How Woodkid Reimagined a Black Flag Classic for Assassin’s Creed Resynced (Exclusive)

There are video game trailers, and then there are Video Game Trailers. Way back in 2011, Ubisoft released one of its most iconic reveals of all time when it officially unveiled Assassin’s Creed Revelations to the world. A moody, gorgeous trailer that follows an older Ezio doing what he does best.

Over 15 years later, thousands of fans still return to this trailer on YouTube to remind themselves of just how epic it is. Indeed, it remains a masterclass in animation, effortlessly builds hype, and sets the tone for the game perfectly. The entire thing is, of course, elevated by the use of the song ‘Iron’ by Yoann Lemoine, better known as Woodkid. It’s a somber, thunderous song with a timeless quality to it — perfect for the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Now, after all these years, Woodkid is officially returning to Assassin’s Creed with a fantastic new piece of music created specially for Black Flag Resynced. I was able to speak to Woodkid from his studio to learn all about this latest collaboration with Ubisoft, and how his creative approach has evolved over the years.

Before we get into that, I ask Woodkid if his relationship with ‘Iron’ has changed over the years. There’s no getting around the fact that some artists can grow sick of their more popular songs, which is understandable to a degree. Artists don’t always want to be associated with just a handful of songs, however big they might be — but Woodkid has a very different take on the matter.

“‘Iron’ isn’t as big as ‘Run Boy Run’, which is my second single, so Run Boy Run really is the song that I think I could possibly have some kind of love and hate relationship with,” he says. “But these songs just change people’s lives, and you get so many testimonies of people that tell you how important this music is for them. I think at some point that music isn’t yours anymore, so it doesn’t really matter if I like it or not, and that makes me like it by default. “

He adds: “I think I haven’t changed so much in the way that I still wanted at the time to make a production that was very organic and not really rooted in one era, so I don’t think ‘Iron’ has aged that much, really. Maybe I’m delusional, but it holds up. There’s no fancy production element in it. It’s all organic material, and, and my music has always kind of been like that. I don’t think you can really date it.”

It’s worth noting that Woodkid has had an incredibly prolific career. Outside of working with Ubisoft and creating his own albums, he’s worked with Hideo Kojima on Death Stranding 2, and directed music videos for pop giants like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Lana Del Rey, and Katy Perry. Did he ever think he’d come back to Assassin’s Creed after all this time?

“I’m supposed to say I’m surprised, but I’m not! This world is really a part of my life now. I can’t go to a show without seeing people with Assassin’s Creed T-shirts. I can’t release a video without comments saying, ‘Oh, Ezio brought me here’. It’s always been here, even if we haven’t worked together for years.”

So, what exactly is it that’s lured Woodkid back to Assassin’s Creed? He’s put his own fascinating spin on ‘Leave Her Johnny’, a sea shanty that many gamers will know from Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Naturally, this fan-favorite makes a return in Black Flag Resynced, and Woodkid has done a brilliant job taking a timeless, beloved classic and putting his own stamp on it. Naturally, Woodkid didn’t do this entirely alone, though. He produced the track alongside Tanguy Destable, with backing vocals from Evann Loget-Raymond, Alan Picol, and Ryan Veillet. Meanwhile, strings were handled by Doriane Gable, Amanda Favier, Magdalena Sypniewski, Guillaume Latour, Camille Garin, and Florestan Raes. Woodkid composed alongside Sean Dagher and Jesper Kyd, and the

Music Supervisor was Bénédicte Ouimet. The project was mixed by Jérôme Devoise at Jeronimo Studios, and mastered by Mike Marsh at The Exchange Studio in London. A big undertaking, then, but one with big results.

If you tuned into Summer Game Fest’s opening night showcase, you’ll have heard the song on the latest trailer for the Black Flag Resynced. It should also be available on all streaming platforms now, and is well worth a listen. But how, exactly, does one even begin to take a centuries-old song and find something new to do with it?

“I always try to make productions that are pretty timeless,” he begins. “I don’t say ‘timeless’ as if they become famous forever; classical music is timeless in a way that it’s just organic material. There are trends in composition, but the sound of it is just like, it could still work today. So the elements in this recent version are very organic. They just sound futuristic in the way we mix things. It’s definitely not just an orchestra in an auditorium that we recorded, and there are a lot of production tricks in it, but it’s still a little bit universal in a way.”

“So I don’t know if I modernized it, but I think I brought it into my world. For this, firstly, we needed to do this song for a trailer, so, there was already an idea in my head that it needed to have some kind of rapture and an epicness that would really excite people to get into the game and just be immersed in that story once again. So there was an adventurous dimension that I wanted to bring to the song that I think I’ve learned how to do via my work with the orchestra and the electronic way of producing the orchestra choir.”

He continues: “There was also a question of would I sing it? But I’m not a powerful singer in the way that I’m not really this kind of super macho masculine singer, and my voice is way more intimate. So I had to find the connection between the fragility of my voice and the fact that I sing very close to the mic and these guys that sing very loud in the reverb in the back, like they’re in the back of the boat almost. I think that’s the modern aspect of it; it’s not mixed like an acoustic song, it’s mixed as a very futuristic track in a way.”

Ultimately, Woodkid’s goal was to capture the spirit of adventure inherent in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. He wanted to craft a song that could evoke rain-slicked decks, the salty sea air, and the promise of something new just on the horizon. A loft goal, perhaps, but I feel like he did a pretty damn good job here.

“I really wanted to bring it into something that was definitely epic and that had a taste of adventure, but that was also maybe a bit more mature,” he sums up. “There are songs that talk about dark things, but also capture this joyfulness somehow. I think there’s also something about that time, that point in history, and that’s what Assassin’s Creed can tackle so well. It’s very human, and there’s a lot of emotion in the characters, and it’s really about the power of what it is to be human.”