Zanobard Reviews

Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt’s brightly exuberant score for Barbie serves as not only an excellent companion piece to the song album, but also a fun, energetic and indeed very enjoyable piece of musical work all on its own.

The score for the Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie movie begins… well, it begins as you might expect really – with a rather emphatic and indeed fully orchestral rendition of Richard Strauss’ iconic “Also Sprach Zarathustra” fanfare in opening album cue “Creation Of Barbie”. Composers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt really go all out with this one, as no sooner has said classical music playthrough finished then the track practically bursts with enthusiasm as their main theme for Barbie debuts. For this final minute of the opening cue, loudly party-esque percussive beats, happily emphatic strings and bursts of exuberant brass with just a hint of jazz thunder through which then lead directly into the subsequent and similarly upbeat piece “Pink (Barbie Opening Theme)”. Here the main theme introduced in the prior piece gets a full three minute fleshing out, with the aforementioned orchestral instrumentation playing loudly and proudly alongside some similarly hopeful vocals shouting “Pink!” and harmonising at various enjoyably enthusiastic intervals. All-in, it’s an expectedly but also very enjoyably happy and hopeful opening for Ronson and Wyatt’s Barbie score, and with a rather exquisite main theme now in tow it certainly piques the interest for the forthcoming rest of the album.

The subsequent “Beach Off” evokes a very ’80s musical aesthetic, with loudly upbeat percussion and harmonising vocals taking point through the track’s ninety second runtime. “Stairway To Weird Barbie” then focuses on a quiet, almost dreamlike synthscape for the majority of its length before then introducing some electronic beats in the final thirty seconds, elevating the tone from thoughtful soundscape to upbeat adventure. Worrisome strings are then centre stage in “Thoughts Of Death”, which build incrementally in both volume and intensity for the first minute or so of the cue until hitting a short crescendo, with the music then fading out a few seconds later. Quietly wondrous electronics open “Send Me Through The Portal”, which then slowly build over the course of the entire track alongside increasingly hopeful strings and percussive beats. The subsequent “Ken Makes A Discovery” then continues this adventurous mood with wacky electronic beats and the occasional twang of an electric guitar note interspersed with several further excerpts of Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra”. You wouldn’t think this orchestral mixture would work, but it totally does. “Mattel” then introduces a theme of sorts for the titular company behind Barbie, a loudly brass-based fanfare that’s rather military march-esque in tone and one that gets a pretty through fleshing out in its two minute introductory setpiece here.

Light, classical-sounding strings are centre stage in “Meeting Ruth”, evoking a properly retro 1950s-esque tone throughout its nearly three minute runtime. The notes played here as well are overall a fully orchestral rendition of Billie Eilish’s song “What Was I Made For?” that was written for the film. Frenetic electronic beats and harmonising vocals then take the musical reigns in “Lose These Chuckleheads”, the score’s first major action setpiece. A thunderously emphatic electric guitar takes prominence in the back half of the cue with the aforementioned vocals also held high, making for a rather dramatic yet surprisingly musical-esque take on a car chase cue. The subsequent “You Failed Me!” then quietens the tone into electronics-based solemnity for its first half, with a loudly grandiose electric guitar coming into play and elevating the mood up into thunderous hope for a fair chunk of the track’s back half. Action then leaps boldly into the fray with “Alan V.S. Kens”, as some rather videogame-esque electronics and synth mix with dramatic beats and an emphatic electric guitar for ninety thunderous seconds. The five minute “Deprogramming” then starts quietly and almost morosely before the loudly party-esque percussive beats and motif from “Creation Of Barbie” happily reprise, with a much more optimistic mood naturally becoming the tonal focus for the remainder of the track.

“Warmth Of Your Gaze” continues the quieter, more solemn side of prior cues, with low-pitched backing synth and the occasional twang of a guitar occupying much of the track’s four minute runtime. Almost funeral-esque brass then opens “An Ending”, with pensive strings joining the fray after a minute or so and continuing in a slightly more optimistic mood until the cue then gently fades out at just over two minutes long. “I Don’t Have An Ending” then continues the more thoughtful and quieter side of the previous track for three and a half further minutes, with similarly introspective piano notes also sounding through every so often. To close out the score, final track “What Was I Made For? (Epilogue)” then pretty much does exactly what it says on the tin really, being another orchestral and primarily strings and piano-based rendition of Billie Eilish’s song of the same name. A rather relaxing finish to the album, I must say.

Overall, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt’s score for Barbie is a well stylized, fun and rather energetic work that stays rather entertaining throughout its forty five minute runtime. Its standout moments, such as the hilarious but very well done renditions of Richard Strauss’ iconic “Also Sprach Zarathustra” fanfare in opening cue “Creation Of Barbie” and later track “Ken Makes A Discovery” are an absolute joy to listen to, and the way they are seemingly effortlessly weaved in with the composers’ own exuberant orchestral style for Barbie is not to be understated. Their own theme for the titular character is also very enjoyable, with its full playthrough in standout cue “Pink (Barbie Opening Theme)” being of course an absolute highlight. All-in the score is an excellent companion piece to the official soundtrack album as well, though as a result of that it does at times feel a little bit like orchestral filler just to fill gaps between the songs, which makes some of the tracks perhaps less enjoyable and standout than others. This primarily effects the middle of the score as well as some tracks towards the end, but overall in all honesty the excellent stylistic and thematic showcasing displayed the rest of the time – particularly at the start of the score with the aforementioned standout tracks – make this album well worth checking out just on their own.

Score: 7/10

Standout Cues: 1. Creation Of Barbie/2. Pink (Barbie Opening Theme)

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