Hey!

If you have stumbled upon this blog post and don’t know what Tunes from the Monastery is, I am surprised! Tunes from the Monastery is a LEGO Ninjago fan album and it’s available freely on YouTube. I recommend you to listen to the entirety to really enjoy this blog post. Check it out using the link in the navbar at the top!

Anyway, for those remaining who have listened to the entirety of the album, THANK YOU! Thank you for your support and it really means a lot to me that you have taken your time out of your year to listen to my silly little songs about overpriced ABS plastic.

If you want to listen to the songs offline, download the songs here! They are all properly tagged (ID3v2.3 for player compatibility) for your convenience.

This is going to be a lengthy blog post, so buckle up.

Table of Contents (Yes, it's THAT long.)
  1. The Story
    1. I. One Massive Break.
    2. II. Just my trusty phone in my hand.
    3. III. Pumping faster than the speed of sound
    4. Intermission: THE LAPTOP’S LITERALLY BURNING!!!
    5. IV. Didn’t see THAT coming from the sidelines
    6. V. Vocal Recording Pains
    7. VI. Blending LEGO and Rendering in 4K60
    8. VII. The Ad
  2. The Songs
    1. Face the Race
    2. Let the Water Flow
    3. Fade Away
    4. Your Oni Side
    5. Compatible Now
    6. Shorefront
    7. Postcards
    8. A Place We Called Home
    9. Save Myself
    10. Edge
    11. Other Side
  3. Questions for Future Askers
    1. Will you release the album on music streaming services? (Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, etc.)
    2. Can I use one of the songs for a video?
    3. Tunes from the Monastery is awesome, how can I support you?
    4. What other Ninjago fan content should I watch next?
    5. Did you leave the Realm of Harmony to be a competitor in this niche?
    6. Do you have plans for Tunes from the Monastery 2?
  4. The End!

Disclaimer

As far as I know, a small percentage of my proof, if it actually still exists, is on a laptop that can barely run, and I am NOT going to inconvenience myself for just a small thing (oh, and some of the evidence that I DO know are unrecoverable, lost to the sea of abandoned Discord servers and group chats). Just keep in mind that a good chunk of what I wrote in this blog post is from memory.

The Story

I. One Massive Break.

In October of 2022, before the release of Farewell to the Sea, I started working on a Future House instrumental that would eventually become the instrumental to Compatible Now.

I pitched it to the Realm of Harmony group chat as a potential song regarding the PIXANE ship, and while the premise was great, the LEGO Ninjago fan album that the Realm of Harmony was working on was based on Season 15: Crystalized, rather than Season 3: Rebooted which would have been much more fitting (and, yeah I agree). Given at the time I hadn’t actually thought of writing the lyrics yet, it was probably the best that it wasn’t immediately worked on.

So, I let it sit in my projects folder for the time being while I think of some lyrics. On July 11, 2023, I recorded what would be the first half of the first verse for the song, which ended up entirely unchanged, but that was the extent of my work during this time period (oh, and releasing Out of Town, but that’s irrelevant to the album lol).

Fast forward a couple of months later, on the 11th of September (completely coincidental), 2023, I amicably left from the Realm of Harmony team. Immediately, I felt refreshingly free from what I felt was unspoken responsibility of creating songs for the team. That responsibility was not actually there, but I was pressured by myself to help as much as I can so that I can actually justify to myself that I am truly part of the Realm of Harmony.

I mostly left because it was the start of the school year; assignments were piling up and I needed to take a break from all the craziness. So, I quit. (but don’t worry, I am still on good terms with the members, well, former members, of the Realm of Harmony. I think. I hope.)

A week later, an idea popped into my noggin.

II. Just my trusty phone in my hand.

On September 24, 2023, I recorded me singing out the intro (and its accompanying syncopated guitar riffs), and the first line of the first verse to Other Side, the LEGO Hidden Side fan song. I then recorded a much more refined version of the first half of the first verse the following day. In retrospect, it was surprising, because at this point in time, I have never actually seen a single episode of LEGO Hidden Side.

