The third film in The Hunger Game Series and part one of a two part film compilation based on the final novel Mockingjay of the Hunger Games trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins, sees a thrilling buildup to a resounding climax in the movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and others. The OST to the phenomenal movie is a 50 minute offering masterfully curated by Grammy Award winner and New Zealend pop wiz Lorde, who is known to show similar strengths as Katniss, the protagonist in the film. Lorde spreads her wings in this record and takes listeners on a musical journey reflecting the film’s storyline.
It is no surprise that out of the 14 tracks in the album, 11 feature female artistes in the foreground. A stellar cast of handpicked artistes bring the movie alive in the sonically ingenious OST with strong adventurous undertones.
Opening with ‘Meltdown’ featuring Stromae feat Lorde, Pusha T, Q-Tip and Haim, the album launches into a crescendo pumping pop-rap posse kick-off. ‘Dead Air’ by Chvrches is a sparkling stand-out single. ‘Scream My Name’ by Tove Lo follows seamlessly in a fresh upbeat melody line. Charli XCX featuring Simon Le Bon on ‘Kingdom’ is a breath of fresh air with its slow and yet ethereal signature. ‘All My Love’ by Major Lazer feat. The fantastic vocals of Ariana Grande is another resilient track again bringing out the film saga’s thematic undertones with drum and bass dance grooves. ‘Lost Souls’ by Raury breezes past in mellow whispers.
Lorde’s ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’ is a haunting solo lead single that departs from the rest of the bright songs to a darker musical analogue to the movie which Kanye West remixes later on the album making it a perfect anthem for Katniss, a “princess cut from marble”.
Tinashe comes as a surprise in ‘The Leap’ with a meandering focus on an aural experience with a load of synths and rave grooves thrown in. The mood-swinging song sets the pace for Bat for Lashes’ ‘Plan the Escape (Son Lux Cover)’ that showcases Peter Gabriel’s insightful attention to soundscape detail. But the album’s strongest work is where Grace Jones asserts the film’s theme again in ‘Original Beast’ and XOV’s ‘Animal’ that both draw you in with their vibrant and strangely dark magical enigma. The Chemical Brothers featuring Miguel in ‘This is Not A Game’ is a synth electronica heavy blast from the past and doubles as a resonant dual between the vocals and the music. Lorde’s ‘Ladder Song’ closes with the film’s vision coming alive in the 18-year-old’s musical prowess that masterfully blends in soft, yet resolute keys and strings work.
The diversity of the album featuring a phylum of popular music artistes from genres as wide apart as alternative to electro pop allows Lorde to bring together a work of art that is rare and admirably original in the OST.
