Hidden Figures (score)

Hidden Figures (Original Score) is the score album jointly composed by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch for the 2016 American biographical drama film Hidden Figures. It was released on January 9, 2017, by Sony Masterworks. The score consists of gospel music blended with acoustic and electronic music, to provide computer-like textures. It additionally featured African-American female vocalists performing the background score, and had featured several musical artists, including Herbie Hancock to work on the score.

Because of the involvement of more than two composers producing music for the film, the score was ruled ineligible to be shortlisted for Best Original Score at the 89th Academy Awards. However, it was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, while receiving other accolades.

Development

Zimmer and Wallfisch initially provided the first set of score cues, with Williams, who co-wrote the original songs for the film and produced the soundtrack. The score was mostly drawn from Williams' original songs featured in the soundtrack. Wallfisch stated that "the bass lines, the chord progressions, the rhythmic intensity — building the score from that place meant there could be a real dance between the score and the songs throughout the movie, a synergy".

Both the composers worked to include Afro-American women to provide vocals in the film score, as Zimmer in an interview to The Hollywood Reporter, said that "Either you have the idea of mathematics, which is the Philip Glass thing, or you have preconceived ideas like The Right Stuff (1983) or Apollo 13 (1995). But nothing in the music ever hints at an African-American, let alone female, undercurrent." As a result, they approached several female players from the Afro-American community, across the world while also featuring prominent musicians, including jazz player Herbie Hancock to play the piano.

"We flew players in from all over the country, and we had this truly extraordinary string section. The sound was more beautiful and more committed…because everybody knew what they were playing because they were playing about themselves. And that is sort of the way music is supposed to work"

Kim Burrell and Clydene Jackson provided solo vocals, with choirs from Dallas and Los Angeles, providing the gospel score. The composers worked on "examining the harmonies and infusing them into the thematic writing". Speaking to Variety magazine, Wallfisch attributed that one of his guitarist friends had pulsed textures, and included them through several passes of a tape emulator to bring back to the sound of those early reel-to-reel machines and moog synthesisers, reversed and layered those tunes. He attributed that the "sound and the piano became the sound of Katherine's brain". He also stated that the trumpet lines, were inspired from Miles Davis' compositions, which consists of solo jazz elements.

The score blends electric guitars with acoustic cues to bring "computer-like, technical textures". Wallfisch commented that "We used the core-progressions and harmonic sensibility of gospel music, even with a choir, it’s the way you voice the string chords, somehow effortlessly gave us that language for the score."

Track listing

Reception

Filmtracks.com wrote "While the character of the score remains cohesive outside of this celebration motif, the themes, oddly enough, are only faintly coherent, and they make no obvious connections to the songs. The various motifs seem to waft through the score seemingly without tightly associating with particular characters. Thus, you have a combined compositional effort involving Zimmer that continues to cause some issues with narrative continuity, but Hidden Figures manages to overcome these issues with its tightly knit cultural personality" and concluded "a delightfully competent handling of the subject despite its sometimes wandering motific assignments". Marvelous Geeks Media had stated the score as "incredibly refreshing and beautiful" and further wrote "The harmonies in the background of certain tracks add a sense of serenity that’s hard to miss when listening to the album, and once you’re one track in, it’s nearly impossible to stop listening until you’ve finished the entire album."

Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes

Accolades

References