Lorde’s ‘Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1’ Soundtrack: Review Revue

Bianca Gracie | November 18, 2014 12:25 pm

When it was announced that Lorde would be curating the soundtrack for the Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, it seemed to be a perfect fit. The Pure Heroine singer and the film’s main character, Katniss Everdeen, are both a little dark, mature for their ages and very confident. Once the album’s guest artists were revealed, the OST became quite anticipated — and it has proven itself to be an awesome record.

From the mega-tracks like the Stromae/Pusha T/HAIM/Q-Tip/Lorde feature on “Meltdown,” Charli XCX‘s showing her delicate side on “Kingdom” and Lorde’s haunting “Yellow Flicker Beat,” the Mockingjay soundtrack is incredibly versatile while remaining true to the movie’s plot. But did the soundtrack appease the music critics? Read on after the jump to see what they all had to say!

:: Pitchfork gave the album a 7.8, stating: “Across the board, the songs sound like threads of hope escaping gloomier pasts, echoing the arc of the film’s generational heroine. It’s no coincidence that, of the 14 songs featured on Mockingjay, 11 feature female vocalists in the foreground.”

:: Billboard was also a fan, calling Lorde’s work “stellar”: “Thanks to her vision, and her grip on the series’ most important thematic elements, the 50 minutes of music behind Mockingjay Part 1 ably function as both a glance at 2014’s finest purveyors of complex, downcast pop and a complement to the start of the series’ chaotic, brutal conclusion.”

:: Our friends over at Spin ranked all 14 tracks, with The Chemical Brothers/Lorde/Miguel mash-up topping their list: “Much like the British production duo’s overlooked score from the 2011 thriller, Hanna, ‘Game’ tells its own story in three minutes, and sets a new bar for what soundtracks can and should be doing in terms of balancing story with songwriting, and Lorde’s part in it shouldn’t be overlooked. After all, like the movie preaches, even the quietest voices can spark a change.”

:: Over at the New York Daily News, they felt the OST was too slow at times: “It throws echo around everything and lets dense, ambient sound creep over the voices and instruments. It’s supposed to create a sense of wariness and foreboding, but often it just makes things sound murky and diffuse. Despite bright spots, long stretches bore.”

:: Stereoboard also praised Lorde: “Her fingerprints are all over this record, on which she has wrangled some of the finest pop songs of the year into an expertly-paced whole. Using the film’s heroine, the freedom fighter Katniss Everdeen, as a starting point, Lorde has channelled the desperation, fear, anger and spirit of rebellion at the heart of the story into a framework that has allowed an all-star cast to add their own distinctive touches and extensions to it.”

:: While ABC News thought the vibe was the perfect fit for the movie: “As the world of Katniss Everdeen gets darker with sacrifice, violence and revolt, in ‘Mockingjay Part 1,’ the soundtrack follows suit with a medley of offbeat and oddly appealing synths, pianos and guitars.”

:: Lastly, our friends at Vibe magazine wrapped up with this: “In Mockingjay, Lorde has proven that she can continue to utilize the global sphere to spread everything that relates to her on a musical level. With a transnational roster of entertainers standing behind her, this assortment of music serves in ways that past Hunger Games soundtracks have not.”

Do you agree with what the critics had to say? Sound off in the comments below!

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