It was at this point all hell broke loose.

On November 25, 2023, I wrote the entire first verse of Save Myself when the idea came to me, later adding the pre-chorus and the chorus two days later. By December 5, I had the entire song completed, from the first verse to the last chorus.

I think this is when I realized:

I could make an album out of this!

On December 12, I wrote the first version of Face the Race that remained largely unchanged in the final release. Three days later, I came up with the pre-chorus and chorus for A Place We Called Home. Then, on the 28th of December, literally just before the new year, I wrote the entirety of Let the Water Flow.

Sometimes I’m surprised at how quickly I write these songs. In just over a month, I wrote the 4 of the songs in the album.

Then, the new year came around, and it was time to… actually start producing the instrumentals.

III. Pumping faster than the speed of sound

Whenever I start composing and producing an idea I have in Ableton Live, I typically don’t stop the producing session until I get it perfect on the first draft, which did happen with most of the songs in this album. I first started working on the instrumental for Face the Race on the 5th of January, 2024, then worked on Fade Away on the 18th, A Place We Called Home the following day, and Let the Water Flow on the 25th.

In retrospect, it’s amazing that I somehow produced such a ridiculous range of genres in just a month, especially with the hard shift from Fade Away, a Midtempo song to A Place We Called Home, a Piano Ballad.

Later in this blog post, I will talk about each individual track and it’s details, but for now, let’s talk about something tangentially related.

Intermission: THE LAPTOP’S LITERALLY BURNING!!!

Hyperbole.

The silver HP Laptop my parents originally bought me in 2021 for my birthday (November 21) was actually a serviceable laptop for both my needs. The evidence is everything I have ever made in 2022 and 2023, from my entire Realm of Harmony discography, to Soulless and the After the Blackout Remix that’s somehow still getting views.

However, over time, the design quirks of the laptop have made it increasingly harder to do more complex and layered productions. For the nerds out there, my original theory of why it became ridiculously slower over time is because of the VRMs and CPU losing its cooling capacity, making it throttle hard. This could have been easily fixed by replacing the thermal pads and the thermal paste, but given HP’s reputation for VRM throttling, I doubt that it would’ve actually helped.

This is why when you look at the FPS counter in k9 go kill, it’s really low, despite the i5-1135G7 and the MX350 the laptop had.

Also the plastic was actually breaking down due to weak plastic on metal hinge-itis.

After talking to my parents about it, it was clear that I should probably get a replacement because of these problems, in addition to the laptop’s prior history of repairs, including a plastic bezel replacement. Yes, this laptop is so bad that it just keeps falling apart. Damn you HP!

So, after actually thoroughly researching this time for the best laptop within budget, I’m not ridiculously rich after all, I ended up with a 2023 Acer Nitro V 15. It’s been an AMAZING laptop so far. This is also what enabled me to render the videos for the entire album in 4K at 60fps.

Now, back to the album.

IV. Didn’t see THAT coming from the sidelines

After setting up Ableton Live on my new laptop, on the 1st of March, 2024, I worked on a Liquid DnB-like track that eventually became Postcards. Then, on the 21st of March, I started working on Your Oni Side, also producing the entirety of Shorefront a week and a day later. On the 7th of April, I started producing Edge, then the following day, I started actually producing Save Myself and Other Side.

Yeah, the two songs that started this mess actually ended up being the last ones that I produced. But I had actually good reasons for it that I will tackle later when we talk about the tracks.

V. Vocal Recording Pains

I’m gonna preface this by saying: I’m not a vocalist.

While I could talk about recording the vocals individually per track, I think it’s better to talk about it as a whole.

I scheduled each and every track to be recorded in the span of three days. In the Google Docs that I used for tracking progress, I originally ordered it by easiest to sing, as seen in Recording Block 1, however, I realized, very quickly, that I wouldn’t be able to reach the high notes in the later tracks.

So, after completing Recording Block 1, I flipped the order of the songs, now starting with what was the hardest to sing, and ending on what was the easiest to sing.

