soundtracks
Following the release of the anticipated sequel film, Moana 2, which in its opening week earned $225 million at the U.S. and Canada box office, the movie’s soundtrack proved to be just as big a hit, debuting in the top 10 of three Billboard album charts.
Featuring the voices of returning actors Auliʻi Cravalho (Moana) and Dwayne Johnson (Maui), Moana 2 also debuted a new musical pair in composing duo Barlow & Bear (Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear). Together, the two made history as the youngest and only all-women songwriting duo to create a full soundtrack for a Disney animated film. (Barlow & Bear stepped in for Lin-Manuel Miranda, who helmed the music for 2016’s original Moana.)
“They were brought on for their immense talent as musicians and storytellers,” says Tom MacDougall, president of Walt Disney Music and Billboard‘s Executive of the Week, who also A&R’d the soundtrack. “Where being younger did come into play revealed itself in their ability to understand the feelings Moana was having as a young woman trying to achieve great things and channeling that experience into the story.” (Moana 2 picks up three years after the original film left off; this time, Moana receives an unexpected call from her ancestors that brings her back to the ocean.)
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The celebratory opening week for Moana 2 is just the beginning of a busy year’s end for Disney, as MacDougall’s next soundtrack is already on its way. On Dec. 20, Mufasa: The Lion King will arrive along with its original soundtrack by Miranda.
And while MacDougall says “we simply release films when they’re ready,” he does believe there’s something special about the end of a year. “I do think [this period] represents a time of reflection, joy and family,” he says. “I can see how those emotions can get you in the mood to see characters sing.”
Moana 2 debuted in the top 10 on three of Billboard’s album charts (No. 2 on Kid Albums, No. 10 on Soundtracks and No. 10 on World Albums). What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
Our partners at the Disney Music Group and studio marketing know the “first responders” to our soundtracks live in these key categories and they look to service them early with sneak peeks, exclusives and lyric videos. As the films broaden out — like Frozen and Encanto — we look to capture all audiences on as many charts as we can, including the top song and album charts.
The first Moana soundtrack topped both the Kid Albums and Soundtracks charts for 54 and 62 nonconsecutive weeks, respectively. How are you and the team aiming for similar longevity with Moana 2?
We are always humbled by any charting, and don’t expect the past to point to future success but we do go to great lengths to find the core emotional situations that, dare I say, demand that these characters sing. My experience is that when we hit that mark — which I think we did with Moana 2 — success can follow.
What challenges did you and the team face in following up a musical smash like Moana?
Sequels to musicals are tricky as you need new adventures, obstacles and desires to sing about or it won’t feel like an evolution for the characters. With Moana being older and wiser, she has taken on more responsibilities to her community and her family which provided fertile ground for her to sing. And, of course, our demigod Maui is always finding reasons to sing, and Dwayne [Johnson] really pushed himself creatively to find yet another plateau for his talents as a vocalist for the new song “Can I Get A Chee Hoo?”
In addition to Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King arrives on Dec. 20. For any sequel or franchise continuation, when it comes to the music, what is the secret to balancing familiar sounds with new?
I think the secret to a musical sequel is to make sure you’re offering something new for the characters, the story and the music, but [that] doesn’t abandon what’s come before. Barlow & Bear represented the new on Moana 2, and [composers] Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina were the foundation of what came before that brought the warm familiar feeling audiences come to expect from the world of Moana.
For you, what’s the signal that the team has a hit on its hands?
Honestly, we don’t consider any film soundtrack to be a hit until the audience has spoken. There is often a slow period of absorption that seems to happen with music that doesn’t follow the near instantaneous assessment of box office success, so sometimes we just have to wait. With Moana 2 audiences have told us they want to spend a lot of time in that world, so I don’t think we’ll have to wait long to consider the soundtrack a hit.
How “far” do you see the Moana movies in particular going — are there any current plans “beyond” this sequel?
Having now worked on both films for over a decade of my career, I’m looking forward to just enjoying this moment of success and be grateful audiences have responded to these films in this unprecedented way. Can I get a chee hoo?
