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Taylor Swift sings the lead song from "The Hunger Games" soundtrack.
Country superstar Taylor Swift and long-anticipated movie "The Hunger Games" seem like an ideal combination. Both have zillions of young fans who can't wait for the latest news about them.
Just before Christmas, Swift teased on her Twitter account that "something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon" and then tweeted a link to her new song, "Safe & Sound," the lead song from the upcoming "Hunger Games" film.
Grammy-winning duo The Civil Wars accompany Swift on acoustic guitar and backup vocals. The song will be included on the film's soundtrack album, which also includes songs by Arcade Fire and The Decemberists. "Safe & Sound" quickly moved to the top of the iTunes Songs chart, boosted no doubt by aid from Swift's 10 million Twitter followers.
The lyrics relate to the "Hunger Games" plot, in which Katniss Everdeen must fight other young people for her life in a cruel tournament put on by their fictional country of Panem. "Everything's on fire," Swift sings. "The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold onto this lullaby, even when the music's gone."
Not all the musical news about the movie is as well-received. According to The Wrap.com, the president of the American Federation of Musicians union has criticized the film for recording its score in London, and not using musicians from his union. He complains that the film receives tax subsidies to film in North Carolina, and as such should be utilizing American workers.
"The Hunger Games," starring Jennifer Lawrence, opens March 23.
Listen to the song below, and tell us what you think of it in the comments.
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Just can't get the appeal of Taylor Swift. She seems to have a decent singing range of maybe only a half dozen notes, and these are not them.
I like it! The song is deliberately written to exceed her comfortable voice range, which is what gives it such a plaintive, longing sort of sound. The last note/word of each phrase (such as "you'll be all right") is almost a ghost. Really well done, I thought.
I like it. I can easily see this fitting into the movie.
Not bad but I think Lacey Sturm or Amy Lee could have done it much better. They have much more talent than Swift.
Not a Swift fan, but I liked it a lot. She captured the overall sadness of Hunger Games. I think Amy Lee would have been too shrill.
The girl appears to be a good business person but as I have always thought she isn't a great singer. She can sing but nowhere near the range of many of the great C&W singers (McBride, Lynn, Parton, etc...). Somehow she captured the 8-12 year old female audience when she broke into the mainstream while singing about boyfreinds and such. Not really a country genre...
Haunting.... I can picture this playing quietly while Katniss holds another tribute while they die. Not naming names for those who have not read the books.
I was thinking the same thing.
Shouldn't Katniss be singing it though?
After listening to the song, I thought it would be more appropriate playing in the cave scene before the package arrives ....
i definitely imagined this as the cave scene, too!
Yawn...now where have I seen such a movie...hmmm...oh yeah RUNNING MAN....duh....
Well to be honest it is similar in nature or theme to a great many stories. Including the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" or the novel "The Princess Bride." It is still a worthwhile story and hist on a popular topic of dystopian literature. I have never seen the "Runnin Man" and so can not compare but I recommend picking up the books.
Running Man was a movie based on a short story and, while similar in general idea, is almost 100% different from the Hunger Games. Why don't you try actually reading the book before spouting off about something you obviously haven't read? This is also based on a complete novel instead of a 40-50 page short story.
She is a horrible singer.
Taylor can't sing. She sounds terrible live. Her songs are electronically helped to make her sound better recorded. There are better singers making commericals.
Haunting is a perfect word. Fits the mood of the story. Leave the girl alone and think about how it relates to the story.....
She sucks.
I think it's haunting, and I think Taylor is a very talented young woman. This is said from a cynical, disenchanted 48 year old woman. :)
Leave her alone; she's smart, savvy and talented. You go Taylor!
dear msnbc.com, you do know that the civil wars are currently grammy-nominated, not 'grammy-winning,' right?
First, I'll say that Taylor Swift is talented in so many ways, and has some great songs.
But this song is just bland. Vanilla. Beige. Translucent. Lukewarm. It's like Taylor put no effort into singing it. Like they put a microphone next to her bed, and she sang it without lifting her head off the pillow.
The good news is that you won't ever say that this song was stuck in your head.
The bad news is that when you mention the song to someone who may have heard it, and they ask you to hum it ... well, try it.
love this song. i can picture it when shes talking to prim when she is about to leave...
I can totally imagine that this would be a song that Katniss would be singing to Prim...
But really it is like it is sung wistfully, in remembrance, as if it is sung in remembrance of a lost one...
*****SPOILER******
(As in, after a certain very important person is killed, Katniss would sing this in remembrance of how she used to sing this to the "certain person" as a lullaby. This is like the sad ghostly, almost broken version of it...)
PS: btw that part of the books really just made me mad... it was just glossed over really and I think it really defeated Katniss' whole purpose for doing what she did... what she did and the sacrifices she made failed to save that which she was trying to save.
It made the whole ordeal that Katniss went through POINTLESS! (In Katniss view at least, remember that Katniss wasn't really concerned about everyone as a whole, she was only concerned with keeping her loved ones safe, everyone else that found her inspirational was coincidental. When the "certain person" died, so did Katniss' reason for fighting.)
***Spoiler end***