With the exception of one.

I actually recorded a large chunk of Your Oni Side before starting Recording Block 2. I just hadn’t moved it to Recording Block 2.

These recording blocks, or rather, recording days were spread out between 3-4 days. Of course, re-recordings were inevitable, but I handled that in mixing proper, re-recording certain parts when needed. Though, I think that I could have made the vocals way better.

It was just me, my laptop, my microphone, and a silent air conditioned room.

It took way too long.

I typically do my vocals for my tracks by using a technique called vocal comping, wherein you create a composite of the best parts of many different takes. I had to make multiple takes, so for each track, I have recorded 5-7 takes for just the main vocals. Okay, maybe not as extensive as Porter Robinson’s 50 takes example, but it was a lot for someone new like me.

VI. Blending LEGO and Rendering in 4K60

For all of the art for the album, like the cover and the background, I used Blender to create it.

I built the small set using Bricklink Studio, exported that, and imported it into Mecabricks so I can import it nicely into Blender. I modified the mesh of a LEGO phone tile to a screen with a massive bezel.

I then stole appropriated the material from this Stack Exchange answer, and modified it to fit the images I used, then set the face where the screen should be to the material. I used some physics simulation to set the position of the books, because manually setting them would have been time consuming and really bad practice.

I rendered all of the images in 4K (3840 x 2160), which was a reasonably high resolution for my taste, with the max samples set to 128.

I use After Effects to create the spectrograms for all of my videos ever since the Home EP. I also used Premiere Pro for its workflow integration, so I wouldn’t have to render the spectrogram separately and import it to Vegas Pro. I rendered the actual videos in 4K at 60 frames per second, which I kind of regretted at the time. It took a bit over 6 hours to render all of the 11 videos, making my laptop sound like a jet engine.

Though, the i5-13420H and the RTX 4050 chugged through it like a champ!

VII. The Ad

Let’s just get this out of the way, I apologize for anyone who actually thought that something genuinely big was coming to the show!

I actually wrote the script, recorded, and edited it on the same day that it was uploaded. It was simple, really.

I took inspiration from my friend YaboiFoxtale (you might know him as Foxtale2614 or the guy who made pythor doesnt accept), who took inspiration from solid jj. I also attempted to emulate the thumbnail style of Crusty783 to increase the clickbaity-ness of the ad. Again, rendered in 4K at 60 fps for consistency.

Both LEGO people in the video are actually modeled after me. The guy in the suit was modeled in 2022, when I actually had longer hair like that, and casually went outside in a suit. The guy in the green button shirt was modeled in 2024, when I was forced to my pre-pandemic short hair by my school’s dress code.

Obviously, I’m not putting up a picture here. I’m not gonna dox myself, I’m too traceable. You’d just have to trust me on this lol.

The Songs

Now that we covered the story of how the album came to be, let’s talk about the songs!

The album covers a wide range of genres. From Future House with Compatible Now, to Alternative with Edge, to Rock with Let the Water Flow and Other Side, to, of course, full on Ballads with Save Myself. This is the widest range I have ever produced and it really pushes my own personal boundaries of what I’m comfortable working in. Each individual song has its own character assigned to it and each has a specific context. For example, A Place We Called Home is about Kai’s relationship with his parents, Edge is about finding Wu in Season 8: Sons of Garmadon, etc.

Let’s go over each song individually!

Face the Race

Face the Race was inspired in small part by Bass House, as I was listening to artists such as Knock2 at the time.

Made in the context of Prime Empire, specifically Speedway Five Billion, it integrates video game elements like simple saw and square wave synths. I mixed it with some of my own House style as kind of heard in my Middle of the Night remix.

Oh, and I slammed and modified the Ninjago Overture and put it on a string VST. It ended up sounding very cool so I kept it in.

Face the Race was surprisingly hard for me to write lyrics for, specifically the second half of the second verse, as I actually had no idea what to put there. I’m slightly not happy with the final second verse, but hey, stuff happens.