Each year, the Recording Academy tweaks its Grammy nominations list with changes and corrections. That’s to be expected in a list of 94 categories, which contains hundreds of entries and thousands of names. When the nominations for best compilation soundtrack for visual media were announced a week ago, the information provided was incomplete; the Academy has now filled in those credits.
Film stars Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper are among the nominees that category. (Cooper was listed as a nominee last week, but more information has been provided.) This is Reynolds’ second Grammy nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Deadpool 2 six years ago. This is Cooper’s fourth nod. He is a two-time Grammy winner. He won in this category five years ago for A Star Is Born and also won for best pop duo/group performance for “Shallow,” his Hot 100-topping collab with Lady Gaga.
Interesting note: The directors of four of the films that are represented in this category received Grammy nods as soundtrack compilation producers. They are Blitz Bazawule (The Color Purple), Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), Cooper (Maestro) and Emerald Fennell (Saltburn). (Lee Isaac Chung, the director of Twisters, which spawned the fifth nominee in the category, is not nominated for the soundtrack.)
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Stephen Bray is among the nominated compilation producers of The Color Purple. This is his seventh Grammy nomination; his third for this lucrative property. He was nominated for best musical theater album for the Broadway show in 2007 and won for best musical show album for a revival of the show in 2017. Fun Fact: Bray received his first Grammy nod in 1988 as a member of The Breakfast Club, nominees for best new artist.
Per long-established academy practice, names listed in parentheses are not nominees. They are shown just for identification purposes.
Here are the nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media.
The Color Purple
(Various Artists)
Nick Baxter, Blitz Bazawule, and Stephen Bray, compilation producers
Jordan Carroll and Morgan Rhodes, music supervisors
Deadpool & Wolverine
(Various Artists)
Dave Jordan, Shawn Levy & Ryan Reynolds, compilation producers
Dave Jordan, music supervisor
Maestro: Music By Leonard Bernstein
Bradley Cooper, Yannick Nezet-Seguin (London Symphony Orchestra), artists
Bradley Cooper, Yannick Nézet-Séguin & Jason Ruder, compilation producers
Steven Gizicki, music supervisor
Saltburn
(Various Artists)
Emerald Fennell, compilation producer
Kirsten Lane, music supervisor
Twisters: The Album
(Various Artists)
Ian Cripps, Brandon Davis, Joe Khoury & Kevin Weaver, compilation producers
Mike Knobloch & Rachel Levy, music supervisors
Twisters: The Album enters the Billboard 200 (dated Aug. 3) at No. 7. It’s the first country-dominated soundtrack to a theatrically-released film to make the top 10 on the all-genre chart since Country Strong, which reached No. 6 in January 2011.
“Twisters” is only the second country soundtrack from a theatrically-released film to debut in the top 10, after Hannah Montana: The Movie, which opened at No. 2 in April 2009. The album, which reached No. 1 three weeks later, featured star Miley Cyrus’ pop/country crossover hit “The Climb.”
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Other country-dominated film soundtracks to reach the top 10 include Urban Cowboy (No. 3 in 1980), George Strait’s Pure Country (No. 6 in 1992), Hope Floats (No. 4 in 1998), Coyote Ugly (No. 10 in 2000), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (No. 1 in 2002) and Walk the Line, from the Oscar-winning Johnny Cash biopic (No. 9 in 2006).
Twisters has already climbed higher than the soundtrack to the original Twister, which peaked at No. 28 in 1996. That Warner release was mostly rock and featured such artists as Tori Amos, Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham.
The new album, released on Atlantic, features such established country artists as Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Kane Brown, Lainey Wilson, Shania Twain and Jelly Roll, as well as such rising stars as Bailey Zimmerman, Breland and Tanner Adell. (Notably, both albums came from the Warner Music Group family of labels.)
Twain also had a track (“No One Needs to Know”) on the Twister soundtrack. She was one of the few non-rock artists on board for that album, along with k.d. lang and Alison Krauss & Union Station. On the new album, she teams with Breland to perform “Boots Don’t.” She is the only artist to appear on both albums.
