Author: Wang Jia
This month, the rebooted Hollywood classic IP "Thunderbolt Baby" was released across the country, and this film that combines "Twilight Girl" Christine Stewart, "Aladdin" "Princess Jasmine" Naomi Scott and "X-Men" Patrick Stewart continues the plot of the old version of "Thunderbolt Baby" released on the occasion of the millennium. The film has been mixed since its release, but in my opinion, the biggest highlight of the film is the soundtrack album produced by Ariana Grande, the hottest and most talented post-90s singer in the European and American pop music scene today.
Friends who are familiar with film music know that generally Hollywood films will launch the soundtrack album of the movie before the release of the movie, which is what we often call the movie soundtrack record (English Original Soundtrack, referred to as OST). There are also two types of film soundtracks, one is the original soundtrack of a movie with epic grand soundtracks, such as the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, etc., most of which are internationally renowned film soundtrack masters to compose symphonic background music, simply put, pure musical accompaniment without lyrics. The other kind of film soundtrack is with lyrics, and will invite popular European and American singers to compose theme songs or create new songs and insert them into the specific plot of the film. The rebooted version of Thunderbolt clearly falls into this category.
In order to fit this purely feminine action film, "A Sister" Ariana not only sang 5 singles with different styles, but also invited all female singers, including good sisters like Nicki Minaj and Victoria Monet who have cooperated many times, as well as new stars in the music world such as Danielle Bradbery and Anita, and even included the veteran diva Donna Summer's 1979 hit single "Bad Girl" New remix version. The most outstanding feature of the entire album is the theme song "Don't Call Me Angel", which appears several times in the film, featuring Miley Cyrus and "Sister Thunder" Lana Dre. "A Sister" Ariana has become the hottest singer of the new generation with a high and wide vocal range and a dolphin tone comparable to that of her predecessor, Maria Kelly, supplemented by the maverick and versatile style of "Wheat Grain" and the style of the song known for "mourning", the voice line with drunken dreams of laziness and sorrow of "Thunder Sister", but the three people who are not compatible with the wind and horses burst out of "wonderful harmony" through this song.
To be fair, in the face of the fact that the film has been released at the box office in North America and China so far, the soundtrack of "Thunderbolt Baby" is a bit noisy due to the joint efforts of many music stars.
In recent years, it has become normal for excellent European and American pop musicians to get involved in the field of film soundtracks. Unlike the previous mode of going around singing and interspersing it in the film's plot, the soundtrack of a Hollywood blockbuster is now beginning to take on a new form: inviting a popular singer to co-ordinate the entire album. The producer coordinates resources according to his personal understanding of the film, in addition to inviting the singers he thinks are suitable to sing together and then spark a new spark, the biggest advantage of this model is that it can ensure a high degree of consistency in the style of the entire soundtrack, and can also use the influence of the singer himself to become an additional booster for the film's box office.
Beginning after the turn of the millennium, hip-hop mogul P. Diddy's star-studded soundtrack to the 2005 Jedi X-Men 2 film series starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence added a lot to the film. Featuring beyoncé and Jay-Z, Farrell Williams, "Dog" Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake and other superstars, the album has long gone beyond the scope of the soundtrack and is still one of the classic albums in the hip-hop rap world. Early next year, the "Jedi X-Men 3" that continues the frontier is finalized. In addition to looking forward to the hilarious "hilarious" in the film of the two "talkative" protagonists, who will inject musical elements into this hip-hop police blockbuster? This is another highlight of the film.
Another classic example of a movie soundtrack is the 2016 music-themed animated film "Trolls" produced by DreamWorks. The soundtrack, voiced and produced by "Pop President" Justin Timberlake, is a testament to the film's global success. From the debut of a Disney child star, to the world-famous NSYNC (Super Boy) group lead singer, to the success of personal development after solo flight, its success trajectory has become a legend of European and American pop music today. Thanks to his huge fan base and huge market appeal around the world, the theme song of the film "Can't Stop The Feeling" sung by himself has been "dominating the charts" around the world before the film was released, and finally won the "Best Film and Television Song Award" at the 59th Grammy Awards in 2017. The soundtrack of the film, which he led and produced, invited popular female singers such as Gwen Stefani and "A Sister" Ariana to complete the work together, so that the soundtrack album of an animated film was successfully transformed into a best-selling pop record.
Now, the sequel to the film, "Trolls 2", is scheduled for next year, and the producer of the soundtrack is still Justin, who voices the male protagonist Bran. In the announced film trailer, the storyline of the sequel will include more music genres such as rock and rap, which also gives Justin, who is a producer, more room to play his creativity, and perhaps play the crossover between musical styles more easily. It is foreseeable that this movie soundtrack will definitely set off a new round of heat wave in the European and American pop music circles next year.
When it comes to the successful soundtrack albums this year, we have to mention the Marvel series "Black Panther", which has become a dark horse in the entire Marvel series because of its excellent film soundtrack. The tailor-made soundtrack album Damn won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize; the new generation of black singer Kendrick Lamar became the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win since the awards were established. The soundtrack of the film, sung by a number of black R&B and hip-hop rap stars, and incorporated African musical elements into the soundtrack, not only won the full house of music critics, fans and fans, but also won the 61st Grammy Best Original Film and Television Music Album in 2019, and "Black Panther" became the first film in the Marvel Universe series to win a Grammy Award.
Whether in cartoons, action films, or comic book films, the soundtracks produced by pop stars have gradually penetrated into many film categories. The diversification of film styles has also given birth to the possibility of these musicians trying to cross the genre in new fields. Once, a good film theme song was enough to make us remember the whole film, such as Celine Dion's well-known "Titanic" theme song "My Heart Will Go On", Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" for the movie "The Bodyguard", etc., even if the film's bridge has been blurred in memory, the familiar melody always echoes in the mind. Today, when the recording industry has long ceased to be brilliant, musicians with more cross-border channels and resources have long been not satisfied with singing a film theme song, but are trying to create a diversified music album with personal musical imprints and in line with the theme of the film, which has also become their "new world". And for those of us who love movies and music, it is undoubtedly an additional benefit. (Wang Jia)