Music of Portal 2

, who provided the song "Still Alive" for the first Portal, was asked to compose ''Portal 2's'' final credits song, "Want You Gone". Part of Portal's success was attributed to Jonathan Coulton's song "Still Alive", sung by GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain) over the game's end credits. Consequently, Valve sought to incorporate more music in Portal 2, particularly from Coulton. In 2009, before Portal 2s ending was written, Coulton and Erik Wolpaw talked about how to create "an emotional moment" comparable to "Still Alive", and debated whether an ending song would be necessary. Other options were considered, such as several "joke songs" and false endings for the game. Elements of the ending, such as Chell being told to leave Aperture with the door slamming behind her, led to the development of main chorus line "I used to want you dead, but now I only want you gone." Coulton wrote the lyrics and composed the song over several days, with John Flansburgh contributing electronic drums, and traveled to Valve's headquarters in January 2011 to record it with McLain. =="Exile Vilify"==

worked with Valve to create "Exile Vilify" used in conjunction with one of the dens of the Rat Man within the game. The indie rock band The National provided another original song, "Exile Vilify"; its lyrics were composed by the group and reviewed by Valve to ensure they fit with the tone of one of the Rattmann's dens, where it appears in-game. The National had expressed an interest in doing music for Valve to Bug Music, their publishing label, which the label forwarded on to Valve in discussing other music opportunities for the game. Valve and Bug Music identified that The National would fit well into Portal 2, as their "raw and emotive music evokes the same visceral reactions from its listeners that Portal does from its players" according to Bug Music's spokesperson Julia Betley. The song is considered by Paste to be a "haunted, piano-lead ballad" similar to the band's song "Think You Can Wait" used in the film Win Win. Of 320 videos submitted, Valve ultimately awarded two videos first prize. One video featured a sock puppet that "had nothing to do with Portal" but "managed to beautifully capture the spirit of the song", while the other provided an animated retelling of the Lab Rat comic. ==Original music==

Valve's Mike Morasky was the lead composer for the game's backing music. In keeping with the theme from Portal, Morasky wanted to create music that kept an "old future through a new lens" approach, such as by using minimalist electronic piano or mangled chiptunes. He also wanted to create music that would sound like it would have been composed by a computer, citing the use of "stiff arpeggios, math-like voice leading, odd rhythm patterns and whole tone scales" as a means to achieve this. Except for McLain's vocals, all the music is based on synthesized or sampled sounds, and even with McLain, her voice was resampled to make it sound like a computer.) from the character's point of view, showing GLaDOS' more sentimental connection to Chell. She intended it to be an Easter egg, though it was not used in the game. Jagger Gravning of Vice later had her record the song with her husband John Patrick Lowrie, and Lowrie uploaded it to YouTube in 2015. Morasky created procedurally generated music, which is generated in real time based on the player's actions. This type of music system was based on the previous success of incidental music used in the Left 4 Dead series, and was developed to create a generalized platform for reuse in future Valve productions. Morasky designed this dynamic music as a reward for successfully completing puzzles. ==Songs to Test By==

Songs to Test By is the three-to-four-volume soundtrack for Portal 2, containing nearly all of the music from the game. The soundtrack was released freely to the Internet, volume by volume, between May and September 2011. Along with the soundtrack, Valve included several Portal 2-themed ringtones. Soundtrack listing All tracks are written by Mike Morasky unless otherwise noted. A retail four-disc collection, ''Portal 2: Songs to Test By (Collector's Edition), was released on October 30, 2012 through Ipecac Recordings. Three of the discs include the music already available (listed above), while the fourth disc includes songs from Portal''. A mini-comic, "Turret Lullaby", is also included. ==Reception==

Kym Dillon of IGN used the soundtrack of Portal 2, amongst a few other soundtracks, as an example how a game can use both source music (music that is part of the game environment) and underscoring (music that is only for the player) to create atmosphere in games; Dillon also mentions that he "especially" liked the game's soundtrack. Alyssa Grimley of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised Morasky's composing of the soundtrack and called it an "understated genius". She also praised Jonathan Coulton's song "Want You Gone" for the way in which it reflects the changed spirit of GLaDOS when compared to "Still Alive" from the first game. For the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, both "Want You Gone" and "Exile Vilify" were nominated for "Best Song in a Game", while the soundtrack was nominated for "Best Original Score". Portal 2s soundtrack was awarded for "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" at the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The game was awarded the "Best Audio" 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards. The Game Audio Network Guild awarded Portal 2 with the "Best Interactive Score" (along with Kinect Disneyland Adventures), and "Best Original Vocal - Pop" for "Want You Gone". ==References==