The arrival of Twisters ends a notable drought in recent months for soundtracks. Three weeks ago, the highest-ranking soundtrack on the Billboard 200 (Barbie: The Album) was way down at No. 172. That marked the first time that the highest-ranking soundtrack on the Billboard 200 had ranked that low in the more than seven years that the Billboard 200 and the Top Soundtracks chart have adhered to the same chart formula.
Since Feb. 11, 2017, both charts have ranked the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
Twisters is the first soundtrack from any genre to appear in the top 10 since Barbie: The Album (which, like Twisters: The Album, was released on Atlantic) ended its top 10 run in September.
This marks the first time that no soundtracks appeared in the top 10 in the first six months of a calendar year since 1987. The first soundtrack to make the top 10 that year (Beverly Hills Cop II) did so in the issue dated Aug. 1.
There are only two other years since 1956 – when the Billboard 200 bowed as a regular, weekly feature – where no soundtracks appeared in the top 10 in the first six months of the year. In 1972, the first soundtrack to make the top 10 that year (Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly) did so in the issue dated Oct. 7. In 1976, the first soundtrack to make the top 10 that year (Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same) did so in the issue dated Nov. 6.
Soundtracks have been a big part of the album market since the introduction of the Billboard 200. On the first chart – March 24, 1956 – soundtracks to Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals held two of the top three spots. Oklahoma! and Carousel were No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. (A non-soundtrack, Harry Belafonte’s Belafonte, was No. 1.)
At least one soundtrack appeared in the top 10 every week from that first chart on March 24, 1956 through Dec. 22, 1958. In the mid-1960s, there was an even longer winning streak. At least one soundtrack appeared in the top 10 every week from July 25, 1964 through June 10, 1967.
Twisters ranked No. 1 at the boxoffice last weekend, but falls to No. 2 this weekend behind the new Deadpool & Wolverine. The original Twister was No. 1 for two weekends in May 1996. Isaac Chung directed Twisters, which stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Jan de Bont directed the original Twister, which starred Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton.
There are just two film or TV soundtracks on the current Billboard 200 album chart – and neither is from a 2024 film. Barbie: The Album, which drops to No. 172 in its 50th week on the chart, was tied to last summer’s box-office juggernaut. Moana, which drops to No. 173 in its 379th week, is the soundtrack to a film that was released way back in 2016.
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This is the first time that the highest-ranking soundtrack on the Billboard 200 has ranked as low as No. 172 in the more than seven years that the Billboard 200 and the Top Soundtracks chart have adhered to the same chart formula.
Both charts rank the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
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Everything is the music business is cyclical, and this seems to be especially true with soundtracks. They have years where they dominate the Billboard 200 and years where they hardly make a dent.
From Feb. 11, 2017, the week that the two charts first adhered to the same formula, through the chart dated Sept. 23, 2017, at least one soundtrack appeared in the top 20 every week, thanks to such winners as La La Land, Fifty Shades Darker, Trolls, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Purple Rain and Descendants 2.
What’s more, at least one soundtrack appeared in the top 100 every week through April 24, 2021. After that, the ongoing pandemic slowed the flow of hit films, and as a consequence, hit soundtracks. There were 22 weeks in 2021 in which no soundtracks appeared in top 100.
The picture for soundtracks brightened considerably in 2022, thanks largely to Encanto and Elvis. At least one soundtrack appeared in the top 100 every week that year. In 33 of those weeks, at least one soundtrack appeared in the top 20.
There were seven weeks in 2023 in which no soundtracks appeared in the top 100. There have been nine such weeks so far in 2024.
Jessica Berndt has worked in film/TV music for almost a decade, most recently as music supervisor with independent label Secretly Group. “I had a few items on [my] music supervision bucket list,” she says. “An A24 film was at the top.”
In 2021, that dream inched closer when A24 launched its own record label, A24 Music. The in-house entity partnered with Secretly Distribution to build its own catalog of musical intellectual property and ensure its releases appeared on streaming services and in record stores. While it’s rare for a film company to start its own label (excluding major conglomerates like Disney), A24 Music showed signs early on it could be the first successful independent filmmaker to bet on a label: To promote its 2016 Academy Award-winning best picture, Moonlight — which features an Oscar-nominated score by Nicholas Britell (Succession, The Big Short, If Beale Street Could Talk) — A24 hosted a live performance of its score in London.
