The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (soundtrack)

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 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".

Background

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.

Singles

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. The full song was released on October 20, as the lead single. On November 1, Olivia Rodrigo announced that she would perform a song "Can't Catch Me Now" for the soundtrack of the film, which would be the first track from the album that was made available for pre-order. The song was released as a single two days later. A music video for the track would be released on November 13.

Reception

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". Will Sayre of MovieWeb said that the tunes are "catchy enough and will surely be universally appreciated among fans".

Track listing

The track list of the album was announced on November 1.

Charts

Accolades

References

1. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (score)
3. The Hunger Games (film series)
4. Can't Catch Me Now
5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
6. List of songs recorded by Olivia Rodrigo
7. The Hanging Tree (The Hunger Games song)
8. Rachel Zegler
9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
10. Olivia Rodrigo discography
11. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (soundtrack)
12. Trolls Band Together
13. Jason Schwartzman
14. Wish (film)
15. 2023 in country music
16. Lucy Gray
17. Charles Wesley Godwin
18. Peter Dinklage
19. List of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert episodes (2023)
20. Yuja Wang discography