Well, here's something that's a bit of a bummer. You'll probably best know Kumi Tanioka as the composer behind Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, though her work can also be found across the likes of Final Fantasy 11, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and more recently, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. But lately, it seems like someone's been trying to pass off an entirely AI generated album as her work, much to Tanioka's own confusion.

Tanioka shared word of the album herself on her personal Dwitter account, noting that it's cropped up on streaming services like Spotify and that she definitely hadn't made it herself. The album is titled A Village Built on Wind and is listed under Tanioka's account, but it's unclear how this came to be. I have seen cases of this happen to other musicians even pre-AI, where random works were assigned to their profile, so I'm just delighted to see Spotify haven't fixed this problem.

な、なんかいろんなサブスクで、私が作ったものではないアルバムがkumi taniokaとして配信されてるんですが

— 谷岡久美 (@tanikumi) August 19, 2026

これは、、、AI？？？同姓同名？？？

なんしか、このアルバムは私が作ったものではないです。

別の方のアルバムとしてお楽しみくださいませ。。。 pic.twitter.com/aK8FgmJwHT

While Tanioka wasn't entirely sure if the album was AI or not, Digital Sonic Design, a company that has published some of the composer's work, shared a statement themselves. They did note that there's no copyright infringement to be found with these tracks, and that it's possible someone else has the same name, on YouTube Music specifically the tracks have been labelled as AI-generated. Hard to tell exactly while listening to them, but boy howdy does the artwork look like it is.

Any which way, incredibly gross! And loser behaviour! Instead of spending more time on that, I'm going to yap at you about some Final Fantasy tunes I like. While I've not gotten round Crystal Chronicles yet, its soundtrack has flitted into my eardrums before, and I'm particularly fond of the track Sad Monster; a tinge of ominous vibes while flirting with melancholy.

Of course I have to shout out the one and only Yoko Shimomura, namely Valse di Fantastica from Final Fantasy 15. I know most folks likely think of Somnus first and foremost, there's just a particular nostalgia I associate with Valse di Fantastica that comes from my teenage excitement in playing the demo leading up to the release. I'd also be doing us all a disservice if I didn't mention Masashi Hamauzu's Blinded by Light from 13, a track in which a strong argument could be made for best battle theme in the series. And my childhood, tear-flooded self would be furious at me if I omitted Takeharu Ishimoto's Price of Freedom from Crisis Core. Crikey! What a weighty tune.

Any tracks you're particularly fond of? And do keep the comments civil, everyone's allowed to have their own taste, unless their taste is AI-generated. They can go in the bin.