The Best ‘Hunger Games’ Soundtrack Songs

“Yellow Flicker Beat,” the first song released from the Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 soundtrack, opens with an unsettling hum. In 2014, Lorde described the song as her first attempt at getting inside of Katniss’ head. From the beginning, the character served as a flicker of hope for the districts, but the worst nightmare who leaders in the Capitol never saw coming. All over the song, you can hear the threads of teenage angst and rebellion that colored Lorde’s debut album Pure Heroine. It’s present in the opening verse, when she compares her blood to rubies and precious stones, but especially when the chorus hits: “This is the start of how it all ends/They used to shout my name, now they whisper it.” — Larisha Paul

Before Folklore and Evermore, Taylor Swift wrote from the perspective of one bow-slinging fictional character in particular: Katniss Everdeen. The result was “Safe & Sound,” a folky lullaby carried by plucky chords that pierce to the bone as they push against the salve-like lyrics. Swift and T-Bone Burnett, the architect behind the first Hunger Games soundtrack, captured the eerie energy of that initial film during an impromptu writing and recording session in Los Angeles with the help of the Civil Wars, who offer haunting harmonies. “The Civil Wars had a show that night so they raced right over to T Bone’s house,” Swift told Rolling Stone in 2012. “There’s so many things he could’ve done production-wise to make that song bigger sonically than it is, but I think that would have possibly been a mistake. For [Burnett] to have left the song as a lullaby is brilliant.” —M.G.

Olivia Rodrigo channels her songbird best on this acoustic taunt, sung from the perspective of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds Snakes character, Lucy Gray Baird, “[She] is a character that I feel very connected to,” Rodrigo said in 2022. She packs the song with a convincing sense of vengeance atop the kind of gorgeous melody that a mockingjay would love to repeat. In fact, the closing credits song was inspired by the film’s final aerial scene of the fictional birds. “That was playing in a loop in my head over and over, and I was like, ‘I want to write a song that captures what that feeling is.’ That was the goal,” she said. —Maya Georgi

Tinashe didn’t originally write “The Leap” with the chaotic rebellion of The Hunger Games in mind. It was meant for one of her own albums, but at the time, Lorde — 17 at the time — was tasked with curating the Mockingjay – Part 1 soundtrack, and her team wanted to see what Tinashe might contribute. “The Leap” provides a sharp and chilling parallel to the film. “I’m gonna set it all ablaze, watch it burn to ash and dust,” calls to the destruction of Katniss’ home, District 12. “I was waiting on you, waiting on you” calls to Petta being stuck in the Capitol. And “hurry up, don’t miss your chance” nods to the harrowing secrets that come to light throughout the film. Even by accident, Tinashe hit her mark with “The Leap.” —L.P.

The first time we hear “The Hanging Tree” in the Hunger Games, it’s in the soft tone of Jennifer Lawrence’s voice. In Mockingjay, the rebellion begins to take full shape with Katniss at its heart. It’s a protest song for the ages. “Are you, are you/Coming to the tree/Where they strung up a man they say murdered three,” she sang. “Strange things did happen here/No stranger would it be/If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.” In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, when Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird sings its sweet melody, we learn it was written following an execution in District 12. The prequel film takes place more than six decades before the events of the first film in the original trilogy. “The Hanging Tree,” like the mockingjay’s call, is the musical thread that ties them together. —L.P.

In Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen and 23 other former Hunger Games victors head back into the arena. It’s an act of vengeance from President Snow, to show that even in victory, their lives still do not belong to themselves. The sob that breaks through when the format of the 75th Hunger Games is revealed in the film is unforgettable and devastating. On the sparse soundtrack cut “Devil May Cry,” the Weeknd offers a silver lining. “It won’t be in vain/To swallow all your pain,” he sings. “And learn to love what burns/And gather courage to return.” It’s all the tributes-turned victors-turned tributes again have to hold onto. —L.P.

The National originally titled their contribution to the Catching Fire soundtrack “Dying Is Easy.” On one hand, there’s some truth to the title, especially in the context of the Hunger Games. A momentary distraction in the arena, a step off of the starting line just a second early, any hesitation — it could all end in a flash. On the other hand, the final title, “Lean,” feels more apt to the theme of reliance that emerges throughout the song. “Dying is easy/I believe my love and my love relieves me,” Matt Berninger sings, later accepting the consequences of holding care in your heart in a battle as callous as the one in this story: “Love will lead us all to smithereens.” —L.P.

