Last month, A24 announced A24 Music, which is… we’re not sure, exactly. Could it be a record label? Or a dedicated streaming service for soundtracks and scores? There’s no details yet, and an Instagram post only says to “stay tuned.” But based on the indie studio’s track record of cinematic excellence, including a pair of Best Picture winners, it’s an exciting development.
It also gives us an excuse to reflect on the use of music in A24’s films. Below, you’ll find the best needle drops in the studio’s filmography, arranged chronologically from a pop queen in Spring Breakers to an indie favorite in I Saw The TV Glow. To reiterate: it’s existing songs only, no scores (The Brutalist, Hereditary, and The Witch will get their due another time).
Wouldst thou like to listen deliciously? Then let’s go!
Spring Breakers
Britney Spears — “Everytime”
Never trust a white guy with dreads — unless he’s praising Britney Spears. James Franco’s rapper/drug dealer Alien calls the pop star “one of the greatest singers of all time” and “an angel if there ever was one.” He then serenades ski mask-wearing college students Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), and Cotty (Rachel Korine) with a beachside cover of “Everytime” on piano, leading into the actual song itself. It’s a genuinely touching moment in an otherwise chaotic (complimentary) film.
The Bling Ring
Azealia Banks — “212”
There’s a recurring joke on BoJack Horseman where the characters sing “generic decade songs” with on-the-nose lyrics to establish when a scene is set. Director Sofia Coppola could have gone this route and made Emma Watson look into the camera to say “this is a song from the Obama administration, the administration which is currently is” during a much meme’d scene in The Bling Ring. Instead, she established that era through cultural signifiers: an early Facebook layout, using the flash while taking a selfie, and Watson popping-and-locking to “212.” No song could have established that time and that place more.
Ex Machina
Oliver Cheatham — “Get Down Saturday Night”
When was the first moment you noticed Oscar Isaac? Was it Drive? Inside Llewyn Davis? Robin Hood, when he apparently played the King of England? (Probably not that one.) For many folks, it was Ex Machina, specifically the scene where Isaac tears up the “f*cking dance floor” to “Get Down Saturday Night” with Sonoya Mizuno (who also makes a striking impression). The song is fun and funky, but it sounds evil being played in an environment as sterile as a reclusive CEO’s bunker. Another thing ruined by tech bros.
Green Room
Creedence Clearwater Revival — “Sinister Purpose”
For an intensely violent horror movie about a punk band, Green Room is often quiet. Disconcertingly so, which of course is the point: it makes the moments that interrupt the silence — often screams of pain — sound as deafening as standing directly in front of the speaker at a hardcore show. But despite the punk-heavy soundtrack, it’s a song (“Sinister Purpose”) from a meat-and-potatoes rock band (Creedence Clearwater Revival) that plays over the end credits that shatters the eardrums the most profoundly.
Moonlight
Jidenna — “Classic Man”
Moonlight is one of two A24 films to win Best Picture at the Oscars (the other appears later on this list). There’s any number of gorgeously lit scenes in the Barry Jenkins masterpiece that might have pushed it over the top, but one of the most personal is a moment shared between Chiron (played as an adult by Trevante Rhodes) and Kevin (André Holland). The two childhood friends have just reconnected after a decade apart, and there’s romantic tension between them. Chiron is apprehensive to become romantically vulnerable, so he instead lets a chopped-and-screwed version of “Classic Man” say what he can’t. He’s a classic man, an old-fashioned man, who just happens to be in love with another man.
20th Century Women
Black Flag — “Nervous Breakdown” and Talking Heads — “The Big Country”
It’s the late 1970s. In order to better understand her son Jamie, Dorothea, a single mother from an earlier generation played by Annette Benning, listens to one of his records: “Nervous Breakdown” by Black Flag. She attempts to make sense of the lyrics (“Is that interesting?”), and even awkwardly bops along to the razor-sharp song with her middle-aged tenant William (Billy Crudup). Neither of them is able to lock in, so they try a different song: “The Big Country” by Talking Heads. This one, they understand. In 20th Century Women, writer and director Mike Mills brilliantly depicts the minor differences between two bands that hail from the same punk ecosystem, albeit different coasts. As Greta Gerwig’s anti-establishment feminist accurately puts it after some Black Flag fans spray paint the family car with a slur because Jamie listens to Talking Heads, “The punk scene is very divisive.”
