Wave Goodbye

Wave Goodbye is a song performed by Squid Sisters. It is played during the end credits of Splatoon 3's story mode: Return of the Mammalians.

Description
Wave Goodbye is an atmospheric J-pop song that starts with somber, drawn-out melodies that build up to an energetic chorus. Following the chorus, the intensity drops again, and the Squid Sisters pause singing as unidentified human-sounding vocals sing the lyrics to Calamari Inkantation. The Squid Sisters then harmonize with this voice singing their own lyrics before transitioning out of the interlude and back into the pre-chorus.

The major mode of the track (as opposed to the relative B minor) is implied harmonically but it does not fully resolve to the tonic D major until the interlude, around 3:19 in the Splatune 3 release. This keeps the tension and momentum up throughout the first half of the track, as it never feels securely anchored in the major key.

The credits of Splatune 3 reveal that Wave Goodbye is the only new track in the game by Shiho Fujii, the original sound team member responsible for the music of the Squid Sisters. The other new Squid Sisters songs, Tomorrow's Nostalgia Today and Liquid Sunshine (as well as the arrangement of City of Color (2023)) were written and produced by Yumi Takahashi.

Wave Goodbye plays during the credit sequence while the player is free to shoot ink out into space where the final boss battle takes place. The ink will explode like the shot from a Blaster before fading into the abyss.

Lyrics
The booklet included with Splatune 3 gives the official lyrics for Wave Goodbye. The lyrics are nonsensical; the Japanese hiragana and katakana simply give the pronunciation.

Wave Goodbye (In the Studio)
The behind-the-scenes video uploaded by Nintendo uses a shortened version of the song.

Etymology
Wave Goodbye is a pun on wave, and waving goodbye as the credits song.