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Widows (soundtrack)

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Widows (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Hans Zimmer
ReleasedNovember 16, 2018
Recorded2018
Genre
Length36:45
LabelMilan
ProducerHans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer chronology
Blade Runner 2049
(2017) 		Widows
(2018) 		Dark Phoenix
(2019)
Singles from Widows (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
  1. "The Big Unknown"
    Released: November 9, 2018

Widows (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film Widows directed by Steve McQueen. The film's original score is composed by Hans Zimmer, and the album featured eight tracks of Zimmer's score and three songs; one of them "The Big Unknown" by Sade was released as a single on November 9, 2018. The soundtrack was released through Milan Records on November 16.

Development

[edit]

"I have a weird history with Widows because I worked for Stanley Myers, who was the composer on Widows the television series. I was the T-boy on it. This was in the ’80s, and at that time this was an important subject, and it was great television. It just sort of showed that casual cruelty women are subjected to constantly, and I thought it was an important piece of television that would make noise and make people think. And when Steve started to talk to me about projects he was thinking of doing and Widows was one of those ideas, I suddenly realized that after all these years, if anything the world has gotten worse. It was as relevant then as it is now, and that was a bit infuriating in a way. It’s a bit sad that humanity is so bad at becoming kinder."

Hans Zimmer composed the score for Widows renewing his association with Steve McQueen on 12 Years a Slave (2013).[2][3] Zimmer had assisted Stanley Myers, the composer who scored the 1983 British television crime drama series on which the film is based on,[1] and thought about the "revolutionary bit of storytelling" at that time on the brutality against women, and the series would "change the way we treat women"; when McQueen narrated the story for the film, he immediately approved it because "things had not gotten better."[4]

Zimmer, though not revisiting Myers' score, partly influenced his work subconsciously and provided his original ideas while composing music. He adopted McQueen's idea of thinking the film as a painting where the brush stroke goes right off the canvas—which he told when Zimmer was scoring 12 Years a Slave—and went ahead with this mentality while composing Widows.[5]

Zimmer recorded Widows' score at the old church in London; he had an affinity for this venue, because it had a "beautiful, epic sound" but found it inappropriate to compose a lush score.[1] He renewed his association with all of his norm musicians—bassist Andy Pask, percussionist Luis Jardim and keyboardist Steve Mazzaro—and putting them into a "far drier, far less glamorous, far less flamboyant sort of setting", completely opposite of the church's atmosphere.[1][6] They relied heavily on prepared piano, using strings inside the piano, bass as percussions to make unique acoustic sounds. He added a minimal string ensemble which was recorded in a small studio to maintain an acidic quality.[6] Strings were another primary element of the score, which he wanted to be "beautiful, but not sentimental, and not cloying, and certainly not grand."[1]

Zimmer closely associated with editor Joe Walker as he also had minimal experience of using sounds and intertwining into the edit. He found the editing and sound being important as the performances.[7] Zimmer compliment his work, saying "Joe uses sound in brilliant ways to transition from one shot to the next, so the last thing I wanted to do was go and disturb that. There's a whole other piece of music flowing through the movie that is Joe Walker's edits."[8] Steve Mazzaro provided additional music.[1]

Release

[edit]

The soundtrack was released through Milan Records on November 16, 2018, the same day as the film.[9][10] The album features three original songs—"Wild is the Wind" by Nina Simone, "Dice Game" by The Cool Kids and "The Big Unknown" by Sade.[11][12] The latter of which was released as a single on November 9, 2018.[13]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Marcus" 3:24
2."We Have a Job to Do" 2:33
3."Money" 2:34
4."Perimeter Check" 3:09
5."The Calm Before the Storm" 1:39
6."The Job" 4:58
7."Race Against Time" 1:23
8."My Son" 2:33
9."Wild Is the Wind"Nina Simone7:00
10."Dice Game"The Cool Kids3:11
11."The Big Unknown"Sade4:21
Total length:36:45

Reception

[edit]

Kaya Savas of Film.Music.Media wrote "The score has two simple functions here, add emotion without being melodic and add tension without being emotional. This is a sound design score done with precise execution. It’s short and doesn’t do anything else it doesn’t need to. McQueen leaves the heavy lifting to the way he shoots, and the power of the performances. Widows includes many long takes that just linger on a face, as you watch emotion build and erupt through the performance alone. If you’ve seen movies like Hunger, Shame and 12 Years A Slave then you know the type of film to expect. While it may seem like a waste of talent to put Hans to work on just simple structural builds, it ends up adding a sonic identity that only Hans’s sound could bring."[14] Negatively, Filmtracks wrote "the album is thus a total dud of an experience, Zimmer's choice to withhold any meaningful emotional depth yielding a useless and brief distraction."[15]

Mark Kermode of The Guardian wrote "Hans Zimmer's low-key score is used sparsely at first, subtly emphasising themes of loneliness while making way for the vinyl sounds of Nina Simone's Wild Is the Wind".[16] Adam Chitwood of Collider noted that Zimmer's score "flies a little under the radar for a bit, but when it kicks into high gear it's tremendously effective."[17] Chris Bumbray of JoBlo.com called it "one of Hans Zimmer's better recent scores".[18] Chris Evangelista of /Film called it as a "churning, ominous score".[19] Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail stated "the score by Hans Zimmer avoids all the worst of Zimmer's usual bombastic trappings".[20] Calling it "intense" and "effective", Sandy Schaefer of Screen Rant further noted that the score was further reminiscent of his "propulsive score for The Dark Knight (2008)."[21] Anne Cohen of Refinery29 mentioned the score "thrumming".[22]