Originally, the second half of the second verse was just descriptive of what happened in the Prime Empire episode with the race:

Then, on the 20th of December, I changed it to Cole strategizing:

Finally, on the 8th of April, I changed it to what is in the final release.

Let the Water Flow

Imagine I made Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know more aggressive and added guitars. Yeah, this is where I got the inspiration for Let the Water Flow.

While the overall sound of Let the Water Flow is mostly from my own style of Rock as heard in Ninja’s Coda, Somewhere Only We Know definitely had an influence, as you can hear from the piano, backing the track. I fully intended to have a key change at the end, as it seemed fitting for the last section to have one more surprise.

As I said in the story, I wrote the entire song in one sitting. The song is about Nya, her water powers in Season 5: Possession and the angst resulting from such a jaw dropping discovery.

The reason why I didn’t get a female vocalist for the song is because I wasn’t actually sure if I would be able to actually release the song. Nay, the album. I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time on something that wasn’t going to actually get released.

Fade Away

Fade Away is one of the very few songs I have done where I produced the track before I wrote it, which did make it harder for me to write lyrics for.

Similarly to Farther and Soulless, it is mainly inspired by Melodic Midtempo songs, specifically Laszlo’s Closer, a song which I highly recommend you listening to. Closer is such a vibe.

It does have some small Disco elements, like the drums in the verses, but it is mostly styled towards Melodic Midtempo.

I’m slightly unhappy with the final lyrics as it really was hard for me to write lyrics for Fade Away, even with the context in mind, but I think it works well enough.

Your Oni Side

Your Oni Side was very much unintentionally inspired by 80s disco/dance pop like Michael Jackson (specifically Billie Jean). Once I realized that, I shifted the focus to doing something like it.

I’m actually extremely happy with the mixing job that I did for the instrumental. The sub bass is really clean on my pair of cans, and overall the production is superb. Though, the vocal mix could have been a bit better.

This is also the most vocally demanding song out of the entire album, as I had a lot of trouble with Lloyd’s Post-chorus. I recorded the idea in falsetto, and realized it actually wasn’t in my vocal range. This is why I actually recorded Your Oni Side first before starting Recording Block 2. Never again.

Lyrically, it’s about the entire Garmadon and Lloyd thing in Season 15: Crystalized. I’m very happy with the final lyrics, some of them are particularly clever (at least to me lol). I especially love the post-chorus; it’s just a joy to sing.

Compatible Now

When I originally made the instrumental to Compatible Now, I was actually still in my Future House phase, hence, Future House. You can actually hear a snippet in one of my blog posts, dated the 16th of January, 2023

I asked for some comments from fellow electronic music producers in the K-391 Discord Server (no, we’re not related), and it garnered extremely positive feedback, with only very minor tweaks suggested.

It was, and probably still is, the most complex drop that I have ever worked on, as there were many, and I mean MANY elements in the drop that contribute to its boppy nature. The instrumental is definitely one of my top electronic productions for its ridiculous amount of detail.

I actually completely rewrote the lyrics while on vacation. On the 29th of March, I sat down on a balcony table in my relative’s home, and rewrote it until I was actually happy with the lyrics, because at the time, the lyrics I wrote actually sucked (sans the first half of the first verse, that one was kept from the beginning to final release).

I’m not particularly happy with the vocal mix, though, it is still a vibe.

Shorefront

Shorefront was supposed to have vocals and lyrics. However, because I didn’t write enough lyrics to justify recording it, I posted the song as an instrumental intermission instead, as I originally intended.

A sea shanty-esque track made in the context of Season 6: Skybound, it was originally just me messing around in Ableton Live.

I was going to ask YaboiFoxtale to collaborate on this track, but given that I had a deadline to catch, I ended up releasing the trailer before actually going through with it. Maybe in the future we could do a vocal version. Who knows?

Postcards

I was actually inspired by NewJean’s Super Shy for its Liquid Drum and Bass and Bubblegum Pop sound. Yes, I got inspired by a Kpop song. I’m surprised as well, considering I don’t actually listen to Kpop, I just hear the genre second-hand.

