''Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' is the
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
to the 2015
film of the same name composed by
John Williams with Williams and
William Ross conducting, and
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera.
Early life
Dudamel was ...
appearing as a "special guest conductor". The album was released by
Walt Disney Records
Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its ...
on December 18, 2015, in both
digipak
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Jewel case
...
CD and digital formats.
The score received critical acclaim, receiving praise for its new themes and use of old ones. The main theme, "Rey's Theme", was the subject of mass acclaim, with the track reaching 10 million views on YouTube. For the score, John Williams received his 50th Oscar nomination, being nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Original Score, his first nomination for a ''Star Wars'' film since ''
Return of the Jedi
''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...
''. Williams won the
Saturn Award for Best Music
The Saturn Award for Best Music is one of the annual awards given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The Saturn Awards, which are the oldest film-specialized awards to reward science fiction, fantasy, and horror achie ...
, his first win since ''
Revenge of the Sith
Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...
''. Williams also won the
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a composer (or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was establishe ...
for the score, making it his 11th win in the category.
Overview
In July 2013,
John Williams was confirmed to return to compose the
sequel trilogy
The ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy is the third trilogy of the main ''Star Wars'' franchise, an American space opera created by George Lucas. It is produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The trilogy ...
, beginning with ''
The Force Awakens
''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens'') is a 2015 American epic space opera film produced, co-written, and directed by J. J. Abrams. The sequel to '' Return of the Jedi'' (198 ...
''.
The music from the first two trailers for the film was reworked from earlier compositions.
Williams began working on the score in December 2014 and by June 2015, he had been through most of the film reels, working on a daily basis.
In May 2015, Williams said he would reuse themes from the previous films, such as those for
Luke,
Leia
Princess Leia Organa is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, portrayed in films by Carrie Fisher. Introduced in the Star Wars (film), original ''Star Wars'' film in 1977, Leia is princess of th ...
and
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
, in ways that "will seem very natural and right in the moments for which we've chosen to do these kinds of quotes. There aren't many of them, but there are a few that I think are important and will seem very much a part of the fabric of the piece in a positive and constructive way." He said that working with
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...
was similar to the process he went through with
George Lucas in the earlier films.
Recording sessions for ''The Force Awakens'' began on June 1, 2015, at the
Sony Pictures Studios
The Sony Pictures Studios is an American television and film studio complex located in Culver City, California at 10202 West Washington Boulevard and bounded by Culver Boulevard (south), Washington Boulevard (north), Overland Avenue (west) and ...
' Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage in Culver City, with
William Ross conducting most of the music. Williams attended the sessions and conducted the remainder of the recordings. He called the recording process “very luxurious,” with 12 sessions scattered over a five-month period between June and November. The score was recorded by a freelance orchestra—making it the first live-action ''Star Wars'' soundtrack not to feature the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...
—with sessions continuing on and off over that five-month period. The 85-piece orchestra recorded 175 minutes of music, although nearly an hour of that was discarded, modified, or rerecorded as Abrams re-edited the film. The theme for
Snoke
Supreme Leader Snoke is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was created by J. J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt for the 2015 film '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'', in which he is introduced as the Supreme Leade ...
was recorded by a 24-voice men’s chorus.
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera.
Early life
Dudamel was ...
conducted the opening and end title music for the film at Williams' behest. The last recording session took place on November 14, 2015.
Leading up to the release of ''The Force Awakens'' multiple
music streaming
A music streaming service is a type of streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream d ...
services began offering users ''Star Wars''-themed playlists. "Streaming platforms didn't exist for the
reviousmovies, so that's something that we'll be rolling out, along with character-driven playlists with sounds and dialogue from the movie," said Ken Bunt, president of the
Disney Music Group
Disney Music Group (DMG) is the music recording arm of Disney Platform Distribution, a division of The Walt Disney Company. It is located at the studio's headquarters in Burbank, California. The division's subsidiaries consist of two owned record ...