Bilge Ebiri of Vulture mentioned it as one of the best film scores of 2018, adding "[Zimmer is] actually one of the most versatile composers of our time, and his work can be delicate and sad just as often as it can be big, brassy, and thunderous. The moods he conjures for Steve McQueen’s emotional heist drama are gorgeous and complex — luxuriating in jazzy fields of melancholy with undercurrents of unease, as if to hint at the characters’ unresolved grief and anger."[23]

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Organisation Category Recipient(s) Result
Hollywood Music in Media Awards[24][25][26] Best Original Score – Feature Film Hans Zimmer Nominated
Satellite Awards[27][28] Best Original Score Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association[29][30][31] Best Score Nominated

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Atad, Corey (November 15, 2018). "Hans Zimmer on Steve McQueen, Widows, and Vulnerability: 'We're All Crazy'". Vulture. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  2. ^ Potton, Ed (November 5, 2018). "Hans Zimmer: I have a problem with the elitism of the orchestral world". The Times. Archived from the original on September 14, 2024. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  3. ^ Weintraub, Steven (September 18, 2018). "Hans Zimmer on Widows, Dark Phoenix and Wonder Woman 2". Collider. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  4. ^ Laws, Zach (November 21, 2018). "Composer Hans Zimmer on exploring how we treat women ('Widows') and the LGBTQ community ('Believer') [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]". GoldDerby. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  5. ^ Abrams, Bryan (September 12, 2018). "TIFF 2018: Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight, Wonder Woman 1984 & More". Motion Picture Association. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Burlingame, Jon (November 29, 2018). "Hans Zimmer Draws on a Long History to Craft 'Widows' Score". Variety. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  7. ^ Covill, Max (November 20, 2018). "A Conversation with Two Maestros: 'Widows' Composer Hans Zimmer and Editor Joe Walker". Film School Rejects. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  8. ^ Abrams, Bryan (September 11, 2018). "TIFF 2018: Legendary Composer Hans Zimmer on Scoring Steve McQueen's Sensational Widows". Motion Picture Association. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  9. ^ Strauss, Matthew (October 25, 2018). "Steve McQueen's Widows Soundtrack Features New Music from Sade and Hans Zimmer". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  10. ^ "Hans Zimmer: Widows". Milan Records. November 16, 2018. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  11. ^ Olsen, Mark (August 31, 2018). "Steve McQueen's 'Widows' to feature new song by Sade, 'The Big Unknown'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  12. ^ Kreps, Daniel (November 10, 2018). "Hear Sade's New 'Widows' Song 'The Big Unknown'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  13. ^ Atkinson, Katie (November 10, 2018). "Sade Releases New Song 'The Big Unknown': Listen". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 11, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  14. ^ Savas, Kaya (November 16, 2018). "Widows by Hans Zimmer". Film.Music.Media. Archived from the original on April 7, 2025. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  15. ^ "Widows (Hans Zimmer/Steve Mazzaro)". Filmtracks. September 27, 2021. Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  16. ^ Kermode, Mark (November 4, 2018). "Widows review – Steve McQueen delivers an outstanding heist thriller". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on January 12, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  17. ^ Chitwood, Adam (November 15, 2018). "Widows Review: A Masterful, Crowdpleasing Heist Thriller". Collider. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  18. ^ Bumbray, Chris (November 14, 2018). "Review: Widows". JoBlo.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2025. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  19. ^ Evangelista, Chris (September 9, 2018). "'Widows' Assembles A Killer Cast For An Exciting, Surprising Thriller [TIFF]". /Film. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  20. ^ Hertz, Barry (November 15, 2018). "Review: Steve McQueen's Widows is a four-star portrait of life and death in a bloody, bruising America". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  21. ^ Schaefer, Sandy (November 16, 2018). "Widows Review". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  22. ^ Cohen, Anne (November 15, 2018). ""Widows" Is A Brutal, Exhilarating Look At Women's Power, Wrapped In A Heist Movie". Refinery29. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  23. ^ Ebiri, Bilge (December 28, 2018). "The 10 Best Movie Scores of 2018". Vulture. Archived from the original on March 31, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  24. ^ Yang, Rachel (October 16, 2018). "'Black Panther,' 'A Star Is Born' Lead 2018 Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominees". Variety. Archived from the original on October 17, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  25. ^ Xu, Linda (November 15, 2018). "'Hollywood Reporter,' 'Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Full List of Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  26. ^ Parisi, Paula (November 16, 2018). "'Black Panther,' 'A Star Is Born' Shine at Hollywood Music in Media Awards". Variety. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  27. ^ "2018 Nominees". Satellite Awards. International Press Academy. November 28, 2018. Archived from the original on January 27, 2025. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  28. ^ Tangcay, Jazz (November 30, 2018). "2018 Satellite Awards Nominations". Awards Daily. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  29. ^ "The 2018 WAFCA Awards". Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association. December 3, 2018. Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  30. ^ Marr, Rhuaridh (December 3, 2018). ""Roma," "A Star Is Born" lead winners at DC Film Critics awards". Metro Weekly. Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  31. ^ Pond, Steve (December 27, 2018). "Sorry, 'A Star Is Born' and 'Black Panther'! Netflix's 'Roma' Is Dominating 2018 Critics' Awards So Far". TheWrap. Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
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