The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) | ||||
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Soundtrack album by various artists | ||||
Released | November 17, 2023 | |||
Recorded | 2022–2023 | |||
Studio | Air Studios, London | |||
Label | Geffen | |||
Producer | Dave Cobb | |||
The Hunger Games soundtrack chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | ||||
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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) is the soundtrack album to the 2023 film of the same name, based on Suzanne Collins's 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes . The fifth installment in The Hunger Games film series and prequel to the first film, it stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis.
The soundtrack featured several pop and country folk songs performed by the cast members, including Zegler. The album was released by Geffen Records on November 17, 2023 and was led by two singles—"The Hanging Tree (Lucy Gray's Version)" and "Can't Catch Me Now".
At CinemaCon on April 26, 2023, director Francis Lawrence had announced that Dave Cobb would produce the soundtrack album that featured the prequel's version of songs from the previous installments. As music plays a more prominent role in the prequel, the creative team was heavily influenced by appalachian, country, and folk music. Late country music singer Loretta Lynn also informed Lucy Gray's sound throughout the filming process, and was also involved in providing creative inputs to the team. Zegler performed all the songs in the film live throughout filming. [1] [2]
On September 16, 2023, Lucy Gray's version of the song "The Hanging Tree" from the 2014 film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (originally performed by Jennifer Lawrence) was teased in a promotional video for the film. [3] [4] The full song was released on October 20, as the lead single. [5] [6] On November 1, Olivia Rodrigo announced that she would perform a song "Can't Catch Me Now" for the soundtrack of the film, [7] [8] which would be the first track from the album that was made available for pre-order. [9] [10] The song was released as a single two days later. [11] [12] A music video for the track would be released on November 13. [13]
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said that Cobb's rousing tunes for Lucy Gray's songs "adding fire to the heroine's rebel spirit". [14] Will Sayre of MovieWeb said that the tunes are "catchy enough and will surely be universally appreciated among fans". [15]
The track list of the album was announced on November 1. [16]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | "Can't Catch Me Now" | Olivia Rodrigo | 3:26 | |
2. | "The Hanging Tree" (Lucy Gray's version) | Rachel Zegler | 2:24 | |
3. | "Wool" | Cleto Cordero | Flatland Cavalry | 3:49 |
4. | "Nothing You Can Take from Me" |
| Zegler | 1:36 |
5. | "The Garden" |
| Sierra Ferrell | 3:42 |
6. | "The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird" |
| Zegler | 2:19 |
7. | "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" | Molly Tuttle | 3:42 | |
8. | "The Old Therebefore / Singing at Snakes" |
|
| 2:49 |
9. | "Burn Me Once" | Bella White | Bella White | 3:20 |
10. | "District 12 Stomp" |
| The Covey Band | 0:43 |
11. | "Nothing You Can Take from Me" (Boot-Stompin' Version) |
|
| 3:14 |
12. | "Cabin Song" | William Apostal | Billy Strings | 3:27 |
13. | "Lucy Gray" (Part 1) | William Wordsworth | Zegler | 2:41 |
14. | "Pure as the Driven Snow" |
|
| 3:53 |
15. | "Winter's Come and Gone" | Charles Wesley Godwin | 2:49 | |
16. | "Keep on the Sunny Side" |
|
| 2:44 |
17. | "Lucy Gray" (Part 2) | Wordsworth | Zegler | 3:19 |
Total length: | 49:56 |
Chart (2023–2024) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [17] | 95 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [18] | 45 |
Canadian Albums ( Billboard ) [19] | 45 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [20] | 68 |
French Albums (SNEP) [21] | 128 |
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA) [22] | 31 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [23] | 22 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [24] | 11 |
UK Compilation Albums (OCC) [25] | 10 |
UK Americana Albums (OCC) [26] | 3 |
UK Soundtrack Albums (OCC) [27] | 1 |
US Billboard 200 [28] | 68 |
US Top Country Albums ( Billboard ) [29] | 15 |
US Soundtrack Albums ( Billboard ) [30] | 3 |
Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref |
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Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 15, 2023 | Original Song — Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film | "Can't Catch Me Now" Written by Dan Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo; performed by Olivia Rodrigo | Won | [31] [32] [33] |
Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards | February 13, 2024 | Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production | Won | [34] |
Francis Lawrence is an American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thriller Constantine (2005) and has since directed the post-apocalyptic horror film I Am Legend (2007), the romantic drama Water for Elephants (2011), four of the five films in The Hunger Games film series, and the spy thriller Red Sparrow (2018).
Suzanne Collins is an American author and television writer. She is best known as the author of the young adult dystopian book series The Hunger Games. She is also the author of the children's fantasy series The Underland Chronicles.
The Hunger Games is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The series consists of a trilogy that follows teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, with a prequel set 64 years before the original series. The Hunger Games universe is a dystopia set in Panem, a North American country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 13 districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, children from the first 12 districts are selected via lottery to participate in a compulsory televised battle royale death match called The Hunger Games. Aided by nuclear weaponry, the last district instead successfully rebelled against the Capitol and moved underground following a secret peace treaty.
