According to a 2001 developer interview published in V-Jump magazine, the game's composer Nobuo Uematsu stated his team started including theme songs in the Final Fantasy games since Final Fantasy VIII, and that each time, Uematsu & Yoshinori Kitase would hold a meeting to decide who would sing the theme song. The developers brought in various music CDs of singers they liked to listen to and would share their opinions. At some point during the meeting for Final Fantasy X's theme song, they could not decide on who to pick. Around the same time, a member from their staff happened to buy one of Rikki’s independent releases at a CD shop, and showed it to Uematsu. He loved it after listening to it, and said in a excited mood "This is great!", leading the team to contact Rikki right away to perform the song, called "Suteki Da Ne", for the game. Uematsu considered it a memorable song for FFX, and that from the beginning the music would be a central part of the soundtrack.