Lady Bird
Dave Matthews Band — “Crash Into Me”
“Guilty pleasure,” as a concept, should be retired, and the Dave Matthews Band scene in Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird is why. It’s a perversely corny song, a take that I, someone who posted on the DMB-focused Ants Marching message board in high school, am allowed to have. But in the right context, like seeing your crush kiss another guy, it can be the emotional catharsis you need. “I f*cking love this song,” a popular snob tells Saoirse Ronan’s free-spirited Lady Bird. Gerwig’s DMB-loving stand-in replies, “I love it.” There’s nothing guilty about the pleasure she finds in “Crash Into Me” (other than maybe the “hike up your skirt a little more” line).
Under The Silver Lake
R.E.M. — “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”
If any A24 title was to get a Room 237-style documentary on fans analyzing (or possibly over-analyzing) the film for hidden meanings, it’s Under The Silver Lake. There’s an entire Reddit thread about the surreal noir movie’s use of “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”, the colossal first single from R.E.M.’s CD classic Monster. Is it meant to mimic the paranoid journey that Sam, the directionless character played by Andrew Garfield, goes on to find a missing woman? Or is the title, a reference to a question newscaster Dan Rather was asked while being mugged, a clue to his state of mind? And the Kurt Cobain connections can’t be a coincidence, right? It could be all three, or none of the above. One thing’s for sure, though: Thank you, David Robert Mitchell, for picking “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” over the clichéd “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”
Waves
Frank Ocean — “Seigfried”
It’s no surprise that Trey Edward Shults was entrusted to direct The Weeknd’s lightly autobiographical movie Hurry Up Tomorrow. The filmmaker previously made Waves, which features a mood-setting soundtrack. There’s tracks from Animal Collective, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Radiohead, and Alabama Shakes. There are also multiple Frank Ocean songs, including “Seigfried” during a road trip scene. The seamless pairing of sound and vision left Edward Shults in tears. “I felt like I had finally lived it emotionally,” he said.
Uncut Gems
Billy Joel — “The Stranger”
As noted in the intro, scores were ineligible for this list. But if they hadn’t been disqualified, there would be so many — too many! — to choose from: Colin Stetson’s sinful-sounding drones in Hereditary, Emile Mosseri’s lovely compositions for Minari, Oneohtrix Point Never’s nervy synths in Good Time. But the Safdie Brothers are represented here with their other A24 crime thriller, Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler as the most in-over-his-head character in cinema history. Billy Joel’s whistling intro in classic rock radio staple “The Stranger” has never sounded more ominous than it does when jeweler/gambling degenerate Howard Ratner stops at his mistress’ Manhattan apartment — with his wife and kids in the car, including a son who desperately needs to use the restroom. The Safides know New York, and few artists are more New York than Billy Joel.
Zola
Migos — “Hannah Montana”
Zola is so much better than “a movie based on a Twitter thread” has any right to be. A large reason for that is the perfectly cast performances from Taylour Paige and Riley Keough as strippers Zola and Stefani; Colman Domingo as Stefani’s controlling pimp X; and Nicholas Braun as Derrek, the quintessential white guy trying too hard to be Black. The first time we see the four of them together, they’re driving from Michigan to Florida, while dimwit Derrek uses his phone to record them rapping along to “Hannah Montana” by Migos. It’s the high-energy beginning of a long trip before Zola and “this bitch” fell out.
