Nearly 30 years after Sonic R gave us some of the most unapologetically cheerful music in the series, TJ Davis has revealed a wonderfully appropriate detail about how those vocals were actually recorded.
Speaking with Gamers Heroes at Sonic Boost 2026, Davis looked back on her time recording the 1997 soundtrack with composer Richard Jacques, explaining that maintaining the game’s relentlessly upbeat personality was very much part of the direction she received in the studio.
Every time Davis came in to record, Jacques would remind her of the basic rule:
“Remember: It’s bright, it’s happy!”
Sometimes, though, the musical direction became considerably more literal.
Davis says she would occasionally have a video screen showing Sonic running while she recorded, helping remind her to keep the delivery quick, energetic and suitably cheerful. She remembers the entire Sonic R recording process as pure fun, saying she and Jacques worked particularly well together because her background as a pop singer made his intended sound easy for her to understand.
It is a strangely perfect mental image considering the final soundtrack. Songs like “Can You Feel the Sunshine?,” “Living in the City,” “Back in Time” and “Diamond in the Sky” are defined by exactly that kind of relentlessly positive dance-pop energy, with Davis providing vocals across much of Jacques’ score.
The interview also reveals that despite becoming so closely associated with the game, Davis has never actually played Sonic R.
She openly admits that she is not a gamer, which led to a particularly funny bit of stagecraft during a previous appearance at Sonic EXPO. When keyboard player Mark Boden suggested that the two of them play Sonic R onstage, somebody else was secretly enlisted to handle the game while Davis simply pretended to be controlling it.
So if you have ever seen TJ Davis playing Sonic R and thought she looked surprisingly composed for someone dealing with the game’s famously slippery movement, now you know why.
The conversation also fills in some important missing history behind Davis’ recent return to Sonic music through New Frontiers: The Return of a Super Sonic Voice.
Sonic City previously covered the project when Davis released her version of “Undefeatable” earlier this month, completing the announced lineup of reimagined Sonic Frontiers songs alongside the original duet “Half of Me.”
But the idea for an entire Frontiers-focused project apparently began with Davis discovering just how dramatically Sonic’s musical identity had changed since her own time with the series.
When she attended Sonic Symphony, Davis says she was surprised by how heavy and rock-driven much of the music from later Sonic games had become. Coming from Sonic R, which she describes simply as “pure pop,” hearing those songs performed by an orchestra was something of a revelation.
That curiosity followed her to Sonic EXPO, where she noticed how popular Sonic Frontiers’ vocal themes were with fans, particularly “Undefeatable.”
Davis and her keyboard player had secretly prepared something for the event: a medley combining “I’m Here” and “Undefeatable.”
They had rehearsed it only once back in the UK and did not even soundcheck the medley at the venue before performing it.
The gamble paid off.
Davis says the audience response was overwhelming, with fans immediately encouraging her to record her own versions of the songs. That reaction prompted a conversation with her manager Michelle Belcher about developing an entire EP centered on Sonic Frontiers music.
Around the same time, singer Kayley James approached Davis about collaborating on an original duet. That song became “Half of Me,” giving the project the additional original track it needed alongside the new Sonic arrangements.
From there, New Frontiers took shape.
The finished project includes Davis’ interpretations of “I’m Here,” “Undefeatable,” “One Way Dream” and “I’m With You,” alongside “Half of Me.” Its Kickstarter campaign ultimately finished with £19,710 pledged by 399 backers, comfortably exceeding its £15,000 goal.
That makes Davis’ return to Sonic music feel considerably less like a deliberately planned anniversary comeback and more like something that grew organically from reconnecting with the community.
She began revisiting the Sonic fanbase more actively during the COVID-era lockdowns, when podcasts, interviews and online interaction made her realize just how large the gaming community surrounding the music had become. Since returning to live Sonic events, Davis says the audience response has sometimes left her emotional, particularly when fans tell her what those songs meant to them growing up.
And she is quick to make one distinction herself: while fans regularly call them “her” Sonic R songs, Davis emphasizes that Richard Jacques wrote the music, while she was fortunate enough to be the singer who brought those vocals to life.
Nearly three decades later, that collaboration is still resonating strongly enough to send Davis in the opposite musical direction, from the bright dance-pop of Sonic R to the enormous rock-driven boss themes of Sonic Frontiers.
Apparently all it took was an orchestra, an unrehearsed-for-the-venue Sonic EXPO medley and several hundred fans telling her she needed to record it.
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