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Stranger Things Main Theme Piano (solo)

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Stranger Things is an American science fiction and suspense web television series co-produced and distributed by Netflix.

Written and directed by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, and executive produced by Shawn Levy, it premiered on the Netflix platform on 15 July 2016.

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The series received positive reviews from the specialized press, which praised the interpretation, characterization, rhythm, atmosphere and the clear homage to Hollywood of the eighties, with references to Steven Spielberg films, Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Stephen King, Rob Reiner and George Lucas, among others, including several films, anime and video games.

This series is related to and inspired in large part by the Super 8 film by director J.J. Abrams, released in 2011.

The story is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, in the state of Indiana, United States, during the eighties, when a twelve-year-old boy named Will Byers mysteriously disappears. Shortly after, Eleven, an apparently runaway girl with telekinetic powers, meets Mike, Dustin and Lucas, Will’s friends, and helps them in their search for him.

The second season premiered on October 27, 2017; it is located a year after the first and deals with the attempts of the characters to return to normality and the consequences of the events that occurred in the first season. The third season premiered on July 4, 2019, and consists of 8 episodes; It has new characters, such is the case of Robin.

On September 30, 2019, Netflix confirmed the renewal of the series for a fourth season.

On February 17, 2022, Netflix confirmed that the fourth season will be divided into two installments (because it will be the longest) and also announced the release dates. The first part was released on May 27 and the second one, from July 1st. Also, through a letter, the producers announced that this season will be the penultimate, therefore Stranger Things will end after the fifth season.

Because Netflix does not disclose subscriber viewership numbers for any of its original series, Symphony Technology Group compiled the season data based on people using software on their phones that measures TV viewing by detecting the sound of a program.

According to Symphony, within the first 35 days of release, Stranger Things averaged ratings from around 14.07 million adults between the ages of 18-49 in the United States. This made it the third most-watched season of Netflix original content in the United States at the time, behind the first season of Fuller House and the fourth season of Orange Is the New Black.

In a September 2016 analysis, Netflix found that Stranger Things ‘hooked’ viewers on the second episode of the first season, stating that the second episode was ‘the first installment that brought at least 70 percent of the viewers.’ viewers to see that episode to complete the entire first season of a show’.

In August 2017, the season was determined by marketing analytics firm Jumpshot to be Netflix’s seventh most viewed in the first 30 days after its premiere, garnering just over 20% of the viewers Daredevil season two received. which was the most viewed season according to Jumpshot.

Jumpshot, which ‘analyzes click-stream data from an online panel of more than 100 million consumers,’ analyzed the viewing behavior and activity of the company’s US members, taking into account the number relative number of Netflix viewers who watched at least one episode of the season.61

On July 9, 2019, the series broke viewership records, with 40 million users, followed by Murder Mystery, with almost 31 million users.

Stranger Things received positive reviews from both the specialized press and the public. The Rotten Tomatoes portal gives the series a rating of 95%, based on 55 reviews, with an average score of 8.5/10. The comments agree that it is ‘exciting, heartbreaking and, at times, terrifying.

Stranger Things is an addictive homage to Spielberg’s cinema and ’80s television classics’.

On Metacritic, the series has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 31 reviews, indicating ‘generally favorable reviews’.

Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker also applauded the series, writing, ‘It’s astonishingly efficient storytelling, eight hours passing in the blink of an eye, with even minor characters managing sharp dialogue, dark humor, or moments of pathos.’

Television critic Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times said: ‘For the most part, and in utter defiance of the odds, Stranger Things honors its source material in the best possible way: by telling a sweet and terrifying story in the that monsters are real, but so are the transformative powers of love and loyalty’.

Brian Kelly of The Wall Street Journal said: ‘Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, brothers and series creators, have done their homework when it comes to ’80s cinema. Whether you’re a fan of John Carpenter’s The Thing or The Goonies it’s more his speed, there’s a lot to like in Stranger Things’.

In a negative review, cultural critic Grafton Tanner called the series ‘wish-fulfillment’ and ‘a window through which the shocked can look into a clichéd past’.

Similarly, Marinna Guzy of The Establishment wrote: ‘When faced with a story like Stranger Things, a recycled retelling of an old story that is marketed as homage and good, nostalgic nostalgia, one has to wonder if scholars and content creators like the Duffer Brothers sometimes wonder whether the story they are telling is the one that should be told.

What purpose does Stranger Things serve beyond reinforcing the status quo in the media landscape and perpetuating the dangerous illusion that things were much better when?’

Music

The success of the series is also undoubtedly linked to the soundtrack created by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, both members of the duo Survive.

The soundtrack immediately takes you back to the 1980s, not only because of the retro feel of the synth music reminiscent of soundtracks from movies like Tron or Blade Runner, but also because of the classic themes it incorporates.

On August 10, 2016, Netflix announced that it had released the soundtrack in two volumes. The first of them was released on digital platforms on Friday, August 12, 2016, with 36 songs, and the second on the 19th of the same month. Together with Lakeshore Records, Netflix released the soundtrack in physical format in September 2016, on the 16th and 23rd, respectively.

The central theme of Stranger Things is considered one of the best exponents of musical production in the synth wave electronic genre, which combines numerous nods to common resources, sounds and instruments of the 80s. A detailed tutorial is available to recreate the central theme, published by the online magazine Future Music Spain.

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