Ever since, A24 has maintained a music focus across its projects, from 2021’s C’mon C’mon (scored by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner) to the upcoming MaXXXine (starring Moses Sumney and Halsey). And in May, Berndt was able to cross off that No. 1 goal from her bucket list with the release of trans horror film I Saw the TV Glow, for which she was co-music supervisor alongside Secretly Group founder Chris Swanson.
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Like Moonlight and others before it, I Saw the TV Glow leaned heavily on its soundtrack as a marketing tool, using its roster of featured artists to drum up anticipation among its target demographic months before release. Featuring a score by Alex G and original songs by a slate of indie-rock staples including Caroline Polachek, Jay Som and a title track from Phoebe Bridgers and Sloppy Jane (both of whom make cameos in the movie), Berndt says a catchy new song can drive as much advance interest in a film as a well-edited trailer.
While star-powered soundtracks have experienced a revival in the last decade — including for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Black Panther, The Lion King and Barbie — no one has done it in the indie space quite like A24. The company has expanded its brand as a film company into a formidable and growing music catalog, as well as a meaningful merchandise business and podcast network.
It’s that very strategy that enticed Jen Malone to work with the company as music supervisor on the hit HBO show Euphoria, which was a turning point for series co-producer A24 as a music-focused outfit. “Music can often be an afterthought in TV and film,” Malone says. “In Euphoria, we decided at the top that music was going to be like a character in the show, and A24 supported that the whole way through.”
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Euphoria spawned virality for a number of songs on its soundtrack and, in some cases, led to a streaming uptick of over 2,100%, according to Luminate, following a synch. Whether that was for Labrinth’s original score and songs for the show — two of which he and Euphoria star Zendaya performed at Coachella in 2023 (“All for Us” and “I’m Tired”) — or older licensed works like Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down the Line,” Sinéad O’Connor’s “Drink Before the War” and DMX’s “Party Up,” Euphoria played a large role in igniting trends that would later perpetuate as popular sounds on TikTok.
A24 also creates extended Spotify playlists based on its soundtracks, as well as special-edition vinyl records, both of which continue to strengthen viewers’ relationship with a film long after the lights come on in the theater. On A24’s website, hot pink I Saw the TV Glow vinyl is for sale next to a myriad of other superfan offerings, from coffee-table books and posters to oddities like Marcel the Shell figurines, Everything Everywhere All at Once hot dog fingers and Hereditary-themed gingerbread kits.
And now, just a few years in, A24 Music is rolling out its most ambitious project yet: a star-studded set titled Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense arriving in July. It follows A24 remastering and rereleasing the band’s 1984 classic concert film, Stop Making Sense, last year.
And everyone seemingly did get involved with the album, which is just as stacked with major stars like Lorde, Paramore and Miley Cyrus as it is with indie breakouts like The Linda Lindas and Blondshell. “I feel like there’s a real sense of play permeating the entire project,” says Evan Whikeheart, head of label and shared services at Secretly Distribution. “It was a real joy to hear how all these artists from different musical backgrounds came together to interpret these songs.”
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Representatives close to A24 Music tell Billboard it’s still the early days of its exploration into music-focused programming but cite a desire to “attribute the success of A24 Music to all the incredible artists we work with.” (The company declined to be interviewed for the story.) Yet Talking Heads’ David Byrne says the A24 team is largely responsible for the tribute album’s success, saying that he was “absolutely hands off” with the process. “When I saw the list of artists who wanted to do it, I have to say I was pretty excited,” Byrne says. “I thought ‘Damn, this is going to be an amazing record.’
“It’s hard to imagine that yet another generation might connect with this film,” he continues. “We like to believe that life is short and art is long, but here, it is really happening.”
