayNakabayashi May'n]] and Yoshiharu Shiina) and [=SoutherN=] (Creator/MinamiKuribayashi and Yosuke Yamashita), the only cast-sung songs are JK's "Love is Overdrive" and Yuki Jojima's "Ganbare Hayabusa-kun", which featured in episodes. Its follow up ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'' doesn't bother having anyone on cast sing at all, and instead relies on the franchise-wide official bands RIDER CHIPS and Kamen Rider Girls for all its theme music for Wizard's and Beast's many forms.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had "Do the Bartman" and "Deep Deep Trouble" (among others; the cast recorded an album called ''The Simpsons Sing the Blues'' which was about half these and half blues songs sung in character, which was followed up by ''The Yellow Album'', but those two are the best known). The former gets referenced in later episodes occasionally in order to poke fun at the show's initial reception; in one episode, Bart sings a bit of it only to be dismissed by Ralph Wiggum --

Since the 2010s, Image Songs are limited to IdolGenre series only. This is because IdolGenre series by nature consistently release music and idol fan culture guarantees that there will be a dedicated fanbase that will buy [=CDs=]. As a result, most of the resources are invested there instead.

Since the 2010s, Image Songs are limited to IdolGenre series only. This is because IdolGenre series consistently release music due to the nature of the series and idol fan culture guarantees that there will be a dedicated fanbase that will buy [=CDs=]. As a result, most of the resources are invested there instead.

Since the 2010s, Image Songs are limited to IdolGenre series only due to the fact that because they produce a prolific amount of music and because idol fan culture ensures that more people will buy CDs, most of the resources are invested there instead.

* "Ai No Uta" (Love Song), the image song for the eponymous creatures of ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' first appeared in a Japanese commercial for the original Gamecube game. It later became a phenomenon over there, actually outselling the game it was about. The most popular demographic was [[{{Salaryman}} middle-aged working men]], who strongly identified with the themes of loyalty despite abuse which the Pikmin expressed:

* [[https://www.youtube.com/c/Blixemi Blixemi]] is a [=YouTuber=] whose channel mainly focuses on ''Literature/WarriorCats'' songs, some of which are from the perspective of one character. For example, "Walk Without the Stars" is about Ivypool, and "I'll Be Complete" is about Briarlight.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/c/Blixemi Blixemi]] is a [=YouTuber=] whose channel mainly focused on ''Literature/WarriorCats'' songs, some of which are from the perspective of one character. For example, "Walk Without the Stars" is about Ivypool, and "I'll Be Complete" is about Briarlight.

The Image Song differs from the {{leitmotif}} in that it primarily exists outside of the show, whereas a leitmotif is created specifically for use in the show to represent a character or idea. In Western musicals, the CutSong has a similar function. IWantSong is similar but occurs in the show.