Barbie (score)

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For the soundtrack album, see Barbie the Album.

Barbie (Score from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Manhattan Center Studios, New York City
GenreFilm score
Length44:34
LabelWaterTower Music
Producer
Mark Ronson chronology
Late Night Feelings
(2019) 		Barbie (Score from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
(2023) 		Ken the EP
(2023)

Barbie (Score from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the

CD and vinyl formats released later.[3][4]

The score was nominated several awards including the

Best Score Soundtrack Album for Visual Media.[5]

Development

Ronson had not composed an entire film score in his career, where he mostly produced the score for few sequences, and was unaware of how the film would be musically driven when it began. He received the film's script in March 2022, and liked it after writing the song "I'm Just Ken" and co-produced it with Wyatt, based on Ken's characterization.[6] At the edit, Gerwig felt the song needed to be drawn out for a seven-minute battle sequence, insisting him to score for the film, which he agreed. Following this, he was tasked to score for the opening credits and eventually wound up writing more and more music until the team felt they were composing the entire score for the film.[7][8]

"The thing I learned very, very quickly doing the score for Barbie is that you’re always serving the picture. You’re always serving the emotion. You have to turn off all the things you know about making pop and rock and soul music for the last 30 years. Yes, it needs to be beautiful, but sometimes you just need to get the fuck out the way."

— Mark Ronson, on curating the score for Barbie.[9]

Ronson and Wyatt referenced the works of John Williams, Nino Rota and Carter Burwell, as well as Elmer Bernstein's score for Ghostbusters (1984) and contemporary music from the 1970s and 1980s such as those of the films Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Working Girl (1988). They further cited Maurice Jarre and Thomas Newman and the balance of synthesizers and orchestra in the "really lovely way". Ronson used the Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer from his studio, that produces a kind of "eerie and windy, but rich and emotive" referencing the sound of the television series Stranger Things.[8] Gerwig enjoyed orchestral and classical music, which led to Ronson and Wyatt tasked with balancing two different sounds.[6][10]

Track listing

Barbie (Score from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Creation of Barbie"2:01
2."Pink (Barbie Opening Theme)"2:57
3."Beach Off"1:47
4."Ken Thinks"0:58
5."Stairway to Weird Barbie"1:47
6."Thoughts of Death"1:57
7."Send Me Through the Portal"1:29
8."Ken Makes a Discovery"1:33
9."Bus Stop Billie"1:32
10."Mattel"2:12
11."Meeting Ruth"2:22
12."Lose These Chuckleheads"2:09
13."You Failed Me!"3:37
14."Alan vs Kens"1:37
15."Deprogramming"5:12
16."Warmth of Your Gaze"3:51
17."An Ending"2:25
18."I Don't Have an Ending"3:36
19."What Was I Made For? (Epilogue)"1:32
Total length:44:34

Reception

Zanobard Reviews wrote "Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt’s brightly exuberant score for Barbie serves as not only an excellent companion piece to the song album, but also a fun, energetic and indeed very enjoyable piece of musical work all on its own."

Filmtracks.com commented "The score's only average appeal was likely a result sealed during the spotting stage of production, with the Eilish song's outsized influence a poor choice given its lack of warmth for any of those adaptations. The songs are also a very hit-and-miss prospect. The whole soundtrack requires a combined, chronological song and score presentation to best appreciate. The release of the two halves on separate albums defies the fact that all the music for Barbie is too synergistic for such a release."[13]

Accolades

Award Year Category Result Ref.
Hollywood Music in Media Awards 2023 Best Original Score – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Nominated [14]
Grammy Awards 2024 Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Nominated [15]

References

  1. ^ "Alexandre Desplat to score Greta Gerwig's Barbie". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on August 27, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  2. ^ "Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt Scoring Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie'". FilmMusicReporter. May 25, 2023. Archived from the original on July 4, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  3. ^ "The Barbie Film Score Composed by Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt Available Now: Streaming/Vinyl/ CD". www.businesswire.com. August 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  4. ^ "Watch Composers Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt From BARBIE Film Score – Available To Stream Now". We Are Movie Geeks. August 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 6, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  5. ^ Willman, Chris (November 10, 2023). "2024 Grammys Nominations Full List: SZA Leads With 9 Noms, Phoebe Bridgers Follows With 7". Variety. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Curto, Justin (July 19, 2023). "Mark Ronson Went Full 'Batshit' on the Barbie Soundtrack". Vulture. Archived from the original on August 9, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Newman, Melinda (July 20, 2023). "Mark Ronson on Creating the Music for 'Barbie': 'The Movie Overtook My Life for a Year'". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  8. ^ a b Aswad, Jem (July 21, 2023). "'Barbie' Music Producer Mark Ronson on Working With Dua Lipa, Lizzo, and Creating the Sound of the Year's Biggest Film". Variety. Archived from the original on August 4, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  9. ^ Bradshaw, Paul (July 27, 2023). "How Mark Ronson became Hollywood's soundtrack king". NME. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  10. ^ "Welcome to Mark Ronson's Sonic Dreamhouse". Esquire. July 20, 2023. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  11. ^ Zanobard (August 13, 2023). "Barbie – Soundtrack Review". Zanobard Reviews. Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  12. ^ "BARBIE – Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt". MOVIE MUSIC UK. August 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  13. ^ "Filmtracks: Barbie (Mark Ronson/Andrew Wyatt)". www.filmtracks.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  14. ^ "2023 HMMA WINNERS AND NOMINEES". Hollywood Music In Media Awards. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  15. ^ Enos, Morgan (November 10, 2023). "2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Nominees List". GRAMMY.com. The Recording Academy. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
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