The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the official soundtrack to the 2014 Lionsgate science-fiction adventure film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 curated by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. The film is an adaptation of the 2010 novel by Suzanne Collins and is the third installment in The Hunger Games film series. The soundtrack has been described by critics as an electropop record with elements of hip hop, synth pop and a use of electronic beats throughout the album. The soundtrack's melodic style is a change from the previous guitar-driven records.
The soundtrack received highly positive reviews from music critics who praised its dystopian mood and Lorde's curation. It was included in several year-end lists. "Yellow Flicker Beat" was announced as the lead single on 29 September 2014 to generally positive reviews. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, and Best Song at the 20th Critics' Choice Awards. "The Hanging Tree" was initially included on the film's score but was later included and announced as the soundtrack's second single after its commercial success. It debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 21,293, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Video The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 (soundtrack)
Background and release
Lionsgate announced on July 31, 2014, that Lorde would provide a single for the film's soundtrack album and curate the record. Director Francis Lawrence released a statement saying that he sat down with Lorde on the set of Mockingjay when shooting commenced in spring and was "immediately struck" by how she "innately understood" what the filmmakers were trying to do with the film. He noted her "immense talent" and "keen" understanding of the story's characters and themes which not only enabled her to write a song that "captured the film's essence" but her "insight and passion" made her the "perfect creative force" to "assemble" other songs in the movie's soundtrack. When asked about her decision to take on the role as curator, Lorde admitted that it was a challenge to create a soundtrack for a "hotly-anticipated" film but she "jumped" at the chance. The singer also mentioned that the cast and story were an inspiration for the "participating musicians" and explained that as "someone with cinematic leanings, being privy to a different creative process has been a "unique experience."
The track list for the soundtrack was released on October 21, 2014. All track names were released with the exception of the fifth track, which was titled "Track 5". Lorde stated that same day that the unnamed track was not yet finished and that it was not kept in mystery for "secrecy's sake". Ariana Grande revealed in a livestream on October 29, 2014, that she and Major Lazer were the artists behind the fifth track. On November 3, 2014, the track's title, "All My Love", was announced, confirming Grande as the track's performer. The soundtrack was released on the Australian and New Zealand iTunes store on November 14 and was released worldwide through Republic Records on November 17, 2014. On December 3, 2014, the soundtrack was re-released digitally with "The Hanging Tree" by James Newton Howard featuring Jennifer Lawrence as the 15th song on the album. The song was originally released with the score. "Yellow Flicker Beat" and "The Hanging Tree" are the only songs on the album to be used in the film. When speaking on his contribution to the soundtrack, Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon stated that he was surprised when he got a call from his manager telling him that there was a slot for him to do a duet with English singer Charli XCX. Le Bon mentioned that the track was "really different" but "very, very, very dark." As the album's curator, Lorde recruited Grace Jones, Ariana Grande, Diplo, Miguel, The Chemical Brothers, and Stromae to contribute to the official track list. In an interview with Billboard, she stated that her "idol", Kanye West, had made a remix of the album's first single, "Yellow Flicker Beat" which would appear on the track list. She stated that she would put off calling West as she found it hard to speak to people she didn't know on the phone.
Maps The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 (soundtrack)
Writing and development
Lorde revealed that the process of working on the soundtrack took approximately two to three months while she was touring. She made it a priority to listen to music meant for the record. Her record label gave her full autonomy on curating the soundtrack. She also A&R'ed the artists involved along with her publisher, Ron Perry. When chooses the artists, Lorde revealed that she tried to be "quite disciplined" to keep her focus on those who embodied the film and its story as well as her own writing. When she first reached out to the contributing artists, she would leave the track's direction "fairly open" and would later advise them on whether the track was perfect, needed more or if it needed to be altered. In her words, a lot of the artists "really flourished" and felt that many of them grew as an artist during the process. Most of the tracks were recorded remotely, with the exception of "Meltdown", where Lorde managed to sing in the studio with Haim.
In an interview with Billboard, Lorde stated that it was important for the soundtrack not to feel like her own mixtape. In her words, it would have been "selfish" of her to make to "ambient house music". In a Twitter Q&A, the singer acknowledged that most of the songs were "downbeat", stating that she felt it was important to have balance to address the "sadness and loss" and the "inner strength" and courageous mentality from the film. Lorde revealed that every artist on the soundtrack was "personally selected" and "approached" by her. A collaboration between Tiny Ruins and David Lynch was to be included in the record but did not make the cut as Lorde felt that the song did not match the tonality of the rest of the other tracks. She chose to include her cover of Bright Eyes' "Ladder Song" as it felt like the perspective of a "divine being (or a even a modern-day reader) looking down at the events of Panem". She mentioned that the line, 'No one knows where the ladder goes' expressed a "really sad sentiment" after so much "bloodsheed/for the greater good". Conor Oberst, the leading frontman of the band, had advised Lorde to cover his song, noting that she would do a "cool job" with it.
Songs
The soundtrack's opening song, "Meltdown" was described as having a "propulsive pulse that spans hip-hop and pop". Time characterized it as a "dark synth dance track" with "an '80s-influenced kinetic earworm". Its lyrics call out the film's "image-obsessed bourgeoisie of the Capitol" which Billboard described as "language that would be just as appropriate for real-life society". The second song "Dead Air" is a "synth-heavy rabble-rouser" with a "revolutionary" theme about obtaining "freedom from President Snow's tyrannical regime". "Scream My Name" details how accustomed it becomes to deal with problems on a day to day basis. "Kingdom" is a dream pop piano ballad that was written by Charli XCX and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij after the two got drunk at a Miley Cyrus concert. The following track, "All My Love" was described as an electropop and dance-pop number with influences of dancehall and "breezy yet bouncy island rhythms" in its production. "Lost Souls" details a "tense lament" that features Raury rapping.
