"Civilizations" (シヴィライゼーションズ ～ラケティカ大森林：昼～, Shiviraizēshonzu ～Raketika Daishinrin: Hiru～?, lit. Civilizations ～Rak'tika Greatwood: Day～), known informally as "La-hee", is the daytime theme of the Rak'tika Greatwood in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers.
Game appearances[]
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers[]
"Civilizations" is track 59 on the Shadowbringers: Final Fantasy XIV Original Soundtrack album. It plays during the daytime in the Rak'tika Greatwood. Because of the presence of the Lightwarden, Eros, in 
The Qitana Ravel, when the Warrior of Light first arrives in the Rak'tika Greatwood, the Greatwood is in a state of eternal day, and so "Civilizations" is always playing in the area until Eros is slain and night is restored.
"Unwound" is an arrangement by Kenichi Kuroda that plays as the dungeon theme of the Qitana Ravel. After the night is restored in the Greatwood, "A Hopeless Race" plays as the night theme and is a piano arrangement by Keiko who also performed it. Both are tracks 60 and 61 on the original soundtrack.
"Civilizations" prominently features a female vocalist. The lyrics are in the Ronkan language, and has not been officially translated. However, in the quest 
La-hee, Qhoterl Pasol asks the Warrior of Light has to awaken a doll by saying "la-hee", the first lyric of "Civilizations". According to Qhoterl Pasol, "la-hee" means "wake up" in Ronkan, and was frequently used as a greeting in the fallen Ronkan Empire. Furthermore, Qhoterl Pasol recalls a legend that users of the Echo can hear the voices of the long-dead Ronkans when the wind blows.
Live performances[]
Final Fantasy XIV Digital Fan Festival 2021[]
Soken performs "Civilizations" while Keiko observes.
Masayoshi Soken performed a comical version of "Civilizations" at the Digital Fan Festival 2021. After asking the audience, "Do you know 'La-hee'? I will play 'La-hee'. Music, start!" he played "Civilizations" on two otamatones while singing the lyrics with an incredibly raspy voice, as Keiko looked on in amusement or horror.[1][2]
Behind the scenes[]
Every time the music for Rak'tika comes up, everyone starts spamming 'la-hee'.
"Civilizations" was composed and arranged by Masayoshi Soken. The female vocals featured in the track are a voice sample taken from the library Era II Vocal Codex, where the female vocals of "Gangos" are also taken from.[3]
"Civilizations" received an unusually large amount of attention from fans after the release of Shadowbringers, and the phrase "la-hee" became a meme among the fanbase. PC Gamer compared "Civilizations" to the infamous song "Baby Shark" in how obnoxious it could be, attributing this trait to how the catchy "la-hee" hook repeated every time the player completed a cutscene or teleported.[4] According to Koji Fox on a community livestream, "Civilizations" was so popular that it became too difficult to moderate Twitch chat whenever the stream began playing "Civilizations" because chatters would then all spam "la-hee". As such, he asked the DJ to stop playing "Civilizations".[5]
Citations[]
- ↑ (2021, May 15). "Soken La Hee". From 'Twitch'. Archived from the original on May 23, 2021.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXsVHvgQws0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e30WxfF_KRM
- ↑ Davenport, James (2019, August 16). "Final Fantasy 14 is full of amazing music, but this one song reaches Baby Shark levels of psychic terror". From 'PC Gamer'. Archived from the original on May 23, 2021.
- ↑ (2020, March 20). "La-Hee got banned". From 'Twitch'. Archived from the original on May 23, 2021.