Music Review: Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 OST

The Hunger Games, as the current, most lucrative young adult franchise, has spawned a number of products related to the movies in recent years from bargain-basement toys to cheap Halloween costumes to unnecessary tchotchkes. Consistently, the highest quality Hunger Games affiliated merchandise—besides the books and films, of course—have been the soundtracks for each movie. The soundtrack for the third movie, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1, is no different. Carrying on in the young adult movie tradition of Twilight and the previous two films in the series, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1—Original Soundtrack” is not instrumental music, but, rather, narrative songs performed by the hip artists of today. Expertly curated by 18 year-old phenom Lorde, the album’s turbulent electronics and pop savvy make it a fitting companion for Suzanne Collins’ most emotional book.

As opposed to T-Bone Burnett’s folk-inflected soundtrack for The Hunger Games and Alexandra Patsavas’ acoustic-pop on Catching Fire, Lorde has assembled an eclectic mix of guest artists for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1—Original Soundtrack” that nonetheless run towards ‘80s-influenced new wave and electro-pop. The contributors are a mix of established stars like Ariana Grande and Lorde herself, ‘80s icons like Grace Jones and Simon Le Bon, and up-and-comers like Charli XCX, Tove Lo and Tinashe. Kanye West even makes an appearance behind the soundboards with a rework of the album’s first single “Yellow Flicker Beat.” “Yellow Flicker Beat” is a strong opening salvo: the song begins with Lorde tremulously humming a single note before the verse begins almost completely a capella. The chorus explodes into pounding synths before scaling back and doing it all over again. Lorde’s fingerprints can be found all over this album, with her usual calling cards of spare atmospherics, sinuous beats and wordy lyrics. She’s also an omnipresent vocalist, as well, showing up on a grand total of five songs out of fourteen.

Those songs tend to be among the higher quality ones. The album opening “Meltdown” is a murderer’s row of talented musicians, with Lorde, Belgian dance maestro Stromae, rappers Pusha T and Q-Tip and indie darling HAIM all sharing the same track. The collaboration could have failed miserably—just look at all of those names!—with a panoply of competing styles vying for attention, yet to its credit “Meltdown” is a major coup. Stromae’s beat is nothing short of epic and all of the vocalists are able to deftly skip over it personality intact. “Flicker (Kanye West Rework)” and “This Is Not A Game” are slightly less successful. The West contribution is minimal, and the presence of The Chemical Brothers and Miguel on the latter track do not mitigate the lack of lyrical heft. Lorde’s cover of Bright Eyes’ “Ladder Song” is a similarly tasteful cover that improves little over the original recording.

The album’s two best songs, however, come from the old and new vanguard. Grace Jones exits her hiatus with “Original Beast,” a thumping blend of Afro-Pop and art rock that would not have been out of place on Nightclubbing. Her voice is sonorous and foreboding. What she does is less like singing and more like the chanting of a mad monk. The song does a better job of capturing the turmoil of Panem than any other song on the record, and it works as both diegetic and non-diegetic music. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1—Original Soundtrack's other excellent highlight is Ariana Grande and Major Lazer’s “All My Love.” For all of her R&B diva posturing, Grande’s best mode is dance-floor queen, and Diplo’s expert beat provides her with a wonderful showcase for her skills. The lyrics are perfectly emotional in describing the difficulties of maintaining love in tough times, and the main synth line, a veritable chorus of cicadas, is one of the most aggressively weird, yet pleasant, hooks that I’ve ever heard. And, like usual, Grande sells it with panache. You could imagine Effie Trinket getting her boogie on to this in the Capitol.

What really sells The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1—Original Soundtrack is its clear narrative. This is the soundtrack for a powerful female character in Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen, and it tracks her ups and down in a way that is simultaneously obvious yet not literal. The atmospheres of the two mediums—music and film—synchronize beautifully, and it will be a real treat to be able to hear this altogether excellent album in theaters.