Jennifer Lawrence Has A Hit Single On Her Hands With ‘Hunger Games: Mockingjay’ Track “The Hanging Tree”

Robbie Daw | December 1, 2014 10:59 am
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During a rare peaceful moment in new Hunger Games movie entry Mockingjay — Part 1, actress Jennifer Lawrence begins singing hymn-like number “The Hanging Tree” a cappella, before composer James Newton Howard‘s instrumentation swells and a choir of vocalists join in. (Hear it in the trailer above.) It’s a key scene in the film, and it’s one that’s clearly struck a chord with movie-goers, as “The Hanging Tree” has been the second most-downloaded track on iTunes for the past week, behind only Taylor Swift‘s current single “Blank Space.”

While we’ll have to wait until Thursday to see how “The Hanging Tree” impacts the latest Billboard Hot 100, the song, co-written by Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins with Lumineers members Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz, has already landed at #14 on the official UK chart, while it’s #13 in Australia and #1 in Belgium.

Ironically, “The Hanging Tree” is outperforming “Yellow Flicker Beat,” the official Hunger Games soundtrack single by the album’s curator, Lorde. That song is currently sitting at #65 on the Hot 100 at #15 on US iTunes.

Chalk it up to the novelty of us hearing cinema’s current sweetheart, JLaw, actually singing?

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