Epic the musical is a Tik Tok musical that Jorge Rivera-Herrans started posting during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is loosely based Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Rivera-Herrans started posting Tik Tok’s about the musical to share his idea with the world. Once the posts started getting traction, he started posting snippets of the songs.
On Christmas of 2022 Rivera-Herrans released Act 1 The Troy Saga and recently released The Cyclops Saga. What makes the musical different from others is that Rivera-Herrans used storytelling inspired by anime and video games. That kind of storytelling gives it a more action vibe than any other musical.
Musicals like Hamilton and Brigerton have their own style of modern music, that does not compare to Epic the Musical. Not only does Rivera-Herrans use anime and videogame storytelling, but he also places undertones of Latin music alongside the rest of the melody, to bring his culture into his musical.
The most popular song is Warrior of the mind, with about 15,000,000 streams on Spotify. In fact, the top five songs on Rivera-Herrans profile are Warrior of the Mind, Just a Man, My Goodbye, The Horse and the Infant, and Open Arms. These songs are the most popular because the music is so powerful and emotional. People can picture the scenes in their heads perfectly and feel what the singer feels in the song.
It is not a surprise that Warrior of the Mind is the most popular and it is not surprising that Athena’s song in the Cyclops saga is also in the top five. Both of those songs are some of the most powerful and psychedelic. Powerful because Teagan Earley’s, the voice of Athena, belted out in each song to give power to Athena’s character, especially in the emotional roller coaster of My Goodbye. The song was so emotional because Athena and Odysseus are separating, and Earley expresses Athena’s disappointment in Odysseus perfectly. Early’s songs are psychedelic because in each character song Rivera-Herrans gives that character a specific sound. Odyseus’ sound is a guitar, acoustic when the song is sad and electric when the song is more action packed. In Athena’s songs it is a mix of piano and flute, a way to give a goddess or ethereal feature to her songs.
The other top five songs like Just a Man, The Horse and the Infant, and Open Arms, are popular because they are emotional, action packed, and fun. The Horse and the Infant is the first song in the Troy Saga, and it is about Odysseus and his army attacking Troy, it gets emotional in the end when Odysseus finds out he has to kill a baby. That leads to Just a Man, which by no surprise is number two on Spotify, is an acoustical masterpiece. It takes listeners into an emotional journey along with Odysseus while he ends baby Hector’s life. Open Arms is popular because it is the most lighthearted and fun song in either saga. Though these songs are amazing it was surprising to find out that Remember them from the Cyclops saga did not make top five because it was the most emotional and action-packed song in the entire musical so far.
It won’t be surprising to find out if Epic gets out of Tik Tok and finds its way on Broadway because it is one of the best modern musicals. The way the songs were lyrically written, and the storytelling gives Rivera-Herrans the opportunity to bring the stage to life with many stage props, lights, and amazing live singers. Overall, Epic is one of the greatest musicals written this year, I can't wait for the next sagas.
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