This story will appear in the June 8, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Sixty-eight years ago this week, the original cast album to the Broadway smash My Fair Lady, starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison, vaulted from No. 30 to No. 8 in its second week on the Billboard 200. The album logged 173 weeks in the top 10, which set a record which still stands for the longest run in the top 10 since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.
The astoundingly good score, composed by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, includes such standards as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” “The Rain in Spain” and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.”
Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times’ influential theater critic at the time, touted My Fair Lady as “one of the best musicals of the century” – a line that, naturally, was plastered atop the show’s theatrical poster. In most cases, extravagant praise like that would reek of hyperbole. In this case, saying “one of” showed considerable restraint. Name one musical more chock-full of famous and beloved songs.
Incredibly, Andrews played a leading role on three of the eight albums with the most weeks in the top 10. The 1965 soundtrack to The Sound of Music is in fourth place on the all-time list with 109 weeks. The 1961 Broadway cast album to Camelot is tied for seventh place with 87 weeks.
Here’s the top 10 as it currently stands. Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which returns to the top 10 on the Billboard 200 this week, is currently in second place.
Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956142, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 2021109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 196090, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 195887, Original Cast, Camelot, 196187, Soundtrack, Oklahoma!, 195685, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary, 196284, Adele, 21, 201184, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984
Andrews has had a very unique history on the Billboard charts. She starred in two Broadway musicals with cast albums that topped the Billboard 200, as well as two films with soundtracks that topped that chart, but her only album under her own name to make the chart is Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, the soundtrack to a 1962 TV special in which she starred with another future legend, Carol Burnett. It peaked at No. 85.
Andrews has also had only one entry on the Billboard Hot 100, “Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious,” a novelty song from Mary Poppins on which she teamed with Dick Van Dyke and The Pearlies. The tongue-twister single reached No. 66 in 1965.
Andrews had a glorious singing voice, but for some reason it didn’t translate to the pop music world. Still, her work in soundtracks and cast albums can’t be denied.
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In 2011, Andrews received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. She was part of a wildly diverse class that also included country queen Dolly Parton, punk band The Ramones, pop-folk trio The Kingston Trio, gospel singer George Beverly Shea, classical ensemble Juilliard String Quartet and jazz drummer Roy Haynes.
Andrews attended the Special Merit Awards ceremony in Los Angeles to receive her lifetime achievement award on Feb. 12, 2011. Making it even sweeter, the following night, she won a competitive Grammy – her second – best spoken word album for children for Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies. She won the award alongside her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton.
Andrews’ generations-spanning appeal was seen in 2015, when Lady Gaga sang four songs from The Sound of Music score on the Oscars, to mark the film’s 50th anniversary. At the end of her performance, Andrews came out from the wings and embraced her. Gaga introduced with these warm words, “Ladies and gentlemen, the incomparable Julie Andrews.”
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It was also seen when the American Film Institute unveiled its roster of 25 Greatest Movie Musicals in 2006. Andrews starred in two of the top 10 musicals – The Sound of Music at No. 4 and Mary Poppins at No. 6. Gene Kelly also starred in two of their top 10 musicals (Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris). Judy Garland topped them both, starring in three of the top 10 (The Wizard of Oz, A Star Is Born and Meet Me in St. Louis.) That’s pretty good company.
Andrews is three-quarters of the way to EGOT status. She has won two Emmys, two Grammys (plus that lifetime achievement award) and an Oscar, but has yet to win a Tony, despite three nominations. (Considering that Andrews has appeared on Broadway in only four shows, to have been Tony-nominated three times is a quite a feat.) She appeared to finally be headed for a Tony win in 1996 for her lead role in the Broadway adaptation of Victor/Victoria, but when she was the only person from the show to receive a nomination, she famously declined the nod, telling a matinee audience two days after the nominations were announced: “I have searched my conscience and my heart and find that I cannot accept this nomination, and prefer instead to stand with the egregiously overlooked.”
That rather arch phrasing was mocked, but Andrews’ principled stand was admired. Andrews remained on the ballot, but having signaled disinterest in the award, it was no surprise when she lost to Donna Murphy for The King and I.
