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"You four have merely scratched the surface of your full potential."
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The soundtrack of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu is composed and produced in conjunction with the development of the TV series based on the LEGO toyline. The series' score has been written by Jay Vincent and Michael Kramer since it began in 2011, with Jay and Michael having written the scores for all fifteen seasons and two TV specials. Jesi Nelson, who collaborated with Kramer on the soundtrack for LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, did additional music for Ninjago for seasons 7, 11, and 12. Daniel Markovich, Brian Rivlin & Steven Gizzi started contributing to the score as well, from Season 12 onwards. In total, nearly 300 tracks have been released for the entirety of the Ninjago TV series.
Initially, Jay and Michael composed leitmotifs[1] such as the Ninjago Main Theme (aka the Overture), which is reprised frequently throughout the series, as well as themes for the Serpentine, the Green Ninja, and Lord Garmadon. As the series progressed, the themes evolved, with many of the primary protagonists, antagonists, and locations also receiving their own themes. Jay and Michael have composed over 70 distinct themes throughout the series' run.
Despite the popularity of the series' score, little of it has been officially released through soundtrack albums. Two albums featuring music from the pilot episodes through the second season by the label Varèse Sarabande were released in 2014 and 2016 respectively, with 19 tracks each. In 2022, it was announced that every season receive an official album release starting with Crystalized.[2] Jay Vincent began releasing the score on his YouTube channel in August 2012, and Michael Kramer started doing so on his own channel in September 2017. The two also have SoundCloud accounts where they post pieces from the score. Now, the music is released through the JAM Music Company's account "Ninjago Music".
Instrumental versions of The Fold's Ninjago songs are also occasionally used as soundtracks throughout the series, as well as for promotional material.
Releasing music[]
Jay Vincent[]
Jay Vincent first began releasing music for the TV show via his YouTube channel on August 31, 2012. He started with releasing various tracks from the pilot episodes, and from September to November he released music from seasons one and two. Jay resumed posting music in January 2013, and after another pause, released several more tracks in June.
In March 2014, Jay continued released music, this time for the show's third season. He released new tracks every couple of weeks, up until mid-July, when he paused once more. Jay wouldn't post more music for another two years until May 2016, when he resumed posting music for season three. Each week, Jay posted a new track from Rebooted, and began releasing music for season four in mid-August. This lasted until late-October, when Jay began posting music for season five on Halloween. Jay stopped releasing music for season five in February 2017. That month, he released a suite for season six, and in May and June released several tracks for "Day of the Departed."
In June 2017, Jay began releasing music for season seven, doing so every week or two. He stopped releasing music for the season in November 2017, as he was busy scoring other projects.
In 2020, Jay began to release music from present seasons as soon as they aired domestically in the U.S on his SoundCloud, but stopped this practice in 2021.
Michael Kramer[]
Though he's been a major composer for the TV show, Michael did not personally release any tracks for some time. In July 2015, he sent out music to fans such as "Built To Protect" and "What Powered Zane," which were both released on YouTube. Michael sent out other tracks, such as "Something's Gotten Into Lloyd," "Cursing Chen's Army," "Nya's True Potential," "Maybe I'm Departed," and "Garmadon's True Potential." These tracks were released sporadically up to the present day.
Outside of scoring the TV show, Michael has been focused on compiling and releasing soundtrack albums for each season, which was done for season one in 2014, and season two in 2016.
Michael Kramer joined YouTube in March 2015, but only began posting tracks in September 2017—something many fans had longed for him to do. He released new tracks on his channel every few weeks, before going on hiatus in May 2018 due to obligations with other projects. Michael resumed posting music in December 2018, but stopped soon after.
Ninjago Music[]
Starting in 2022, the JAM Company's YouTube channel rebranded itself as Ninjago Music. Since then, they have been sporadically releasing music from the series onto their YouTube channel, as well as tracks from Ninjago: Dragons Rising.
List of themes and soundtracks[]
- Introduced in the pilot episodes
- Introduced in Rise of the Snakes
- Introduced in Legacy of the Green Ninja
- Introduced in Rebooted
- Introduced in Tournament of Elements
- Introduced in Possession
- Introduced in Skybound
- Introduced in Day of the Departed
- Introduced in The Hands of Time
- Introduced in Sons of Garmadon
- Introduced in Hunted
- Introduced in March of the Oni
- Introduced in Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu
- Introduced in Prime Empire
- Introduced in Master of the Mountain
- Introduced in The Island
- Introduced in Seabound
- Introduced in Crystalized
- Introduced in Dragons Rising, Season 1
- Introduced in Dragons Rising, Season 2
Trivia[]
- Official cue names from The Island are: Chop Chop!, Statuebro Terror, Uncharted, The Club Will Prevail, The Storm Belt, Twitchy Tim, Storms Monsters Doom, Leaded or Unleaded, Breaking Waves, Into the Fog, Catamaran Hand-Stand, Blue Sandy Beaches, Air Mail, They're Alive, Jungle Choppers Ride Out!, Island End Credits, Main Title, Poisonous Birds, How to Train Your Zippy, Statuebros, Rope-Bridges Always Break, A Shocking Entrance, The Keepers Arrive, Not My Style, Twitchy's Rule, Keepers of the Amulet, One With the Storm, Island Main Titles, All But One, Prison Reunion, Rambo Lloyd, Precious Little Gift, Game of Fetch, Gift of Jay, Wojira End Credits, Final Sacrifice, Wojira's Meal, It's a Con, All was Peaceful, Paying off Wojira, Cost Jay Everything, To Rescue a Friend and Keeper's Brothers.[3]
- The title How to Train Your Zippy refers to the movie trilogy How to Train Your Dragon, as well as the title of the Hunted episode, "How to Build a Dragon."
- The title Rambo Lloyd refers to the movie series Rambo.
- Uncharted, Keepers of the Amulet, and Gift of Jay are also the titles of the three episodes of The Island.
- As with many soundtracks, several titles are named after a line from the series during which they occur.
Soundtracks[]
A Musical Journey[]
Compilations[]
External links[]
- Jay Vincent's YouTube Channel
- Jay Vincent's Soundcloud
- Michael Kramer's YouTube Channel
- Michael Kramer's Soundcloud
- Ninjago Music's YouTube Channel