Name: Jayesslee
Song: Taylor Swift’s “Safe and Sound”
Why we’re obsessed: We finally found the perfect Taylor Swift cover performed by Jayesslee, the insane twin duo from Australia. I’m OBSESSED with anything and everything Taylor Swift, but they really capture the depth of emotion in this track, which is off the The Hunger Games soundtrack.
This acoustic version has a similar rhythmical pattern to the original, but the blended harmonies from both Janice and Sonia make it eerie. Both ladies have super soft and effortless vocals, but together they gives me chills. So far this video has hit over 620,000 views in less than a week, I’m guessing I’m not the only one completely and happily haunted by it.
Background: Jayesslee’s Janice and Sonia have been around YouTube since 2008, uploading various covers and originals, in English and/or Korean. Sonia usually strums the guitar, but both share the spotlight with their killer vocals and harmonies!
Listen here:
Even if you’re not into The Hunger Games like me, you have to admit they’ve wrangled up some of the most current artists for the movie’s soundtrack.
Kid Cudi recently dropped his track for the franchise called “The Ruler & The Killer.” The song is appropriately dark and haunting and I can imagine the tributes stalking their prey to this cut. The rapping is reminiscent of chanting too, which only reaffirms that the 12 districts are unwilling pawns of the Capitol.
Cudi rhymes: “Keep your mind in motion, yeah / Explain, yeah/ Remember you belong to me / Come on, we should get it going / Now, what I want is specific, hey, hey / You putting on a show for me / The ruler and the killer, baby.”
We already heard Taylor Swift’s song Safe & Sound and Arcade Fire’s Abraham’s Daughter. What do you think of this one?
Listen to it here:
Watching scenes and listening to tracks from the upcoming Hunger Games movie is tempting but I feel like I’ll have seen the entire movie by the time it’s released on March 23. Don’t hold me to it, but I’m going to try to hold off from now on… after these ones of course.
Eyes Open
Today Taylor Swift previewed a minute of another song for the Hunger Games soundtrack. We already heard the eerie Safe and Sound and now we have Eyes Open. The song sounds a little too upbeat for the movie, where do you think it would fit?
Behind the scenes
Whether you’re into the book or not it’s interesting to see this behind the scenes footage. I’m sure some of these scenes won’t be recognizable on screen, after they go through special effects.
Taylor Swift has a lot to be celebrating these days. Fresh off her double-Grammy win and performance of “Mean,” she debuts her music video for Safe and Sound, which is on the Hunger Games soundtrack. She wrote and performed the song with music duo The Civil Wars, who opened for her at the Grammys. The video, which was directed by Philip Andelman, is pretty mellow and mournful, just like the movie.
What do you think of it? Does it fit the tone of the movie?