Despite that kerfuffle, Andrews remains strongly identified with Broadway. She won a Primetime Emmy in 2005 for hosting Broadway: The American Musical on PBS, which was voted outstanding non-fiction series. She has received two Grammy nominations for best traditional pop vocal performance, both for Broadway collections – Julie Andrews Broadway/Here I’ll Stay (1997) and Julie Andrews – Broadway – the Music of Richard Rodgers (1995).
Andrews has received 11 Primetime Emmy nods, spanning a remarkable 65 years. She received her first in 1958 for actress – best single performance – lead or support for Cinderella; her most recent just last year for outstanding character voice-over performance for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Andrews has received a slew of career achievement awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors (2001), a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild Awards (2006) and the American Film Institute’s life achievement award (2022).
Here’s more background on the four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 on which Andrews played a lead role. They are shown in chronological order:
‘My Fair Lady’ original cast album
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
04/24/2024
Hazbin Hotel is unique among the longest-running No. 1 soundtracks for two reasons.
04/24/2024
“Are you guys doing something?” Taylor Swift asked the members of *NSYNC on Sept. 12 while onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards, where the reunited boy band had just arrived to shrieks and presented Swift the best pop trophy. “I need to know what it is!” *NSYNC was back, and even pop’s biggest superstar was amped.
Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone demurred at the time, but soon after the VMAs, *NSYNC announced “Better Place,” its first new song together in over two decades. The shimmering, falsetto-heavy disco-pop track was created for Trolls Band Together, the third installment in the hit animated film series in which Timberlake voices a main character, Branch, and has contributed hits to each of the first two Trolls movies.
“My excitement started way back in the early part of the year,” says Gina Shay, the producer/music supervisor for the films. That was when Timberlake sent her a demo of “Better Place,” designed to follow his Billboard Hot 100-topping smash “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from the original Trolls film in 2016 and his SZA collaboration, “The Other Side,” from 2020’s Trolls World Tour.
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Shortly after sending the demo, Timberlake texted Shay that he felt inspired to reunite *NSYNC to record “Better Place.” “It was like dynamite was going off inside my brain,” Shay says. After all, *NSYNC — whose four studio albums have sold 27.9 million copies, according to Luminate, and scored turn-of-the-century smashes like “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” — hadn’t released music together since 2002.
And while Trolls Band Together focuses on a boy band reunion, Shay says that the plot had been locked in long before any talk of an *NSYNC comeback. “The movie’s story has been solid for about four years,” she says, “so it was just that perfect confluence of a song to reunite *NSYNC and to carry the narrative.”
Although Shay says that coordinating all five members’ schedules with their individual teams “took a little time to sort through,” “Better Place” came together rather seamlessly once the quintet was fully on board. After *NSYNC announced its reunion at the VMAs and unveiled “Better Place” on Sept. 29, Shay hopes that the song will become ubiquitous prior to the Nov. 17 release of Trolls Band Together — but however high it climbs, she’s glad that the film franchise could play a role in the reformation of a pop behemoth like *NSYNC.
“I’m so glad we were able to do this for the fans,” she says. “It has been a mix of love, pandemonium and wish fulfillment.”
This story originally appeared in the Oct. 7, 2023, issue of Billboard.
The Hunger Games films are no stranger to haunting musical moments that produce real-life hits, with six singles from four movies hitting the Billboard Hot 100 — including top 20 hits for Taylor Swift and even Jennifer Lawrence. When the prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes hits theaters on Nov. 17, a batch of new songs will take center stage thanks to Rachel Zegler, who delivers a nuanced portrayal of a nomadic balladeer thrown into a dystopian fight to the death.
Almost two years after winning a Golden Globe for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake, Zegler is preparing to show audiences she can deliver gritty country-folk just as deftly as Broadway classics. To ensure the music of the film convincingly conjured her character’s Appalachia-esque milieu, Lionsgate tapped Nashville mainstay Dave Cobb to put melodies to lyrics penned by franchise author Suzanne Collins. Cobb, a nine-time Grammy Award winner, is primarily known for working with country artists including Brandi Carlile and Chris Stapleton. But he has produced music for major films along the way such as A Star Is Born and Elvis — and his latest Hollywood project presented a new challenge.
