Billboard reports:
Only a handful of items in the “Hunger Games” sequel soundtrack resemble the approach to the first film. Mackay and Lionsgate head of film music Tracy McÂKnight again placed a single individual in charge of the music. But instead of Burnett-who also handled production duties on Songs From District 12 and Beyond-they turned to music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, who had overseen the “Twilight” series for Summit, the film company that merged with Lionsgate in 2012. As with Songs From District 12 and Beyond, artists who were fans of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of books were asked to write songs based on events in “Catching Fire” for an album of music very literally inspired by the series’ second book. The songs don’t appear in the body of the film, but fans will recognize the narrative just the same.
“Honestly, the goal was to tell the stories through the music,” Patsavas says, “and make a soundtrack that is reflective of the stories in the film and the books.”
A list of 20-25 artists was created and outreach began. They were asked to submit demos that the music teams tweaked to ensure the lyrics stuck to the action of the “Catching Fire” book. Once director Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend,” “Like Water for Elephants”) felt the film was far enough along, Christina Aguilera, Coldplay and Sia were shown the work in progress. The other dozen artists wrote songs based purely on the book.
“Everything was carefully considered and every artist selected is meaningful to the fans of the books,” Patsavas says.
Unlike the first soundtrack, where Burnett was the lone producer, artists were allowed to do the recordings on their own. “On this one we wanted to get away from the concept of one producer producing everything,” Mackay says. “Without T Bone on the first one we would not have gotten those bands [Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, Arcade Fire]. Now it’s a franchise.
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(Source: Billboard)