. "People love to hear dialogue and sound effects, so we're working on some ideas now that will incorporate some of that into playlisting." Upon its release, the soundtrack for ''The Force Awakens'' became available to stream via
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
.
Reception
The musical score has received critical acclaim. James Southall of Movie Wave said, "The new themes are great, hearing the old ones again is wonderful, the action music is remarkably energetic and the musical storytelling as vibrant as ever. It’s just so good hearing Williams return to this universe."
Jørn Tillnes of Soundtrack Geek said, "The fact is that this score is not even close to the classic trilogy and it struggles with the prequel trilogy as well. I don’t know if it's the weakest in the saga. Time will tell. What I do know is that it's one of the best scores I've heard in a while."
uDiscover gave the score a positive review, saying, "The expansive, dramatic passages are as full-bodied as one would hope for a film as epic as ''The Force Awakens'', but the attention to detail within the score – and the exquisitely recorded performance – make the results a subtle and engaging listen."
Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK praised the score, saying, "Even when you look at it objectively, what John Williams has achieved with this score is nothing short of remarkable. He has written five new themes, two of which – 'Rey's Theme' and the 'March of the Resistance' – are wonderfully memorable, and can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the already bulging cache of memorable themes within the ''Star Wars'' universe."
It was nominated for
Best Original Score category at
88th Academy Awards
The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Dur ...
and lost to
Ennio Morricone's score for ''
The Hateful Eight
''The Hateful Eight'' (sometimes marketed as ''The H8ful Eight'' or ''The Hateful 8'') is a 2015 American Western mystery thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leig ...
''.
Commercial performance
The soundtrack debuted at number five on the
''Billboard'' 200 chart for the week ending November 26, 2015, with 100,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
s, of which 94,000 were pure album sales. It marked the highest debut for a score-only soundtrack since 1999, when ''
The Phantom Menace
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' placed at number 3. Additionally, it is the sixth ''Star Wars'' soundtrack in the main ''
Star Wars'' film series to reach the top ten; only the ''
Return of the Jedi
''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...
'' soundtrack failed to reach top ten, peaking at number 20 in 1983.
The album has sold 206,000 copies in the US .
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adopted from
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
:
;Production
*
John Williams – composer, orchestrator, conductor, producer
*
William Ross – orchestrator, conductor
*
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera.
Early life
Dudamel was ...
– special guest conductor
*Sandy DeCrescent – music contractor
*
Sally Stevens
Sally Stevens (born November 24, 1939) is an American actress, singer and a vocal contractor. She has sung on hundreds of ''The Simpsons'' episodes, and sings the main title, which has been in use since the inception of the show. She also sing ...
– vocal contractor
;Management
*Mark Graham – music librarian
*Scott Holtzman – legal advisor, music business affairs
*Mitchell Leib – executive in charge of music
*Marc Shaw – legal advisor, music business affairs
*Steve Sterling – package design
;Technical
*Ramiro Belgardt – music editor
*
Shawn Murphy – score engineer / scoring mixer
*John Traunwieser – score mixing assistant
*Robert Wolff – scoring editor
*Patricia Sullivan – mastering
;Orchestration
*Luke Flynn – music preparation
*Mark Graham – head of music preparation
*Paul S. Henning – score preparation/orchestration
*Riley Hughes – music preparation
*Gregory Jamrok – music preparation
*
Randy Kerber
Randy Kerber (born September 25, 1958) is an American composer, orchestrator and keyboard player, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema.SeRandy Kerberat the IMDb
Kerber was born in Encino, California. He began his first national ...
– musician: keyboards
*Andrew Rowan – music preparation
*Steven L. Smith – music preparation
*Chris Westlake – music consultant
*Joe Zimmerman – music preparation
Additional music
Additional music featured in ''The Force Awakens'':
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2015 soundtrack albums
2010s film soundtrack albums
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
John Williams soundtracks
Soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
Star Wars film soundtracks
Walt Disney Records soundtracks