What about this opportunity made you say yes?
One of the things that was so attractive about working on this film [is that] I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a more intelligent person in my life than Suzanne Collins. She’s an absolute genius. Suzanne telling me the impetus of the story had me captivated. I’m a history buff — I would teach history if I wasn’t in music — and everything in this film, everything she has written for Hunger Games, is derived from real history. She sent me the lyrics, and I had to make them feel like turn-of-the-century, timeless classics. That’s a very hard thing to do.
The songs have a lived-in rawness to them. How did you achieve that?
The big thing for me was to get the ability to be completely unorthodox. We had this crazy idea to come down to my hometown of Savannah, Ga., and rent an old mansion and record in that. So we went to this 200-plus-year-old house, and the sound is very Alan Lomax. Lomax, whom I’m very influenced by, used to go around and capture people on their front porch. It was the real, genuine, authentic article of whatever he was [recording], so we went for that. With all the creaks in the walls, you can hear the history in the recording — it wasn’t like a clinical studio. The old microphones we used looked like they’d been under a bed for 75 years.
Dave Cobb
Becky Fluke
And what about the band?
I brought in ringers who I thought were great musicians. Molly Tuttle played a big part — she played the guitar of [Zegler’s character] Lucy Gray. I found this ’30s Gibson that I brought down, and she played on that. I showed it to [director] Francis [Lawrence], and he used it in the film: It’s the one she’s actually playing in the film. It wasn’t just a regular acoustic guitar — it has character. That was a big part of making this come to life. There’s bleed between the bass going into the fiddle going into the banjo. It’s just absolute chaos in a way that makes things dangerous.
Did you work closely with Zegler, coaching her on how to approach the material?
I made the music before the film was made, and Rachel is such an incredible talent that she ended up singing everything live, which we were hoping she would do. She’s so naturally gifted — it was effortless for her. She can sing anything.
Do you have a favorite musical moment in the film?
There’s a song on [the soundtrack] I love called “Pure As the Driven Snow.” Rachel has this beautiful, almost ’30s American voice. The way she sings the last line of that song is so stunning.
This story originally appeared in the Oct. 7, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Few things have captured the cultural zeitgeist in 2023 more than Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s film based on the classic Mattel toy that has become a $1 billion-movie since its release in July. But anyone who has seen the movie can attest that it’s more than just a comedic sendup or a feminist film lacing into cultural stereotypes of the past half-century — it’s also a deeply musical film, with songs by Lizzo, Matchbox 20 and others playing central roles in how the story plays out.
So it naturally follows that the soundtrack, with original songs by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj, and more, would make waves as well — though perhaps few people predicted it would do this well. Three weeks after the soundtrack’s release, the album remains at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, while three of its singles — Dua’s “Dance The Night,” Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Ice Spice and Nicki’s “Barbie World” — are in the top 15 of the Hot 100, and the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200. And that sustained success helps earn Atlantic Records West Coast president and Barbie soundtrack album co-producer Kevin Weaver the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
The Barbie soundtrack isn’t Weaver’s first film success — he’s also been heavily involved in the soundtracks for The Greatest Showman, Suicide Squad, Daisy Jones & The Six, Birds Of Prey, Furious 7, The Fault in Our Stars and The Fate of the Furious, among others. But the Barbie film and soundtrack has captured the world’s collective attention in ways that none of those others truly have.
Here, Weaver discusses the impact of the film and its music, how Warner Music Group leveraged an all-hands-on-deck strategy to market it around the world and how the music played such a central role in the film itself. “The fact that Greta saw this film almost as a musical, and was so involved with the soundtrack, was an absolutely critical factor in how and why the music worked so well,” he says.
This week, the Barbie soundtrack spends its third week in the top five of the Billboard 200, with three of its songs in the top 15 of the Hot 100. How did this project come together, and what were the particular difficulties in pulling it off?