"Yellow Flicker Beat" is an art pop song with lyrics referencing the rise of Katniss Everdeen. The song begins with a slow and measured start, before the drums appear towards the chorus. Its "relentless electronic rhythm" was compared to a "slightly less aggressive Depeche Mode in their heroin years". The track's production features a "solid, thumping bass drum and nagging keyboard line". The next track, "The Leap" detail "self-depricating" lyrics over emotional vocals while Bat for Lashes cover of "Plan the Escape" features a "bold, wobbly bass line and headphone-happy rhythms" that was compared to Kate Bush. "Original Beast" features "conga polyrhythms", a "menacing synthetic bass-line" and reggae influences. The remix of "Yellow Flicker Beat", titled "Flicker", stripped away the synth production of the original for an "ambient-noise hellscape", according to Rolling Stone. Providing a shift in tone, "Animal" uplifts the atmosphere of the soundtrack while still retaining the overall dark intentions of the production. "This Is Not a Game" was noted by Grantland for its unlikely pairing of artists. The publication stated that Lorde kept up the tradition of unlikely collaborations from the 90s, such as Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill's "Real Thing" (1993), the Crystal Method's "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" (1997) featuring Filter and the Pretenders and Kool Keith's 1998 remix "My City Was Gone". The song was described as dark and electric, as Lorde utters the words "There is it" before the chorus over "pulverizing beats".
Singles
On September 22, 2014, Lorde posted a photo of the single cover titled "Yellow Flicker Beat", which was released on September 29, 2014. In the United States, "Yellow Flicker Beat" debuted at number seventeen on the Billboard's Alternative Songs chart. In doing so, Lorde logged the highest launch by a female artist on the chart since 1995 when Juliana Hatfield's "Universal Heart-Beat" also debuted at number seventeen. Additionally, the single appeared on the Adult Alternative Songs at number nineteen with 5.2 million radio audience impressions in first-week audience. On the Billboard Hot 100, the single peaked at number thirty-four. "Yellow Flicker Beat" also charted moderately on several national record charts, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The single was a success in New Zealand, peaking at number four on the New Zealand Singles Chart. It was certified gold by the Recorded Music NZ and gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). "Yellow Flicker Beat" was nominated for Best Original Song at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, and Best Song at the 20th Critics' Choice Awards.
After the commercial success of "The Hanging Tree", composed by James Newton Howard and featuring vocals from Jennifer Lawrence, as part of the score for the film, the soundtrack was re-released digitally with the song as the 15th track. It was later released as the second single from the album. Before it was released as a single, "The Hanging Tree" debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending December 13, 2014 and debuted outside the 50 position (2.1 million U.S. streams) on Streaming Songs, charting at number two (200,000 downloads sold) on Digital Songs and received just eight spins on U.S. radio. "The Hanging Tree" became the highest charting song of all soundtracks from The Hunger Games franchise on the chart, surpassing "Eyes Open" by Taylor Swift from the 2012 film The Hunger Games, which peaked at number 19. Lawrence became one of 16 other Academy Award winning recipients to chart on the Hot 100. The song peaked at number one in Austria, Germany and Hungary; it peaked in the top five in Australia. It was certified platinum by Music Canada (MC) for shipments of 80,000 and double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Promotional singles
There are three promotional singles were released. The first one was "This Is Not a Game" by The Chemical Brothers featuring Miguel, the second was "Dead Air" by Chvrches. "Flicker (Kanye West Rework)" was released as the third promotional single for the album on November 11, 2014. The song "Lucifer" by XOV was meant to be one of the promotional singles for the soundtrack, but it was considered too "dark" so it didn't appear on the soundtrack. It was replaced by "Animal".
Critical reception
The soundtrack received highly positive reviews from music critics who praised its dystopian mood and Lorde's curation. At review aggregate site Metacritic, the soundtrack has an average score of 77 out of 100, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally positive reviews". Corban Goble from Pitchfork stated that "Across the board, the songs sound like threads of hope escaping gloomier pasts, echoing the arc of the film's generational heroine. It's no coincidence that, of the 14 songs featured on Mockingjay, 11 feature female vocalists in the foreground." Goble concludes his review by commending the contributing artists on the soundtrack for bringing their "A-game out of respect for the project's core vision and passion." Billboard gave the soundtrack a positive review calling Lorde's work "stellar", with writer Jamieson Cox saying, "Thanks to her vision, and her grip on the series' most important thematic elements, the 50 minutes of music behind Mockingjay, Part 1 ably function as both a glance at 2014?s finest purveyors of complex, downcast pop and a complement to the start of the series' chaotic, brutal conclusion."
Despite its praise, some reviewers shared mixed expressions. Digital Spy writer Harry Fletcher stated that while Lorde was backed by "superstar producer Paul Epworth" and a "squad of willing artists", she assembled a soundtrack that "although pulsating in parts, dithers and ultimately falls flat." Fletcher mentioned that the record's strongest points come at the beginning when in "party mode" and its lowest come towards the end when the songs distort the "vivacious nature of the rest of the [soundtrack]. New York Daily News gave the album a mixed review stating it was too slow at times: "It throws echo around everything and lets dense, ambient sound creep over the voices and instruments. It's supposed to create a sense of wariness and foreboding, but often it just makes things sound murky and diffuse. Despite bright spots, long stretches bore." The National gave the soundtrack a three out of five star review, with the publication commending Lorde for curating a "concoction of dark magic, enchanting tunes and revolutionary feelings".
Accolades
Track listing
Charts
Release history
Score
All tracks produced by James Newton Howard, except where noted.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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