This is … the mocking as the jay, or rather, Patti Smith’s unique interpretation of Katniss as her character helps set the rebellion aflame in the Catching Fire film. The punk rock poet offers her best spoken-word couplets on this smoldering, folky take that’s less in the vein of “People Have the Power” and more of “Easter.” Leave it to Smith to tap into her political heart to speak truth to power, even when it’s about a fictionalized tyranny. —M.G.

Gigi Perez is somehow able to balance yearning, loss, and tenderness through the husky, low pitch of her voice, and she brought all those feelings to “Favor,” a haunting, folk-driven cut from The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack. The acoustic track is emotional as it captures the goodbye between Haymitch and Lenore. Perez gets to the core of longing and missing someone, singing, “When you arе lonely, know I’m awake, listen for me and the song that we sang.” —Julyssa Lopez

Bella Kay continues the tradition of young, breakthrough singer-songwriters lending their musical and emotional expertise to The Hunger Games. “See It Coming,” from the Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack, is a refusal to be blindsided: “Tell me you run, I’m beggin’ you, hide/They’re gonna hurt you, so give ’em a fight,” Kay sings, the distinct country twang that only occasionally slips through present in her tone. “A little revenge, an eye for an eye/We can call it a draw.” It cuts to the heart of the Hunger Games musical universe: to still feel and love deeply even in the face of impossible survival. The opening verse takes us back to the beginning while looking towards an uncertain future. “Swear to me now you’ll remember me hummin’,” she sings. —L.P.

Appearing on the Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack, this Charli XCX contribution feels like an ember of hope hidden underneath the rubble of the Second Rebellion of Panem. Led by a cascading piano melody, Charli assumes the role of Katniss near the end of the original Hunger Games series; she’s bruised, beaten, and grief-stricken, but must go on. For a brief moment, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon appears to support her on the Rostam and Ariel Rechtshaid-produced rallying cry. “I’m lost, but I can’t slow,” Charli coos, before leaving the listener with an inspiring message: “I’m lost, but not alone.” —Jaeden Pinder

Ushered in like a gospel prayer, Miranda Lambert recruited her Pistol Annies bandmates Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley for “Run Daddy Run,” which appeared on the first Hunger Games soundtrack. It soon moves into a menacing warning: “Daddy, can you hear the devil drawing near” the trio sings in a gorgeous but unsettling harmony. “Like a bullet from a gun, run daddy run.” It’s a haunting warning that captures the alarm of the first film. —Marissa Moss

The Chemical Brothers and Miguel may seem an unlikely union, but the rebellious spirit of their Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 collaboration “This Is Not a Game” works despite the odds. The skittering electronic track opens with a whisper from Lorde, who extended her curatorial duties to include vocal contributions, singing, “There it is.” Miguel comes out swinging in the first verse with a quote from Charles Bukowski: “Find what you love and let it kill you.” He spends the rest of the song pouring gasoline on the fire of revolution, while the Chemical Brothers turn up the dial on their dark, warping production and pull trap influences into the fold. “I know what I’m doing,” Miguel spits. —L.P.

Before Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were even born, there was Lucy Gray Baird. This District 12 tribute with a rebel heart knew that she had to charm the fake eyelashes off the Capitol if she wanted any chance at a victory, and so she did with this song. In The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes book, Gray Baird tells the devastating tale of her fated life with a guitar and Appalachian-inspired drawl during her pre-Games interview. With lyrics like “It’s sooner than later that I’m six feet under /It’s sooner than later that you’ll be alone,” it’s a sobering listen. Thankfully, Rachel Zegler does the pivotal moment justice with this soulful rendition, each bruised line made more powerful by her quivering soprano. —M.G.

Mckenna Grace joins the Hunger Games franchise in two roles, as both Maysilee Donner and Merrilee Donner in Sunrise on the Reaping. She holds the emotional anguish of both characters close on “Half Alive,” a sprawling soundtrack cut that confronts death and the destruction it brings, especially when it’s for the sake of entertainment. “I say I’m mean and tough and I don’t care ‘cause I’m not weak,” she sings. “But if tomorrow was my last, hope someone mourns me/Watch as they all applaud.” There are times during the song where Grace sounds breathless, grasping at a calmness that will always evade her. During the chorus, she pleads for whatever version of it she can get: “We feel the unspoken, the look in your eyes/Promise you’ll hold me when I’m half alive.” —L.P.