Over The Horizon is the iconic Samsung jingle used for alarms, ringtones and more, and it’s changed many times over the years.
When you boot up a new Samsung phone and head over to the music library, you’ll find there’s a song already there – it’s called Over The Horizon, and it’s the official ‘anthem’ or jingle for the Galaxy S phones. If you’ve ever owned a Galaxy phone, you’ll probably recognize the tune’s central motif. Over The Horizon debuted with the Samsung Galaxy S2 in 2011, and the January 14 launch date of the Samsung Galaxy S21 will bring with it the 10th version, or the 9th re-imagining, of that tune. Each iteration of Over The Horizon is different, in terms of instrumentation, tone and length, but they’re all written around a six-note motif, which is woven into each version of the jingle in different ways. So ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S21 launch, let’s go on a little history lesson, and listen to 10 years of catchy tunes. The original Over The Horizon for the Samsung Galaxy S2 defines the first few versions of it – it’s upbeat, poppy, uses a busy instrumentation (with real and digital instruments), and sounds like it would fit right in to The Sims soundtrack. The theme for this original version was ‘Beyond Smart Experience’ and it’s as quaintly optimistic as we all were back then. The motif is repeated again and again, even played in a little guitar solo part-way through. With a jolly tone and fast pace, this version of the theme was the perfect alarm song, as it kicked your day off to a great start – although perhaps it sounds a lot better through your computer or phone speakers now compared to those on the Galaxy S2. The first reimagining of Over The Horizon starts quite soft, with more acoustic instruments like strings and pitched percussion carrying it for the first minute, until a wider string section and piano jump in later. Compared to the other first few years of Over The Horizon, it’s a bit of an outlier in terms of instrumentation and tone, but that’s the point of the whole ‘reinterpretation’ exercise, after all. The theme for the song was ‘Designed by Humans’ – that’s not to say robots or aliens wrote the other versions, but Samsung’s entire design philosophy for the Galaxy S3 was to make it seem more man-made and artisanal. The lack of obviously-digital instruments attests to this. The third version of Over The Horizon, debuted in 2013 with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and used again with the Galaxy S5 the year after, bears more than a passing resemblance to the original version. The song, written to the vague theme ‘Life Companion’, starts slow with synths and pianos, before slowly building up to a crescendo with busy instrumentation. There’s what sounds like a guitar, strings, drums, piano, and more.
