Greta Gerwig is not the only beloved entity to be drawn into the Barbieverse by the magnetism of famous-doll IP. Mark Ronson oversees the project, recruiting a “chic, diverse roster” that includes “artists whose identities weren’t fully represented by Mattel until around 2016, when in response to declining sales, the brand started thinking more actively beyond leggy white women with big tits,” as Cat Zhang notes in her barbed review. The full soundtrack lineup includes Tame Impala, Charli XCX, and Haim, alongside Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, PinkPantheress, Nicki Minaj, and Ice Spice, among others. If nothing else, bask in the knowledge that all this will soon be over. Until the next Mattel film.
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Ludwig Göransson: Oppenheimer (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Back Lot Music]
On the other end of the frivolity spectrum, here we have movie supercomposer (and longtime Childish Gambino collaborator) Ludwig Göransson with his soundtrack to the film that reckons with the guy who made the atomic bomb, and asks whether that was a good idea. Göransson, who also soundtracked Christopher Nolan’s previous film, Tenet, primarily used tetchy violins to capture what Nolan euphemistically called “the highly-strung intellect and emotion of Robert Oppenheimer.”
