It’s a big, broad tent for everyone to get lost in. Sure, the lyrical sentiments are often delivered as platitudes-"We’re just a mess of broken people but we love the game!," and so forth-but that's part of the deal when you're working with some populist YA lit poking around well-established archetypes.
It's no coincidence that, of the 14 songs featured on Mockingjay, 11 feature female vocalists in the foreground. Across the board, the songs sound like threads of hope escaping gloomier pasts, echoing the arc of the film's generational heroine.
Following in the veins of Catching Fire’s OST, Mockingjay moves with the action of a series that began in a hermetically sealed environment before transitioning to a city where every battle has larger implications. Bat for Lashes' contribution, a cover of Son Lux's "Plan the Escape", is a twinkling snowglobe of a song that will almost certainly score a tense moment of Katniss introspection as she mulls over the two hollow clods after her heart (team #SingleKatniss).Īfter the rustic rock-leaning OST of the first movie, which featured contributions from Arcade Fire, the Decemberists, and Neko Case, the series leans toward electronic pop.
Lorde's cover of Bright Eyes' "Ladder Song" is straightforward, but sweet. Lorde, Pusha T, Q-Tip and Haim) and Ariana Grande's sky-scraping collaboration with Major Lazer, "All My Love".Ĭharli XCX connects with Simon Le Bon for the lovely piano ballad "Kingdom", an effortlessly composed song co-written with Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij after the two got drunk at a Miley Cyrus concert. There are the emotional highs and stripped-down ballads you might expect to color moods of a specific scene, but the whole record crackles with electricity: Those ballads are just as striking as the more pounding cuts like the opener "Meltdown" (Stromae ft.
Tracks like Chvrches' kinetic call-to-arms "Dead Air" and Raury's meditative "Lost Souls" would have been standouts on their respective debuts.
Lorde, who’s gone from complete unknown to holding the reins of one of the world’s biggest movie franchises in just 18 months, has assembled a stable of rising stars like Tinashe, hyper-relevant indie-friendly sensations like Charli XCX and Chvrches, Raury, and more. And, yet, many tracks soar beyond the reasonable expectation of a film soundtrack that would’ve been snapped up by thousands of teenagers even if it were just 81 minutes of off-pitch Mockingjay whistles. Much of the record is outfitted with an electronic throb that wouldn’t sound out of place in the clubs of District 1 ( the Rich Kids of Instagram in the Hunger Games universe). All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.īy clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set.There are few safe choices on Mockingjay, one of the most thrilling soundtracks for a blockbuster film series in recent memory. This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and Noname, who was born Fatimah Warner and has previously shared verses with Chance the Rapper, enlists a cast of varied, rich voices: Raury’s starry eyed spirituality, Xavier Omär’s velvet croon, and Cam O’bi, who sums up the record’s charms perfectly on Diddy Bop: “This sounds like growing out my clothes, with stars in my pocket, dreaming about making my hood glow.” With both Knowles sisters and A Tribe Called Quest examining black identity on their career bests this year, the Chicago star similarly processes life as an African American (on Casket Pretty she imagines being shot by police), rapping about heartache and morality with glitchy electronic-soul as a soundbed.Ī vintage filter runs throughout chintzy dinner pianos, the sort of feel-good bass that would score an 80s sitcom. Noname’s modest, intricate mixtape describes her coming of age experiences with such sweet reverie it makes you nostalgic for a childhood you never actually had.