Highly-anticipated film’s soundtrack features Adam Levine, Miranda Lambert
It’s a story of sacrifice, love, death and real, raw human emotion. And it’s taken the country — from young fans of series fiction to seasoned literary critics — into its grip with the courageous and striking tale of Katniss Everdeen.
Tickets are selling out for Friday’s midnight premiere of the adapted feature film, and fans, who gush over the enrapturing tale that took “only one day to read,” have already fallen in love with the rather poetically violent and sacrificial saga.
But there’s another piece to the “Hunger Games” puzzle: the soundtrack. “The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond” dropped Tuesday and boasts a lineup of original songs from the most varied group of artists in the game.
Soundtracks rarely strike the long-sought balance between storytelling tracks and overly cheesy or completely irrelevant hits. But the album’s 12 tracks pull it off — from Maroon 5 to Kid Cudi to Taylor Swift, industry greats have lent their diverse talents and genres to deeply heartrending ballads of the famed story.
Melissa Maerz from Entertainment Weekly says it best in her review: “What’s the appropriate soundtrack for kids killing kids?”
The songs are chilling, eerie and certainly not slated for a feel-good playlist of any sort, but they fit the story and every emotion, both told and untold, behind the plot.
“Songs from District 12” opens with Montreal’s indie rockers Arcade Fire in a militaristic staccato titled “Abraham’s Daughter.” It’s a reflection on the biblical tale — God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah — and elaborates on the savior daughter: “Just as an angel cried for the slaughter / Abraham’s daughter raised her voice.”
It points to a distorted look back on Katniss’ original sacrifice of herself for her younger, timid and overlooked sister Prim, and sends one of the most lyrically powerful messages of the listing.
But there are two tracks that stick out as unexpected yet soundtrack-defining, songs: “Come Away to the Water” by Maroon 5 and “Run Daddy Run” by Miranda Lambert.
Adam Levine is the tattoo-covered bad boy who defies rock ‘n’ roll in favor of infectious, falsetto chart-toppers, and Maroon 5 has taken the sharp turn from “Sunday Morning” to “Moves Like Jagger” in just less than a decade. But “Come Away” is far from either established stereotype — it’s all the best of Levine’s voice and Maroon 5’s talent with a stripped-down, indie flair.
Levine is close to unrecognizable, falling into his told talent in his long-held, low-register runs, which carry a faint semblance of the star’s proven chops. And Rozzi Crane, who is featured on the track and a longtime mentee of Levine, breaks into recognition with her perfectly complementary, high-pitched and smoky tones.
Again, the song itself is cryptic, both in its delivery and writing, singing: “Come away, little lamb, come away to the slaughter / To the ones appointed to see this through.”
It’s the story of “Hunger Games,” but in a much deeper, more realistic way — it falls far from any cliché rehashing of the plot
Miranda Lambert takes the mic with her fellow Pistol Annies, serving as the token country twang on the soundtrack of indie rock hits with “Run Daddy Run.” The opening lyrics, and repeated chorus, infuse a little bit of the South into a grander connection: “Daddy, can you hear the devil drawing near / Like a bullet from a gun? Run, daddy, run.”
The song opens in an a cappella harmony of Pistol Annies and moves into the running strum of a banjo. In its very presence, it is unexpected but amazing.
Another surprising showing? The heartbroken, bleacher-sitting teen queen Taylor Swift. She takes honors with two songs on the soundtrack, “Safe & Sound,” featuring The Civil Wars and a solo work “Eyes Open.” And they’re both good. Really good.
They’re a far cry from “Teardrops on My Guitar” and “Ours,” but the focus on a much less contrived and produced Swift suits her young talent.
Birdy, who may be best known for her cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love,” and Jaymee Dee, who just hit the map with her cover of Death Cab’s “I Will Follow You into the Dark,” also grace the album with their fresh and still relatively undiscovered thrills.
The Decemberists, Kid Cudi and The Low Anthem also hold spots in the genre-studded set, only further strengthening the collection of unexpected and separately unique songs.
The soundtrack tells a story similar to that of the adored series, but from a different, more creative perspective. It puts music to the emotions behind abandonment, sacrifice and struggle in the most refreshingly grim, oxymoron-intended way.