Red Rocket
NSYNC — “Bye Bye Bye”
If I had a nickel for every time a movie this century used “Bye Bye Bye” in the opening credits, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right? Three years before Ryan Reynolds danced his way to one billion dollars in Deadpool & Wolverine, Red Rocket kicked off with NSYNC’s signature song. In the indelible portrait of modern America, Simon Rex plays a washed-up porn star who returns to Texas from Los Angeles after nearly two decades, back when “Bye Bye Bye” was a modern hit. The song is a signifier of his stunted adolescence and a bit of a flex on writer and director Sean Baker’s part. “It was almost like casting an A-lister in my film,” he said. After winning all those Oscars for Anora, hopefully he’ll have his pick of top-10 hits in his next film.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Nine Days — “Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)”
Everything Everywhere All At Once is the other Best Picture winner in the A24 canon. More importantly, it’s also the only Best Picture winner in Oscars history to feature not one, not two, but three versions of the same power-pop song. Nine Days had a modest hit with “Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)” in 2000, enough to wriggle itself into the brain of EEAAO writers and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. They reached out to singer John Hampson to ask permission to use his lyrics in their script. He did them one better by recording multiple new versions of the song, which becomes an important motif in the multiverse saga.
Aftersun
Queen and David Bowie — “Under Pressure”
Charlotte Wells’ astonishing directorial debut Aftersun has a few essential scenes that involve music, and they will all make you cry. There’s Calum (played by Paul Mescal) refusing to sing “Losing My Religion” with his 11-year-old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) during a karaoke night. There’s Calum gently stroking Sophie’s forehead to Blur’s hymn-like “Tender.” And most of all, there’s the use of “Under Pressure.” In adult Sophie’s memory, it’s the last happy moment she shared with her father before tragedy occurs.
Beau Is Afraid
Mariah Carey — “Always Be My Baby”
“Running naked over glass before confronting a knife-wielding unhoused man and then getting hit by a truck” isn’t the worst thing that happens to Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) in Beau Is Afraid. Past the two-hour mark in Ari Aster’s misunderstood follow-up to Midsommar, he reconnects with childhood crush Elaine (Parker Posey) after learning he’s late for his mother’s funeral. They have sex — in his mom’s bed — to the middle school dance classic “Always Be My Baby,” but she dies midway through an orgasm while still on top of him. “He’s a bit older in his life when [his first sexual experience] is happening,” producer Lars Knudsen explained. “There’s nothing better than a Mariah Carey song playing while that’s happening.” And there’s nothing worse than what happens while it’s playing.
Past Lives
John Cale — “You Know More Than I Know”
You would never mistake Past Lives for The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three, but there are moments of genuine tension. After Nora (Greta Lee) excuses herself to use the bathroom, a lot is left unsaid between her husband Arthur (John Magaro) and could-have-been lost love Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) — and it’s not only because they’re not fluent in each other’s language. The initial anxious silence between the two men, soundtracked only to the hum of a New York City bar and John Cale’s pristine “You Know More Than I Know,” is snapped when they eventually connect over a shared admiration for the same woman. “[It’s] the perfect song for them because that’s what it is,” director Celine Song shared. “Part of it is the mystery that they have for each other, and they’re actually making room for that mystery for each other and in each other.” They both know they want the same thing: what’s best for Nora.
Civil War
Suicide — “Dream Baby Dream”
“Dream Baby Dream,” once memorably covered by Bruce Springsteen, plays over the final scene in Alex Garland’s alarming Civil War. During a siege on the White House, stony photojournalist Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) — having just basically caused the death of her once-mentor — is tasked with taking a picture of soldiers shooting and killing the president. She gets what she’s there for, but there’s no look of satisfaction once she gets the shot, only the woozy, drone-like clicks of “Dream Baby Dream.” Jessie has just realized the American dream (baby dream) is more of a nightmare.
I Saw The TV Glow
Yuele — “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl”
The centerpiece of the I Saw The TV Glow soundtrack is a song that bookends the trans-coming-of-age film, a cover by Yeule of Broken Social Scene’s timeless “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl.” It plays as young Owen (Ian Foreman) finds refuge under a gym-class parachute in a swirling mix of the bi and trans flags, and again when Owen, now an adult (Justice Smith), cuts open their chest to reveal the TV glow inside themselves. Director and writer Jane Schoenbrun wanted “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” because it’s “a very early version of this thing that now a lot of queer artists do, through hyperpop,” they explained, and “it has always struck me as this low-key queer anthem.” It’s never sounded more anthemic than it does in I Saw The TV Glow.