Da 5 Bloods (soundtrack)

Last updated

Da 5 Bloods (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)
Da 5 Bloods (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film).jpg
Film score by
ReleasedJune 5, 2020
Recorded2019–2020
StudioSony Scoring Stage, Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, California
Genre Film score
Length56:46
Label Milan
Producer Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard chronology
Harriet
(2019)
Da 5 Bloods
(2020)
One Night in Miami...
(2021)

Da 5 Bloods (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) is the soundtrack to the 2020 film Da 5 Bloods , directed by Spike Lee and featuring original music composed by Terence Blanchard. The film's score was released through Milan Records on June 5, 2020 to critical acclaim. Blanchard was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score amongst numerous accolades.

Contents

Development

Da 5 Bloods is the sixteenth collaboration between Lee and Blanchard, whose inclusion was confirmed in November 2019. [1] He employed a 90-piece string orchestra to compose the film's score; [2] regarding the use of duduk, played by flautist Pedro Eustache, Blanchard said that his work had "brought a certain color and tone to the film that was perfect". [3] Blanchard had to reflect the humor of the soldiers who were suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder after the Vietnam war where he described the challenge from being a dramatic to comedic composer. [4] He called the first battle sequence and the helicopter scene as the hardest to score as it took him nearly five days to balance the harmonic and orchestral shifts with the music and analyze the context on how its fits that sequence. [5]

The film also utilised several source music, out of which six songs are from Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971). [6] Blanchard deciphered the album as the basis of the score propelling it to have a grandeur and universal theme. He felt that "Gaye's music was going to cover a certain aspect of the emotion of dealing with social injustice in this country" and he wanted the score to accompany the same with a broader experience and emotional connectivity. [7]

Critical reception

Filmtracks.com wrote "Da 5 Bloods is a score that must have looked fabulous on paper but presents issues as recorded." [8] RogerEbert.com wrote "Blanchard’s score is bombastic, terrifying and militaristic one minute, achingly beautiful the next." [9] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter and Peter Debruge of Variety described it as "symphonic" and "emotion-rousing". [10] [11] Fionnuala Halligan of Screen International wrote "Da 5 Bloods uses the talents of Lee’s regular musical collaborator Terence Blanchard to remind us we’re in epic Hollywood territory as the crew traipses through the jungle." [12] A critic from Soundtrack World summarized "There are some gorgeous pieces on the album, which are definitely worth listening to." [13]

Kambole Campbell of Empire described it as "a typically rousing score from long-time collaborator Terence Blanchard". [14] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it as "an evocative score by Terence Blanchard that ups its resonance with soulful cuts from Marvin Gaye’s seminal 1971 album What’s Going On". [15] Mark Kermode of The Guardian wrote "Terence Blanchard’s rich score is interspersed with bursts of Marvin Gaye’s 1971 album What’s Going On, sometimes erupting as a group singalong, elsewhere surfacing as a plaintive solo voice." [16] Anthony Lane of The New Yorker called it as a "soaring soundtrack". [17] Brian Trutt of USA Today wrote "the sweetest sounds on the "Bloods" soundtrack come from Terence Blanchard's heroic score". [18]

Track listing

Da 5 Bloods (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) track listing
No.TitleLength
1."What This Mission's About"4:44
2."Otis and Tien Have Dinner"5:06
3."Tien and Daughter Talk"1:01
4."We Bury It (For Now)"1:36
5."MLK Assassinated"3:47
6."David Meets Hedy"1:32
7."Rice Paddies"1:29
8."David and Paul Get Spooked"3:45
9."Bloods Go Into Jungle"2:15
10."Finding the Gold"3:49
11."Paul and David Have a Fallout"2:35
12."Lamb Wants Share of Gold"1:04
13."The VC Are Back"1:03
14."Letter to David"1:21
15."Paul Is Bitten"0:41
16."Otis Talks Family"3:50
17."Paul Loses Money"1:46
18."David Talks About His Mother"1:55
19."Paul and Norman"5:02
20."Paul's Letter"2:48
21."End Credits"5:37
Total length:56:46

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. [19]

Orchestra

Instruments

Accolades

Accolades for Da 5 Bloods (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)
AwardCategoryRecipients(s)ResultRef.
Academy Awards Best Original Score Terence Blanchard Nominated [20]
Austin Film Critics Association Best ScoreNominated [21]
Chicago Film Critics Association Best Original Score Nominated [22]
Hollywood Music in Media Awards Best Original Score in a Feature Film Nominated [23]
International Film Music Critics Association Best Original Score for a Drama Film Nominated [24]
Online Film Critics Society Best Original Score Nominated [25]
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Best Original ScoreNominated [26]
Seattle Film Critics Society Best Original ScoreNominated [27]
Society of Composers & Lyricists Outstanding Original Score for a Studio FilmNominated [28]
[29]

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