This is actually one of my favourite tracks that I have produced, as it’s actually kind of a bop, even without vocals. Even creating the track was a fun process. I’d find myself listening to the instrumental on loop for hours.

Based off of the entire Lloyd and Garmadon thing in Season 1: Rise of the Snakes and Season 2: Legacy of the Green Ninja, it was actually kind of tricky to write lyrics for it.

I am very happy overall with the song. It’s just a really nice song to listen to on repeat, especially the instrumental. The melancholic, yet energetic feel just fits really well together.

A Place We Called Home

Of course, an album by K9 isn’t being true to itself if there aren’t any sadboi songs in 6/8. Shifting hard from DnB to Piano Ballad, this one is inspired by When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars.

A thing to know about me is that I actually don’t know how to play a single instrument, nor have had formal (or informal) musical education, so I have what that entails (i.e. the inability to read sheet music, and most importantly for this, the inability to play the piano). Remember that I’m trying to write a piano ballad. The only reason I can do what I do now is because all of my music theory knowledge is hinged on one video by InspirAspir, and stuff that I picked up over time. I recommend checking it out if you want to relearn the basics, but outside of that stuff that I picked over time, I only know the theory that’s adjacent to electronic dance music (or pop).

Yes, it was extremely tough to get the instrumental just right, and yes, I am still unhappy at the end result, but it is probably the best that I can do, so I can’t complain.

If it wasn’t obvious from the lyrics, which I’d forgive you if you didn’t cop it, the song is about Kai’s perspective on his and Nya’s parents leaving the two siblings alone in the shop, and his trials and tribulations of just surviving without their parents.

The song’s not great, but it’s certainly not bad, it’s just alright.

Save Myself

Remember how I don’t know how to play a single instrument? That wasn’t a lie, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. Yes, that is actually me playing on my guitar.

I consider Save Myself as the song you should absolutely listen to in the album, because it’s a classic K9 sadboi song in 6/8 time signature.

When I originally thought of the lyrics of the song, I was actually writing it with me playing the guitar in mind. I was messing around with my Cort AF510M, when I figured out the “chord” progression to the song, which magically spawned lyrics into my head. Of course, since I didn’t know how to actually play guitar, it’s a really simplistic chord progression, if you could call it that, literally moving only two fingers, on the bass E and A strings.

I know the guitar strings literally squeaking at every stroke will make actual guitarists cringe, so if anyone wants to try to create the guitar tabs for the song and play it themselves, good luck. (Tip: I recorded the guitar takes with a capo on the first fret.)

The reason why this was one of the last few songs to actually be produced was because I really did want the song to have me playing the guitar, no matter how many takes it took. I’d also have to say this is the best vocal performance I have ever done. I have sung this song while playing it on the guitar for days non-stop before I actually produced the instrumental, so I had a ton of practice for it.

This song has a special place in my heart, right next to Farewell to the Sea, because the lyrics are just so raw and unfiltered coming from me. The lyrics pull from my own experience of self-doubt, my fear of disappointment, and just being tired of everything. Maybe I just have a penchant for sadboi songs.

Overall, the greatest song that’s ever lived, 10/10, would cry to it again.

Edge

The melody for the chorus of Edge was actually a pretty old idea that I had that originally wasn’t supposed to be a Ninjago song. It was just an idea that I had recorded, and remembered.

I wrote the chorus and the first verse during some downtime in PE class. Yes, in extreme boredom, I wrote some surprisingly alright lyrics.

Once I came back home, I quickly started working on the instrumental, pulling a tiny bit of inspiration from power pop. I’m quite happy with the instrumental, and it turned out awesome. The vocals aren’t exactly how I wanted them to sound like, but I think it works well enough that it isn’t too distracting to the listener. It does annoy me slightly though.

I wrote this with Season 8: Sons of Garmadon in mind, if the two references in the lyrics didn’t scan well. It’s about the ninja trying to find Wu.

(Also, I put this ahead of Save Myself because I did NOT want to end the album on a sadboi song, because that’d be depressing.)

