The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Releases New Version of Fan-Favorite Song

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is currently available to buy on digital, and it's heading to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on February 13th. The prequel film follows the 10th annual Hunger Games, which takes place 64 years before the original story. Rachel Zegler plays Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from District 12 who ends up being mentored by a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth). Zegler is a singer who got her start playing Maria in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of West Side Story. Lucy Gray is also a singer, so it's no surprise that Zegler gets to belt out some bangers in the new film. This week, an acapella version of Zelger singing "The Old Therebefore" was released on music streaming sites.

Zegler took to Twitter to share the song from Spotify, which you can view below:

🫶🏼🐍🕊️❤️ https://t.co/XYD2wzGhDT

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) February 9, 2024

Francis Lawrence Talks Music in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: 

ComicBook.com had the chance to interview director Francis Lawrence about the film, and he spoke about the music.

"I'm trying to think of when," Lawrence replied when asked when the music came together during the production process. "It was while we were still working on the script. No, actually, we were prepping the movie. So the lyrics obviously are in the book."

He continued, "And while we were adapting the book, I watched this great Ken Burns documentary on country music and kind of really fell in love specifically with this era, the '20s and '30s era of music coming out of Appalachia, with the Carter family and all of that. And then we got Dave Cobb on board, Nashville-based producer, who wrote the chord progressions and the melodies and then put a little group of amazing musicians together to record. And that took a little bit of time while we were prepping, but I'm just so happy with the sound of the music and the way it was recorded. And then Rachel, so talented, but she just slid right into the tone and the sound of that genre so perfectly."

What Is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes About? 

You can read a description of the film here: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) as he sees a chance for a change in fortune when he is chosen to be a mentor to Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the girl tribute from the impoverished District 12. In addition to Blyth and Zegler, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to feature big names such as Viola Davis (Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul), Peter Dinklage (Casca Highbottom), Jason Schwartzman (Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman), Hunter Schafer (Tigris Snow), and Josh Andrés Rivera (Sejanus Plinth). 

What did you think of the newly released version of "The Old Therebefore?" Tell us in the comments!