We had been tracking the development of the film for a few years and had frequent conversations with Warner Bros. and Mattel about partnering on the soundtrack. Once Greta and Noah [Baumbach] became attached to the project and Margot [Robbie] and Ryan [Gosling] were cast as Barbie and Ken, we aggressively started to put the pieces together. We try to start early on these types of projects, so we can actively contribute to how music shapes the project and vice versa. This was similar to when we worked on The Greatest Showman where we had a deal in place before the film was even officially greenlit by the studio.
The Barbie movie has become a cultural phenomenon. What have you guys done to market the soundtrack alongside that?
The music and our singles really helped fuel the cultural phenomenon months before the film had even opened. We were out with our singles, videos, social content, partnerships and strategy starting in late May. It felt critical to us that the soundtrack was an integral part of the overall campaign’s DNA. Our partners at Warner Bros. and Mattel really leaned into the music by incorporating it into every aspect of Barbie media and marketing in a truly unprecedented manner. The level of collaboration on this project and working with such smash records was the initial driving force behind this success.
The album didn’t just resonate in the U.S. — three of its songs are in the top 10 of the Global 200 chart, including two (Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night”) in the top three. What did you do to help market this release beyond the U.S.?
We enlisted our entire global marketing machine at WMG in a way that I have never experienced before. Very early on, Max [Lousada] and Julie [Greenwald] deemed the album a “Superstar Level Release” where each single got our most coveted “track of the week” priority assignment. This means that every track had every possible lever pulled behind it, in every territory throughout the globe. We also had every marketing team throughout the world working hand in hand with their local counterparts at Warner Bros. and Mattel. By doing this, we unlocked every co-op marketing opportunity across all three companies, including digital partnerships, media, physical retail, in-theater and anything else you could imagine.
How have you guys been able to tap into the craze around the various merchandising tie-ins with the movie?
We have some co-op products with Mattel, plus more in the works for later this year. Mattel helped us tremendously with our vinyl and CDs at all major retailers around the world. We were also able to work together on all of their key Barbie promotions, which gave the soundtrack massive additional visibility in the marketplace.
Given how music plays such a central role in the film, how closely did you work with the film team and the movie studio on the soundtrack?
We worked in lockstep with the filmmakers, Mark Ronson, and the music supervisor, George Drakoulias. We were given the opportunity to see scenes from the film very early on while Greta was still in the beginning stages of assembling the director’s cut. This enabled us to come up with creative ideas and strategize with Greta as she was making the film. From that point on, we would all speak and text daily with bi-weekly creative calls. We constantly passed ideas back and forth, showed artists and writers scenes from the film and shared music for review as soon as a new demo or mix came in. Everyone provided feedback in real time. The fact that Greta saw this film almost as a musical, and was so involved with the soundtrack, was an absolutely critical factor in how and why the music worked so well.
You’ve worked on several huge soundtracks in the past several years, including The Greatest Showman and several Fast & Furious films. What did you learn from those that you applied to this, and how was this one different?
First and foremost, I always do what is best for the movie. You have to let the music become a character in the film with its own voice. If you super-serve the creative needs of the movie as the basis for everything, then the songs become a true extension of the film as opposed to an afterthought. With this clear directive, we work with artists who align with the overall aesthetic tone of the movie, and then hone in on hit records.
How have you been able to keep the momentum on this release going?
It’s the gift that keeps on giving. We worked intentionally early on to create our own brand with this music and have continued to market it past the film’s release just like we would with any other superstar artist. Greta made a masterpiece and now we get to continue to grow this music outside of the four walls of the film, which helps both the film and our music brand continue to flourish. We get to come up with new creative ideas every day while having fun building upon what we’ve already been able to accomplish.
Every aspect of this project has been a dream and I couldn’t be more grateful to the entire team at Atlantic, the global teams at WMG, our creative partners, Greta, Mark, George and the filmmakers, as well as our partners at Mattel and Warner Bros. Every single thing we have done here has gone against the grain and we are thankful to have had enormous support in an unprecedented capacity by all involved.
Last Week’s Top Executive: Cactus Jack GM David Stromberg