Olivia Rodrigo Announces Song For The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Soundtrack

The Hunger Games franchise is about to have a resurgence, with the prequel film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes arriving in theaters later this month. One of the strongest elements of the original film saga was its soundtrack of original songs, which featured new music from artists like Lorde, Taylor Swift, and Arcade Fire. As was confirmed on Wednesday, that torch will be carried by a new artist — Olivia Rodrigo, whose original song “Can’t Catch Me Now” will be released on Friday, November 4th.

Fans had speculated that Rodrigo might be on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes‘ soundtrack, after her official fan hotline recently debuted a snippet of a new original song. Then, in a now-deleted TikTok, Rodrigo stitched a trailer for the film, before giving the salute that Katniss Everdeen does in The Hunger Games‘ movies. 

What Is The Hunger Games Prequel About?

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.

“I don’t think it was really anything that we fought to keep in,” director Francis Lawrence told ComicBook.com in a recent interview. “I think the trick was figuring out how to keep as much of the information in the story as possible, but we had to compress it because this is the longest book in the series. And so making sure that we can get it down to a feature-length, that was just the tricky part.” 

How do you feel about Olivia Rodrigo being on the soundtrack for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is currently set to be released in theaters on November 17th.