Even before “The Hunger Games” opens on Friday, the film’s soundtrack, “The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond,” is dominating the pop music charts: It hit No. 1 on iTunes’ Top Albums chart yesterday.
The 16 songs comprise eclectic indie performers, such as the Decemberists and the Civil Wars, and star acts like Taylor Swift and Maroon 5, and were written specifically for this album, based on the book’s narrative.
READ MORE: ‘HUNGER GAMES’ MOVIE REVIEW
Billboard senior correspondent Phil Gallo describes the CD as “Appalachian music from the future,” linked to the film’s setting — “The Hunger Games” takes place 300 years in the future in what is now Appalachia.
“The journey of Appalachian music, or that sound, is really true to what we thought would be organic to the book,” says Tracy McKnight, head of film music at Lionsgate.
Tom Mackay, Universal Republic executive VP of A&R, who helped curate the artists for the album alongside McKnight and executive producer T Bone Burnett, hoped to appeal to the book’s core fan base of tweens and its broader base of older fans, who helped generate 24 million sales of the trilogy nationwide.
Mackay and McKnight worked to ensure the tone of the music matches the film’s story, about a society in which children fight to the death on live TV.
“This [story] is emotional. It’s not light and heavy,” says Mackay. “You had this kind of quiet, intense story narrative, and . . . you have some stuff that’s really pushing the boundaries musically.”