"Safe & Sound" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring the American musical duo the Civil Wars, taken from the soundtrack of The Hunger Games (2012). Swift and the Civil Wars wrote the track with its producer T Bone Burnett. The track is an indie folk ballad with a spare arrangement evoking Americana, alternative country, and Appalachian music. The lyrics are about the Hunger Games protagonist Katniss Everdeen's empathy and compassion for other characters, even as she fights to survive in the eponymous Games. Swift sings lead vocals with a high-pitched vibrato, and the Civil Wars provide vocal harmonies.
Coriolanus "Coryo" Snow is a character in The Hunger Games franchise, a book series and film series. In the original book trilogy (2008–2010), President Snow is the dictator of the state of Panem through the end of the Second Rebellion, which deposes him. In the prequel book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020), he is an ambitious, intelligent and charismatic 18-year-old. He is assigned the role of mentoring a girl competing in the tenth Hunger Games—singer Lucy Gray Baird—and forms a relationship with her.
The Hunger Games is a media franchise centering on a series of science fiction dystopian adventure films, based on the novel series of the same name by Suzanne Collins. The films are distributed by Lionsgate. The series feature an ensemble cast including Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. In the prequel film, Tom Blyth stars as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul and Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman.
"We Remain" is a song by American singer Christina Aguilera, taken from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, the soundtrack to the 2013 American science-fiction adventure film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It was released as the third single from the soundtrack on October 1, 2013, following Coldplay's "Atlas" and Sia's "Elastic Heart". Composed by Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle and Mikky Ekko, "We Remain" is an arena pop power ballad about perseverance. Contemporary music critics lauded the song for its sound and picked it as one of the highlights from the soundtrack. The single appeared on a few national record charts including Belgium, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is the soundtrack album to the 2014 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, curated by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. The soundtrack has been described by music critics as an electropop record with elements of hip hop, synth pop and the use of electronic beats throughout the album. The melodic style of the songs is a deviation from the guitar-driven sound of the previous series' soundtracks.
"The Hanging Tree" is a song by American composer James Newton Howard featuring vocals from American actress Jennifer Lawrence. It was written by Suzanne Collins and composed by Howard, Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz from the band the Lumineers. The song was released by Republic Records on December 9, 2014, as the second single from the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014). It was first included in the film's score album but was later added to the digital extended edition of the film's soundtrack. "The Hanging Tree" is a folk ballad that features orchestral strings and a choir.
Olivia Isabel Rodrigo is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She first became known for starring on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark (2016–2019) and the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019–2022). She signed with Geffen Records in 2021, releasing the chart-topping single "Drivers License", which raised her to international prominence. Her debut studio album Sour was released that same year, which won her three Grammy Awards. The documentary Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U followed in 2022, which chronicles the creative process of Sour. The next year, she released her second studio album, Guts.
Rachel Zegler is an American actress and singer. She came to prominence with her film debut playing María in Steven Spielberg's musical adaptation West Side Story (2021), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. In 2023, she played Anthea in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a dystopian action-adventure novel written by the American author Suzanne Collins. It is a prequel to the original The Hunger Games trilogy, set 64 years before the events of the first novel. It was released on May 19, 2020, by Scholastic with an audiobook of the novel, read by the American actor Santino Fontana, was released simultaneously. The book had a virtual launch due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A film adaptation by Lionsgate, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, was released on November 17, 2023.
American singer and actress Olivia Rodrigo has released two studio albums, one reissue, three extended plays (EPs), ten singles, and ten music videos. She contributed to the soundtrack of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, releasing ten promotional singles from it, with "All I Want" managing to chart worldwide at a peak position of 119. After signing with Interscope and Geffen Records in 2020, she released her debut single "Drivers License" in January 2021, which propelled her to international fame. "Drivers License" debuted at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it stayed for eight consecutive weeks, and topped the charts in 25 other countries. Subsequently, "Drivers License" was certified six times platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), eight times platinum in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), seven times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), three times platinum in Norway and Portugal, two times platinum in United Kingdom, Poland, New Zealand and Sweden, and platinum in 10 other countries.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a 2023 American dystopian action film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, based on the 2020 novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. It is the fifth installment in The Hunger Games franchise and is a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012). The film stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis. In the film, Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) is called on to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), a Games tribute, as he seeks to restore his family's prosperity in Panem.
Tom Keir Blyth is an English actor. He took an interest in drama from a young age, studying acting at the Television Workshop in Nottingham and at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Josh Andrés Rivera is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Chino in Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of West Side Story and as Sejanus Plinth in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
"Can't Catch Me Now" is a song by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo from the soundtrack to the 2023 American dystopian action film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Rodrigo wrote it with its producer, Dan Nigro. Geffen Records released it as the soundtrack's second single on November 3, 2023. A folk rock ballad driven by acoustic guitars, "Can't Catch Me Now" has lyrics about vengeance and the narrator's ubiquitousness in the subject's life, inspired by the film's plot.
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