The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

全世界を熱狂させた人気映画シリーズ『The Hunger Games』の最新作、『The Hunger Games The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes』。本シリーズのサントラは過去にはColdplay等のビッグネームも新曲を収録し注目されてていたが、今作ではOlivia Rodrigoの新曲「Can't Catch Me Now」の収録が発表され、大きな話題となっている。

The Dave Cobb-produced soundtrack for the fifth entry (and first prequel) in the Hunger Games franchise, Music from and Inspired by The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is notably more stripped back and rustic in nature than its predecessors, in keeping with the films setting and subtitle. A set of haunted country-folk ballads with a few lively bluegrass tunes thrown in for good measure, it also includes the similarly somber acoustic pop song "Cant Catch Me Now" by Olivia Rodrigo, which was written for the film by Rodrigo and song producer Dan Nigro. Much of the rest of the album is performed by lead actress Rachel Zegler, in only her second film after winning accolades for her big-screen breakthrough as Maria in Steven Spielbergs West Side Story. While she is in fine form here, some of the highlights from the 17-song set include additional songs by guests including Molly Tuttle ("Bury Me Beneath the Willow"), Bella White ("Burn Me Once"), and Charles Wesley Godwin, who delivers a road-weary, solo guitar-accompanied version of David Rawlings and Gillian Welchs "Winters Come and Gone." The fictional Covey Band is featured on four tracks, including two with Zegler that are among those written by Cobb and Hunger Games novelist Suzanne Collins. Taking into account its consistently ash-tinted tone, the album enjoyed modest chart success abroad and landed in the Top 20 of Billboards country albums chart and in soundtracks Top Three. ~ Marcy Donelson