Fragments

Fragments is a song released on 16 July 2021 by The Stupendium.

Description
In Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart you once more take on the role of Ratchet, Clank and new friend Rivet to defeat returning nemesis Dr. Nefarious on an adventure through the multiverse. Nefarious has stolen the Dimensionator and is on the hunt for the dimension where he can finally defeat the last of the Lombax and rule supreme, even if it means tearing the universe to pieces to get there.

As a kid I was absolutely in love with the Ratchet & Clank series, to this day those early games probably have some of the most playtime of any game I've played. But sadly when the consoles moved on a generation I skipped the PS3 and when the Playstation exclusive franchise moved on from the PS2 I lost my way with the franchise. So when Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was announced for the PS5 I knew not only that I'd have to play it, but that I'd have to write a song about it too.

But I ended up writing a song about more than just that. I started writing this song with the intent of doing something very silly (I tried and failed to perfect a singing voice for Doctor Nefarious) but as I brainstormed and learned more about the game I started finding themes and ideas that really spoke to me and pulled me in another direction.

In Rift Apart, Ratchet and Clank think they have it all figured out, they know their world and their place in it. Until that world suddenly changes in a way they could never anticipate. Their journey touches on many hard hitting themes such as self doubt, being 'broken' and that sometimes flaws are a matter of perspective.

So whilst this is still very much a song about and inspired by the themes and narrative of the game, it is also a deeply personal song, drawing from experience in adapting to and overcoming unexpected situations, self discovery and exploring what it means to be you when you find that maybe there's more 'you' than you thought.

It's honestly one of my favourite songs I've made to date, so I really hope you enjoy it.

Also, I am moving house! Again! So expect a run of simpler video projects until I'm settled and ready to get back to big video productions! I'll be back with some huge planned projects a little later in the year along with some other exciting changes to the channel I'm not ready to talk about just yet.

A colossal thanks to the incredible, inimitable Freeced for penning and performing the guest verse for this track! Please go check out their work if you haven't encountered them before!

Verse 1
So things seem stable

It’s beginning to all make sense

But on the periodic table

Equilibrium ain’t that dense

So you’re top of every playbill?

You’ve been living as the main event?

Live a life on red carpets you can’t be surprised

When you ask where the rug went

When it’s pulled out from under your feet

Fronting parades to confronting defeat

Dumped in the rain, unfamiliar streets

But there’s nothing to gain by admitting you’re beat

Maybe it ain’t quite as grim as it seems

Don’t get to choose the loose screws you inherit

That’s more than a face in the mirror you’re seeing

Together you’ve got the tools to repair it

Might just be a Lombax with a wrench

I was at on the bench, now I’m back with a vengeance

Smashed my dimension so Ratchet’s suggestion?

Mechanical emperors should cash their pensions

Graduate from the school of harder knocks

Than the grade A plates of my Carbonox

When I take straight aim with my blaster shots

The reports say rain (with some parts of bots)

When realities collide

It’s appealing to think there’s

Green on the other side

Well you’re wielding the sprinkler

The world’s what you make it

Your fate’s not ingrained

Every crack in the paint’s

Still a piece of the picture

Chorus 1
Look past the pieces and you’ll see there’s more adventure to seize

Don’t believe it? Then you’re thinking one-dimensionally

So this world is not the one that you intended to be?

Well a Rivet’s what you need when things might tear at the seams

It’s your turn to revolt in every turn of the bolt

To take the world on your shoulders then turn it to gold

When you’ve crashed into fragments of all that you know

Well you’re far from alone – We’re just a rift apart

We’re just a rift apart

A rift apart

We’re just a rift apart

Verse 2
So it seems your outlook can be warped

Whole schemes cut off like some jean shorts

Keep tracking ‘em down and the heat source

Leads you to keen sword swings at machine sorts

Keep breathing, it's all gonna pass in a season

Believe it, and call it a flash in the pan

And release it, let a thought stop with a dash

And you'll leave it all it looking real small in the past

A shatterbomb to your artwork

Can make it feel like your heart burst

It's hard to know what to start first

Each step becomes a departure

And you may feel like a drifter

Resist a place in the mixture

Is this a crack in the rift or

Another piece of the picture

Another piece of the picture

Chorus 2
Look past the pieces and you’ll see there’s more adventure to seize

Don’t believe it? Then you’re thinking one-dimensionally

So this world is not the one that you intended to be?

Well a Rivet’s what you need when things might tear at the seams

It’s your turn to revolt in every turn of the bolt

To take the world on your shoulders then turn it to gold

When you’ve crashed into fragments of all that you know

Well you’re far from alone – We’re just a rift apart

We’re just a rift apart

A rift apart

We’re just a rift apart

Verse 3
There’s one thing rarer than raritanium

That’s a fate that don’t seem alien

No matter how long you’ve been on that grind

Life soon finds ways of derailing

Any infobot will say the same again

If a legacy’s planting seeds you’d

better believe I’m leaving these

enemies in leaves and geraniums

And though chance may choose our canvas

Only we can paint the hues

But your flaws don’t mean you’re broken

They’re just deeper shades of you

Combination of Sagan and Bob Ross

No mistakes when repainting the cosmos

If things seem grey it ’s the start of a gradient

Can’t make hay without raking the compost

Bridge
Where dimensions fragment and the shards reconnect

You’ll find you’re not defined by the past they reflect

Leaving one world behind can be hard to expect

But you’ll work out in time a new path in the next

When your reality cracks, it can feel like forever

Trapped in the gaps as the pieces are severed

If you feel you could lapse all you need is a tether

To that team at your back, you can keep it together

Chorus 3
Look past the pieces and you’ll see there’s more adventure to seize

Don’t believe it? Then you’re thinking one-dimensionally

So your world is on the brink of some nefarious scheme?

Well a Rivet’s what you need when things might tear at the seams

It’s your turn to revolt in every turn of the bolt

To take the world on your shoulders and then turn it to gold

When you’ve crashed into fragments of all that you know

Well you’re far from alone – We’re just a rift apart

We’re just a rift apart

A rift apart

We’re just a rift apart

Outro
And with every new world that unfurls you will find

There is more to your life than the one you designed

There is far more to fight for than what you are leaving behind