Other Side

The bonus track!

It is true that when I first started writing Other Side, I hadn’t actually seen a LEGO Hidden Side episode prior. Having watched six episodes as of writing, it’s surprising how much I didn’t stray off course.

Other Side is actually the oldest idea in the entire album, the chorus melody and overall vibe having been originally concepted in July of 2022. In fact, this was the original instrumental demo, dated the 15th of July, 2022. I had made this when I was still mainly using FL Studio for my productions.

lhs thing.mp3

It’s definitely a far cry from the final track. I wasn’t knowledgeable and skilled enough to put the idea in my head into my DAW, so I just casually forgot about it, as one does.

After writing the first verse and the chorus, I actually started watching some of the episodes of LEGO Hidden Side for lyrical inspiration, which helped a lot. If you’re writing a fan song about a show, GO WATCH THAT SHOW FOR INSPIRATION!

I have absolutely no idea where the inspiration for the swing-y rock sound came from, but boy howdy, was it actually a good idea. I am incredibly happy with the instrumental, and it’s really fun to listen to. I had a little bit of trouble recording the vocals, but I eventually landed on something I was happy with.

Questions for Future Askers

Time to answer some questions that future people may ask.

Will you release the album on music streaming services? (Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, etc.)

UPDATE: I’ve decided to take the risk, and release the album on music streaming services, like Spotify! You can save the album here. If you want to see what I wrote when I first released Tunes from the Monastery, read on!

Short answer: Probably not, but maybe in the future.

Really long answer: While I would absolutely pay the 10 dollars to CD Baby to get the album released onto streaming services when I have the time, frankly, I don’t know the legality of this (and fan songs in general), especially if it’s as derivative as mine.

According to Marcellus R. Meek in the DePaul Law Review in 1953:

Section I of the Act of 1909, subsection (e), as amended, provides that the musical copyright proprietor shall have the exclusive right to

… make any arrangement or setting of it or the melody of it in any system of notation or any form of record in which the thought of the author may be recorded and from which it may be read or reproduced.

Marcellus R. Meek, International Copyright and Musical Compositions, 3 DePaul L. Rev. 52 (1953) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol3/iss1/3

The melody of the Ninjago Overture can be heard in:

  1. Face the Race (strings in the chorus)
  2. Let the Water Flow (part of the melody of the bridge)
  3. Fade Away (pluck in the background)
  4. Postcards (second melodic element in instrumental)
  5. Edge (part of the melody of the chorus)

The melody of the Weekend Whip can be heard in Edge, as the melody of the bridge.

If I were to release those five tracks on Spotify, it could be considered copyright infringement by the legal team at LEGO, and I would actually be liable. The reason why YouTube is the only way I could release them is because the platform actually has one of the kindest copyright systems on the internet.

That’s IF it gets past through the internal review process that distributors do to prevent these kinds of things.

Even the Ninja’s Coda could be considered copyright infringement because the chorus is a tweaked version of the Ninjago Overture (I would know, I wrote it lol).

And before you scream “but fair use!”, do check out Tom Scott’s video on copyright, and the Wikipedia article on fair use. I don’t think most people who put fair use disclaimers have done a deep dive on what fair use actually is, and only focus on the “if it’s for non-profit purposes, then it’s fine!” descriptor, which, uh, no. That won’t hold up in court.

The only genuinely legal way to get the album in its entirety released on streaming platforms is for me to ask permission from JAM Music Company, the company who holds the rights to the music of Ninjago. I do NOT want to inconvenience myself and the legal team at JAM Music Company, spend potentially an exorbitant amount of money to pay for a license to use the melodies of the Ninjago Overture and the Weekend Whip, and sign multiple contracts, just for this small project.

The leniency of the JAM Music Company, and by proxy, The LEGO Group against fan-created works is something I’d have to look into. Even if other artists release their fan songs on Spotify, I want to check if releasing it would get me sued. I don’t want to have a “Warner Bros. takes down a 15-year-old Lord of the Rings fan film for having the same title as the new film they’re developing” situation.

