Music From Baz Luhrmann's Film The Great Gatsby

''The Great Gatsby: Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film'' (also known as ''Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film The Great Gatsby'') is the soundtrack album to the 2013 film ''The Great Gatsby'', an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name. Interscope Records released it on May 6, 2013. The album was produced by Baz Luhrmann and Anton Monsted, with Jay-Z serving as the album's executive producer. The soundtrack comprises fourteen songs, including new material and cover versions performed by various artists. It contains a mixture of genre, including hip hop, jazz, and alternative music. Luhrmann specifically selected these styles of music to better immerse the audience into the story of ''The Great Gatsby''.

The album received a mixed response, with the selection of songs and singers dividing critics. It peaked at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart and appeared on several national record charts. The album has received three gold certifications from the Australian Recording Industry Association, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry, and the Recording Industry Association of America. The album spawned three singles: " Young and Beautiful", "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)", and "Bang Bang".

Background

Jay-Z served as an executive producer for both the album and the film. The album's artwork features a small circular icon with "JZ" inside it, directly below the album's title. He worked with film director Baz Luhrmann for two years to transform the Jazz Age theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel into the musical equivalents of blended hip-hop, traditional jazz and other contemporary genres. On his approach to the project, Luhrmann said: "The question for me in approaching ''Gatsby'' was how to elicit from our audience the same level of excitement and pop cultural immediacy toward the world that Fitzgerald did for his audience? And in our age, the energy of jazz is caught in the energy of hip-hop." Luhrmann also stated that Jeymes Samuel was one of the individuals he worked with on the soundtrack. He served as the film's executive music consultant. He further described his collaborations with the producers of the album during an interview with MTV saying, " eymes isa really great friend of ay'sand just a unique human being. He defines energy; he defines spirit and he's a pop cultural genius. And I worked with Anton Monsted ... a great little team." The duo also worked with composer Craig Armstrong, who scored Luhrmann's films ''Romeo + Juliet'' (1996) and ''Moulin Rouge!'' (2001), and executive music supervisor Anton Monsted.

Production

The soundtrack contains both new music and cover versions. Fergie, Lana Del Rey, Florence and the Machine, Jay-Z, The xx, and will.i.am contributed original songs. Covers include Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" by Beyoncé and André 3000, Roxy Music's "Love Is the Drug" by Bryan Ferry with The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" by Emeli Sandé and The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, and U2's "Love Is Blindness" by Jack White. Del Rey said of her experience contributing to the project: "It was an honor to work with Baz Luhrmann on his amazing adaptation of one of the most extraordinary books ever written. The movie is highly glamorous and exciting; Rick Nowels and I were thrilled to write the song for the film."

On April 2, 2013, Amy Winehouse's father used his Twitter profile to claim that Beyoncé had not informed him of her plans to cover "Back to Black" and that he wanted income from the song to go to his Amy Winehouse Foundation. He wrote, "I don't know this but what if Beyoncé gave £100,000 to foundation. Do you know how many kids that would help? Just putting it out there." He later added, "Let me repeat. This is the first I have heard of Beyoncé doing Amy's song." Kia Makarechi of ''The Huffington Post'' noted that Beyoncé did not use the song on a personal record so it was "slightly curious" for Winehouse to ask her for a donation. Winehouse later used his Twitter account to write: "I like Beyoncé's cover and have no probs." However, upon hearing the full-length track, he wrote on his Twitter profile, "I just heard the Andre part of Back to Black. Terrible. He should have let Beyoncé do it all."

Music and lyrics

''The Daily Telegraph'' described the film's music as a "decidedly modern mix of 21st century rap, rock and pop". Jody Rosen of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that the album's songs have "a consistent mood of noirish, doomed romance". Several songs feature influences from electronic music which was also present on the soundtrack for Luhrmann's ''Romeo + Juliet''. Other musical elements featured on the album include electronica, hip-hop, and rock music with jazz-age sounds. Kathy McCabe of '' Australia's The Daily Telegraph'' noted the inclusion of "orchestral flourishes" in most of the songs. Instrumentally, horn-driven sounds with loping bass beats and house music synths are used in the songs.

The songs' themes include partying, murder, and heartache help to drive "the story's point home – illusionary love, the excess of the leisure classes, ndthe curse of money" as noted by Cristina Jaleru of The Associated Press. ''Entertainment Weekly''s Adam Carlson concluded that the soundtrack's songs reflected that it is set nearly a century in the past. He noted that it contains "all honking brass and a preference for tempos that slide up the scale like liquor, getting hot just as they hit the chorus". Logan Smithson of the webzine ''PopMatters'' commented that an important function of a soundtrack is, " ..to maintain a cohesive sound: a general theme to piece the tracks together and make it sound like a single piece of work rather than a collection of songs." He felt that the soundtrack accomplished this feat although the artists come from a mixture of genres and backgrounds. He further noted, "The Great Gatsby Soundtrack does its job of capturing the sound of the Roaring '20s. A fusion of horns brings the era to life with a modern twist. Jazzy melodies are captured by the Bryan Ferry Orchestra. Some songs certainly have a neo-soul vibe going, reminiscent of the late Amy Winehouse."

Songs

The opening song, "100$ Bill" by Jay-Z contains a chopped and screwed beat and electro-rap elements, and is written from the perspective of a modern-day Gatsby.
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It begins with a speech by Leonardo DiCaprio, while throughout the song Jay-Z is backed by samples of a children's choir and a '20s jazz horn. In the song, he raps about being remembered, the pitfalls of wealth, as well as comparing rich people from the 1920s and the 21st century. "Back to Black", written by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse, originally appeared on her 2006 album of the same name. It was the last song added to the album after Jay-Z's suggestion to Luhrmann that it be included to add a darker moment on the album. It is a slower version than the original with chopped-and-screwed elements, a dark and haunting sound, using guitar, moody synth and electro bleeps to provide the instrumentation. "Bang Bang" performed by will.i.am contains a sample of the jazz composition Charleston (1923) and features Louis Armstrong-inspired vocals along with hi-NRG, EDM, electropop and. hip-hop elements, and 1920s-style dance music as well as the use of a ukulele. "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)" is a swing, hip-hop, and dubstep song which references the novel's viewing parties held by Gatsby.

" Young and Beautiful" was written by Del Rey and Rick Nowels

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