Who cares if none of the music is actually in the movie? It makes for good press, right? These days if there’s a millennial YA-aimed movie in the works, a hip soundtrack usually isn’t far behind. Usually it’s some studio making a deal with some record label – often an umbrella conglomerate company – and off you go credibility win-win for the movie and more sales for the album. "The Hunger Games: Carching Fire" had a “cool" soundtrack but other than the credits, you didn’t hear nary a note of it in the movie. This isn’t really being cynical, by the way, it just seems to be the order of the day and we suppose it does raise awareness for some bands. But let’s not kid ourselves in pretending it’s anything more than a marketing sales tie-in (“Divergent” was much the same too).
Anyhow, the latest in the series of artist lending their name to movie soundtrack that has little to do with that music is Lorde. The Grammy-winning artist will curate the soundtrack album for part three in the ‘Hunger Games’ installment, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.” In addition to hand-picking the artists for the disc, most of which won’t be heard in the movie, Lorde will provide the first single for the highly anticipated film and album. The soundtrack will be available via Republic Records this fall.
“I sat down with Lorde on the set of ‘Mockingjay’ this spring and I was immediately struck by how she so innately understood what we, as both fans and filmmakers, were trying to accomplish with the film,” director Francis Lawrence said in a very canned statement.
But hey, enjoy the soundtrack for what it is, probably a pretty cool selection of indie tunes, and if you like, go see ‘Mockingjay – Part 1’ when it hits theaters worldwide on November 21.