If you really want this album on Spotify, campaign for it with JAM and Jeppe Riddervold or something. I don’t know lol.

Maybe in the future, if I feel particularly risky and lucky, I’ll send it to the music distributor for release, but given how small my audience actually is, I don’t think it’s worth the effort to put it up on streaming services, at least as of writing.

Can I use one of the songs for a video?

See Can I use your songs in my project?.

TLDR: If it’s for your personal project, absolutely!

All I ask for is proper credit. My preferred format is:

Song: “Face the Race” by K97i

Song Link: https://youtu.be/FFDzRBjQu-M

Bonus points if you credit me in the video proper.

Tunes from the Monastery is awesome, how can I support you?

Thank you for your kind words! If you want to support me, and Tunes from the Monastery, just share the album around to your fellow Ninjago friends!

I also have some challenges for you just for funsies, sorted by sheer difficulty, by easiest to hardest.

Disclaimer

Do NOT pester anyone mentioned below. I do not need any sort of beef for a stupid reason.

  1. Get your favourite LEGO content creators to listen to the album, despite how bad the album is.

  2. Get someone who works or worked on Ninjago, whether they’d be a writer, a voice actor or anyone from the music team (could even be Tommy Andreasen, that’d be crazy), to listen to the album. If you somehow get one of them to listen to it, I’ll throw a pizza party for myself (and respect you forever).

  3. Get LEGO to recognize me; which is very much ridiculous, but if we somehow got to the second challenge, this isn’t really that far off, is it?

  4. Get Ed Sheeran to cover Save Myself. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. Do not pester the man about it, I don’t need a restraining order or hitman on my back. I’d gladly sign the paperwork required if this did happen though. (He does like LEGO, so this isn’t so far out of left field.)

What other Ninjago fan content should I watch next?

If you’d like more Ninjago fan songs, check out SOTE’s YouTube channel. The Realm of Harmony is where this entire fan song journey all started, and my first few Ninjago fan songs were posted over there, so do check it out! SOTE also posts Ninjago fan songs, so go support them!

If you want to have a laugh, check out YaboiFoxtale’s YouTube channel. I can confirm that the Ninjago Trashpost series is very funny, so go binge watch the entire series!

Did you leave the Realm of Harmony to be a competitor in this niche?

No, I didn’t?

I’m not THAT evil, alright? Did you read the first part of the story?

Do you have plans for Tunes from the Monastery 2?

NO! Absolutely not (yet).

I just released an album that required a ton of work. I need to take a MASSIVE break from music in general. I am open, however, to another Ninjago fan album, if this one gets popular.

The End!

In the end, this album was an absolute blast to work on. Creating each and every song in the album, that entire experience was surreal, and opened my eyes to the world of songwriting. These past few months have been some of the toughest in my life, both because of this album, and because of personal reasons, and I can’t thank everyone enough for supporting me.

I’d like to thank the people over at the Foxtale Discord Server, especially YaboiFoxtale and Ninjnerd. Both of them have been really supportive of the project, and I appreciate their kind words. I’d also like to thank the peeps over at the K-391 Discord Server (again, we are not related lol) for providing invaluable feedback for Compatible Now and Face the Race. Many thanks as well to the peeps over at The Giddy Inn Discord server for being hyped about my music!

I’d like to thank the viewers who have listened to the album, for putting up with my really bad singing. The Ninjago community is truly awesome! I’d like to thank SOTE and the original Realm of Harmony team for veering me into the path of Ninjago Fan Songs in the first place. I wouldn’t be here without all of you kicking off the Crystalized Fan Album.

Of course, we cannot forget to thank the Ninjago team and LEGO for creating one of the most intriguing and engaging kids shows in recent memory. I cannot wait to watch part 2 of Dragons Rising Season 2!

And finally, I’d like to thank you, the reader, for reading this blog post. Whether you skipped to the end, or you skimmed through it, or read the entirety of it, I’m grateful that you’ve spent your time actually consuming my creative works.

Signing off,

K97i